"Mark Oaten" is a United Kingdom/British former politician who was a senior member of the Liberal Democrats (UK)/Liberal Democrat Party. He served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Winchester (constituency)/Winchester from 1997 to 2010.

Born in Watford, Hertfordshire, Oaten became a councillor in local government, joining the centre-left Social Democratic Party (UK)/Social Democratic Party, which merged with the Liberal Party (UK)/Liberal Party to form the Liberal Democrats in 1988. He became the party's Home Affairs spokesperson in 2003. He stood for the position of List of United Kingdom Liberal Democrat leaders/Leader of the Liberal Democrats in 2006, but withdrew from the contest when he was hit by a series of scandals which also led to his resignation as Home Affairs spokesperson. He did not run for re-election to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom/House of Commons at the United Kingdom general election, 2010/2010 general election.

Following his retirement from active politics, Oaten published two books, before becoming executive of the International Fur Trade Federation in 2011.

More Mark Oaten on Wikipedia.

I think they are in serious trouble.

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If the prime minister had wanted to show real action he would have announced a suspension to the licensing legislation.

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The quick powers Mr Blair is issuing for the police to give instant justice are not as effective as he is making out.

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The government must not hand the terrorists a victory by taking away long held liberties and principles of justice.

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What the public wants is sensible measures that will tackle terrorism, but they don't want to see the very fundamental principles of justice and liberty broken away.

190

Keeping suspects in police detention for three months would be radically out of step with our European and Commonwealth partners. Where other countries hold suspects for long periods there are safeguards in the form of an independent judge who decides if there is a case to answer.

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We still want to try to seek consensus, however two sticking points have emerged for us.

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There can be no justification for the bombings that took place in London.Britain's involvement in the war in Iraq is no excuse for Muslim extremism.However, it would be wrong for the Government to deny that Muslim communities feel a sense of unease about our involvement in Iraq.

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As things stand, I don't think the case has been made for moving beyond the 14-day period we already have.

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