Meanwhile, Tony Blair’s latest attempt at appeasement at home was met with a stunning defeat in Parliament last night. He had proposed a bill making it a criminal offense to incite religious hatred; in other words, Salman Rushdie could be carted off to the big house for writing The Satanic Verses, or the South Park guys could be banged up for their Mormon and Scientology episodes. The Labour Whips were so confident of winning that they allowed 25 Labour MPs to go off to Scotland to campaign in a special election. But the first vote on adopting amendments proposed by the House of Lords and rejected by the Government was passed by 10 votes after about 30 Labour MPs rebelled. The second vote, also on adopting Lords amendments that even more severely weakened the bill, was passed by a majority of one, and Mr. Blair himself failed to vote. This is a serious and embarrassing humiliation for the Prime Minister and will increase perceptions that his ministry has now entered the John Major era.