James Graham (Unlock Democracy): The latest Lords reform white paper is both a step forward and a step back.  It is positive in that for first time ever an official government document is unambiguously in favour of second chamber which is either mostly or fully elected.  It also nails the lie about an elected second chamber being a threat to Commons primacy: The Government welcomes a confident and assertive second chamber. It sees this as further enhancing our democracy and something that is entirely consistent with the primacy of the House of Commons. That primacy rests in the fact that the Government of the day is formed from the party or parties that can command a majority in the House of Commons. It also rests in the Parliament Acts and in the financial privilege of the House of Commons. The Prime Minister and most senior ministers are also drawn from the House of Commons. A more assertive second chamber, operating within its current powers, would not threaten primacy.  Read the rest of this post...

Anthony Barnett (London, OK): Brown can't win the next election. More serious, any democratic reform agenda is now in jeopardy. Brown can't win because the moment of genuine popularity of his first three months of office, when he appeared to be different from Blair, is long gone. That positioning has been shot to pieces not least by himself. From now on he has to fight on his record of continuity. But already the voters have given this the two-fingers. Their verdict could only be reversed by a brilliant economic revival. This seems inconceivable. The heart of New Labour's strategy was the embrace of globalisation as the deliverer of wealth plus Gordon's supposedly robust and prudent management of the economy leading to unrivalled stability as well as growth. Today the UK faces the prospect of an economic downturn, a collapse of the housing market and the inflation of staple commodities. This is the harvest of backing the US model over that of the EU, which Brown orchestrated. At the same time the explosion of the super-wealthy, which is one consequence of this strategy, has fatally undermined Labour's claim to be the party of fairness that is central to its appeal. Brown is doomed. Read the rest of this post...

Article: This paper was discussed at the Rowntree's seminar on governance which Stuart Weir reports on above. David Beetham (Manchester, Democratic Audit): One of Gordon Brown's first acts after becoming Prime Minister in 2007 was to publish a Green Paper with Jack Straw, The Governance of Britain, outlining a "new constitutional settlement" which would "forge a new relationship between government and citizen." Part 4 of this paper, entitled "Britain's future: the citizen and the state," was focused on a set of concerns about what it means to be British, what are the distinctive British values, and what rights and responsibilities people should have as citizens, all of which were argued to be unclear or confused and in need of greater clarification. So, for example, we read: "The Government believes that a clearer definition of citizenship would give people a better sense of their British identity in a globalised world" (sec. 185). "A clearer understanding of the common core of rights and responsibilities that go with British citizenship will help build our sense of shared identity and social cohesion" (193). "It is important to be clearer about what it means to be British, what it means to be part of British society and, crucially, to be resolute in making the point that what comes with that is a set of values which have not just to be shared but also accepted" (195). Read the rest of this post...

Jon Bright (London, OK): This from the Lib Dem's "Corruption is a Crime" website: apparently Lady Scotland, current attorney general, wants a statutory power to halt CPS or SFO investigations on the basis of "national security" or "international relations" to be part of the upcoming constitutional reform bill. Which would, one fears, lead to more episodes like the disgraceful halting of the SFO inquiry into the BAE / al-Yamamah arms deal - and with the potential for other types of criminal investigations, of crimes worse than bribery, to be airbrushed out of existence with one or two ambiguous references to the national interest. The BAE incident was a huge failure on a number of levels - lots of shadowy allegations of Blair being "threatened" with a potential increase in terrorist attacks were, for me, not as bad as the general, residual resentment created by people being able to beat the system with impunity. A halted investigation isn't a proof of guilt - but neither does it feel likely that it was halted because there wasn't enough evidence. Read the rest of this post...

Anthony Barnett (London, OK): It seems that the BBC has an advance copy of the speech Jack Straw is due to make at George Washington University. He will say: Most people [in the UK] might struggle to put their finger on where their rights are. The next stage is to look at whether we need to articulate those rights which are scattered across a whole host of places. We can learn from the American example, particularly from the concept of civic duty. We want to elevate them in a new status in a constitutional document. It is much easier to perform your civic duty when you have a clear sense of what is expected of you Read the rest of this post...

Jon Bright (London, OK): Graham Allen MP questions the Deputy Leader of the House: Mr. Graham Allen (Nottingham, North) (Lab): What steps she is taking to encourage public debate on those elements of the Governance of Britain White Paper which fall within her remit; and if she will make a statement. [185150] Read the rest of this post...

Jon Bright (London, OK): David Marquand has written an article for OurKingdom we have published in on our openDemocracy article page: England and Europe: the two 'E's that lie in wait for Brown's Britishness. It analyses the state of Gordon Brown's reform agenda, and the wider prospects for democratic change in the UK - and is based on his introduction to the recent Rowntree seminar on how the reform movement that has been stimulated by the Green Paper on the Governance of Britain shuld engage with it now.  Read the article in full here.

Stuart Weir & Andrew Blick (Cambridge & London, Democratic Audit): Gordon Brown's green paper on governance at the start of his premiership last July inspired lots of people with hopes. On Thursday the two Rowntree trusts, who have been so active in this area and funded the Power Enquiry that clearly influenced Brown, brought together some representatives of democratic and human rights organisations to assess what has happened to the reform agenda set in motion, or perhaps treading water. One can regard the range of areas where the need for reforms is urgent as depressingly broad - elections to Westminster, protection of human rights, the House of Lords, local government, participation, political funding, parliamentary power, the data-base state - or as combining to create a historic opportunity. Which is it, and where and how should reformers best cultivate? Read the rest of this post...

Jon Bright (London, OK): The Governance of Britain website, which we've taken a bit of a keen interest in here, has released a couple of things worth flagging up. There is the opening of a consultation on "Local Petitions and Calls for Action", which we have tracked on our consultations site, and, today, they've released a video of Michael Wills and Jack Straw's trip to Leicester (Patricia Hewitt tags along as well, though isn't referred to by name), the opening shot in what might be a full broadside of regional consultations which build up to the statement of British values and the citizens summit. Read the rest of this post...

Jon Bright (London, OK): The Ministry of Justice have launched the Governance of Britain website, something which all keen OKers might want to have a look at - it promises to be the focal point of the Governance of Britain agenda online. Whether it will evolve into a large, flourishing conversation on the constitutional future of Britain or lists slowly along underused until it is finally killed by committee remains to be seen. Either way, we will be keeping a keen eye on it.

Anthony Barnett (London, OK): There is good stuff in Brown's New Year calling card on education especially and the environment, along with a sensible warning about the economy and a ridiculous silence on Europe, as if the ratification of the EU Treaty was a non-event not to be looked forward to. But I was very struck by the overall tone. Here are some extracts, see what you think (with interruptions that I can't resist). It opens with the Prime Minister's promise of: Read the rest of this post...

Maurice Frankel (London, Campaign for Freedom of Information): Gordon Brown’s recent Speech on Liberty is a turning point in the government’s approach to freedom of information. For the first time since 1997, a prime minister has not only spoken out clearly in favour of FOI but proposed to extend, rather than restrict, the legislation. Read the rest of this post...

Dan Leighton Every so often the discretionary powers available to our politicians come along and bite them on the backside. The debacle over the snap election that never was and the oncoming car crash that is the EU ‘treatitution’ are the latest additions to the litany of constitutional blowbacks that regularly plague the UK. The point in both instances is not that Gordon Brown is inclined to act in his party’s short-term interests (despite what he may have us believe, he is of human rather than divine origin) but that there is nothing in the way of constitutional rules that restrained him from doing so. As long as politicians have the capacity to make self-serving decisions over elections and referendums, the temptation to use them will be too great to resist. Read the rest of this post...

Stephen Taylor (London, 5jt):  Here is a taste from Stephen's blog after he joined an OurKingdom cluster making sure that the liberty to protest was protected:  The prime minister’s first speech to Parliament was all about rolling back executive power and devolving it. There is nothing inevitable about freedom and democracy. The freedom of those who care sufficiently to demonstrate about an issue publicly will surely disappear unless periodically reasserted. If the last decade of New Labour government has anything to teach us about civil liberties, it is to think the unthinkable. The nodding through this summer of open official access to our phone records amounts to a revival of the notorious, bitterly resisted and supposedly long-dead general warrant. (Americans thought they had nailed this one two centuries ago, engraving a prohibition of writs of assistance into their constitution.) Email cannot be far behind.I was dismayed to find that at 1pm I could stroll easily into Trafalgar Square. Radio news tonight reported “hundreds” of protestors. Well, there were thousands, but not many thousands. How few seem to have grasped that what happens in Britain over the coming decades has more to do with our foreign policy – Iraq, energy sources, and letting millions die in our effluent – than any domestic agenda. Eventually the climate terrorists will get busy seeking our attention. The dribbling away of ancient freedoms parallels perfectly the melting of the ice caps. If only this were all metaphor.

Anthony Barnett (London, OK): I am getting more than irritated by the way the government is playing with the democratic issues it says matters to it so much. First, it has cocked up citizens juries now it is gaming with citizenship. If you asked yourself who from the Blair lot is the most inappropriate person to review what it means to become a good citizen, Lord Goldsmith would be close to the top of any list. How can one trust the straightforward honesty of the man who by all accounts was pressured into changing his mind on the legality of the Iraq war, and who agreed that the inquiry into massive corruption associated with BAE Systems should be stopped just when the definitive evidence was about to come into police hands? Is this how we want the future citizens of Britain to behave? Wouldn't anyone from abroad who did things like this fall into the category of those Gordon Brown would send back to where they came from? Read the rest of this post...

Anthony Barnett (London, OK): I feel discomforted by being at Bournemouth. I spoke at the ippr fringe meeting on democracy at Bournemouth. The best contributions were by Meg Russell of the Constitution Unit and Francesca Klug, who helped draft the Human Rights Act. I addressed my remarks to the Minister, Michael Wills, who is in charge of the Gordon Brown’s democratic programme  (except, it seems, Citizens Juries – who IS responsible for the unfolding debacle?).  I said that while it is extraordinary and indeed historic for a Government to place the nature of the constitution as a whole into public debate, many congratulations, etc, the exercise is taking on all the signs of trying to cure the symptoms not the illness. Read the rest of this post...

Anthony Barnett (London, OK): Just been watching the Smirk, my name for the BBC's The Week with Andrew Neil and Michael Portillo and usually Diane Abbott. Tonight there was Oona King plugging her new book and being teased (and patronised) by the two old hands for her closeness to Brown. In his defense she mentioned the Green Paper more than once. She even got its name right, the Governance of Britain. It went straight past Portillo and Neil as they looked pleased with themselves. But I can tell you such familiarity is rare. Too rare, the Green Paper needs a high profile spokesperson who can express the Prime Minister's resolve. When they accused Oona of heading for the ermine she denied it. I won't go to the House of Lords or become an MP again, she said firmly and then added that she wouldn't say no to something else.... hmmm. That spokesperson needs to be someone who can speak for Britain, appeal to its many minorities and not be a suit.

Anthony Barnett (London, OK): When Gordon's Green Paper came out and he asked for a national conversation there was no way you could respond to it as a citizen, no website or even an offer to 'park your view here'. In contrast the White paper from the Scottish Government calling for its national conversation on Scotland's future it concluded with a link to a web page for comments and feedback. This now provides both a blog and comments. We linked to and reported on in OK. I've pointed out the contrast to those close to the government - who smiled. So I was delighted to see a link to an official opportunity to participate. It is on the BBC page on the You and Yours phone-in with Michael Wills the Minister in charge of the national conversation.  It says: Read the rest of this post...

Guy Aitchison (Bristol, OK): Could Gordon Brown’s “national conversation” on constitutional change finally be under way as Richard Wildon of Involve suggests? I listened to a lively and intelligent discussion on BBC Radio 4 in which audience members posed questions on a wide range of constitutional issues to Michael Wills, the Minister for Constitutional Renewal (it should eventually be available here to listen again). What really came across was how much people were willing to think critically about the issues and engage with them on a serious level. Now I know that the producers will have influenced who was put on air and what kind of questions were covered, but the level of debate and the interest shown seemed to provide at least some corrective to the prevailing view, famously expressed by Alastair Campbell, that “Worcester woman”, didn’t give a **** about the constitution. Read the rest of this post...

Richard Wilson (London, involve): As Anthony discovered to his surprise below, today sees the roll out of Gordon Brown's 'New Politics', with 10 citizens juries taking place across the UK. The Prime Minister needs us to help solve "many of the greatest challenges we face, such as climate change, national security and obesity", as well as to renew his democratic institutions: as without us they aren't very democratic.So no pressure then! Read the rest of this post...