When he became Prime Minister, Gordon Brown promised far-reaching reform of our democracy. But the Governance of Britain programme he launched is all but dead. At the height of the expenses scandal he again talked about giving away power, proclaimed himself a longtime fan of Charter 88, and made noises about a written constitution. We've heard nothing of this rhetoric since then.
Today, in his speech to the Labour party conference, Brown had the opportunity to commit to the real change he has so far failed to deliver - this was his one last chance to set out a radical agenda for reform and win back some initiative. But, to almost no one's surprise, he failed to deliver, instead offering a cowardly mixture of fudges and half-measures that will please no one.
He promised a referendum on electoral reform - but not until after the next election and even then only on the Alternative Vote system which wouldn't move Parliament any closer to being proportional. Peter Mandleson, speaking to Channel 4 News, called this sideways step "historical dynamite". Historical piss-take would be more accurate! As Stephen Tall on Lib Dem Voice points out, Labour offered a referendum on PR in their '97 manifesto - something they promised to review in their 2001 manifesto, but later dropped. Why would anyone now get excited about this new watered-down pledge?
Brown talked of a new right for constituents to recall errant MPs - but this would only be when voters are given permission from their political masters on high. His commitment to "remove the hereditary principle" in the Lords simply re-states Labour's position in their manifesto from twelve years ago - it hardly merited the strong outburst of applause it got from conference. We've been waiting for a hunded years - get on with it!
The pity is that Brown clearly understands reform is needed but the changes he proposes fall far far short of what's needed. They reflect his timidity and insecurity and an instinct - shared by most of his Cabinet colleagues - to cling on to power at all costs.
Labour activists in the hall got excited at the pledge not to make ID cards "compulsory" in the next Parliament - they know how unpopular the cards are. But as Henry Porter points out, this is just Brown re-hashing an earlier commitment by Alan Johnson and in any case we all know there are different degrees of "compulsion", and it's possible to have something that's officially non-compulsory but impossible to live without.
I'm at the Labour party conference now and the anger and frustration from reformers is palpable.
