Deputy candidate hustings in parliament

Anonymous: The six Labour party Deputy Leadership candidates had a hustings in Parliament today. All of them stressed the need for the party to rebuild, reconnect, renew and so on. None of them mentioned a codified constitution as a way of doing so. There were some tangential references to issues which could be described as all-British and constitutional. Peter Hain seems to favour the Deputy Leadership job continuing to be coupled with that of Deputy Prime Minister; Jon Cruddas and Hazel Blears do not. Harriet Harman showed the most interest in civil liberties. She said that when the government planned new counter-terrorist measures it has to make its case properly; and announce its intentions to Parliament first, not the media. When pressed on human rights - be they civil and political or economic and social - all made supportive noises, opposing Guantanamo Bay and generally agreeing with the more rigorous pursuit of equality. But on the evidence of this meeting an overhaul of the way the UK is governed is not a lead item on the agenda of the would-be Labour deputy leaders. Perhaps Blears's point about anti-discrimination measures - that they must be justified in practical terms or run the risk of appearing too "abstract" - exemplifies a broader attitude within the party. On this showing it will be up to supporters of constitutional reform, both within Labour and beyond it, to persuade not just these candidates but also their colleagues, that any revamp of the government requires rather more energy behind the general commitments made by Gordon Brown than we are seeing at the moment.