Historic Straw

David Marquand (Oxford): Jack Straw's announcement that he is now in favour of a written constitution may mark a historic milestone in Britain's long, slow march to democracy. He is the first British Cabinet minister in history to say anything of the sort and constitutional reformers should rejoice. But constitutional reform must not be the property of any one political party, or even of the political class as such. One of the chief reasons why a new constitutional settlement is necessary is that public distrust of politicians and political parties has reached record levels. The point of a new constitutional settlement is not to put together a series of institutional nuts and bolts. It is to democratise the public culture. That will not happen if the process of reform is dominated - or, just as important, thought to be dominated - by the political establishment. Gordon Brown's approach will be judged in this light.