Stuart Weir (Cambridge, Democratic Audit): Harriet Harman is a beautifully unspun politician. This morning, she provoked chortles and chuckles all round by blithely informing a small assembly of journalists and constitution mongers that ministers will put "Parliament First" when they have to make a policy announcement.It was just an hour or so before G Brown's pre-emptive Monday press conference once more put "Media First, Parliament Second", as the Commons resumed business.
"No", she said quite sincerely, "I am going to police Parliament First". It would be good to think that we can therefore look forward to the first citizen's arrest of a British prime minister. Usually people talk of political figures wearing many hats; with Harriet it is more a set of comfy clothes. The occasion was a breakfast meeting for her to set out her agenda on parliamentary reform, wearing her Leader of the House and Equality Minister get-ups. She had a good deal of robust and forward-looking things to say on gender and ethnic inequalities in the House and in the parliamentary lobby, the unequal nature of the electoral roll and also pre-legislative and post-legislative scrutiny. If good-will were enough to generate change, then we would be in good-ish hands with Harriet. But it is going to be very hard to get the constitutional hand-cuffs on Gordon Brown and those who, sooner or later, succeed him - unless those of us who care about the quality of British democracy give her and other well-placed reformers informed and passionate backing, and soon.
