Anthony Barnett (London, OK): I have just returned from the House of Commons where I watched the Prime Minister give his statement on the constitution (for some key passages see the post below this one). I stayed on for the debate that followed.
His proposals had four parts.
- To limit executive power and enhance that of parliament with twelve measures
- To increase accountability both of the executive to parliament and of parliament to the people (discussion document on voting systems to follow)
- To add forms of direct democracy to representative democracy
- To engage the public in direct debate over the nature of our constitutional settlement as a whole
Brown's words were sweeping in their seriousness and careful in their formulation, without histrionics it was undoubtedly historic.
There is a story that as armies clashed in the English civil war, perhaps it was at the battle of Naseby itself as divine right fell before the discipline of the new model army, peasants toiling in the nearby fields had no idea what the soldiers were fighting about. This moment flashed before me as I sat and listened to the parliamentary debate that followed. For the most part the assembled MPs had no idea what was going on. If this was history they wanted no part in it!
David Cameron (taking his cue from John Humphries) said, “The constitution is not the cause of broken trust. It is broken promises that have caused the breakdown of trust”. This shows that Cameron simply does not have a clue what Brown was talking about. Ming Campbell’s words suggested that he wanted a written constitution and a constitutional convention but their expression failed to bear the weight of their content, and all one felt was a sad collapse of hope and loss of horizon.
There was only one moment when someone grasped the scale of the moment and its possibilities. Labour MP Bob Marshall-Andrews is famous for having denounced his leadership’s "contempt for Parliament, contempt for party and contempt for the old tedious debating institutions on which democracy ultimately rests" stood up and said this was very promising. He let out a huge gasp of surprise that he had congratulated the Prime Minister, who acknowledged that support from such a quarter was unprecedented.
The House of Commons likes the enhancement of its own importance. But, with honourable exceptions, it won’t like the commitment to larger public debate promised by the Prime Minister and it will resist this. A different kind of politics is on offer, one that is full of promise. Pity the country that cannot rise to such an occasion. It will not be delivered by those it has elected to represent it.
