Let's look at "Clunking Fist" Brown's announcement to parliament yesterday:

• Handing to Parliament the power of the executive to declare war
• Handing to Parliament the power to request the dissolution and recall of Parliament
• Removing the power of the executive to ratify international treaties without decision by Parliament
• Removing the executive's power to make key public appointments without effective scrutiny
• Removing the power to restrict Parliamentary oversight of the intelligence services
• Removing the PM's power to choose bishops
• Reducing executive power in the appointment of judges (PA Story January 13th 2006: The Chancellor will also signal his intention to push through significant constitutional change if he succeeds Tony Blair as Prime Minister as expected. He will confirm his readiness to give up the PM's prerogative to declare war and peace without the approval of Parliament, and suggest that he may also be willing to give up the power to appoint judges and bishops)
• Removing the executive's power to direct prosecutors in individual criminal cases
• Reducing the executive's power over the civil service itself
• Reducing the executive's powers to determine the rules governing entitlement to passports
• Removing the executive's powers to determine the rules governing the granting of pardons
• Citizens may have the ability to trigger legislation by petition
• Reducing the advance sight government departments have of the release of statistical information from as much as five days currently to 24 hours.
• The possible use of citizens juries
• A National Security Council would be created within government
• There will be a statement before the summer recess on reform of the House of Lords (PA Story January 13th 2006: And he will make clear his determination to complete the reform of the House of Lords during a fourth Labour term)
• He will publish a new Ministerial Code, with a new independent adviser whom the PM can ask to scrutinise ministerial conduct including conflicts of interest
• There will be a public debate on the case for a Bill of Rights or a written constitution

To be fair, some of this is welcome. To be less fair, some of this overdue and putting right the some of the wrongs of the Blair years in which er, Gordon was Chancellor and effectively minister for domestic policy.
Ignoring Gordon's role in the Blair government, for which he will be held accountable, I have one major problem with this.

I've studied the 2005 Labour Manifesto, Britain Forward Not Back and I can't see a single mention of any of these points. Perhaps it's my old eyes deceiving me and some Labour troll can point out where exactly the New Labour government campaigned on these points.


Other than Lords Reform, exactly what democratic mandate does Gordon Brown and New New Labour have for any of this?
Er, None.