It's worse than we though Jim

It may be the time of the new version of Star Trek at cinemas and IMAX theatres near you. But the cry of this Scot is not aimed at James Tiberius Kirk but James Gordon Brown.

Earlier today I was saying that the Prime Minister was attempting a last ditch throw of the dice in bring Lib Dems into a new cabinet. However, the news is getting worse when he looks at the latest ICM poll. Not since 1987 have Labour been in third place in a nation opinion poll. But with the Tories on 40%, the Lib Dems are on 25% and Labour on 22% in respect to how people would vote in the next general election

A lot of this is down to another question asked in the poll on the issue of MP's expenses. Some 54% think that Labour are most damaged, 13% think the Tories (despite having some of the most bourgeois sounding claims) and 2% the Lib Dems. However, worryingly 25% think that all the three main parties are equally as damaged. Which is either an indication of the way the Telegraph have gone about reporting this or my bias in looking at some of the claims. I do think and have been told by others that the former is more likely the case.

It may well be that we are looking at the death knell of new Labour. It may even be that they may be about to head into a wilderness similar to that which the Liberals drifted into in the 20s. Across Edinburgh and I went from the shore to the south today in campaigning the physical evidence of the party in power was very thin (indeed to me invisible) on the ground and this is the weekend before an election.

There are also rumours of all sorts of ructions within the Labour party across Lothian obviously that is all I am personally aware of. Activists are not active (Kezia excepted). Some MPs I've heard are being cold shouldered by their CLP. I have not seen a single Labour poster up anywhere and I have been in 5 Labour held seats today.

Labour could well be in freefall and I don't know what will happen if Gordon pulls the rip chord or even if he will pull it. There may very well not be a soft landing, although at the moment it doesn't not look like it will be as bad at the Canadian Conservatives in 1993 but things continue to get worse and Gordon goes full term without pulling that rip chord who knows what would happen.

Brown's Last Ditch Roll of The Dice

Gordon Brown despite having on paper a Parliamentary majority is considering a deal to bring prominent Liberal Democrats into Cabinet in a 'game-changing move. However, his game must be well a truly up if he is again reconsidering this step.

When he first took over from Tony Blair the Prime Minister approached various senior Lib Dems in the Commons and Lords to take some role in his new administration. He was rebuffed from all sides. Now in his desperation of what he may be facing on Thursday in the European elections he is considering it again.

However, following Nick Clegg's comments from Thursday any such deal at this time will only be temporary. Gordon is trying to strike a deal with the party that is looking for reform of Parliament before going to a General Election because the other party is calling for one now. So Gordon if you want a deal with the Lib Dems it looks like you will setting forth a 100 day legislative timetable along the Clegg lines and facing your parties future in the Autumn at the earliest opportunity thereafter.

Those are the only conditions that the Lib Dems at this stage will possibly agree to work with Labour. Yeah in the meantime we may lend you Vince to help Alistair out over the economy, but most of the time we'll be pushing through the Third Reform Act(s) so that the people have more say, that their Parliament is more transparent and fair, and that they can take action if ever Parliament or Parliamentarians sink so low again.

This time Gordon we are playing hardball, we won't be pussyfooted around like the eventual empty promises of Blair following the Cook-Maclennan talks. We want those changes plus more now. All or nothing and we can't guarantee you survival even if you do.

You Ermine a Laugh

Today it is being reported that 52 Labour MPs are currently seeking to be on a Brown resignation honours list for elevation to the Upper Chamber after the next election. That is one in every 7 MPs that were elected under Blair in 2005. But this number is the backbenchers not even counting the prominent Cabinet Members who would expect ennoblement when they finally leave the commons. Many of the 52 have not yet announced that they will be stepping down but are at this point intending to stand again.

The fact that so many are seeking elevation shows that Labour is merely going through the motions until the election is called, but also that the system is flawed. People who know nothing other than politics in the Labour party are wanting to stay on in the office down the corridor. Admittedly it is a rather splendid office building, and the work is very similar to what they do now. But unlike currently is not up the whim of the 70,000 or so people who give them a review every 4-5 years it is a job for life.

The fact that these people may well be failing to satisfy the electorate yet maintain a seat in 'the other place' shows just how much reform is needing throughout the whole of Parliament. Some of these 52 may well be those who are stepping down or who may be forced out on the back of the expenses scandal. They should not have an automatic or semi-automatic right to be appointed to an allowance system worh £45,ooo per annum on top of their MPs pension and parachute payment.

We need reform in the Lords and the Commons. Nick Clegg is right that much of the stuff that needs to be done has been debated in depth in the past. But the 'honourable members' have done all they can to preserve their own path to easy street. Unless they wake up, smell the sulphur from the torches of the approaching hoard and take action they won't be preserved.

In launching the Take Back Power agenda for change yesterday Nick has shown what is required, achievable and doable. As Millennium said yesterday politics is the 'art of the possible' some of the reforms (such as AV+ instead of STV) do not go as far as Lib Dems want, but they are things on which there has been some level of agreement in the past. That is how the 100 days target can and should be met. We're looking for consensus, a consensus for change and the clock for that 100 days starts ticking on Monday when our MPs return.

But Tom Harris Where Were You Last Summer?

I cannot believe that Tom Harris has taken the view that the reforms suggested by Nick Clegg are political posturing. For a start isn't he listening to what the people are saying and the Lib Dems have long said that a lot of things he has highlighted need changing for transparency, fairness and for the good of democracy.

But the line he is taking is quite two faced. It's all well and good Tom Harris saying now 'if the existing [interim] system had been put in place years ago, virtually none of the excesses we’ve seen would have taken place.' But where was he last July when the issues he outlined as key were put to the vote. He wasn't in the division lobby that is for sure.

Indeed the fact is most of his own party and the official opposition voted against the changes he is now a year on so supportive of. So the Lib Dems were the ones moving with the agenda back then rather than the Johnny come latelies like Harris and Cameron. The fact is we need to do more than we wanted a year ago, the public demand it and the Lib Dems are still driving the agenda to action rather than platitudes and lip service.

The King's Address to his Fluffy Kingdom

As regular readers and cuddlers will know I generally leave the political stuff to Mister Stephen. However, my good friend and fluffy pachyderm Mister Millennium Dome has spoken I'd like to urge you all to read it.

Hamble, Jemima, Humpty Dumpty, Big and Little Ted. Gordon the Gopher, Ed the Duck. We need your support as establishment characters within the BBC to get the voice and views of Captain Clegg saviour of our democracy unto the airwaves, tellybox, wirelessbox, interwebby.

Over at ITV I evoke Bungle, George and Zippy to do the same.

Garfield, Snoopy, Fred Bassett and the rest should rise off the cartoon pages unless their newspapers cover the story of the latest reformer and what he has to say about he proposes we do.

Captain Clegg has not just spoken like Mr Balloon of the Tory party, he set out the gameplan and is telling MPs to get kitting up and into action. Mr Balloon is merely talking about what he is thinking of doing next season, if we are lucky. But it's just a wee bit of trimming around the edges and no real shake up in team selection, their training or lifestyle. The fans, sorry forgot the voteypeople aren't really fans right now, are looking for a radical overhaul. They don't want their MPs to wallowing at the bottom but they'd like to think they can soar up the league to the very pinnacle. That's not just a few Tell-lie-graph saints but the who lot sitting on the benches.

So may I echo the Trunk call of my friend and encourage all the fluffy kingdom to persuade their adoring owners to take action to encourage their MPs to sort out this mess we find ourselves in. Take Back Power. Let's make the next 100 days count for something great a Third Reform Act(s) even more far reaching and necessary than those of 1832 and 1867.

Quote of the Day: OK Tuesday Yet Again Michael Connarty

Looks like I missed the most dismissive quote ever of Labour, that's right Labour, MP Michael Connarty in defence of his spending £250 on an alarm clock.

He told the Scotsman defending his claim for a £250 alarm clock from John Lewis by saying that he should not be forced to "shop at 99p stores". Now I don't think there is anything wrong with the 99p stores that fill the main streets just down the road from his office but £250 for an alarm clock is just not acceptable to be claimed on expenses and there are other options between the two when you are not spending your own money but the peoples.

We're Not Going on a Summer Holiday

We need parliamentary reform, we need it now, we shouldn't leave for holidays until it is sorted that is what Nick Clegg is saying in the Guardian. While David Cameron is outlining what he would do if he was elected as Prime Minister and Alan Johnson is saying what he would do possibly to set out his leadership challenge the Lib Dem leader is saying to his fellow MPs we need to get this done before we can move on.

Setting out his vision for a new politics setting out a hundred day plan that will give the people the right to recall a corrupt MP, abolishing the House of Lords, getting corrupt money out of politics and electoral reform that gives everyone a voice. When he broke convention to speak out against the Speaker he was already say that the conservatism and convention of the Houses of Parliament were a hindrance that the people did not understand and that MPs chose to hide behind. Listening to Julie Kirkbride this evening, and reading what my own MP Michael Connarty has had to say it is clear that many have yet to learn. He says:

"People will say it isn't possible – parliament can't act that quickly. I say the innate conservatism that marks out our political establishment is part of the problem. Let's stop all this self-congratulatory hype about the mother of parliaments and get on with improving it.

"Momentum will ebb away unless we act quickly. Delay would be a victory for those who want to confine change to the bare minimum – the two establishment parties who will talk up reform long enough for the storm to pass, then kick it into the long grass for good."

And referring to David Cameron's comments about open-source software, new select committee chairs and legislative text messages says these will not rescue British democracy but merely provide cover to maintain the status quo. That status quo is that the two major parties have hung unto power in their own fiefdoms or shires in safe seats. As Mark pointed out in his excellent post the safer the seat was envisioned to be often the more corrupt the Member.

How can this be done in 100 days?

Well a lot of the issues have been thrashed out party funding reform was outlined by Sir Hayden Phillips only the Tories walked out. Lords reform has been agreed with in principle, and to avoid an increased hegemony can be elected like the Senate in the USA on different boundaries and with different times for electing them than the lower house. While he welcomes Alan Johnson's adoption of the Jenkin's solution of AV plus he acknowledges this is not the best situation where as STV allows the people to vote for the person not just the party and the party approved candidate/list.

Can this be done in 100 days?

During the 2001 election William Hague said there was only so many days to save the pound. But really we do only have so many days to save British democracy. But Nick thinks not only that it can be done but that it needs doing concluding:

"Together, over the next 100 days, we could achieve nothing less than the total reinvention of British politics. These months could become a great moment in British political history, rather than a shabby footnote to a shameful month of scandal. Let us seize, not squander, the opportunity for change."

So the MPs should forget about getting on an all-singing, all-dancing double decker to head off to their first or is that second home, you know the one in their constituency. Or even to some other home where they can take flight.

They're not going on a summer holiday,

Heads down working for a week or

Thrasing out reform in their holiday

Working out how to serve you-ou-ou

As they really ought to.

Read also Paul Walter's take on it including the Cleggmeister's timetable. Darell Goodliffe who's willing to bar the gates for longer as some stuff is missing. Jamie Saddler's love (platonic) for Nick Clegg.

UPDATE: You can find out more on the Campaign Website