Modeling Journey

Having narrowly escaped being turfed out as leader of the Labour Party by revolting backbenchers, Gordon Brown has come up with constitutional reform as his battle cry.

And as part of that, he suggests that Britain actually discuss using a written constitution!

"Second, setting out the rights that people can expect but also the responsibilities that come with those rights as a British citizen is a fundamental step in balancing power between Government, Parliament and the people. Mr Speaker, it is to some people extraordinary that in Britain we still have a largely unwritten constitution. I personally favour a written constitution but I recognise that changing this would represent an historic shift in our constitutional arrangements so such proposals will be subject to wide public debate and ultimately the drafting of such a constitution would be a matter for the widest possible consultation with the British people themselves."

Well, Mr. Brown, you can learn from the masterpiece which we created when Pierre Elliot Trudeau, the last great Canadian prime minister, brought home the constitution and included a gem of a Charter of Rights and Freedoms in it.

Feel free to borrow our Charter, Mr. Brown: you could do a lot worse!