The BBC has reported that Tony Blair has said he still personally favours members of the House of Lords being appointed rather than elected. He warned the Commons liaison committee to be “cautious” before trying to “replicate the Commons in the Lords”.

With Cameron’s New Tories on the offensive in trying to take on the ‘progressive’ mantle, Gordon Brown, who has repeatedly indicated his support for democratic reform of the House of Lords, voting for an 80% elected second chamber in the Commons earlier this year must ensure that he chooses progress over patronage.

It seems our Prime Minister for the next week - Tony Blair, feels the need to defend the status quo, and thus his reputation, with the cash-for-peerages controversy still hanging over his head. But it is equally clear that Gordon Brown must make a clean break with the past by calling for a programme of reform sooner rather than later. Labour must reassert its hold over the progressive agenda and clear the way for the necessary and popular reforms of the Lords.

A clear majority of MPs voted for both the 80% and fully elected options this March. The Campaign for a Democratic Upper House calls on Gordon Brown to adopt a new approach by announcing a programme of democratic Lords reform early in his premiership

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