cabinet stunts

From The Guardian comes news of Labour's promise to have a referendum some time after the next election.

Gordon Brown is to introduce a law to guarantee that a re-elected Labour government would hold a referendum within two years on abolishing Britain's first-past-the-post system for elections to the Westminster parliament.

I've heard this idea floated before. Where was it? It was the 1997 the Labour Manifesto which contained these words

We are committed to a referendum on the voting system for the House of Commons. An independent commission on voting systems will be appointed early to recommend a proportional alternative to the first-past-the-post system.

So why should we believe that this new proposal, over 12 years later, is anything other than a cynical positioning attempt? What are the benefits of the referendum and the proposed new AV voting system then?

Ministers believe that the prospect of a referendum will have three key benefits. It will:

• Allow Labour to depict itself at the general election as the party of reform

• Make David Cameron look like a defender of the status quo.

• Increase the chances that the Liberal Democrats will support Labour

What the fucking fuck? Those are the three key benefits? And you want me to take this proposal seriously? This is nothing but a ridiculous political stunt by ridiculous political cunts.