Johnson seizes Labour initiative

Health Secretary Alan Johnson has used a newspaper article today to urge Gordon Brown to retake the political initiative following the expenses debacle and offer the British public a referendum on electoral reform. Writing in the Times, he says: "The current public mood of anger and disquiet... demands a response. We need to overhaul the engine, not just clean the upholstery."

Friends of Johnson insist that his intervention should not be seen as a challenge to Brown's leadership. Johnson has always been wary of putting himself up as a contender, despite the enthusiasm of fellow Labour party members, political commentators such as Polly Toynbee, not to mention the bookies who have him as the clear favourite to replace Brown.

But in "breaking cover" - as the Times puts it - with his modernising agenda, he has clearly given his main rivals something to think about. They are Foreign Secretary David Miliband, Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell and Schools Secretary Ed Balls, all of whom are thought to be readying themselves for a leadership contest in the wake of the June 4 local and Euro elections, when Labour is expected to be thrashed at the polls.

However Johnson wants his intervention to be taken, he is urging Brown to address the thorny issue of proportional representation (PR) and revisit the report made by the late SDP leader Roy Jenkins which Tony Blair shelved in 1998.

Jenkins proposed a complex electoral procedure called Alternative Vote Plus - or AV-Plus - to replace the present first-past-the-post system. Johnson wants a referendum to be held alongside the next general election, so the British people can vote on it. "This is a genuinely radical alternative that only Labour in government can facilitate," he writes.

A spokesman for the Prime Minister insisted his boss was untroubled by Johnson's article, and said: "Alan Johnson is a well-known and longstanding supporter of proportional representation."

Meanwhile the Tory leader David Cameron, fresh from pushing another of his MPs, Andrew MacKay, into early retirement because of his expenses claims, told BBC TV's Andrew Marr on Sunday that he wants to attract people who "believe in public service" to stand as Conservative MPs in the next general election.

"I'm going to reopen the Conservative candidate list to anybody who wants to apply," he said. "They may not have had anything to do with the party before. But I'm saying, if you believe in public service, if you share our values, if you want to help us clean up politics, come and be a Conservative candidate. We want to open up the talent that is available."

Cameron had his eye on successful head-teachers and small business leaders. "We've got to try and find them and persuade them to stand," he said. "Right now I expect many people are saying 'I'm not going anywhere near this nest of vipers'."

Meanwhile, the Daily Telegraph's mother of all leaks seemed finally to be running dry today. The paper reports that Alistair Darling and other Cabinet ministers have claimed expenses for the use of accountants to complete their tax returns.

Although the news has angered many observers because it would not be considered a legitimate business expense for most ordinary members of the public, the Commons Fees Office clearly states that the use of an accountant is an allowable expense.