Gordon Brown goes into reverse gear on embryo Bill

Gordon Brown has told his Cabinet ministers not to get hot and bothered about individual clauses in the Embryology Bill which are causing them problems of conscience.

Three Catholic members of his government - Ruth Kelly, Des Browne and Paul Murphy - are among those who were ready to defy the three-line whip over the Bill, leaving them with no alternative but to resign.

But Brown today wisely softened his tone. In the margins of this morning’s Cabinet meeting he told them to ignore the weekend speculation about their futures. Like other Labour MPs, he told them they can abstain on parts of the Bill during the committee stage.

That leaves them a way out, provided that they vote for the Bill, as a Government measure, on the Second and Third Readings. (The crunch, of course, may still come for some MPs and ministers if clauses they disliked remain unamended by the Third Reading.)

Labour MPs are saying privately, "Why did he not say that from the outset?" Senior Tories said it looked like "more dithering by the Ditherer in Chief".

And that's not the PM's only concession. In order to calm down the Catholic Church leaders who are campaigning against the Bill, he is delaying the Commons stages until tempers have eased. The Bill has already gone through the Lords, and his spokesman announced this morning that it will not be brought before the Commons for weeks, possibly months.

Faster progress is proposed on the equally controversial anti-terror legislation to allow suspects to be held without charge for 42 days. The crunch vote has just been inked in for April 1.

THE MOLE: EMBRYOLOGY BILL

FIRST POSTED MARCH 25, 2008