Sir Paul appears in Westminster

A good spot from Jon Craig who reports that

Sir Paul McCartney was in the public gallery for part of the long and at times acrimonious Commons debate on a referendum to change the voting system.
A Hard Day's Night, as the ex-Beatle might say.

The vote of course went with the government side

So, not a good night for those MPs who argued: Let It Be.

MP Chris Bryant is backing electoral reform

He has just tweeted

I'm definitely backing AV tonight. Every labour candidate is selected by AV and I'm told Tories use exhaustive ballot - virtually the same.

Boris is neither happy with PR or with Nick Clegg

Boris is not very happy about Gordon's conversation to PR or Nick Clegg for that matter.

Writing in the Telegraph this morning,London's Mayor he says of the Lib Dem leader

With his purple ties, his neat grey suits and his air of youthful earnestness he's like some cut-price edition of David Cameron hastily knocked off by a Shanghai sweatshop to satisfy unexpected market demand. I open the papers to find him consulted daily, like some oracle, about every problem from the Taliban to babies crying in the night – and in both cases, incidentally, he adopts the classic Lib Dem position of simultaneously favouring intervention and leaving well alone.

As for proportional representation,which Gordon Brown is danglin in fornt of the Lib Dem leader

It is, of course, bare-faced cheek from Gordon to suggest that we should change the voting system just as the country is about to use that system to eject him from office. It is positively Mugabe-esque. And it is exactly the opposite of what parliament and politics need. The great expenses scandal has shown what happens when you allow the party machines to stitch things up in their own interests. Why on earth should we respond to that crisis by adopting PR? Under any version of PR there is a list system that transfers the power to pick MPs away from the people and towards the party machines.

Quote of the day

Yet some reform is surely better than none. The head of the Electoral Reform Society described it yesterday as "not a final destination", but "a stepping stone". We agree. By calling for a vote in this Parliament, Mr Brown has put the subject back on to the political agenda, which is to be welcomed as a step forward, not back.

The Independent's leader on yesterday's announcement by Gordon Brown on electoral reform

The alternative vote

The cynics will be seeing this as a canny last ditch attempt to cling onto power.

Gordon Brown seems set to announce an offer to MPs on a referendum on electoral reform, which could see the end of the traditional first-past-the-post system in Westminster elections.

There is speculation that Brown had secured agreement from senior ministers for a vote as early as next week and is set to seek the approval of his Cabinet imminently.

The question now is whether that vote could be held prior to a general election.

Whilst the system being proposed is not seen astruly proportional by campaigners for electoral reform,it satisfies those who wish to retain the traditional link of an MP to the constituency.

For Labour,the question to decide is whether holding the vote will expose the Tories as resistant to reform, at the same time, winning support from voters inclined to back the Liberal Democrats at the next election.