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Now everyone's into Parliamentary reform, even the BBC has been digging up its collection of neolithic "experts" to tell us how it's to be done.
"More free votes", says Prof Predictable. "Less power for the whips", nods Sir MeAgain. "Change Bill committees", bleathers a third.
All blah blah.
There's one simple reason whips have so much power; they determine an MP's career trajectory. And no amount of tinkering with free-votes-Bill-committee-nonsense will change that.
If we're serious about making MPs more independent from party whips, we need to make them less critical to an MPs prospects - and ordinary voters more decisive.
What if our politicians owed it to local people as to whether they were in Parliament, and not party machines? Who knows, we might even respect them a little more?
Only by establishing real open primary contests for Parliamentary candidates - including sitting MPs in safe seats - will we see change. Don't and we won't.
