Eddie Barnes: Change of politics means change of heart

CANON Kenyon Wright may be a man of the cloth, but forgiveness is not yet on his mind. "I feel angry," he says of the MPs who have been exposed for their lavish expense claims. "The arrogance that has been shown by MPs … even when they have been found out, they've said we deserved this money. Then they go on about making a minor mistake or an error. Who do they think they are?"

Almost exactly 20 years ago, Wright, now 78 years-old, was named chairman of the Scottish Constitutional Convention, the body which laid out the ground rules for the new Scottish Parliament. This week, the revelations about MPs expenses have led to calls for a root-and-branch overhaul of Westminster's "Gentleman's Club". Cabinet ministers are known to favour a Convention along similar lines to Wright's. He believes it too. "I believe the arrogance we have seen in these expense claims is a product of the political system. Therefore the system is responsible for it and needs to be changed. I think people have also understood that there is something fundamentally wrong and this is the opportunity to do something about it."

More conservative voices this weekend urge caution, arguing that centuries of custom and tradition should not be brought down overnight by the actions of a few venal MPs. But in these unprecedented times, constitutional reform – so often the bridesmaid of political debate – is suddenly all the fashion. So what changes could come about in order to bring about the New Politics?

For reformers like QC Helena Kennedy, the sudden outbreak of mea culpas of the past three weeks are laced with irony. Three years ago, Kennedy led the Power Inquiry, a three-year investigation into how to restore faith in the political system. Gathering the views of thousands of members of the public, it found that people were utterly turned off by the political process, that they viewed politicians as self-interested and careerist, and felt entirely alienated from political parties and institutions. The report, says Kennedy, was summarily ignored. It has taken humiliation from MPs for people to sit up and take notice. Kennedy lists the reforms she thinks are needed. "There has to be root-and-branch reform of parliament, the Lords and the Commons, a written constitution, proportional representation, proper funding of political parties, a real curb on commercial lobbying, extended powers for select committees and fewer powers for the whips, a proper pay structure for MPs, more participative democracy and a re-ignition of local government to create new avenues for people to enter politics."

Kennedy's exhaustive list ticks all the boxes for reformers. Wright adds: "This row has raised fundamental questions about our democracy. There are some basic fundamental decisions that need to be made, to move away from the absolute authority of the Crown in parliament." Wright, in other words, would like to see The People being placed at the top of the constitutional tree – no small change to Britain's way of life.

Slightly less ambitious reforms are myriad. One which has taken wing is the idea of primaries for parliamentary candidates – where party members hoping for a seat would have to win the support of constituents, not fellow party members, to get a stab at a seat. Douglas Carswell, the Tory MP, whose motion of no confidence in the Speaker led to Michael Martin's resignation last week, points out that with seven out of ten MPs coming from "one-party fiefdoms", prospective MPs know that the main route to power lies not through the people but through their mates. Carswell goes further. "To end the sense of SW1 entitlement, why not have a right to recall MPs and a right to initiate debates in the Commons? Reform is more than just expenses," he declares. To give people even more say, Scottish parliamentarians are pointing their Westminster counterparts to their own Public Petitions system – under which anybody can place a petition with MSPs which is then put through the parliamentary system. Meanwhile, outside of parliament, radical suggestions include forming "quango juries" whereby people are picked at random – like a jury – to decide on the big funding plans currently co-opted by the Great and Good.

All these reforms have, at their core, the idea of transforming an overly representative democracy into a more participative one. Quite whether the public would be prepared to forego Britain's Got Talent to bother, is a moot point. One MP said: "People want us to be accountable, but the idea that we should force referendums or citizens' juries on them every time we want to change the law on dog dirt is just ridiculous. They've got lives to lead."

And as for the idealists' dream of a parliament of independents, freed from the clunking fists of party whips, experienced heads urge caution. Margo MacDonald – herself an independent MSP – says: "You can't have a parliament run by independents. You end up with sclerosis. You must have parties, but the parties must comprise people who have independent thoughts."

MacDonald has one final thought. Politicians also need to re-think their relationship with the voracious media, she says. "These days nobody dare change their mind in public. I'm the only one who can say that, because I'm an independent. Nobody else can because it's seen to be a political weakness. When did that happen? It has crept up on us so that now politicians are schooled by their parties to come up and give non-answers." Consequently, she says, people have become turned off by the blandness on show.

Reformers are dreaming of a more honest, more participative, more engaged democracy. One was this weekend quoting Barack Obama's chief of staff Rahm Emmanuel: "You should never waste a crisis."