I was much more thrilled by the election results in Exeter where we held all our seats than by my elevation to the Cabinet. Exeter showed Labour can still win where you have good hard working Councillors and a well organised party. We were also helped by the Lib Dem and Tory plans to sell Exeter down the river by abolishing the City Council and handing all power over Exeter to the now Tory rural Devon County Council.

My feet haven’t touched the ground since the elections and subsequent reshuffle. When the history books are written Gordon Brown’s recovery will be traced back, not to the reshuffle and surviving the media and resignations maelstrom, but to the resignation of the Speaker and the agreement that same day to radical reform of the way Parliament works.

But the reforms need to go wider than that. We need a democratic Second Chamber, a referendum on electoral reform and much more. Not only are these right in themselves but they will snooker the Tories. Cameron talks a good talk on democratic renewal but Conservative and constitutional radical are mutually exclusive. Similarly, he has talked tough on expenses, but failed to discipline or sack a single member of his shadow cabinet.