There's nothing like a bit of bad news to concentrate the mind.
And in June 2009, Gordon Brown had bad news by the bucketful.
There was uproar over MPs' expenses. Labour had done disastrously in the local and European elections, with the BNP winning its first seats in Europe. And yet another attempt to unseat Gordon Brown as Prime Minister had been foiled.
So the PM unveiled his latest ideas on Commons reform which were widely seen as an attempt to reassert his authority.
These ideas came on top of his proposals, soon after coming to office, that the Prime Minister should surrender some of their own powers to MPs - on declaring war and dissolving parliament to hold a general election.
And, as voter anger mounted over the expenses scandal, Gordon Brown floated the idea in his 2009 Labour conference speech that voters should be given the power to recall or sack MPs.
Not to be outdone, the Conservatives are calling for there to be fewer MPs.
The new Commons Speaker, John Bercow, is entering the fray, too. In September 2009, he proposed his own package of reforms to strengthen the role of the humble backbench MP, what he called "a backbencher's Bill of Rights". He also said he wanted to call time on the long recess which sees MPs leave Westminster in July and not return until October.
