A Politician Voluntarily Relinquishing Power?

Britain's new prime minister, Gordon Brown, is wasting no time making clear that he's no Tony Blair. In his first week in office, Brown has announced that he's limiting or, in some cases, flatly surrendering executive powers he feels undemocratic, a list that includes:

The power to declare war;
The power to request the dissolution of Parliament;
The power over recall of Parliament;
The power to ratify international treaties;
The power to make key public appointments without effective scrutiny;
The power to restrict parliamentary oversight of the intelligence services;
The power to choose bishops;
The power to appoint judges;
The power to direct prosecutors in individual criminal cases;
Power over the civil service;
Executive powers to determine the rules governing entitlement top passports and the granting of pardons.

In a world in which Brown's counterpart in Washington is seizing every power he can, even flaunting the American constitution to do it, Brown's approach is indeed refreshing.

The Blair Malaise is already receding. Polls today show the Conservative lead has evaporated with both parties now tied.