Guido has always been a firm believer in Douglas Carswell’s prophecy that the “birth of iDemocracy” is key to rolling back the state:

“The West’s Big Government model is bust, things are going to have to change. It is on the cusp of dramatic changes driven by the failure of her elites, technology and maths. At the precise moment Big Government becomes unaffordable, the internet revolution makes it possible to do without it. Be optimistic. We are going to be able to manage without government – and thrive. The old political and economic order is about to give way to something vastly better.”

Well that prediction is a step closer to coming true today as the Speaker announces a Commission on Digital Democracy, with the aim of “creating a Parliament version 2.0”. It will report in 2015, Parliament’s 750th birthday, looking at how countries such as Estonia have enhanced democracy through internet voting and citizen engagement in parliamentary activity. Given that it was Carswell who knifed the last Speaker, could Bercow be trying to keep him sweet as knives are sharpened?