A number of people have admitted to tears during Andy Burnham(安迪·伯纳姆，英国工党政治家)’s Labour party conference speech, and most of them mean when he talked about his father, who died very recently. But then there were a few (not me) who welled up(涌起（泪水）) when he announced a commission on electoral reform. It was just the sheer shock of it: that we may finally have a prime minister who will follow through on his own long-held beliefs and remain loyal to his long-term support base, even if it makes him avoidable enemies and, medium-term, destroys Labour’s only-trodden path to victory.(这纯粹是出于震惊：我们可能终于有了一位首相，会践行自己长期秉持的信念，忠于自己长期的支持群体，即使这会给他树敌，并在中期内摧毁工党唯一走惯了的胜选之路。) It felt a bit like slipping through time, and I couldn’t even tell you to when (definitely not the 1990s).
不少人在安迪·伯纳姆的工党大会演讲中承认自己落泪了，其中大多数人是在他谈到最近去世的父亲时。但也有少数人（不包括我）在他宣布成立选举改革委员会时热泪盈眶。这纯粹是出于震惊：我们可能终于有了一位首相，会践行自己长期秉持的信念，忠于自己长期的支持群体，即使这会给他树敌，并在中期内摧毁工党唯一走惯了的胜选之路。那感觉有点像穿越了时间，我甚至说不清穿越到了哪个年代（肯定不是20世纪90年代）。
Burnham’s support for proportional representation(比例代表制) has always been extremely unusual for a Labour politician. To this day, he ascribes(归因于) that to his experience of winning an election as mayor of Greater Manchester on a supplementary votes system(补充投票制), where people get to choose a first- and second-preference candidate. He said that campaigning under that system “finally aligned the conversation on the door with what people want from politics, which is about problem-solving first and foremost, not about point-scoring”.(他说，在这种制度下竞选“终于让挨家挨户的对话与民众对政治的期待对齐了，那就是首先解决问题，而不是得分”。) He went a bit further this morning, asking Nick Robinson on the Today programme: “Can we really watch a party with less than 30% walk into Downing Street(唐宁街，英国首相官邸所在地)?”
伯纳姆对比例代表制的支持在工党政客中一直极为罕见。时至今日，他将此归因于自己在大曼彻斯特市长选举中凭借补充投票制获胜的经历——在该制度下，选民可以选出第一和第二偏好候选人。他说，在这种制度下竞选“终于让挨家挨户的对话与民众对政治的期待对齐了，那就是首先解决问题，而不是得分”。今天上午他更进一步，在《今日》节目中问尼克·罗宾逊：“我们真的能眼睁睁看着一个得票不足30%的政党走进唐宁街吗？”
Plainly, he was talking about the spectre(幽灵、挥之不去的恐惧) of a Reform government, and it’s that very context that makes this already difficult constitutional conversation even more vexed(棘手的、争论不休的). Back in May, the all-party parliamentary group for fair elections held a meeting to discuss the aftermath of the local elections. It feels like a long time ago, and furthermore, so different in atmosphere as to be irrelevant to the prime minister, but 2020s politics are defined by their switchblade turns.(那感觉像是很久以前的事了，而且气氛迥异，似乎与首相无关，但2020年代的政治特点就是急转直下。) In the matter of constitutional reform, the overriding priority(压倒一切的首要任务) has to be to build a system that’s fair across a range of imaginable scenarios, not just the one in front of you.
显然，他指的是改革党执政的幽灵，而正是这一背景让本已艰难的宪制讨论更加棘手。今年5月，跨党派公平选举议会小组召开会议，讨论地方选举的结果。那感觉像是很久以前的事了，而且气氛迥异，似乎与首相无关，但2020年代的政治特点就是急转直下。在宪制改革问题上，压倒一切的首要任务是建立一套在多种可想象情境下都公平的制度，而不仅仅是应对眼前这一种。