Tom Griffin (London, OK): The Government has today abandoned plans to hold a Commons vote on exempting MP's expenses from the Freedom of Information Act.
Earlier, Mr Brown blamed the Conservatives for what he said was a breakdown of a consensus over the way forward.
"We thought we had agreement on the FOI Act as part of this wider package," he told MPs.
"Recently that support that we believed we had from the main opposition party was withdrawn.
"So on this particular matter, I believe all-party support is important and we will continue to consult on that matter."
mySociety suggests the u-turn is a victory for the internet generation:
Over 7000 people joined a Facebook group, they sent thousands of emails to over 90% of all MPs. Hundreds of thousands of people found out about the story by visiting TheyWorkForYou to find something they wanted to know, reading an email alert, or simply discovered what was going on whilst checking their Facebook or Twitter pages. Almost all of this happened, from nowhere, within 48 hours, putting enough pressure on Parliament to force change.
Make no mistake. This is new, and it reflects the fact that the Internet generation expects information to be made available, and they expect to be able to make up their own minds, not be spoon fed the views of others. This campaign was always about more than receipts, it was about changing the direction of travel, away from secrecy and towards openness.
It seems likely that the Government was hoping to sneak the proposals through in the week of Obama's inauguration. If so, it's appropriate that they have been thwarted by methods that the Obama campaign helped pioneer.
