"We will bring forward proposals on a bill of rights this autumn, they will be subject to full consultation.
But in June 2007, the day after he assumed office as prime minister, Gordon Brown unveiled plans for constitutional reforms that included a proposal for a bill of rights.
Lord Falconer (then Lord Chancellor), however, said in the same year that David Cameron's proposal for a bill of rights was "a recipe for confusion, not clarity", adding: "We won't repeal the Human Rights Act and we won't leave the convention".
Simon Hughes, the party's former shadow constitutional affairs secretary (now shadow energy and climate change secretary), said in 2006 in response to Cameron's proposal for a bill of rights: "Cameron should not imply that we could give up being party to the European Convention on Human Rights, which is as much a product of British law as any other.
A consultation on the current government's proposals for a bill of rights for Northern Ireland is underway.
The most recent turmoil was sparked by the party's proposal of an amnesty bill that would have allowed Thaksin to return to Thailand from self-imposed exile in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, without facing charges.
The proposal is part of a bill that would make scores of changes to laws dealing with sexual assault.
However much is given to this audience it is never satisfied - hence the latest and worst set of proposals: a bill soon to be given its third reading which creates a legal black hole for those fleeing persecution by removing all supervision by the higher courts of the decision-making process.
"The filing of a legislative proposal in the form of a bill is of no legal consequence," he wrote.
Mr. Roth's proposal incorporates many features of a bill devised by moderate Democrats on the committee, including Mr. Graham and Senator Charles S. Robb of Virginia.
