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Plans to reform the voting system put forward by Alan Johnson are receiving growing support in Cabinet and could be included in the next Labour manifesto, The Times has learnt.

Up to 100 Labour MPs have expressed interest in electoral reform, putting the Health Secretary at the forefront of a popular party campaign.

This comes at a critical moment after a torrid few weeks for Gordon Brown and the Labour Party. Some suggest that Mr Johnson is a future party leader. He has indicated that he might be capable of the top job.

Mr Johnson wrote in yesterday’s Times that the public should be asked whether they wanted a more proportional voting system for elections to Westminster, an idea that appeared to have broad support in government.

He said that voters should be asked whether they would support an “alternative vote plus” system for choosing MPs, rather than the current first-past-the-post system.

This would mean voters receiving two ballot papers on polling day. The first would be used to rank their choice of constituency MP in order of preference and the second to state their favoured party. Votes on this second ballot would be added up and those that exceeded a 5 per cent threshold would get a proportionate number of seats.

Several members of the Cabinet expressed support for the plan but said that the vast majority of MPs must be linked to constituencies. Others said yesterday that Labour should not get carried away with voting reform as this was not the answer to their immediate problems.

No other Cabinet member appears to support Mr Johnson’s idea of a referendum on the same day as a general election, which they said could undermine the result. Instead, senior government figures say that it is likely to appear in the manifesto.

Ed Miliband, Labour’s manifesto co-ordinator, refused to comment on this suggestion, but the idea appears to have strong support.

Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, supports the alternative system, although he rejects any form of proportional representation (PR) that would allow backroom deals and disproportionate power for small parties. Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, is said to have an open mind on the debate but would not lead the charge for PR. John Denham, the Skills Secretary, said: “One of the ways we can reconnect politicians with the voters is to increase the power of the voters. Letting people choose the electoral system would be a huge step forward.”

The timing and nature of Mr Johnson’s comments have raised suspicions that he is positioning himself as a moderniser. One government figure said: “Alan wasn’t exactly a well-known constitutional reformer at the time of the deputy leadership race.”

Mr Johnson was adamant that his article in The Times was not a leadership bid. Speaking on The World at One on BBC Radio 4, he said that he did not clear his article with Mr Brown before publication, although he did discuss it with people around the Prime Minister. Asked if it was part of an effort to promote his chance of becoming Labour’s next leader, he replied: “No, and it’s quite unfair to suggest that it is. It is absolutely nothing to do with that.” He also denied that his support for PR was based on political calculations about Labour’s electoral prospects or improving the party’s chances of securing a coalition deal with the Liberal Democrats after the election.

“I wish I were that sophisticated,” he said. “I am simply a supporter of getting rid of a system that doesn’t empower the voter.”

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