"The fact of the matter is that much of this bill before the House tonight could have been a Labour bill of the previous administration, " he said.
Nevertheless, the betting is that this is the kind of bill Labour will choose.
It would be hard to exaggerate the influence of Bill Clinton on the gestation of New Labour, especially the need for centrist politicians to identify themselves with conservative social values.
MPs from all sides of the house have tabled amendments to the bill, with a group of Labour backbenchers sympathetic to the nationalist cause tabling a clause outlining their total opposition to it.
But speaking on behalf of the parliament's Justice 1 Committee, which has welcomed the general principles of the Bill, Labour MSP Gordon Jackson criticised the stance taken by the Conservatives.
Mr Straw is at present blunting the teeth of the government's promised freedom of information bill, a landmark piece of liberal legislation which Labour made much of in opposition, but which it has already delayed for no good reason.
The next job as chair of the Commons public administration committee was hardly adequate consolation, even though he presided over one mammoth inquiry into the working's of Labour's proposed Freedom of Information Bill.
The Public Bill Committee will convene under the chairmanship of the Conservative Gary Streeter, and includes some of the prominent combatants from last Tuesday's second reading debate, David Burrows the Conservative backbencher who organised the vote against on the Tory benches, and former minister turned awkward squaddie Tim Loughton will be ranged against prominent supporters of the bill, like Labour's Chris Bryant.
Then it's on to the main event - the third reading of the Defamation Bill - as amended at report stage, courtesy of Labour's Lord Puttnam.
There is no mention of a Lib Dem pledge to repeal the controversial Digital Economy Bill, passed in the dying days of the Labour government, and on the funding of high speed broadband the Conservative policy of relying on the market with possible help from the BBC licence fee, appears to have held sway over the Lib Dem landline tax proposal.
The committee then took evidence on the financial memorandum of the Domestic Abuse Bill from Labour MSP Rhoda Grant.
Business begins with Foreign Office questions and then there's a ten minute rule bill on the eradication of slavery from Labour former minister Fiona MacTaggart.
In the absence of a deal with Labour to programme the committee stage of the bill, I suspect it is now doomed.
Lord Davies of Oldham said Labour "warmly welcomed" the bill, which also has the support of the government.
While supporting the general principals of the bill, Ken Macintosh - who speaks for the Labour Party on finance - said he was concerned about the timing of when both the rates and bands would be made public.
Chairman of English Nature Baroness Young of Old Scone, herself a Labour peer, said the bill "must not become a battleground for wider matters of town versus country, or simply spoiling tactics which jeopardise the bill's passage and risk sinking the first decent wildlife legislation for 20 years".
Labour rejected criticisms of the bill, arguing that it was "sensible" and "proportionate" in allowing councils to deal with "very real concerns" that blight large numbers of their constituents.
The government says the bill will end the era of big government but Labour says it is a "sham", claiming it hands more than 100 new powers to central government.
It is customary for the Lords to pass all stages of money bills in one day, although Labour last week took the unprecedented step of demanding that the bill should have a normal committee stage, report stage and third reading.
Labour had looked at having a Bill of Rights and Responsibilities as the basis of a written constitution - the then Justice Secretary Jack Straw believed a written statement of "common values" would help social cohesion.
Attempts at reform had led to the overthrow of the Harold Wilson Labour government in 1970, and an anti-union bill put through by Heath led to the destruction of his majority in 1974 and its replacement by another weak Wilson government that tipped the balance of power still further in the direction of the unions.
At the end of the debate, MPs voted to reject a Labour amendment declining to give the bill a second reading by 330 votes to 195, a government majority of 135.
The lack of a commitment to a hunting bill will anger some Labour backbenchers after the Lords blocked attempts to ban hunting with dogs earlier this year.
Mr Miller's bill was helped on to the next stage by dozens of Labour backbenchers who took part in the debate, many of whom might normally have spent Friday in their constituencies.
This time round they won't be revisiting parts of the bill which are not being changed, although Labour are arguing that the legislation should be reconsidered as a whole - not taken in parts.
Lord Browne of Laydton pledged Labour's support for the bill "to the extent it seeks to reform our outdated libel laws".
More recently, the Sunbeds (Regulation) Act 2010 came from a Private Members' Bill from Labour MP Julie Morgan and now bans the use of commercial tanning equipment by under-18s.
Earlier Scottish Labour MSP Hugh Henry told MSPs the bill was full of inconstitencies and would not help the problem and would instead add to it.
The bill to ban foxhunting has (at least in the eyes of the Labour left-wingers who promoted it) set the urban proletariat against the rural landlords.
Shadow justice secretary Sadiq Khan said Labour would vote in favour of the principle of the bill, even though its details were a "bit of a mess".
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