With 5 minutes to go, and after 4 hours 55 minutes of opposing filibuster, the Bill's author, David Maclean, called for a vote (technically, I think, a Motion for Closure). With the tacit support of the Labour party (whose Parliamentary Committee emailed Labour MPs to encourage them to vote in favour), the Motion was passed, and the Bill will now go to the House of Lords.
Revealingly, the Wikipedia article on Private Member's Bills notes that "in some cases, measures that a government does not want to take responsibility for may be introduced by backbenchers, with the government secretly or openly backing the measure and ensuring its passage."
It's impossible to resist the conclusion that the Labour government wants this legislation to go through, despite the fact that it undermines a major piece of their own legislation (the Freedom of Information Act) and runs counter to their stated policy. That they can do so by means of a Conservative Private Member's Bill, thus keeping their legislative hands 'clean', must be a source of some glee.
I think Mr Brown has just missed the first opportunity (of his acknowledged leadership, at least) to reclaim the public's trust in his party. But then, during his time in the political wings, he has made an art of being absent or silent, when presence or speech might have obliged him to take a public position one way or the other.
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