300 years dom?

Commons Speaker battles to keep job May 17 2009 20:16. Michael Martin, the Commons Speaker, will on Monday make a desperate appeal to stay in his job, as MPs plot to make him the most prominent casualty of the Westminster expenses furore. Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, broke with convention on Sunday in calling for Mr Martin to resign. David Cameron, Tory leader, refused to say how he would vote in a confidence motion to be tabled against the Speaker. Gordon Brown declined to give a personal endorsement of Mr Martin last night, leaving the holder of Westminster’s most respected post scrabbling to avoid being the first Speaker forcibly ejected from the chair (James Bond of rocket science?) in more than 300 years. Mr Martin was attacked on Sunday by Mr Clegg for being a “dogged defender of the way things are”, who tried to prevent the exposure of the Westminster allowances system in the press and was holding back reform. Faced with a no confidence vote, the abrasive Glaswegian will on Monday make a personal statement in the Commons insisting that he is the best person to stitch together a cross-party deal to reform the expenses system. Mr Martin is also expected to confirm that he will step down from the post at the next election, although that may not be enough to placate his critics. One Toy MP said: “That was always going to the case anyway.” The Speaker might also apologise to MPs offended by his outburst this month, when he rounded on backbenchers who criticised his decision to call in the police to investigate the leak of expenses data. None of that may be enough to silence his critics, who are likely to be deeply sceptical of Mr Martin’s reinvention as a proponent of far-reaching reform to the allowances system. The Speaker will claim he had “very fruitful” talks last week with Sir Christopher Kelly, the parliamentary standards watchdog, to discuss reforms. However Sir Christopher’s spokesman described as “nonsense” any suggestion that a reform package had been agreed. After another weekend of grim headlines about expenses abuses, many MPs believe Mr Martin must be sacked to show that they are serious about cleaning up their act. That view has infuriated Mr Martin’s supporters. Lord Foulkes said the Speaker was being made “a scapegoat” by some MPs. The stage is set for a battle of wills in the Commons, as Douglas Carswell, a Tory MP, prepares to table a motion of no confidence in the Speaker. Mr Carswell claims he has more than 10 MPs prepared to sign it. Mr Cameron’s team said the Tory leader would listen to the debate before deciding how to vote. Gordon Brown’s spokesman said it “would not be appropriate for the prime minister to do anything other than support the will of the House”. Martin – proud holder of long and dignified position Michael Martin, 63, has been Speaker since 2000, writes George Parker. The title makes him the highest commoner in the land and the holder of a post said to have existed continuously since 1376 .Apart from chairing the Commons, Mr Martin has a duty to maintain discipline and uphold the dignity of the house. No Speaker has been forcibly removed since 1695, when Sir John Trevor was sacked for taking a £1,000 bribe. Mr Martin, a former sheet metalworker from Glasgow, is proud of rising to the position from his humble origins. He is also the first Catholic to hold the post since the Reformation. He was elected from the Labour benches but support for the Speaker on his own side is waning. Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have long been disgruntled with his  performance. He has been accused of bias towards Labour members and allowing the police to raid the offices of Damian Green, the Tory MP. Mr Martin and his wife have been accused of making excessive expense claims of their own, The Speaker resisted the disclosure of MPs’ expenses under freedom of information laws. Lord Foulkes, a Labour peer, said Mr Martin has tried to clean up the expenses system and was the victim of a media campaign – led by the Daily Mail’s Quentin Letts – which has “undertones of both snobbery and sectarian prejudice”. Mr Letts described Mr Martin’s behaviour, after a statement on expenses last week, as a “puce-cheeked, finger-wagging, dooon’t-you-cross-me-Jimmy tantrum, improper from any chairman of a parish meeting, let along the Speaker of a Commons in crisis”.