Speaker Martin has announced that he will be leaving his position on June 21 and a new Speaker will be elected on June 22. Astonishingly (or perhaps not) Bob Spink, the one and only UKIP MP was the first to jump up with his tributes.
Sadly, the Tories still don't get it. ToryBoy Blog thinks it is a victory for Douglas Carswell. It is not, despite the excellence of his campaign; it is not even a victory for the House of Commons. Speaker Martin has gone because the Prime Minister has decided to throw his now useless ally under the bus. To the end, he has obeyed the Government not the House.
Already voices are being raised that this venal, incompetent bully who has never understood his constitutional position is being scapegoated by the nasty MPs. If only. But the Tories have once again managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
If this report of a proposed "reform" or, in other words, more power being taken away from the Commons and given to a quango, is true, then we can say for sure that not only the Tories but the entire system of parliamentary government (still there in theory though not in practice) will suffer a huge defeat.
'Independent MP'. Defector or not, they just can't make themselves say the word UKIP, can they?
ReplyDeleteAnd what a lot of tosh the Torygraph article was too. The biggest criticisms were that he wasn't 'modern' enough? The biggest criticisms were that he was a corrupt, partisan blowhard who has thoroughly debased his office. But once again, the baby will be thrown out with the bathwater.
Who is this Stuart Bell creature and what business is it of the cabinet to approve reforms?
ReplyDeleteThe timing of Martin's exit - only once Brown abandoned him - is proof enough of his allegiance. His contempt for Parliament is complete in that his exit was not first announced in the Commons. That the current Speaker is incompetent and partisan is no justification to largely do away with the role. But seemingly it is what the Government wants and too many in Parliament will be okay with that.
According to BBC Online Speaker Martin will get a seat in the Lords straight away ... the Labour Party in Glasgow NE are preparing for a by-election.
ReplyDeleteNick
Ann Widdecombe for Speaker.
ReplyDeleteWhat did it cost.Lord Mick of Gorbels?
I think the seat in the Lords was predictable. They all do, though how he can face someone like Betty Boothroyd, I can't even begin to imagine.
ReplyDeleteI guess the Government is using this as a "beneficial crisis". I'd like to think that the MPs will fight it. But I am not hoping for much. The rest of us have to fight it, though.
So Spink isnt ukip anymore then? Must have missed that...
ReplyDelete"What did it cost.Lord Mick of Gorbels?"
ReplyDeleteHe won't even be Lord Mick of Gorbals.
He is not from Gorbals, that was merely a pejorative, borderline racist, term dreamed up by London snobs like Quentin Letts.
Like calling somebody from Finchley by the name of Brixton Maggie.