If Cameron won’t, Clegg should tell the Speaker to go

The issue of who is the Speaker of the House of Commons should not be a party political issue. But there is no way the Commons can begin to put its house in order and begin the urgent task of restoring the public’s trust in it as long as Michael Martin remains in office. He has fought transparency at every turn. Indeed, even now—as Heather Brooke reported the other day—he is still trying to block the release of information. His attitude also exemplifies what is wrong about the way too many MPs have treated the expenses system; Martin allegedly told another MP that “I have been a trade unionist all my life. I did not come into politics not to take what is owed to me.”

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David Butterfield

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Word is that David Cameron feels he cannot call for Martin to go openly because of the constitutional implications of doing so.