Brown, Clegg support Speaker Martin

BRITAIN: PRIME MINISTER Gordon Brown and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg have given support to troubled Commons Speaker Michael Martin in face of fresh calls for him to stand down.

The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards has been asked to investigate a second complaint in respect of Mr Martin's use of his parliamentary expenses, while the former "sleaze" watchdog Alistair Graham has suggested the Speaker should hand over his review of MPs' allowances to an independent body.

Mr Brown insisted yesterday that Mr Martin has been "a very, very good Speaker". Mr Clegg, meanwhile, echoed the suspicions of some senior Labour figures that Mr Martin appeared to be the victim of "a witch-hunt".

The Lib Dem leader also said he was confident Mr Martin was "fully committed" to overhauling parliament's expenses system.

However, Labour MP David Winnick reinforced the sense of unease across party lines when he raised a point of order to suggest "greater urgency" in the Speaker's "root and branch" inquiry into all aspects of MPs' expenses. Urging a report back before the autumn, Mr Winnick said recent stories such as those concerning MPs' expenses had done damage to the reputation of the Commons.

The Speaker replied that he would continue as planned "until this House decides otherwise", adding: "And that is a good thing for the reputation of this House."

At the same time, respected Conservative backbencher Peter Bottomley told the BBC that, while Mr Martin should not be "hounded out", the Speaker might now be "ambitious" to think of serving a third term.

With no formal mechanism for MPs to remove him, however, the London Times yesterday suggested the Speaker had "manoeuvred himself into an untenable position" and should stand down.

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times