Politics

[caddyman]

I see the Speaker of the House of Commons has decided to jump before he is pushed.

I have to say that I feel a little sorry for the chap. I realise that he is in charge of the system of payment and scrutiny of MPs’ expenses and such, but he didn’t design the system. While the Speaker’s Office could and should have done more to keep an eye on MPs’ expenses, the charges levelled against him by the House of Commons seems to boil down to ”You are to blame for our lack of morals and personal honour because you didn’t make it sufficiently difficult for us to cheat the system”.

I don’t see that he’s any more to blame than those who claimed irregular expenses. If he’s to go, they should go too.

Comments

[budgie-uk.livejournal.com]

I don't think he's going solely because of the Expenses row, but because MPs of all parties are taking the opportunity of get rid of a truly appalling Speaker.

This is just the excuse they're using.

[jfs.livejournal.com]

Largely, I agree with this. The man's been a bully in the chair, especially when compared to his predecessor, Betty Boothroyd.

The fact that he tried to use a point of order to stifle the motion of no confidence in him was the last straw.

Having said that, his undemocratic behaviour is separate to the expenses kurfuffle and should be treated as such.