The Speaker of the House of Commons, Michael Martin, has apparently agreed to quit his post, but wants to stay on as an MP until the next election, in a year’s time, so as to safeguard his £100,000 pay and perks and help his son Paul to ‘inherit’ his Glasgow constituency seat.
As well as his well publicised antics in Parliament during the expense claims saga, Michael Martin has been involved in a series of expenses controversies himself and has claimed almost £45,000 of expenses on his constituency home in the last four years,despite living in a lavish grace-and-favour apartment.
If he were to be sacked, he would become the first Speaker to be removed from his post for 313 years.
If he is sacked as both Speaker and as an MP, it is almost certain that Labour would lose the subsequent by-election in his Glasgow constituency to the SNP. That, of course, is something that Mr Bean will be keen to avoid at all costs, already being the most unpopular Prime Minister in history.
Another problem facing Parliament is the (sad) fact that most of those considered to have been potential successors to Mr Martin are also embroiled in the expense claim scandal.