The Speaker has fallen - So what’s next. Part 1 - The Speaker
With the resignation of the Speaker, the blood-letting has formally begun.
Current and former ministers, Committee Chairs, backbenchers have been drawn into the quagmire. Even the few who have been deemed to have been Saints such as Ed Miliband, Adam Afriyie, Alan Johnson, Vince Cable due to their low running costs have all been tarnished and Parliament itself is being referred to as the Moat Parliament or the Manure Parliament. But the Speaker has been the first to officially fall on his sword.
It is fascinating to look at how the expenses story has evolved in the press. According to Assistant Editor, Benedict Brogan on last week’s Question Time, The Telegraph has had the disks for at least a month and have had a team of 25 journalists plugging through the millions of receipts and documents.
At first the public was simply disgusted by shocking story was but as the media continued to bay for blood, the public have been whipped up into a frenzy with the sleaze story to end all sleaze stories.
The blood-letting will continue and we will witness further infighting as a number of MPs scramble to get the position of Poison Chalice, sorry I mean Speaker.
Who will it be? Will it be old guard, Sir George Young, Sir Alan Haselhurst? Will it be the Lib-Dems turn, Vince Cable, Sir Menzies Campbell? Will it be a fresh face like John Bercow? Or could they go with a temporary Speaker who could hold the House in order until the next general election, someone like Ann Widdecombe? Or will it be someone from complete left field?
I’m not going to discuss the merits of each - that will be played out in the media in the coming days and weeks. Loyalties will be questioned, reputations tarnished, dirty little secrets aired.
But without question, in living memory, never has a choice of Speaker been so important in the eyes of the public and this is a decision that Parliament has to get right.
Tags: Expenses, politics, Speaker
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