Michael Martin refuses to apologise for outburst
By Alex Stevenson and Ian Dunt
Commons Speaker Michael Martin has refused to apologise for his outburst in parliament yesterday when facing objections to his handling of the expenses scandal.
Mr Martin’s handling of the Commons’ expenses crisis is now likely to lead to a vote of no confidence in the House, a possibility he implicitly accepted today in his replies.
He was asked by Labour MP David Winnick whether he would apologise to Kate Hoey, whose questioning of the decision to call police to investigate the expenses leak prompted Mr Martin to mock her in the Commons yesterday.
“I don’t think the honourable gentleman was in the Chamber yesterday,” Mr Martin replied.
“That was the business of yesterday.”
Mr Winnick retorted that the answer was “not adequate”, to which Mr Martin replied: “If it’s not adequate then the honourable gentleman knows what he must do then.”
That comment is being interpreted as an invitation put down a vote of no confidence.
Conservative MP Douglas Carswell was already expected to table a similar motion after Mr Martin’s statements yesterday, which prompted widespread anger.
During the same session, however, Mr Martin announced an independent audit would assess the expenses claims. The House of Commons Commission, which met after his statement to the House, is considering whether to release the expenses data before the currently-planned July date.
The Speaker also expressed a wider need for reform but frustrated many MPs by attacking those who criticised his decision to call in police to investigate the leaking of expenses documents.
And Mr Carswell, who claims to have previously been frustrated with Mr Martin’s performance, has said he is canvassing for signatures before tabling his draft motion.
Gordon Brown has declared his “full support” for Michael Martin, but Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg said he was “very wrong”.
“I think the Speaker got it wrong, very wrong,” he said.
“It is clear parliament as a whole owes an apology to the British public. He needs to reflect that sense of apology and the urgency for new rules that put MPs beyond any further suspicion.”
Meanwhile, Mr Carswell told the Today programme: “There’s a man who is out of his depth who is reacting bizarrely to justified criticism over the way he and the Commons authorities have handled this.
“He at best has the air of a bemused passenger in that car crash of an institution that the House of Commons has become.”
Mr Carswell, the MP for Harwich and Clacton, warned the Commons was “heading for the rocks” and said a new Speaker, chosen by secret ballot, would give them a “mandate for change” independent of the whips.
Observers say despite his frustration Mr Martin is unlikely to be hanging up his Speaker’s stockings soon.
The Labour benches are unlikely to abandon an MP from their side of the House, while the Conservatives could be unwilling to elect a Speaker on Labour’s terms with a general election looming.
