Labour Tactical Seat Planning?

In a pastiche to Jeff at SNP Tactical Voting my good friend Caron raised an intersting point last night when she wrote:

"The question is will Devine resign now, like Ian Gibson, and cause another by-election? If he did, that would be a major headache for Labour in Scotland as they also have to defend Speaker Martin's Glasgow seat. While having the first Livingston by election on the same day as the Scottish Parliament Cathcart by-election split the Nationalist effort, the climate was very different then."

She does have a point. During Glasgow East and Glenrothes by elections I've seen the SNP by election nest of ants (like this anagram) in motion. It is a reminder of full blooded Lib Dem campaigns like Dunfermline and West Fife and elsewhere that I have been to. Ok apart from having a marquee where activists appear to hang around the HQ. Or is it just me that gets sent out again once I have restocked on snacks and been to the toilet?

However, I'm sure Labour have to. They have in their hands the writ for any Labour held seat by election (that included the speaker's Glasgow North East). So may there be a prompting to get Devine to stand aside now so that they can run two campaigns in the hope that two clean untarnished Labour candidates (if they can be found) can contest the two seats in the hope of defending at least one if not both of them, in the hope of retaining at least one of the new breed of post expenses MP.

Yeah the political landscape may have changed since 2005 and the SNP juggernaut may well think they have a chance even with split resources of taking on all comers (though I'd love to throw a Lib Dem spanner in the works). But is it a risk, a spin of the dice, an electioneering coup that a Labour party strategist may be looking at pulling off the shelf....sorry couldn't resist that pun.

We live in interesting times.

Tick Tock....When Will Speaker be gone?

After this afternoon's statement followed by stumblings over just what sort of motion was being raised against him surely the clock is ticking on Michael Martin speaker of the house of commons. But just when will it stop ticking. I see there being 6 options.

1. He will go himself before tonight. He'll realise just how much feeling there is against him. Maybe the party leaders will even take up the offer to see him early and they may all already be gathering to advise him to go.


2. Before the House rises in tomorrow. Having had a night to think about it, he will go before the Motion of Confidence is present on the order paper.


3. He will be ousted during business tomorrow. If he fails to allow a debate on the motion of no confidence in himself there may well be a sucession of points of order asking him to move to the debate. The order of the House will be lost and the Government will have no option but to move the debate they wanted to avoid will procede and the Speaker will go dishonourably on a vote.


4. He will go in two days time when he does convene the meetings of the leader. Already the actions of Cameron and Brown are tacit indications that their support has been lifted so as no to hinded others to make their choices. That meeting should be the final nail in the coffin if he survives that long.


5. He may come to an agreement that he will go at the Summer recess ready for a sucessor to be selected when the House returns.


6. The final option which seems most unlikely is that he will survive until the General Election is called. However, if he lasts that long the public and many in the House will not be happy.

These are the various choses. I've set up a poll in the side bar take a vote as to how long you think we'll have the current speaker.

Quote of the Day: Michael Connarty

In today's Scotsman Linlithgow and Falkirk East MP says the calls for the Speaker Michael Martin to step down are 'complete and utter rubbish'.

He goes on to accuse Nick Clegg of bullying, but what about the speakers actions in the House last week towards Kate Hoey and Norman Baker.

Michael's words in support of the Speaker over the expenses row would have more impact if in January he hadn't said that supplying receipts to back all his expense claims deems the process to meet it for FOI 'ridiculous and tiresome'.

Michael was out of touch in January and remains out of touch today.

Open Letter to the Speaker From Lib Dem PPCs

It of course is not just sitting MPs that are being effected by the fallout over MPs expenses and the speakers poor handling of the whole scenario it is those that are seeking to stand as an alternative.

Therefore the letter that follows from 56 Lib Dem PPCs in an election year in unprecedented but shows that we need to clear this whole shebang up now or as soon as possible so that those who will be standing in the next General Election (an I hope myself to be included in that number) are not being tarnished by the sins of our forebears.


Dear Mr Speaker,
As Parliament continues to be dragged down by the allowance system, and its rules, the role of those in public service across the country is being undermined.

We are Liberal Democrat candidates seeking to be elected to Parliament and yet we find ourselves disappointed, and frustrated, at the way in which this matter is being handled. Every day our residents are telling us loudly that this must stop and this must stop now.

Three things stand out:

• The resistance to the releasing of these documents and the attempt to exclude Parliament from the Freedom of Information requirements
• The way in which Norman Baker and Kate Hoey were treated when they sought to raise legitimate concerns
• The fact that, through you, Parliament could now release the information into the public domain and cut short this parade of drip-fed news and empower MPs and citizens through a new transparent relationship.

It is vital that Parliament must become transparent and accountable now. We call on you, as Speaker of the House, to do everything within your power to force the full publication of all expenses immediately. We also call on you to accept the independent review of MPs expenses and salaries chaired by Sir Christopher Kelly.

If you are unable to do this we then ask you to consider your position. Time is running out for politicians of all parties to repair the damage to our democracy.
Yours sincerely

56 Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidates

Ed Fordham, Hampstead and Kilburn

Sal Brinton, Watford

Andrew Simpson, Northampton North

Bridget Fox, Islington South & Finsbury

Duncan Borrowman, Old Bexley and Sidcup

Steve Goddard, Oxford East

Adrian Collett, Aldershot

Adam Carew, East Hampshire

Gareth Epps, Reading East

Sally Morgan, Central Devon

Sue Doughty, Guildford

Rebecca Hunt. Chatham & Aylesford

Sarah Carr, Hereford and South Herefordshire

Guy Voizey Canterbury and Whitstable

Jo Shaw, Holborn and St Pancras

Liz Leffman, Meon Vallley

Merlene Emerson, Hammersmith

Sandy Walkington, St Albans

Richard Burt, West Worcestershire

Caroline Pigeon, Vauxhall

Kevin Lang, Edinburgh North & Leith

Andrew Dakers, Brentford and Isleworth

Andrew Duffield,Hexham

David Kendall, Brentwood and Ongar

Ann Haigh, Epping Forest

Simon Wright, Norwich South

Liz Simpson, Tonbridge and Malling

Sam Webber, Bromley and Chislehurst

Rabi Martins - Luton North

Greg Stone, Newcastle EastT

heo Butt-Philip, Bridgwater and West Somerset

Dave Radcliffe, Birmingham Selly Oak

Richard Clein, Sefton Central

Mike Cox, Uxbridge and South Ruislip

Andy Stamp, Gillingham & Rainham

Stephen Lloyd, Eastbourne & Willingdon

Mark Blackburn, Westminster North

Denis Healy, Hull North

Robin Lawrence, Wolverhampton South West

Alex Feakes, Lewisham and West Penge

Andrew Falconer, Brighton Pavilion

Dave McBride, Orpington

Nigel Quinton, Hitchin & Harpenden

Alan Beddow, Warwick and Leamington

David Goodall, Southampton Itchen

Ryk Downes, Leeds Central

Chris Took, Ashford

Peter Wilcock, Saffron Walden

Karen Hamilton, Birmingham Perry Barr

Qurban Hussain, Luton South

Keith Angus, Hackney North and Stoke Newington

Stephen Robinson, Chelmsford

Mike Bell, Weston-super-Mare

Dave Raval, Hackney South and Shoreditch

Fred Mackintosh, Edinburgh South

Munira Wilson, Feltham and Heston

Paul Zukowskyj, Welwyn Hatfield

Mr Speaker to Speak; But What?

Morten Morland from The Times 18 May 2009

Michael Martin the Speaker of the House of Commons has announced he will address MPs later on today. With growing support across all parties for a vote of no confidence in him how he handles this and what he says will be of absolute importance.

Yesterday Nick Clegg broke with the convention of the Leaders of the main parties not criticising the Speaker when on the Andrew Marr show he called for him to go saying:

"I do not think the Speaker should be made a scapegoat...for the individual failings of many MPs.

Equally I do not think we can afford the luxury of a Speaker, who is supposed to embody Westminster, who has been dragging his feet on transparency and greater accountability in the way MPs receive their expenses."

The reason Clegg gave for breaking this convention is that the system is broken and Parliament needs a clean start. The people are expecting that but Martin has done all he can to avoid transparency even taking legal action to prevent Freedom of Information requests being made public, as well as his recent attack on Kate Hoey in the chamber.

But the expenses issue Nick says is merely the tip of the iceberg that is threatening to sink Parliament. He went further calling for the electorate to have to right to call an election of any member found to have done wrong by the Committee on Standards. Also calling for a cutting in the size and power of Whitehall and giving new freedoms including money raising to local communities. Also the need for a written constitution is required. As Nick said there are all these conventions and unwritten rules that hog tie too often Parliamentary reform the very things that lead to lack of understanding and comprehension from the public.

So Nick is the only party leader who is grasping the depth that this issue is going and prepared to stand up to say and do what needs to be said and done. He is leading from the front with decisiveness, authority and clarity. The others are trying to look like they are aware of the need for change but are trying to appease too much their own MPs through fudging around the issues and ignoring the people who's representatives the Members are.

However, it is how Mr Speaker Martin uses his public utterances later that is crucial. If he comes out fighting aiming to cling on without observing his surroundings he will merely be like Captain Smith firing up the engines to continue to run Parliament head on into the iceberg. What the fall out of him staying on and fighting the groundswell of loss of support may well have equally Titanic repercussions.

Oh Dear! Inverse Snob Connarty

I see that Alan Cochrane in the Torygraph has had a right go at local Labour MP, and speaker's defender-in-chief, Michael Connarty about his utterances on Sunday's Politics Show on BBC Scotland.

Frankly Alan took exception once Connarty went off the cue cards issued from the Whips' office i.e. the points that MPs couldn’t be immune from the law and that serious crimes had to be investigated without fear or favour, and turned it into a class issue. Connarty apparently went on to say that the crux of the matter for his friend the speaker Michael Martin was that he was under fire because he was working class.

"The establishment", said Michael M, choosing to forget that it’s Labour that’s been in power for the past 11 years, didn’t want a "working class man in the job." He said he recalled the Tories putting forward someone for the post of Speaker on the basis that he was an Old Etonian and "of the right class".

Well Cochrane quite correctly pointed out that the speakers during the last 16 years of Tory governments, run by the daughter of a grocer and son of a trapeze artist, including rather more working class speakers that Michael C would like us to remember. George Thomas, later Viscount Tonypandy, 1976-83 was the son of miner and a Labour MP to boot. Bernard "Jack" Weatherill (1983-92) may have been a Tory started his adult life as an apprentice tailor. Then there was the former shop assistant from Yorkshire, who became a high-kicking tiller girl for yes Betty Boothroyd (1992-2000) was also Labour.

Maybe Connarty is going as far back as the previous appointee John Selwyn Lloyd (1971-76) who after all went to a Public School, before going up to Magdalen College, Cambridge. So obviously being a Oxbridge graduate and Old Fettesian must not be the right combination for Michael C and we should all clearly leave off Micheal M. But isn't that just the sort of person that he served under as Prime Minister for 10 years, OK the University is wrong but the school is an exact match.

Personally I think it is a speaker who is a friend of Labour whether willfully, through ignorance or through looking the other way, allowing Labour's draconian anti-terror laws to be used yet again too heavy handedly. That has only one thing to do with class and that is failure to behave with any not how one was "brung up".

I'm only upset that I missed the original airing of the programme, but then again I'm liable to have been shouting at the screen or worse if I'd heard such clearly ungrounded drivel. So I spared my neighbours a good old rant no doubt.

Gordon Brown: Freedom of Information and £100k

So after a Freedom of Information ruling to release 14 MPs and ex-MPs recent expense claims. We are now being told that a £100,000 court action has been raised to stop this disclosure.

My next step was to look up the voting record of the most senior today of those 14, Gordon Brown on public whip. Guess what there is no vote recorded next to the then chancellor on this legislation. Although as it was being championed by his cabinet collegue Jack Straw surely he would have been in favour, had he not been otherwise detained on 4 April 2000. Of course the Member for Witney, wasn't David Cameron in those days so also we have no definitive idea how he would have voted on that issue.

However, now with the backing of the Speaker of the House, these 2 plus 12 others are trying to by-pass legislation passed within the house. So they are going to spend even more tax-payers money to avoid disclosing just what expenses they have incurred.

Surely that is immoral at all sorts of levels. What are they so scared to give up? Surely it can't only be their addresses, surely if this is a security issue and current information that would be except from full disclosure. But the values of these expenses should not be kept from us any more. After three years of FOI consideration of this issue there were nearly given up, now we find our government is not so keen on freedom of information as they would like you to believe they are. Oh yes they want to have all your information but are not prepared to give anything back.

It's Good To Talk About It

See what happens when people get together to talk about things. All the bitterness of days gone by can be laid to rest.

Nick and the current incumbent of the Speaker's Chair Michael Martin got together to talk about the spat that erupted in the House on Tuesday. Especially as the amendment calling for a referendum had apparently been accepted by Commons clerks therefore making it eligible for debate.

The whole debacle seems to come down to whether the Lisbon Treaty is a reworking of the European Constitution. Under a very slightly different guise and a totally different name. Seeing as all three main parties promised a referendum on the Constitution in the last General Election in 2005, it depends on how much the Lisbon Treaty comes under the requirements for a public con census.

The Lib Dems clearly believe it does and the whole referendum should be on membership. The Tories also say they are substantially the same and the public should have a vote on the treaty. Only Labour with a reputation for stealth, subterfuge and downright lies seem to think the two should be treated differently.