It sounds as if he is going to try and hang on for as long as possible.
Motion of no confidence. Kicked into the grass.
Carswell: Martin is arguing with him.
It's already descended into chaos of procedures because Martin does not know!
David Winnick: Give an indication of his intention to retire.
David Heath for Lib Dems: A not very subtle suggestion that the bad guys remove themselves.
Sir Patrick Cormack (Con): "profound concern about motion to remove Martin"
Several members want to bring the inquiry forward.
Richard Shepherd (con): People will not be serious about changes while Martin is there.
Sir Stuart Bell (Lab): a typical toady message of "support"
Martin: "HOC commission has a responsibility" What does this mean?
David Davis: "A sad day for all of us"
Martin again tries to push responsibility for his position on to the Government.
Martin is clearly going to carry on fighting. He is not going to allow debate about it!
Mark Field (Conservative): "Fraudulent" claims.
Martins response is "caution" and shuts him up.
The whole session is a fiasco. A nothing. Worse than nothing, no pledges to leave and anybody who objects is shut up.
A very bad day for Parliament and the Speaker has totally failed to live up to his position.
Reaction: "Speaker did not sense the feeling..He just doesn't get" - it Lyn Featherstone.
Douglas Carswell: "He's flunked it" "The anger of constituents.. not aware of the scale of the anger" "If after all of this, MPs will not put names to motion of no confidence, they are not interested in cleaning Westminster up" "the voice of the Speaker..taking a step back"
John Sopel (BBC): "Speaker fighting for his life in an undignified scramble for votes" "the Speaker has to have the unanimous support, surely?"
So, Michael Martin has refused to say when he is going.
Good to see James Landale (BBC) back.
Sir Patrick Cormack (Con): " A serious and sad situation. Deeply shocked. "If the Speaker had said he was going to step down, that would have been the right way."
"I don't look upon Martin as a scapegoat"
QUOTE OF THE DAY (Sir Stuart Bell, (Lab):
"The Majority of the House of Commons supports the Speaker"
The bombshell is that Martin has not revealed his intentions about standing down, something much trailed by the pundits.
1 comment:
Speaker Martin is very embarrassing. Never mind all his attempts to stifle open debate about MPs expenses the man can't even speak more than a few sentences without fluffing his lines. He's got his speech in front of him for Gods (allah pbuh) sake.
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