 | 'Mr Martin may have been the worst Speaker for three centuries, who did nothing to prevent MPs from cheating the public. But he didn't force any of them to do it, either. That was their own decisionÊ -Ê and they must pay for it.' Daily Mail Editorial, 18 th May 2009. |  |
As senior figures in all three parties demand he must go, Michael Martin now looks almost certain to become the first Commons Speaker to be forced out of office since Sir John Trevor was fired for accepting a bribe in 1695. Good.
Since the day he took the chair, Mr Martin has shown himself woefully ill-equippedÊ -Ê intellectually, temperamentally and, yes, morallyÊ -Ê for his responsibilities.
His ejection will be a necessary first step towards purging Parliament of the rank corruption that flourished on his watch, as he fought to keep the expenses scandal secret from a public now clamouring for retribution.
The question is: when will he go? Outrageously, it's being suggested that Mr Martin will merely promise to stand down at the next electionÊ -Ê thereby qualifying for a £100,000 'golden goodbye' and avoiding the risk of a Labour byelection defeat in his Glasgow seat. The public won't stand for that.
How can the clean-up so much as begin, while the biggest obstacle to reform lingers on, for what could be another year?
True, it's hard to think of a successor, untainted by the expenses scandal, who commands the authority to begin the Herculean task of restoring trust.
But the search must begin today.
Meanwhile, let the fiddlers and frauds be warned: Mr Martin's departure won't lift an ounce of the pressure upon them to account and atone individually for their wrongdoings.Ê
That won't just mean repaying their ill-gotten gains. It will mean resignations, sackings, de-selectionsÊ -Ê and criminal trials for the worst offenders.
Mr Martin may have been the worst Speaker for three centuries, who did nothing to prevent MPs from cheating the public.
But he didn't force any of them to do it, either. That was their own decisionÊ -Ê and they must pay for it.
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