And another thing…

Any views on Sir Malcolm Rifkind?

Gah, I wanted Frank Field, but I’m inclined to take your word for it that it won’t be a Labour MP.

“I am strongly inclined towards one particular candidate at the moment, but I’m not going to say who it is until we know exactly who’s in the running.”

Spoil sport

As this episode is a bit of a constitutional minefield could you let me know if this speaker will be expected to remain after the general election?

If so then is a Tory really the best option? I prefer an oppososition member to be speaker.

Secondly BBC interviews seem to be indicating that many Labour MPs are privately supporting the idea of bringing forward a general election to Autumn. Care to comment?

Many thanks

Simon

I wanted Frank Field as well and I’m a tory! The speaker needs to be a person of conviction and integrity able to rise above party politics. Frank has all those qualities in abundance.

So there’s absolutely no chance of the next Speaker being a Mr Tom Harris?

Damn.

It’s too late to correct the wrong and select a Tory this time around.

Labour are on the way out, it’d make more sense and be better to elect a Labour speaker for the upcoming Tory Government.

Michael Fabricant?

Obviously, we can’t nominate you, Mr H. We would miss the sheer heat generated by your blogging/tweeting. (Which rules out Jo Swinson too I suppose.) What about Jacqui Lait..?

For fairness I think the Speaker should never come from the party in government if there is an election for the speaker. Mr martin should never have been speaker it should have come from one of the opposition parties

I’d love Malcolm Rifkind.

The Tory support, and many MPs do not want Bercow. He’s betrayed us by whoring himself out to the left wing of the Labour party. Honestly, I think someone like Purnell would be classed as a nationalistic Empire loyalist compared to Bercow.

I take it, you do not support the idea of hereditary peerages. I wonder if you agree with the idea of hereditary Parliamentary seats? A bit like the rotten boroughs of old, where you gained your position through power, influence and money.

As early as December 7th last year, the Telegraph reported:

“Some Scottish Labour insiders believe that the Speaker could be willing to signal his intention to step down at the next election in exchange for an assurance that his son, Paul Martin, would be Labour’s candidate in his Glasgow seat.”

This story has not gone away.

I thought people joined the Labour party to fight those who sought to use influence within in order to gain advantage for favourites?

But of course, I thought people joined the Labour party to serve the country and not feather their own nests. Stupid, stupid me.

It seems Mr Martin has far more in common with his disgraced predecessor of over three hundred years ago than I first thought and also the Monarchy for good measure. He clearly believes in primogeniture.

As for his friends, who played the “class war” card for all it was worth, despite former Speakers who came from modest backgrounds having no such problems, they then went on to suggest it was because he was a Scot that he was hounded out.

No, the reason he has gone is because he was not up to the job, not because he was a sheet metal worker. Perhaps, if he had kept a pop rivet in his pocket, to remind him of where he came from, (Bernard Wetherall famously kept a thimble in his) it might have caused him to remember the privilege of high office.

I hope the next incumbent will be above all a Parliamentarian, and a defender of those who serve with honour.

Malcolm Rifkind……now theres an idea i hadn’t entertained…but now you mention it, it kind of works!?!

First of all, despite the scepticism of some readers, the next Speaker will absolutely not come from the Labour benches….Every Labour colleague I have spoken to so far is agreed the next Speaker must be a Tory.

If that’s true (I’m not doubting you Tom) I’m impressed.

Personally I thought Labour MP’s would take ‘revenge’. There’s seems to be too many that thought the issue over Martin was ‘class based’ rather than the fact he was generally not very good.

Frank Field seems a popular choice amongst the Tories though

The question isn’t, who will be Speaker. It’s, what is this malarkey about an “independent regulator” I read in the Telegraph?

It’s parliament. It’s supposed to be sovereign and answerable only to we, the people, who put you there. It’s not supposed to be “independently regulated” and let us just be clear, there is no such thing as an “independent” regulator.

Parliament’s sovereignty now subverted to the quangocracy? A regulator of it chosen from that oily bunch who sidle from position to position in the corporatist state?

For heaven’s sake. Some people fiddled their expenses. If they broke the law, arrest them. If we don’t like them, we’ll sack them at the next general election. If we do like them, we may forgive them. They are subject to us, their electorate.

So now we have carefully engineered contempt used as an excuse to tear down yet more of what little remains of the “constitution”.

Don’t let this happen. The scandal will blow over.

@Will S.
“Michael Fabricant?”

You can’t imagine how hard it is not to make the obvious comment!

“Every Labour colleague I have spoken to so far is agreed the next Speaker must be a Tory.”

Or possibly a liberal. Cable’s ruled himself out (presumably because he harbours fantasies of becoming chancellor in a hung Lab/Lib coalition) and Field is a non-runner from the gate but that still leaves Ming the Merciless.

I take it I’m the only one who thinks that Ann Widdecombe would be a good choice?

I think Doris Karloff would be an excellent choice. Regardless of her specific political views, so far as one can tell from out here beyond the palace railings she’s a person of integrity who’d take the impartiality requirement of the job and the duty to maintian the good name of parliament very seriously.

Michael Fabricant would be a great Speaker, and we would be assured of a return to the dignity of the office since he will almost certainly wish to return to the regalia of silk stockings, and particularly, though for no reason obvious to me, a wig.

Tom.

You say you are strongly inclined towards one particular candidate at the moment.

This would indicate they have declared.
Otherwise they would be a potential candidate.

To the best of my knowledge only Alan Beith has declared.

Is it him?

Ken Clarke is the man.

Tom,

The Prime Minister has just said in a news conference that “MPs must get out into their local communities” regarding public anger over the expenses issue.

Will you be doing this?

‘Britain’s Next Speaker’?

I think it should be televised, with an Irish funny man compering, and the party leaders on the bench.

“And what are you going to do for us, Tom?”

Doris has said that she plans to stand down at the next election. She might change her plans of course. I agree she’d be an interesting choice, even as a stop-gap.

Oh dear. Now, no remarks about the lady’s physique please. She has a fine mind for someone who’s so wrong about so much.

@Will, Liberanos.

Remind me. Does the Speaker still wear a wig?

@Jim Baxter.

Surprised you haven’t suggested the fragrant Teresa.

Sorry!

Nadine?

Think about it, Tory yet independent and supported Michael Martin.

The post-world war II convention of selecting speakers from alternate parties is probably one that should be restored. I guess that is Tom’s point here.

Why not a speaker from the SNP, Plaid Cymru, the DUP or god forbid Sinn Féin.

WHY NOT?

Okay, okay, no need to shout.

I might, at a push, have considered a LibDem if he/she were an outstanding candidate. But the SNP, PC and SF are all committed to the destruction of the Union, which, in my humble opinion, should exclude them from occupying a pivotal poisition in the UK constitution.

The Grim Reaper
Tuesday 19 May 2009 at 4:17 pm
So there’s absolutely no chance of the next Speaker being a Mr Tom Harris?

Damn.
—————————————–

Ruled himself out by declaring that he’s ‘tribal’.

We’ve had enough of ‘tribal’ speakers (and so has the Commons apparently).

Wrinkled Weasel
they then went on to suggest it was because he was a Scot that he was hounded out.
————————————

One clown even suggested it was because he was Roman Catholic.

You know, down here, in the capitalist secular part of Britain, strange as it may seem, we don’t give a monkey’s what religion someone is.

“Many colleagues on both sides believe Michael Martin’s successor should not be a “Tory grandee”, “

That’s a shame because I was rooting for Douglas Hogg.

Mr Harris, as aformer transport minister, you of all people know that the destruction of the Union commenced with the European Communities Act 1972. (Tory)
The Acts of Devolution for Scotland, NI & Wales were New Labour pursuits and balkanised the uk

The Lisbon treaty when enacted will be the icing on the cake. You may as well ask Barroso to take up the speakers chair.

I agree with Tom on the subject of the Lib Dems: as willing as I would be to support one, I can’t see a worthy candidate. All of the minor parties are anti-union, as he says.

If even all Labour MPs believe it must be a Tory (I would appreciate it if Tom could go into more detail on this though, given the partisan nature of many Labour MPs), then so be it. Having looked through the list of current Tory MPs, I can see only one worthy name: Sir Patrick Cormack.

Nadine Doris?? You’re not serious! She would never get it, and if she did then i’m off! Do you have list a favorite at the moment Tom that we might tempt you to reveal?

Oh, and anyone but John Bercow. I’d rather have Dennis Skinner than John Bercow.

In reply to Paul Halsall there was no such convention. Conservative Speakers followed Conservative Speakers in 1951 and again in 1959.

The convention is that the initial choice for Speaker is always a government MP (between 1965 and 1992 it was just a coincidence vacancies fell under alternative governments); but alternative choices can be nominated. Only in 1992 has the House rejected the government nominee, largely because of the specifics of that election (MP who had just left the Cabinet vs Deputy Speaker who would be the first female Speaker), not because of a sudden conversion to any principle of rotation. Michael Martin’s election in 2000 was entirely in line with the conventions.

Of course the rules introduced since 2000 mean this convention is largely redundant because multiple MPs will now face off in a secret ballot.

Labour MPs only want Bercow because he has been a consistent thorn in his own party’s side. They’ll have to do better than that to justify the man who has routinely claimed more in allowances than any other MP – even though he represents a home counties constituency.

Well, just to put another name into the mix, might I suggest my local MP? Mr. Geoffrey Cox Q.C. Not a name to set the world alight, not a man with a huge ego, or a chippy ideologue. Just an ordinary constituency MP who always answers any letters and e-mails sent to him with decency and transparency, and who seems to genuinely take seriously the concerns of the people whom he represents. No fuss, no drama, no grandstanding, just a backwoodsman MP who could carry out the role of Speaker with the dignity it deserves. Now is not the time to elect a ‘personality’ to the job of Speaker. We just need someone to do the job quietly and effectively.

You’re such a tease. Although, I agree that the next speaker’s name is not one that is being touted much at the moment, if at all.

‘I am strongly inclined towards one particular candidate at the moment, but I’m not going to say who it is until we know exactly who’s in the running.’

Just a reminder, Joanna Lumley is *not* an MP, despite all evidence to the contrary…

The idea of Ken Clarke in frock coat, ruff, hose, and brown suede hush puppies is almost irresistible.

Has Glenda Jackson still got her ruff and wig from ‘Elizabeth R’?

It’s time to start making economies…

If Ken Clarke got the job, would he have to have silver buckles fitted to his hush puppies?

Another Tory vote for Frank Field here – he’d be excellent.

@Rapunzel

Once again you mock my dreams.

http://tinyurl.com/pw2jcu

Read it and weep, or (if you’ve got any sense) read it and rejoice.
I’ve got sense in abundance, I read it and rejoiced.

It has to be an MP with not a speck blotting their reputation, so:

Glenda Jackson or Philip Hollobone.

However, given all of Ms Harperson’s hype about positive discrimination, it would be an affront to all women if the new Speaker were to be male. Then there are the Gay, disability, race, nationality, religion and other minorities issues to consider.

So: suggestions for a working class, minority group, gay or bi, transsexual (now female), disabled Speaker with a spotless reputation.

No mockery please, Tom, under forthcoming equality legislation, this is exactly the sort of quandary my small business will soon be in when we need to appoint our next, 2 hours per week, office cleaner

Malcolm Rifkind. Yes, I met him once you know…

Etc.

Who would and reasonably well-informed person think that the House be least likely to pick? That might be worth a bet.

Let’s see, Bill Cash, Michael (No) Mates, Lemsip Opaque…

Yup, no doubt about it. Charlie Kennedy is yer man. Another Scot. Just what Middle England is hoping for.

I forgot to mention that the candidate must also meet Ms Harperson’s anti-ageist demands of the business and public sectors too.

Difficult one this, as Speakers are generally father of the House figures. A ‘Mother of the House’ figure would also fail to discharge Ms Harperson’s demands.

So: working class, minority group, gay or bi, transsexual (now female), disabled, 16-120 year old Speaker required?

Well whoever it is, please help them stopp your dear leader further emasculation the house by removing the speakers and the parliaments authority by setting up another quango to enforce the rules.

Parliament is meant to be sovereign, not the cabinet. What we don’t need is another unelected set of spongers living high on the hog at the tax payers expense.

What is required is for MPs to clean out the dishonourable members, not further reduce their powers.

Also, the idea of any placemen/women being independent is just a sad joke.

If Ken Clarke got the job, would he have to have silver buckles fitted to his hush puppies? (Peter Wass)

No way! He’d have red Armani hush puppies – without buckles – specially made for him.

With regard to Ken Clarke perhaps gold embroidered hush puppies could be sought. Man least likely to be appointed speaker George Galloway.

I agree with Chris Wills that bringing in a so called independent body to oversee sorting this out will make matters worse. Because whoever they are they will not come cheap. Also for independent read unelected. We can do nothing about it if we do not like what they see as “solutions” to this.

The House should put it’s own house in order. Neither should the agenda be set by the media as I fear is the case right now. Whatever their faults I want this country run by our MPs not the press barons.