Tonight:
5°c
The Speaker of the Commons, Michael Martin, had an admittedly difficult job yesterday, to preside over questions from MPs saying that he should go. And, characteristically, he flunked it.
He had an opportunity to salvage his position - by declaring he would relinquish it at the next general election at the very latest.
Yet despite saying he was "profoundly sorry" for whatever part he played in the expenses debacle - a qualified apology dressed up as a real one - he said nothing about standing down.
Moreover, he tried to head off a debate about his future on procedural grounds, while showing that he had very little grasp of procedure. He must, then, be pushed.
Today's meeting between Mr Martin and the three party leaders is an opportunity for the three to make this clear.
Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, has already suggested he would back a motion of no confidence in Mr Martin. David Cameron, the Tory leader, has allowed Tory MPs to sign the motion.
The Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, may be Mr Martin's natural defender on party and tribal grounds but his sense of self-preservation is even keener than his instinct to back one of his own.
If only to head off the prospect of a by-election that Labour may well lose if Mr Martin resigns now, he may insist that the Speaker declare his intention to leave at the next election, allowing the next parliament to elect a successor.
Tellingly, he says that Mr Martin's future is in the hands of MPs.
The point has been well made that the Speaker ought not to become a scapegoat for the problem of a flawed parliamentary culture that goes far beyond one man.
Indeed so, but he has exerted all the influence he had in office to block reform, to prevent exposure and to head off the Freedom of Information Act being applied to MPs. He has become a symbol of the problem, not a solution.
As for the MPs whom the Speaker is supposed to represent, there is, as David Cameron points out, a swift remedy for those found to have most egregiously abused the allowances and expenses system.
Constituency parties can deselect them. In the interests of self-preservation, that is precisely what they should do.
Questions on 7/7
Nearly four years after the London bombings, there remain serious questions about just how much the police and intelligence services knew about the bombers.
Some of those questions are answered in the report today from the Intelligence and Security Committee, which suggests that although there could have been better communication between police and MI5, the police knew too little about the bombers to prevent the attacks.
Yet they did appear on the MI5 radar for their contacts with other men arrested for involvement in terrorist plots.
The Liberal Democrats and Patrick Mercer MP, a Tory member of the Home Affairs Select Committee, are arguing for an independent inquiry into the attacks. Their case should be seriously considered.
Today's report is based on hearings conducted and evidence submitted in private. Yet it is possible for an independent inquiry to respect the security needs of the intelligence services while exposing the system to more rigorous scrutiny.
Meanwhile, police continue to monitor other suspected terrorists and are criticised whenever investigations and arrests fail to result in prosecutions. The heart-searching over 7/7 should put those criticisms in perspective.
Gnomes and gardens
The arrival of a gnome called Borage, property of Jekka McVicar, queen bee of the herb world, has brought controversy to the Chelsea Flower Show.
Many of us are finding that gardening, always a great British art form, satisfies the creative instincts in times when conspicuous consumption feels wrong.
Chelsea is not just about high-fashion show gardens or style wars over gnomes but also about the perennial displays of spectacular specimens from dedicated nurserymen.
It is an adornment to the capital.
Reader views (3)
Yes! This rotten apple of a man hopefully leaves today.
BUT do not let his going think others are decent. They are not.
If the system of the green book of expense rules is wrong
They still grabbed and grabbed, before the loopholes were darned
Free this country of these creatures of averice, their personal greed, before their concern of the countries well being
It is time to fumigate the HoC with the truly honourable minority political parties..Have courage and vote for the change...
- L1ttlepooh, LONDON ENGLAND, 19/05/2009 12:59
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Michael Martin, may well want removing,as he seems to have behaved like Fagin amongst his thieves, but this must not blind us to the fact that many of these MPs thieved and pillaged there way through the parliamentarian system, it seems to me they are blaming the system and Michael Martin for their dirty deeds, and we are supposed to forgive them, I for one will not forgive any of them, they have totally destroyed their creditability in my book, and I shall vote UKIP until they have all been kicked out, and that includes Clegg, Brown, and Cameron, they overlooked this sordid affair as well as Martin.
- David Crocket, Bradford, UK, 19/05/2009 10:56
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Why are we continuing to focus on the speaker and not the main topics in hand: MPs Expenses!
We need to get back to focusing on the main issues of bankers who caused this economic crash and MPs who are ripping off our country!
- John, London, United Kingdom, 19/05/2009 10:51
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