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Speaker rivals pledge (slight) change to restore public trust
Joe Murphy, Political Editor22 Jun 2009
A sombre House of Commons this afternoon accepted the need for cautious reform as MPs gathered to choose a new Speaker in the wake of the expenses scandal.
As the contest to succeed Michael Martin got under way, all of the frontrunners pledged themselves to embrace change in the hope of regaining the trust of angry and disenchanted voters.
However, several tried to win favour by attacking the media over revelations about their expenses, and made clear they would not push reforms just for the sake of appeasing public opinion.
Margaret Beckett, the bookmakers' favourite, spoke first after winning a lottery to open a debate that was as much about Parliament's future as the occupant of its chair.
The former Cabinet minister, who has been dubbed the anti-reform candidate, was the most conservative of the frontrunners. She said: “The Speaker cannot and should not attempt to drive this House, but neither should he or she be an obstacle. I pledge myself, if elected, to facilitate desire for change.” In her five-minute address the 66-year-old MP declared: “I have never been afraid to speak truth to power, wherever power may be found.”
Sir George Young, also criticising the media-led pressure for change, promised to stand up to “a bidding war to be tough that loses sight of the basic principles of justice”. He promised to make the Commons more self-confident and to force ministers to make more statements on topical issues. He won smiles by promising to keep speeches shorter. But he went on: “We have left the age of deference, we are in the age of earned respect.”
Ann Widdecombe won laughter by beginning: “I think I am unique in this contest.” She claimed the public trusted her more than most MPs, thanks to what she admitted was “vulgar” self-publicity. In a dig at fellow Tory John Bercow, the most pro-reform candidate, she added: “When you see some of the manifestos, I think we might be electing a supreme dictator.” She also stood for “adequate remuneration” — code for backing a bumper pay rise for MPs.
Sir Alan Beith, the former Lib-Dem deputy leader, also had a dig at Mr Bercow, saying it was “not enough to win the most votes”. Mr Bercow is paradoxically backed by Labour MPs but few Tories. Sir Alan also said the expenses system had to go. “I don't want to spend another Saturday morning explaining to the media why the office toilet had to be repaired,” he said.
The last of the frontrunners was Mr Bercow himself. Aiming his speech at the Labour benches , he drew laughter by performing an impression of an unnamed Tory grandee whose vote he sought. “You are not just too young, you are far too young,” the grandee had told him. “In my judgment a Speaker ought to be virtually senile.”
Mr Bercow said his age, 46, should not count against him because past Speakers had been as young as 29.
Labour MPs hear-heared loudly when he claimed to have no personal ambition but to do good. “I don't want to be someone, I want to do something,” he said. He threatened full-blooded reform in the wake of the expenses scandal, calling himself the “clean-break candidate”. He warned: “A legislature cannot be effective while suffering from public scorn.”
The five outsiders are Richard Shepherd, Sir Michael Lord, Sir Patrick Cormack, Sir Alan Haselhurst and Parmjit Dhanda.
Earlier today, a group of Tory MPs warned that they would not accept either Mrs Beckett or Mr Bercow as permanent Speaker, following anger over the involvement of Labour whips championing Mrs Beckett.
Reader views (46)
Sholdn't they now Re;Name the House of Commons to The House of Thieves,the new Speaker had his Hands in the Till...Shame on them ALL.
- Yvonne Reeves, Suffolk, 23/06/2009 06:16
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Not Beckett she scares the kids and I have to switch the tele off. Frank Field for me
- Rob, Rock Ferry Wirral, 22/06/2009 17:31
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Bring back Michael Martin. He suited the stand-up comedy atmosphere of the House of Commons.
Or perhaps Michael Jackson should throw his hat into this circus ring?
- Peter Seekings-Foster, Mildenhall, Suffolk., 22/06/2009 17:14
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John, if Beckett were elected, maybe she will do the job, as a fox would, kill off the members indiscriminately for no rhyme or reason other than to kill.
Agreed Beckett is the wrong person, Bercow isn't trusted in a substantial section of the House and is also in the firing line with his sticky fingers in the till.
The new Speaker should be short term, and do a vicious cleaning up job, snd t let the new Speaker take over without being tainted by the cleaning out of the filth which requires a thick skin because of the howls of pain that will follow as the trough is cleaned out and nothing to be done to fill it again.
Field is standing again as an MP, so it seems sensible that Widdicombe is the choice, and let her legacy be that she cleaned out the sty currently called Parliament.
- Hugh, Middx, 22/06/2009 17:12
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The silly shenanigans going on at Westminster simply illustrates the urgent need for a general election to sort out the lot of them. There is clearly very little hope of a speaker being elected on merit.
- James Elliott, Eastbourne UK, 22/06/2009 16:28
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Cameron calls himself a political leader but this is just pure spite. He should be ashamed of himself
- Keith Price, Luton, England, 22/06/2009 16:14
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Have the Labour Whips enlisted the support of the Iranian Mullahs? It sounds like it with the vote rigging.
Do the decent thing Gordon go off and get a teaching job and call a General Election now!
- Stephen, Plymouth, 22/06/2009 16:01
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which part of "the game is up" don't they understand?
- J.W. Hardin, marsaskala, malta., 22/06/2009 15:41
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Whoever gets this poisoned chalice, let there be a mandatory return to the horse-hair wig. The rot started with its abandonment.
- Bloke, London, 22/06/2009 15:25
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So nothing has changed there then.When are they going to wake up and smell the coffee?
- Dave Smith, Croydon, 22/06/2009 15:23
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Anne Widdecombe might look strange in wig and gaiters, but she is honest and straightforward, with a determined streak, and what's more people trust her... which is more than can be said for some others who are standing
- D M Dutton, Brittany, France, 22/06/2009 15:09
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Would it not be sensible for there always to be an election of a Speaker after each general election so that the Speaker would have the democratic mandate of the MPs at that time, with the convention being reinstated whereby the Speaker does not come from the governing party? Of course, given a possibly short tenure it might then be appropriate for an outgoing Speaker to be able to continue as an MP.
- Gordon (No Relation), London UK, 22/06/2009 14:57
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The general public has made it clear that they favour either Frank Field or Anne Widdecombe yet MPs are taking scant notice of public opinion. Can they not see how low they have sunk in public esteem? John Bercow is distrusted by his own party and the Labour Whips are trying to shoehorn Margaret Beckett who is tainted by revelations about her expenses and was a disaster as a ministerinto the Chair.
Anne Widdicombe is to stand down at the next election so the obvious choice is Frank Field. He is untainted by the scandal of expenses, he is highly respected and liked by all parties and he follows his conscience regardless of party interests. He must be the obvious if not the only candidate to restore public trust and respect to the office of Speaker.
- Martin Fielding, London, England, 22/06/2009 14:53
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Ignore today's vote, for whomsover wins will be an interim woodentop until David Cameron relieves McMitty of his unelected powers and appoints a Conservative Speaker to the House of Commons.
- Ted, London, 22/06/2009 14:39
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Oh I see, Bercow and Beckett were both caught with their fingers in the till, but most of the one eyed tory jacks commenting here would turn a blind eye to Bercow's behaviour whilst denouncing Beckett. Nice to see how even handed you all are. The fact is not a single MP who diddled their expenses should be allowed to stand for the speakers job, The fact that Bercow and Beckett are standing at all shows their contempt for the electorate.
- James, Manchester England, 22/06/2009 14:26
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We only have a very partial picture. We need full details of MP's second incomes, their directorships and consultancies - who has been paid, how much have they been paid, what were they paid for, what did they actually do for it, and on whose behalf were they working? Without total transparency of MP's finances all that will happen is the present government will be replaced by a cabal whose only reason for office is that they covered up their indiscretions better than their predecessors.
- Defarge, UK, 22/06/2009 13:58
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Obviously it should be Ann Widdecombe. The others are all tainted BUT they still do not get it do they? They are taking the piss out of the electorate whilst continuing to fill their pockets with Taxpayers money. Would it not be wonderful if a few M.P.'s resigned now thereby foregoing the severance pay which they do NOT deserve. They were elected for the length of this parliament only. So should be on their own in the Labour Exchange if they fail to be re elected.
- Mordwinoff, Lisle France., 22/06/2009 13:56
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"It is a depressing example of MPs looking inwards to their own advantage when we really should be looking outwards"
That's exactly why, if he was serious about reforming the Commons and delivering openness and transparency, Gordon Brown should have called an immediate General Election. give the electorate a chance to 'comment' on ALL MP's through the ballot box. Those elected out of the existing bunch are the one's the electorate are happy to see back in the Common's Then let the new MP's elect a Speaker.
Of course that wouldn't be in either Gordon Brown's or Nu Labours best interest. So this whole charade is about part interest NOT the best interest of the UK or the electorate.
- Malcolm, London, 22/06/2009 13:34
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Our government is a joke!
- Dirk Diggler, Soho, London, 22/06/2009 13:29
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Of course. There is too much Labour culture in the Parliament and we have to rid ourselves of that free-loading. Having another Golden Brown appointed person, in his un-elected postion. It would not be right.
- Steveo, London NW1, 22/06/2009 12:56
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Agree totally with Nigel. Anne Widdicombe also has the experience and authority to ignore the bullies and bang their silly heads together. Most MPs are too thick to see confidence has to be restored urgently!
- Man U Fan, London, 22/06/2009 12:48
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Margaret Margaret any hook-ups on parliament square for the chavavan
I am surprised Brown has decided not to run for this and finish the process of turning us into a Dictatorship
- Gary, brentwood, 22/06/2009 12:31
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Margaret Beckett's arrogance and her fiddling of her expenses is small beer compared to her incompetence at DEFRA when minister for Ag etc. Her massive incompetence in handling the Rural Payments Agency drove over 200 farmers into bankruptcy and also incurred a £60M fine by the EU. Her reward for all this? - to be made Foreign Secretary. Does she have some sort of hold on GB?
- Tom Williams, Oxford, 22/06/2009 12:25
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Margaret Becket is unacceptable to the public, how can she be a reform candidate - she's not a backbencher or a people's candidate, she's a former Labour leader, a party apparatchik, a dedicated cabinet member, a Brown goevernment loyalist, she was booed on Question Time over her grace and favour accomodation and refusing to pay back her home allowances and expenses. She is not even a fresh face, she's 66. We want a new broom, not an old stick.
If MPs elect her we will draw one and only conclusion: they put self-interest and party before the people. So be it. At the election they will find themselves facing hundreds of white suited independent candidates in the mould of Martin Bell and Esther Rantzen and even those in safe seats will be swept away along with their parties, both Labour and Tory.
- Tom Moncrieff, london W6, 22/06/2009 12:25
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Why can't they see the obvious? Any speaker selected by the current, badly discredited, parliament must be re-selected after the country's electorate have had their say in cleaning up the house. Anne Widdecombe is the best choice, not least because she has already said that she has no intention of staying on after the next election.
- Nigel, London, 22/06/2009 12:23
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GENERAL ELECTION NOW!
- Mark, London, 22/06/2009 12:09
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I would have no trust in either Beckett or Bercow. If MPs want Parliament to have some credibility it has to be either Frank Field or Anne Widdecombe.
- Beatriz, London, 22/06/2009 12:08
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All part of ZaNuLabours new age of Transparency in Government LOL NO! of course they're not whipping the vote in favour of the useless Margaret Beckett - we beleive you Hattie.
Honestly - Labour can't even LIE convincingly now.
- Silent Hunter, Fintry, Scotland, 22/06/2009 11:59
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This is disgraceful. Some Tories think that the Speakership is owned by the parties. They want a Tory Speaker - because "it's their turn". Clearly by campaigning against Bercow they want an anti-Labour Speaker. What about choosing on the merits. See the hustings on BBC iPlayer.
Bercow or Shepherd are the only ones with sufficient commitment to reform. Fear that we are about to see the establishment reassert itself.
- J David Morgan, Milton Keynes, UK, 22/06/2009 11:53
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I remember seeing Margaret Beckett on Question Time when the expenses scandal broke. She refused to apologise for her own expenses, stating the now norm... I was working within the rules. She obviously agreed with the expenses system, going as far as to tell the audience they could not understand what it was all about anyway. Margaret Beckett is an arrogant, ignorant and hardly the right person to be speaker. So if she does get in, I am glad it won’t be for long.
- Paul, London, 22/06/2009 11:53
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I think it's utterly despicable of the Tories to make that kind of threat. Whatever's going on with the Labour whips, two wrongs don't make a right. Every Speaker who serves for more than one parliament owes their position to the votes of a previous one, yet never before has this kind of truculence manifested itself. Compare the views of some American Republicans who simply don't believe that a Democrat ever, in any circumstances, has the right to be President.
Previous comments here have entirely missed the point by banging on about the confected outrage of expenses fiddling (when that's precisely what the existing system was designed to facilitate, and why Margaret Thatcher introduced it). The relevant question here is how Parliament is going to regain the dignity and respect of which the media have stripped it, as long as they keep throwing public tantrums like this and threatening to take their ball away.
- Roy Watson, London, U.K., 22/06/2009 11:48
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That's the problem with revolutions. It's like murder. Once you get rid of one Speaker getting rid of the next seems easier. It can become a serial habit with the reasons for change getting weaker each time.
Having open 'hustings' (campaigning) was the mistake. Perhaps next time the Commons should adopt the practice used to elect a Pope. Lock them in and let them nominate after silence and without self-advertisement.
- Richard Meredith, huntingdon, 22/06/2009 11:45
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Westminster MPs and their cohorts may have little significance, but still have the power to interpret Brussel laws (whcih incidentally, no one in the UK voted for) and to completely ruin this country with their half baked ideas let alone show an ability to finsih the job with any coherence.
- Helen, norwich, 22/06/2009 11:43
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Nu Labor has to go! Nobody wants that Crash Gordon bunch they only think of their expenses. In the mean time there is no elected government...
- Georgie, Islington, London, 22/06/2009 11:03
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DEMOCRACY IN THE UK HAS DEFINITELY VANISHED DOWN THE PLUG HOLE.
NOT AN IOTA OF CREDIBILITY, INTEGRITY OR DIGNITY AMONGST ANYONE LOITERING IN THE HOUSE OF CONMEN.
- Reuben Camara, Morecambe UK, 22/06/2009 10:45
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We ought not to be surprised by any of this.These lowlifes are only interested in furthering their own troughing, the fact that there is a big fat gold plated tax payer funded pension atthe end of this is what appeals to these graspers. Bercow or Beckett are two who have so far declined the offer to forego it so it's easy to see what their motivation is. Both of these and the majority of the rest are all guilty of expenses fiddling and flipping so none of them are going to change anything. How can we expect such dishonest and distrusted fiddlers like these to clean up parliament? It's a nonsense they might as well have left Martin in the job. As for Harperson, you can't believe a word that comes out of her mouth just like her incompetent boss!
- Ed, Hants, 22/06/2009 10:41
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I do not want any of them. Beckett would be a vote for the secretive status quo. A time served member of Browns elite and a lackey who would do his bidding.I wish a member of the Tax Payers Alliance would stand at the next election in every constituency and then we could vote this shambles of a government and opposition out of power. We don't need so many politicians any way - all our laws are made in Brussels and Westminster now has very little significance in the scheme of things.
- E.Nuff, London, 22/06/2009 10:21
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Alan Green, Woodford Green
Your last point hits the nailo precisely on the head. There should be no safe seats at the election. The absolute corruption of power is clearly demonstrated in this farcical election of a new Speaker.
All the candidates appear to have submitted questionable expense claims.
Ms Beckett in particular seemed utterly bewildered by public outrage on her recent "Question Time" appearance. The next day she was complaining about haveing to dine out so often at our expense! Moreover as a very recent member of the present government, her credentials seem at best flawed. A victory by her could be construed as putting the fox in charge of the henhouse.
Not that any of the remaining candidates seem remotely suitable. What we need now is the election that really matters in order that we can be rid of this oderous shower!
Let's put the fear of God into them all; "No safe seats"!
- John C, Leatherhead, UK, 22/06/2009 09:59
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Thank you Harriet Harman for admitting what many have long suspected by saying "Not only is it the most free of free votes, but it's a secret ballot.” thus showing that some free votes are not as free as others.
- Edgar, London, 22/06/2009 09:48
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To elect Beckett would be the ultimate insult to tax payers. A woman who is guilty of fiddling her expenses is unlikely to want to change the current system which allows her to pilfer from the public purse. She has not got the honesty, decency, integrity or moral fibre essential for the job.
- R.F., Yorks, UK, 22/06/2009 09:38
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"....both would owe their success to Labour votes" cried the Conservative party....."members would challenge the speakers right to stay in the chair after the next election." So if the Conservatives get in next election with a considerable majority, will they put to the vote again everything they lost while Labour had the majority of the house? Yawn!!
- Nick, sydney, australia, 22/06/2009 09:33
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I certainly agree especially if its Mrs Beckett after what she did to the DTI. She may well have the same in mind for Westminster.
- Tony Islander, Herts, 22/06/2009 09:32
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This lot voting on anything is always going to "tainted".
Get rid of the lot and call a General Election, the current lot have proven they are liars, cheats and thieves who can't/shouldn't be trusted.
- Steve, london, 22/06/2009 09:25
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This whole sorry saga proves just how low our elected representatives have sunk. Key word is elected. They should remember that when they're on the dole queue after the next General Election.
- Craig, Ex-pat, Sydney, Australia, 22/06/2009 09:24
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Electing a House of Commons Speaker? is like the blind leading the Blind.
Bring back Treason; that makes more sense; than electing another Spiv.
- Mickinlondon, london, 22/06/2009 08:46
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WHO EVER IS ELECTED SHOULD REMEMBER THE ELECTORATE IS WAITING FOR THEM. EVERYONE I SPEAK TO SAYS THEY WOULD NOT VOTE FOR A SITTING MP.
- Alan Green, Woodford Green, 22/06/2009 08:23
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