Lembit Opik Commits Political Suicide

The Speaker Will Soon Be Gone

Iain Dale 7:33 AM

Let me make a prediction. By the end of this month, Michael Martin will no longer be Speaker. Indeed, I'd almost be willing to bet that he will have stepped down by the end of next week. Douglas Carswell is doing a great job, but he needs to be joined by some courageous big beasts from across all the parties. If they come forward, he's toast. Newsnight polled 173 MPs about their views on his future. 58 said he should go, 67 said they had confidence in him and 53 wouldn't say. It's safe to say a majority of those 53 want rid of him. Those figures speak for themselves.

But he doesn't just need to go. He needs to go now. Saying he will stand down at the next election is not good enough. His successor, whoever it is, needs time to 'bed in' and get to grips with the crisis facing our Parliament at the moment.

And can we just put to one side the knee jerk reaction of some, that any criticism of Michael Martin is based on class snobbery. Is Douglas Carswell a snob? Gordon Prentice? Paul Flynn? Norman Baker? Kate Hoey? Richard Shepherd? Norman Lamb? I think not. I first ran into Michael Martin in 1991 when he chaired the Ports Privatisation Standing Committee. I saw him at first hand for about 10 hours a week over a month. I thought he was an incompetent Committee Chair then and I have seen nothing to make me change my mind.

The very integrity of parliament is at stake, and I am afraid he is the roadblock to reform. He needs to go and go now. And it's up to men and women of courage in Parliament to make sure that happens.

Later today I will run a new poll on who his successor should be. Feel free to make your nominations in the comments.

Lembit Opik Commits Political Suicide

Iain Dale 11:19 PM

I'm a bit late to this, but I have just listened to Lembit Opik commit political suicide on the Victoria Derbyshire show this morning. If I were his Tory opponent Glyn Davies I'd get CDs made of this and deliver them to every home in Montgomeryshire.

Click HERE and scroll in 44 minutes. It lasts 15 minutes. If you have a low embarrassment threshold you'll be squirming...

PS I was told by a senior LibDem the other day that Lembit Opik had asked Nick Clegg at one of their front bench meetings if he would guarantee not to sack anyone who figured in any expenses scandal. Clegg say no. Lembit should hope that his leader is not a 5 Live listener.

Evening Expenses Snippets

Iain Dale 8:58 PM

*MPs of all parties have been suffering quite a lot of abuse over the last few days, not least from their constituents and party workers. I am told that the straw which broke Phil Hope's back was when one of his local party officers rang him and told him he was a c***. Cue a cheque for a stonking £41,000. Wish I could suddenly lay my hands on that much. 

*A Tory MP of my acquaintance suffered terrible abuse in his local grocers from constituents who accused him of being on the take. The poor man is one of the few who claims absolutely nothing from the ACA second home allowance. But his constituents weren't interested in that inconvenient fact. They wanted blood. 

*This morning I got an email from a local Labour Party branch in Middlesbrough today demanding that constituency parties should be allowed to start reselection procedures if they wish. Will this be replicated in other parties, I wonder. 

*Tomorrow the Telegraph unravels the expenses of MPs who are married couples. Mr and Mrs Balls may not be sleeping very easily tonight - in whichever of their homes they find themselves.