Speaker To Resign This Afternoon

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Speaker To Resign This Afternoon

Iain Dale 11:03 AM

So there I was, enjoying a tour of UKIP's very busy campaign headquarters, when I looked up at the TV screen to see Sky News announcing that Michael Martin is to resign the Speakership this afternoon.

I imagine Gordon Brown had wielded the knife and told him his position was untenable and that if he didn't go the government would give time to a no confidence debate. But that's pure guesswork. No doubt the truth will out over the coming hours.

It is not yet clear what his timetable for departure is. I detect that the House is in no mood for him to hang around until the Summer recess or even until the election. If he tries to, there will be uproar this afternoon. It will take a little while for an election to be held to elect his successor and I imagine everyone will be happy for him to chair proceedings until then.

The news broke on Scottish Television at 10.32am, although the Evening Standard's Paul Waugh is laying claim to have broken it two minutes before them.

I almost hesitate to remind you of my words last Friday, which got such ridicule from many of the commenters...

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.

I must admit I am not the best soothsayer in the world, but at least I got this one right!

UPDATE: The BBC are reporting that Michael Martin won't be going "immediately". Hmmm.

Cabinet Office Reveals Dale McBride/Draper Emails

Iain Dale 8:39 AM

click to enlarge

On 27 March I emailed Damian McBride informing him I was putting in a Freedom of Information & Data Protection request to find out the contents of emails he had been sending to Derek Draper relating to me, over the Carol Thatcher Today programme interview. I was told that he had given advice to Derek Draper on how he should smear me over the issue as a racist. Having never put in an FOI request before I frankly didn't expect much back. On Friday I received a letter from the Cabinet Office, which you can read in fullHERE. It demonstrates beyond all reasonable doubt that such correspondence took place, although the detail is still lacking in some areas and I shall be following it up. For instance, the first email extract starts...

If you want to wind up the other aspects of Dale's Today interview

This clearly indicates that there was a previous email, otherwise the word "other" would not have been used. And it is that email which I suspect is the really damaging one. I'm asking the Cabinet Office for details of that today.

I am intrigued by the line in the letter which says...

Some of the information we hold identifies another individual. We have not disclosed information about another individual unless we had their explicit or implicit consent or we considered it was reasonable in all the circumstances to disclose it without their consent.

I wonder who this could refer to. Draper? Is that the reason they won't release details of the initial email? Or could it be someone else, like Charlie Whelan or Kevin Maguire?

So to those leftist bloggers who accused me of making the whole thing up, presumably you will now be good enough to admit you were wrong. No, thought not.

Michael Gove Lances the Boil

Iain Dale 6:57 AM

David Cameron is encouraging any of his MPs who have faced accusations from the Telegraph to take their case to their constituents and face them in public meetings. One of my regular readers, Crossfire, went to a meeting in Surrey Heath last night, addressed by Michael Gove. Here's his report...

"Michael Gove attended a public meeting at 7.30pm this evening in Camberley in his Surrey Heath Constituency. He called the meeting shortly after the expenses scandal broke to provide the opportunity to answer questions from constituents and to listen to their concerns. By 7pm a large crowd had already gathered at the venue, a church hall near the town centre, together with national media represented by BBC television, Radio 4, and other local radio stations and print media. By the time the meeting commenced there were approximately 3-400 people in attendance.

"Michael opened the meeting with a statement in which he explained his actions and specifically addressed the allegations made against him by the Daily Telegraph who had accused him of 'flipping' his second home, of spending £7000 on furniture for his second home, and of paying £500 for a single night stay in a local hotel. Michael explained, in detail, the events surrounding his house move. He explained that the allegations of 'flipping' were unfounded. He had not changed the designation of his second home to profit from it, or to avoid capital gains tax as was the situation in other cases where the term 'flipping' first became public parlance. Instead he had simply re-designated his London house as his primary residence, as it had become his family's main residence. He had not sold any property or made any profit at the expense of the taxpayer.

"Michael went on to explain the situation regarding his purchase of furniture. He explained that following his election in Surrey Heath he had to furnish 2 homes and had therefore had to buy furniture for his second home. He spent in excess of £7000 but claimed legitimately for this sum. However, he had decided upon reflection, and in response to some of the allegations, that with the benefit of hindsight he should have considering buying cheaper furniture and rather than claiming a lesser sum he had decided simply to repay the full cost of the furniture. Similarly he said that the 1 night stay in a hotel had been decided on the basis of convenience as he had a constituency event late the previous night and again the following morning but on reflection he wished he had taken the time to find more cost-effective accommodation for his family that night - so had again decided to pay the entire sum back.

"Michael then took questions from constituents. The questions were very direct and ranged across the whole spectrum of issues regarding his personal circumstances and the question of how the democratic system needs reform. Michael answered very directly, openly and honestly to all the charges made against him. When asked about the future potential for profiting from purchase of a second home when he sold it in the future he pledged that if any profit were made from it, he would pay any profit made back to the taxpayer – an undertaking which whilst surprising to many of his constituents was well received.

"To call a public meeting whilst public anger is so apparent was a real political gamble. He submitted himself to his critics and showed solidity and integrity under fire and emerged from the evening, if not with his reputation enhanced, then at least with the allegations addressed and with a demonstration of openness and self-effacing honesty to which many paid tribute."

It would be interesting to know of other MPs who are doing this and to have reports from those meetings.