Speaker of the House of Commons forced out for the first time in 300 years

[saskganesh]

When a king tried this they chopped his head off, but newspaper editors seem to be above the law of parliamentary dignity.

the difference is that the king closed parliament. the papers merely expressed an opinion; sounds like it was the House itself that was sharpening the axe for this speaker.

also, anyone waxing about parliamentary dignity should watch or attend a few Question Periods.

[Viking]

When a king tried this they chopped his head off, but newspaper editors seem to be above the law of parliamentary dignity.

the difference is that the king closed parliament. the papers merely expressed an opinion; sounds like it was the House itself that was sharpening the axe for this speaker.

also, anyone waxing about parliamentary dignity should watch or attend a few Question Periods.

Both were trying to remove the speaker. But as to the issue of dignity, parliament gets to behave like complete tossers and keep it's dignity.

[Sheilbh]

But he told the BBC: "Removing Michael Martin is not the end, it is the beginning - a new Speaker has to be reformist, they need to be progressive."

So much for the Spreaker being non-partisan.

Progressive generally doesn't mean the same thing in that sense.  What he means is reformist of the House of Commons.  Martin was criticised because he was basically a shop steward for MPs who conservatively looked after their interests.  That's what got them into this expenses scandal.  His replacement needs to be a reformist and progressive in terms of the House of Commons, ie. in favour of changing expenses rules and in favour of transparency. 

However, being Speaker isn't very high profile, and the election is far enough out that nobody will remember Martin when the time comes.

I don't know.  The election could, God willing, be sooner than that.

This is huge in British terms.  I think if some independents got their act together we could see an anti-incumbent wave, regardless of party, if there's the merest whiff of corruption.  Interestingly this scandal still doesn't have a name.  Most of our scandals just become 'nannygate' or what have you.  That this one hasn't is, in my opinion, a sign of its severity (because our -gates are pretty pathetic).

This has made it a bit difficult for people like me.  I'm generally anti-anti-politician sentiment which I think is far too prevalent.  I actually support far higher wages for them and far more expenses (for staff).  But it's very difficult to argue for that with this shower of idiots.

In the name of God, go

[Sheilbh]

Both were trying to remove the speaker. But as to the issue of dignity, parliament gets to behave like complete tossers and keep it's dignity.

Parliament's never had any dignity.  When you get elected speaker you get dragged to the chair while the house erupts in cheers and howls.

Edit:  Also Parliament's a very, very ruthless place once your authority's gone.  And to pick you up on your civil war history Charles didn't try to remove the Speaker he demanded the Speaker (who was sitting with his authority) tell him where certain men were.  The Speaker said he had no eyes to see except those given him by the House.  The King then left.

Cromwell on the other hand removed several speakers and, the last speaker to be removed was done so in the 1695, by the House.

I think it's wrong to say the papers did it.  The party leaders refused to meet with him unless he promised he'd announce his retirement date.  He totally misjudged the mood of the country when he decided that rather than focusing on the expenses he'd focus on finding who leaked the list of expenses to the papers and call in the police

[Richard Hakluyt]

The initial (bad) consequence will be a relatively high vote for various swivel-eyed extremists in the June 4th elections for the European parliament.

The consequences next year, when the general election is held, are likely to be better. I envisage an interesting campaign where each incumbent will have to defend their expenses record. There will be an increased engagement by the electorate in the process.