Failure to Lead

20 May 2009



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Speaker of House of Commons Resigning over Expenses Scandal

Michael Martin, Speaker of Britain's House of Commons, just announced that he will resign his office after almost a decade adjudicating the disputes and keeping order in the boisterous chamber. Part of his duties included administering and policing the expenses of members of the House. In recent days, thanks to reporting from the Telegraph, it became clear that he failed to keep MPs honest. Those who had played by the rules eventually forced him out. Yet, he should not be alone in quitting as Speaker and leaving his Commons seat.

Now, some of his defenders have said that he has been made a scapegoat. Members decided ousting him might take some of the pressure off them. To an extent, this is so. A similar attack is taking place on Speaker Nancy Pelosi by Republicans in America who are trying to embarrass her over her allegations that the CIA misled her on waterboarding. Her accusation is serious, and Mr. Martin's failure to enforce rules is as well, but the real crimes here are, respectively, torture and defrauding taxpayers.

Furthermore, Mr. Martin is a victim to a degree of class-hatred. As a Glaswegian sheet-metal worker in his younger days, he has three strikes against him as far as the toffs go. First, he's a Scot (and not even a Scot from a nice part of that Kingdom). Second, he didn't attend university (not even a third rate one). Third, he worked with his hands. Yet, had he done his job as Speaker, these wouldn't have been enough to remove him – after all, they weren't enough to keep him from the Speaker's Chair in the first place.

Under his watch, though, a few more than aromatic affairs on expenses occurred. For example, there is case of Labour's Chief Whip Nick Brown, MP for Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend. He claimed £18,000 over four years for food. He also claimed £250 a month for a cleaner, £200 a month for "service and maintenance," and £200 a month for "repairs." The only trouble was he didn't have a single receipt to prove it. He told his local paper, “I am working flat out for the people that I represent and the politics that I believe in.” No doubt, he's working too hard to ask for a receipt.

Members of other parties are involved, but the Labour Party is chiefly affected because there are simply more Labourites in the House. Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said he will create a new “star chamber” system to investigate and possibly de-select those who are found wanting. This could result in significant losses among senior Labourites. Mr. Brown has even admitted that the Tories could win the next election.

The shift of power to the right in Britain, though, is not as important as the changes this crisis will bring to the culture of the House of Commons. Its clubbiness is obsolete in the era of satellite TV and G-3 smartphones. The expenses scandal is just a facet of the feeling of entitlement that pervades the Palace of Westminster. It must end if the people of Britain are to respect their Parliament again. The next Speaker will have much to do.

© Copyright 2009 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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