The role of Speaker of the House of Commons is held by an elected MP who promises to be non-partisan.  The current Speaker, Michael Martin MP, is the Liebour MP for Glasgow North East and he’s proven to be anything but non-partisan.  I don’t think there have ever been so many complaints and accusations of bias against any Speaker.

And Gorbals is at it again with the committee investigating whether he and the Serjant at Arms were wrong to allow Police to raid Damian Martin’s office in the Palace of Westminster.  The Speaker appoints members to such commissions, even though the commission is investigating him, and he’s decided to appoint 4 Liebour MPs to the 7-man commission ensuring they get the “right” answer.

Of course, the role of Speaker is non-partisan so there’s no reason for Liebour MPs to whitewash the whole affair because Gorbals wasn’t acting on behalf of the Liebour Party, right?  Well, not exactly.  Not at all in fact.

A survey of MPs by the BBC found that 32 of the 90 MPs that responded thought the Speaker was in the wrong.  In response, Liebour ministers have rallied round Gorbals with Margaret Beckett even going as far as saying that there is a long-standing tradition of MPs not criticising the Speaker.  Perhaps if the Speaker had upheld the long-standing tradition of not supporting the party he belongs to, not showing bias towards the party he belongs to, not abusing his expenses to pay for his wife’s shopping trips and protecting the parliamentary privillege then MPs would be more inclined to respect the tradition of not criticising him.

Technorati Tags: Michael Martin, Damian Green, Margaret Becket, Whitewash