Silence of the MPs

Conservative MP Douglas Carswell (one of the few genuinely honourable Members of Parliament) has announced that he will table a motion of no confidence in the Speaker, Michael Martin, next week. Mr Carswell has the support of MPs from all parties.

The Speaker’s intemperate and immature outburst against Kate Hoey proved that he would rather blame the media for reporting the truth, than deal with the crooks and fraudsters who have so undermined our democracy.

It is clearly going to be impossible to introduce the reforms necessary to restore public confidence in Westminster when you have a 1970s style shop steward running the show, and Mr Martin simply has to go.

Just as convention dictates that a new Speaker is dragged to his chair to take up the position, so Mr Martin should now be dragged back down again - and kicked out the back door for good measure.

On Wednesday, I e-mailed all three MPs in Barnet - Andrew Dismore, Theresa Villiers and Rudi Vis - asking them how they proposed to vote in Mr Carswell’s motion. I advised them that their response would be published on this blog.

All three Barnet MPs have made expenses claims for their second homes. So far, none of them have replied to my e-mail.

Funny that.