Decision Time for New Speaker
MPs will choose the new Speaker of the House of Commons later today.
Bookmakers put former Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett as the favourite, although backbench murmurs are less than satisfied at the Government's apparent 'installation' of her as Speaker.
Labour rebel Stephen Pound has accused the Government whips of "touting Margaret Beckett" and said that they should "stop doing it".
"There is a lot of skulduggery going on. It is a depressing example of MPs looking inwards to their own advantage when we really should be looking outwards," Mr Pound told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
Do we really need yet another New Labour scab holding one of the highest offices in Parliament? Beckett's appointment would make her the third consecutive Labour Speaker, breaking an age-old tradition that sees the Speaker alternate between political parties. Mrs Beckett was recently heckled on the BBC's Question Time programme, after saying a £600 claim she made for hanging baskets was in error.
Also in the running is diluted Conservative John Bercow, thought to have the backing of many Labour MPs after leaning towards the centre ground. Mr Bercow, MP for Buckingham, is a former Shadow Secretary of State for International Development. He was forced to resign from the Tory front bench when he defied a three-line whip on the issue of allowing unmarried couples to adopt.
We'll know who the new Speaker sometime this evening.
Bookmakers put former Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett as the favourite, although backbench murmurs are less than satisfied at the Government's apparent 'installation' of her as Speaker.
Labour rebel Stephen Pound has accused the Government whips of "touting Margaret Beckett" and said that they should "stop doing it".
"There is a lot of skulduggery going on. It is a depressing example of MPs looking inwards to their own advantage when we really should be looking outwards," Mr Pound told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
Do we really need yet another New Labour scab holding one of the highest offices in Parliament? Beckett's appointment would make her the third consecutive Labour Speaker, breaking an age-old tradition that sees the Speaker alternate between political parties. Mrs Beckett was recently heckled on the BBC's Question Time programme, after saying a £600 claim she made for hanging baskets was in error.
Also in the running is diluted Conservative John Bercow, thought to have the backing of many Labour MPs after leaning towards the centre ground. Mr Bercow, MP for Buckingham, is a former Shadow Secretary of State for International Development. He was forced to resign from the Tory front bench when he defied a three-line whip on the issue of allowing unmarried couples to adopt.
We'll know who the new Speaker sometime this evening.
0 comments:
Post a Comment