You may have read in the Guardian that Gorgeous George has blamed Speaker Martin’s fall from grace on English snobs:
English snobbery can do a morris dance of delight at the political demise of the Speaker, Michael Martin. The bigots have put the taigs back in their place.
Amongst those who signed Douglas Carswell’s petition for the Speaker to resign were Norman Baker, Jo Swinson and Gordon Prentice, and they are all Scots. In fact a disproportionately high number of Scots contributed to Martin’s downfall.
Is it possible that Michael Martin was forced out not because of English snobbery but because he was hopelessly partisan and useless at his job. We are in the grip of a very British constitutional crisis, and at a time when the House needed leadership there was none on offer.
Amid the Westminster panic circulates rumours of a coup against Gordon Brown and the possibility of a constitutional convention.
A Constitutional Convention, eh? Well, desperate times call for desperate measures. Everyone must realise that a lame duck Scottish Speaker and a lame duck Scottish Prime Minister, neither of whom have a mandate in England, are not the people to lead constitutional reform of the parliament that governs England but which cannot at present even govern itself. Neither is the Ministry of Justice, itself deeply mired in the expenses scandal, particularly well placed to make the running. So, moving swiftly onto Plan B, let’s all have a citizens’ convention.
Both Michael Martin and Gordon Brown (and Galloway too for that matter) signed the Scottish Claim of Right, and are – by their very presence, and the fact that they are elected in Scotland – an impediment to a popular sovereignty for England of the type that they advocated for Scotland. Only now, at the complete death of deference for the British political class, which happens to coincide with the end of their tenure, are they apparently planning on rushing through reform in England/Britain.
An ‘intense cabinet-level debate‘ is now underway with modernisers within the Cabinet pressing for a referendum on electoral reform for the House of Commons; an elected upper house; spending caps on donations to political parties, and; a widening of the base from which candidates are drawn. These discussions were initiated by the Prince of Darkness, Lord Mandelson, who ‘raised the idea of a British constitutional convention on the model of the Scottish constitutional convention‘.
Shall we take a look at which constitutional issues most concern the public?
2007 Hansard Audit of Political Engagement
As you can see the issue which most bothers the public appears to be the involvement of Scottish MPs in English affairs. But will THEY see that, or will they only see what they want to see?
A raft of research and a slew of polls surveying opinion in England have consistently shown a very clear majority indeed in favour of an English Parliament, which rates more highly as a constitutional issue than Scottish independence or House of Lords reform. As those are the people’s priorities and this is the people’s Parliament, should we not have a full, proper debate on the merits and demerits of an English Parliament? – David Taylor (Labour MP for North-West Leicestershire); Hansard, 18th Jan 2007
The answer to the above request came from Jack Straw, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain and Secretary of State for Justice, and his answer was “No”.
The Westminster system is, as Galloway well knows, a bastion of snobbery because it is a system that relies on deference: We are sovereign over You the people – We know best. But Parliamentary Sovereignty has been undermined by the events of the past few weeks because the Speaker is to be divested of significant powers and because the House of Commons has demonstrated not only a lack of ability to self-govern and regulate but, crucially, no longer has the willingness, confidence or public trust to do so. There is a crisis of legitimacy. This crisis has not been brought about by English snobbery, it has been bought about by the death of deference. We the people no longer hold our politicians or Parliament in high esteem; we no longer trust their judgement, nor the parliamentary system of which they are the guardians. Michael Martin’s departure is admission that they themselves have no faith in the parliamentary system and that they themselves have failed to safeguard our parliamentary democracy. Likewise, the hiving off of regulatory function is signal of the collapse of Parliamentary Sovereignty.
The public no longer buys into the gentlemanly ideal of the ‘honourable’ member working to uphold democracy within a sovereign parliament, and neither do the ‘honourable’ members themselves. The legitimacy of a political system that was based on trust is destroyed because our parliamentarians have betrayed that trust. Parliament will have great difficulty in regaining it.
What we need now is serious constitutional reform that not only restores trust but which restores democracy too. An elected upper (federal) house to handle reserved matters (shorn of placemen like Moonie and Kinnock – and soon Michael Martin) and an English Commons comprised of MPs who represent English constituencies only.
This is a debate the time for which has arrived. Will they allow the citizenry to frame the questions that the constitutional convention tackles; will there be an English referendum? No, most probably not. Even after their abject failure and their admission that they cannot even govern themselves, they will still try to assert their sovereignty and dictate the terms by which we are governed in order that they can preserve what is left of their gentlemans’ club.
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How can anyone – even a deranged communist like George Galloway – think that Gorbals Mick is working class? As of April 1st this year, the Speaker’s salary is £144,520. One of his titles is “Highest Commoner in the Land”. He may have been born into a working class family but he’s certainly not working class.
Nothing short of a major purge of the Palace of Westminster will sort out this bunch of corrupt, English-hating Brits.
May 21st, 2009 at 3:03 pm[...] This post was Twitted by FloTom – Real-url.org [...]
May 21st, 2009 at 3:28 pmMorris Dancing never really struck me as very snobbish, but each to their own.
May 21st, 2009 at 8:33 pmWe English need to be rid of Labour, Conservative and Lib Dem MPs. They have all systematically and deliberately failed the English people.
I don’t care which party each English votes for as long as it is not Labour, Conservative and Lib Dem.
The CEP is not party political, but there is nothing wrong with urging people not to vote for the parties which have failed England so dismally, and urging people to vote against these same parties in the Euro elections.
Labour, Conservative and Lib Dem are extremist parties motivated by malice against England and the English people.
May 21st, 2009 at 9:14 pmOoh, I love a bit of English snobbery. Annie Walker of Coronation Street was my first TV role model. Living in the gutter like wot I did, the only way to look was up. But Michael Martin went because he was an arrogant twerp, not because of snobbery. Basically, he was one of the Chief twerps in a parliament full of twerps.
May 21st, 2009 at 11:40 pmMartin, he was doddery-dodgy, incompetent, why did he get so angry with Kate hoey ! more to this
May 22nd, 2009 at 7:18 amThe speaker,chippy about anything English decry it,put it down, whatever !
he didnt like it !
He got rid of a lot of English people in his office,& when it came to the crunch he then hid, behind jill pays.
So Dishonourable, taxi’s to celtic, shopping,
renovations that cost the earth, all these items on his CV
and What did claim of right Brown say; he is doing a good job…….unbelievable
Anyway ..Good Riddance….
yes agree ALL with Steve Gash here
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May 22nd, 2009 at 12:01 pmOh yes, the English are to blame. What else is new? Wait a minute. I am shocked. Mr anti-English Galloway has actually thought up something original. Well, when else have you heard the scots blaming “English snobs” for one of their fellow scots demise? Of course, it was English snobs who forced Michael Martin, to take his wife on taxpayer-funded trips costing £150,000. English snobs coerced them into going to (1)Hawaii, (2)the Bahamas, (3)New York and (4)Rome. Each was approved by a Commons committee, which he chaired. [Which he chaired????????? Unbelievable!!] No doubt it was English snobs who made Michael Martin watch porn films to!
Mary Martin ran up a bill of almost £25,000 on foreign flights. In addition she spent £24,000 flying from the couple’s Glasgow home to their grace-and-favour apartment in Westminster.
Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that Mrs Martin claimed a total of £23,885 to pay for regular return flights between Glasgow and London.
The figure has risen steadily and reached £9,033 last year or more than £250 a week for the eight months that Parliament was in session.
Mrs Martin also received £24,485 for foreign flights when accompanying her husband on ten official trips during the three-year period.
It was disclosed that Mrs Martin has claimed £4,280 from public funds to pay for taxis to take her shopping.
Glasgow MP Martin and wife Mary have jetted off on 16 jaunts in six years. Mrs Martin went with her husband on all but one of his official trips. Mark Wallace, of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: “It’s an insult to tax – payers that the Speaker and his wife have been gallivanting around the world at our expense.
Mr Martin switched the Air Miles earned on official business to help pay for business class return flights for seven relatives from Glasgow to London for a new year break in 2008.
I won’t even mention the millions he used to “refurbish” his home!
Officials said figures covering Mr Martin’s first four years in the Speaker’s chair were not available.
What a surprise that is. I wonder how much they got away with!
What about this for scottish snobbery or…who is the real snob here?
“…Mr Martin’s diary secretary, Charlotte Every, who had worked amicably with Speaker Boothroyd, was forced out. The Speaker called her a “typical Sloane” who probably voted Tory. Sir Nicolas Bevan, his private secretary, went next, amid claims he was “too pompous”. The contract of the Serjeant at Arms, the respected Maj Gen Peter Grant Peterkin, was not renewed after a series of arguments.”
“Typical Sloane”? “Too pompous”? “probably voted Tory”? Merely code for English so and so’s isn’t it? Of course there’s also the small matter of people being able to vote for who THEY want; not who, the obviously bigoted, speaker approves of. I find it hypocritical and offensive in the extreme for him to whine about being labelled Gorbals Mick. I would say the typical sloane slur is the equal of Gorbals mick.
It was Mr Martin who was responsible for the abysmal performance of the Commons fees office which failed to monitor MPs’ allowances. The fees office has also been complicit in assisting MPs to make wrongful claims on their mortgages.
It was Mr Martin who used £150,000 of taxpayers’ money in a four-year High Court legal battle in an attempt to block the publication of MPs’ expenses under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act.
What really amazes me is how these corrupt, indefensible, gold-diggers get into power in the first place. I suppose we should be keeping an eye on them more.
May 23rd, 2009 at 5:14 amWe have a situation created by Scots Politicians,who were Voted in ,in England
not scotland (thats a different) to Represent the people,
most have failed that cause
We find out most, have a agenda ! they have signed the scottish claim of right
Listening to Galloway over the past few years, he is one big England hater
May 23rd, 2009 at 6:32 amwho has lived in England for 25 years
what makes, a nasty piece of work like him tick
is it just Snobbery & Chippy Hatred ?
“We have a situation created by Scots Politicians” ??
Err not rally – it was created and maintained by every single member of the wasteminster parliament irrespective of where they came from . Some are outright rogues and charlatans, but the majority are guilty of not doing something about it. I don’t give a tinkers cuss about where they come from every single manjack of them needs to be kicked out and start again.
The whole damn system needs to be reviewed, with a reduced number of MP’s, strict rules about expenses, public accountability , total FOI on everything. With no Scottish or Welsh MPs elected to the Westminster parliament , but representatives from the Scottish & Welsh parliaments when UK issues are being discussed.
And NO party whips .. the party politics that we have now is disgraceful with local MPs being forced to vote for the party not their constituents.
National Election NOW !
May 23rd, 2009 at 5:16 pmAgreed McFeagle.
May 24th, 2009 at 8:00 amBut Westminster has to be re-named ‘The English Parliament’
If the MP’s from Wales, Scotland and N.Ireland are removed, that would be a reduction of 120 approx.
I would have thought a Parliament of 300 would be plenty for England alone.
Why are Scots Politicians like Galloway,brown,gibson,kennedy,so many more standing in England for Election….
May 24th, 2009 at 4:29 pmThey hate England !
all tho
Gordon Prentice is a scot, but a decent fair minded politician,appears to be as ease with England
agree with renaming westminster BUT A ENGLISH PARLIAMENT is not just a name
its got to be what it says !