The PMQs thread With Martin going and a new expenses regime coming in most of the heat has been taken out of the current explosive issues. Yet we are just two weeks away from the June 4th elections – the last major occasion before the general election when the nation as a whole will vote. All parties will want to lay down markers for that election. So my guess is that Cameron will build on the general election call theme…
Is the next Speaker market one to keep out of? Late last night the maverick MP for Buckingham, John Bercow, moved into the favourite slot in the next speaker betting – the third such change during the day. No doubt in the month to come other names will emerge and fade and a lot of punters, I believe, are going to be tempted into bets that they will come to regret. Remember that what’s crazy is that under the new…
The full round-up of front pages can be found at SkyNews. Next speaker betting. Mike Smithson
The money piles on the Lib Dem after he declares his candidature? The big mover on the Next Speaker Betting markets has been the veteran Lib Dem MP Alan Beith who first entered the commons 36 years ago at the Berwick upon Tweed by election. What marks Beith out is that he’s declared that he’s a runner and that, surely, must now rule out fellow Lib Dem, Ming Campbell who was scarred by one of the Daily Telegraph exposes. I’ve…
BBC.co.uk And who will be his successor?
Mail Online Does he know too much about Brown’s role in expense-gate? There’s a must-read piece by Peter Oborne in the Mail this morning suggesting that if Gordon is complicit (sanctioning a confidence debate say) in Martin’s demise then the prime minister’s position could become even more precarious. Here’s a taster: “…..the Prime Minister’s supporters fear that if the Speaker believes Brown has betrayed him or been disloyal in any way, he is capable of wreaking a terrible revenge…Their greatest…
Is Gord ready to “kill Martin off”? Of all the front pages this morning the one that gets to the heart of the matter is the Daily Mail – is the Prime Minister ready to make the parliamentary time available fot the confidence motion on his fellow Scot, Michael Martin to be debated? If he doesn’t Brown will face a mighty storm and possibly lasting and terminal damage to what remains of his political career. If he does then it…