The Speaker of the House of Commons needs the support of the whole House if he is to be able to preside over it properly. Michael Martin’s performance this week, when he upbraided David Cameron for asking Tony Blair about his preferred successor, was merely the latest in a long line of controversial incidents which have bedeviled his Speakership.

 

I'm told by Tory MP friends that he continually forgets to call Shadow Ministers during Question Time but they are too embarrassed to point out his errors. The unspoken truth is that he just hasn't been the same since he returned from illness in the Spring. Several MPs were openly speculating this week that the Speaker's equivalent of the Men in Grey Coats might well be encouraged to pay him a visit soon. If they do, I suspect they would get short shrift and be given the verbal equivalent of a ‘Glasgow kiss’.

But it would not surprise me at all if we had a new Speaker during the course of this Parliament. Sir Alan Haselhurst impressed all sides of the House when he deputised for Michael Martin following his heart scare and he would be a very strong contender. Sir George Young is keen on the job too. In theory at least it is the Tories' turn, but many Labour supporters say that if Labour is in power there should be a Labour Speaker.

 

A poll on my blog earlier this year revealed a surprising favourite – Miss Ann Widdecombe. The people love her, but her trouble is that her colleagues don’t. So those of you who are dying to see Miss W in tights and breeches will sadly have a long wait.

 

 

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Up and down the country thousands of farmers have stared bankruptcy in the face due to the total meltdown of the Rural Payments Agency. Its chief executive, Johnston McNeill was suspended on full pay (naturally) in March due to his dire performance.

Mr McNeill was due to give evidence to a parliamentary enquiry this week but pulled out because he is apparently suffering from "stress". He should try being a small farmer in Norfolk for a few months then he would know the true meaning of the word stress. In the first half of this year calls to the Farm Crisis Network Hotline were 50% higher than the same period last year. I wonder why that would be, as if we need to ask. I am sure the letters pages will now be littered with comments about never seeing a farmer on a bike and why should they get these subsidies anyway? Regardless of one's views of subsidies, farmers can only operate within the current system and plan their budgets according to it. It's hardly their fault if the CAP is a completely mad system which we have to implement.

 

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House of Lords reform seems to be back on the agenda at long last. Labour has indulged in many acts of constitutional vandalism since 1997 but none has been as bungled as their efforts to reform our Second Chamber. The trouble was that they embarked on the reform process without any idea at all what they wanted to end up with. If you start on a reform purely based on class hatred you're bound to come a cropper. But the past is the past and we are where we are.

Reforming the Lords is a tricky one for the Conservatives too. I have no doubt that the leadership wants to go down the road of 80-100% elected Peers - and they are quite right. How anyone can support a wholly or majority appointed second chamber in this day and age is quite beyond me. Those who do, tend to trot out the old line about the House of Commons being undermined by a powerful second chamber. Rubbish. If the House of Commons lacks confidence in its pre-eminence, it says a lot about the quality of the people in it.

The Conservative dilemma is the reaction of some of its existing Peers, who will have no truck with an elected second chamber. David Cameron should be strong and tell them how it's going to be. Frankly, he's got little to lose. The Tory old guard in the Lords will never approve of what he's trying to do anyway, so if he has to upset them, so be it. Norfolk’s most famous Peer of the realm, Baroness Shephard will need to display her characteristic mix of charm and guile in her new role as Chairman of the Association of Conservative Peers, for it is she who will be the go-between between them and David Cameron. It’s not a job for the faint-hearted.

One idea I've been toying with is to suggest that one Peer should be elected per County/Metropolitan area, rather like they do in the USA. It would have the advantage of linking Peers to an area and probably avoid a huge predominance by one particular party. It would also have the added bonus of entrenching the country structure within our system of government.

But one thing I am very clear on is that whatever system is chosen, the Second Chamber must be either wholly or mostly elected. I am quite happy for it to retain an appointed/crossbench element but any appointed Peers should be able to speak but not vote. Voting should be reserved for those who have a democratic mandate.

 

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Blogging is slowly taking off among Norfolk politicians. Former Norwich South Tory candidate Antony Little (antonylittle.blogspot.com) has recently been joined in the blogosphere by Fakenham LibDem councillor Nich Starling (norfolkblogger.blogspot.com). Norwich Norfolk Labour MP Ian Gibson blogs via the Norwich Evening News website. So far no Norfolk MP has dipped his toe into the blogosphere, although West Suffolk MP Richard Spring has started an excellent daily weblog (richardspring.mpblogs.com). One day they’ll all have one…