Blog posts tagged "Michael Martin"

June 18, 2009 12:38 pm No Comments

On one level he is the fall guy of the expenses scandal. But on another, some see Michael Martin as the agent of his own undoing. Look no further than the absurd scenes enacted yesterday as he processed through the Palace of Westminster. Did anyone ever think of cutting that frock coat so that some [...]

May 20, 2009 10:10 am No Comments

I first set eyes on Gordon Brown at Edinburgh University in 1970. We were both involved in student protests in our respective universities and I’d been invited from Liverpool University to give a talk to him and his fellow protesters on the campus in Edinburgh.

May 19, 2009 11:13 am 149 Comments

This is a heck of a day – today, Tuesday 19 May. We’re in the midst of a full-blown constitutional crisis. The Speaker is suddenly resigning (2.30pm). Gordon Brown has summoned an emergency press conference at 5.30. There is a febrile political atmosphere. Nobody knows what the course of events will be.

May 15, 2009 10:33 am No Comments

I am very struck by the huge response to both Snowblog and Channel 4 News this week – high-quality contributions and a number of very personal comparisons with what is happening in regard to disclosure of MPs‘ arrangements. Stan, as you return to work today after nine months without a job, I wish you well.

May 12, 2009 7:35 pm No Comments

It seems Speaker Michael Martin may survive the initial fallout from the expenses scandal and the controversial manner in which he has chosen to deal with it. But my sources tell me even if this initial attempt fails, his days may be numbered. My hunch would be to watch for a peerage. And so the [...]

12:22 pm 33 Comments

All my working life, the Commons has been a daunting and intimidating place – a place where I had no place. I have never been a “lobby correspondent”, although I have a journalist’s pass. Yet even with that, and even as an assiduous voter, the Commons has never felt a place that I had any [...]