Speaker Michael Martin - a complaint goes in

The office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards - Parliament's watchdog - have confirmed this morning they have received a complaint about the Speaker, Michael Martin. Under the rules, the registrar cannot say anything about the scope of the complaint (although the Daily Mail has more details here) or reveal whether the commissioner, John Lyon, will launch a full inquiry. But this could be serious.

The Commissioner could dismiss the complaint out of hand. But if he does not, we will be in unprecedented waters and it could be fatal for Mr Martin.

It is the biggest test possible for Lyon, not least because the "rules" against which Martin will have to be judged are murky and not in the public domain. His allowances go way beyond what is allowed for other MPs, but some may argue his role is broadly comparable to that of a minister.

The accusations against Martin in recent weeks have focused on three areas: his wife's use of taxpayer-funded taxis, flights and the family use of airmiles he accrued on business.

Some of the defences used on his behalf seem deeply odd: Mary Martin's £4,280.20 bill for taxis arose because "she goes shopping for food and so on for entertaining official visitors" and is always accompanied by an official. Yet Parliament has huge kitchens, professional caterers, and Mrs Martin's expenses bill was £0 according to a Freedom of Information requests. And who is the lucky official?

The Speaker will put up a fight and his spokesman denies any wrongdoing. The Speaker does have a budget of his own, and his expenditure must have been agreed with Parliamentary staff for it to have been paid out (thought that was no defence for Conway). Few MPs have dared shine much light into the Speaker's affairs before the arrival of the Freedom of Information Act, so we have little to compare it to. MPs familiar with the inner workings of the house say spending is too small to be approved by them. So it may be hard to construct a case that Martin "broke the rules". On airmiles, there may only be "guidance", not rules. And for the rest, it may be simply there aren't any rules.

So we wait and see.

A postcript: If Lyon does launch an inquiry he would have to prepare a report - either oral or written - to the Committee on Standards and Privileges. This committee is chaired by Sir George Young, who has made little secret of his ambition to be Speaker. Would he have to stand aside in the event of the committee having to make a decision about Speaker Martin?

Comments

[Chuck Unsworth]

Not before time. The man is appallingly partial and, although wily, incredibly dense. Very little integrity, either.

The pity is that much of this will be examined behind closed doors. So much for Parliamentary 'transparency'.

[Andrew Hall]

The issue of MP's expenses has been the elephant in the room at PMQs for weeks now. It seems it is actually more of a skunk in the House than an elephant in the room, leaving a stench as it wanders the halls of Westminster. Now it seems that rather than seeking to eradicate the skunk the speaker has been feeding it titbits.

Now we await the report from a group chaired by himself with as much impartiality as the 'National Union of Turkey's Christmas Committee'.