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Parliament will have to elect a new Speaker in late June and given the mood of the moment with all the “Expenses Allegations” – a trial by media if ever there was, MPs are very reluctant, even Ladbrokes don’t have a clue, their odds are on a par with a Grand National, no come to think of, not even as clear as that.

I would nominate Ann Widedecombe as the new Speaker but only on an interim basis. The ‘interim’ has nothing to do with her qualities, I suspect that in the event she may well give the “Blessed Boothroyd” a run for her money !

My Reasoning…

An Autumn Election is my favourite bet and almost in my mind a racing certainty, this Parliament will not outlast the year, it is done and a fresh start needed. By September/October, tempers will have cooled and minds be the more focused on the economic perils these Islands face.

A number of people have spoken or written about an interim Speaker an idea I totally agree with because the next Parliament will see a very significant turnover in terms of the actual members of it, for one reason or another it could reach 50% or more which would leave a very different type of Parliament.

Getting rid of Michael Martin was not ‘the solution’, it was the start of an all embracing process and I am not too sure that simply appointing a New Speaker is any more a ‘solution’ than getting rid of the old one.

The Role of the Speaker

Because the role of the Speaker has changed significantly over the years, I would question whether the incumbent of that Office needs to even be a sitting MP. In that regard, if the House on a free vote accepted this view as a possibility then we start to open up new possibilities and potential. We need to ask ourselves just what is this all about and where do we want to go ?

Although no Holy Roller, I am a Christian and have always railed against this culture of people believing in the singer rather than the song and in this context, a fundamentally bad person can be seen as good simply because they are popular, I will refrain from mentioning anybody who might be married to Cherie Booth.

I am not sure that replacing like with like is the answer, I do believe that we need to look closely at the role of the Speaker of the House of Commons, what do we want that to be ? We actually need to sit down and write the Job Specification first but also, to do that against the background of how we separate the Executive from the Legislature and in this the role of the Speaker is intimately woven.

We Need an Interim Speaker

The British Electorate are not stupid and in my lifetime I have seen an unspoken mood resonate across these islands, the time before this was 1997 when the Tory Party was soundly trounced in a General Election. Today the Daily Telegraph may think that it is leading the pack but it isn’t, the Expenses Expose and the DT itself, is no different to the General Election Event of 1997, they have just provided the means of expression of long felt frustrations. In this context electing a new Speaker to continue as before but with a different face, just isn’t where it is at.

Providing that the current crop of MPs accepted that the Speaker would not necessarily be an elected MP, appointing Anne Widdicombe as an Interim Speaker would make sense because she intended standing down anyway at the next election. If she kept to that, then she could still return to kick off the next Parliament and hold the fort whilst the new House decided how it wants to proceed with regard to the Speaker in the future which at minimum will be term (years) or Parliaments limited as in the Speaker may only serve two Parliaments as the maximum before standing down.

Clearly “Only the Speaker may decide when to step down” has gone now forever, the public now want timelines which means that just like MPs: – “We only have to put up with you for a maximum period of 5 years”.

Who knows, the House may decide to keep “Widders” but I feel that because of all the hullabaloo over expenses, now may not be the best time to pick a new Speaker under the old rules and it may well be totally unfair on whoever was chosen for the job.