Westminster at its worst
Fraser Nelson 11:58am
So now we know the shortlist for Speaker - and it shows Westminster at its most vindictive, corrupt and spiteful. Exactly the same names you'd have expected before any of this expenses furore broke. I simply cannot now see how this race can be taken seriously. As far as I can work out, it has taken ten steps into farce.
1) Labour MPs realise Martin's early resignation gives them an unexpected chance to impose on Cameron someone whom the Tories won't like - they still have a majority, after all. After the election, they won't.
2) Bercow, who has been sending Christmas cards and flattering notes to Labour MPs for years in order to better his chances for this job, also works out that he can be carried by Labour MPs alone. This is his time! He makes noises about reform, which basically seem to be self-promotion pledging to plonk himself on every TV sofa in the land.
3) The reformers in the House of Commons (there are some) persuade the utterly scrupulous and unbiddable Frank Field to run.
4) Field, being an honest chap, doesn't go ahead because he isn't backed by Labour MPs and thinks the Speaker should have the trust of the whole House.
5) Bercow has no such scruples, and is delighted to be used by Labour to irritate Cameron. But the idea of a Tory still doesn't appeal to Brown, the most factional of all politicians.
6) Beckett is chucked out of the Cabinet, but agrees to go if Brown's thugs will promote her as Speaker. Beckett, of course, is a joke - she voted against reform last year, helped herself to our money with hanging baskets etc. Aged 66, she sees this as a retirement job - that suits the lazy MPs who don't want a Speaker trying to force them to work for a living. And it suits Brown who doesn't want any attempted challenges to what remains of his Government's authority. He wants to force through changes to the voting system, and doesn't want MPs getting in the way of it.
7) Beckett, for all her defects, is seen by the Tories as the best 'stop Bercow' candidate. She is, after all, being promoted by Brown's henchmen. Sure, they'd like George Young ideally, but even Beckett is better than the idea of Bercow's smarmy face smiling down at them from the Speaker's chair.
8) The MPs have the safety of a secret ballot to choose a Speaker for all the wrong reasons. No one will have to defend the choice they made in public! So their motives can be as impure as they like. Tories even threaten to throw out the new Speaker after the election if it is someone foisted on them by Labour MPs.
9) The Speaker election is then driven by factionalism, revenge, an 'up-yours' attitude not just to politcial enemies but the public as a whole.
10) When the reforming MPs are finally elected - about half the chamber will be renewed after the next election - they find themselves lumbered with a useless Speaker chosen by their predecessors whose venality and attitude disgraced British democracy so spectacularly.
Beckett is described as the "anti-reform" candidate - but that implies there is a pro-reform candidate. John Bercow is not that man. He's not outraged by the abuse of expenses: he was going nowhere in the Tory party, thought about defecting to Labour (and Labour sources tell me they were confident he would have crossed the floor had David Davis become leader) and is offering himself to Labour MPs as an irritation to Cameron. Rather than be someone the House respects (like Betty Boothroyd), the Speaker will be the product of one of these games of spite and revenge that Westminster politicians love to play with each other. George Young and Alan Haselhurst would, in my view, chair debates better than the other candidates - but neither can give the Commons the reform it so badly needs.
I leave you with the verdict of Stephen Pound:
But when you ask poachers to choose a new gamekeeper, what do you expect?“I think it is potentially a fatal mistake. It is a depressing example of MPs looking inwards to their own advantage when we really should be looking outwards. This is great opportunity for us to present a new, fresh face for Parliament and a lot of it looks like the same old, stale corruption, I fear"
Previous
Kevyn Bodman
June 22nd, 2009 12:17pm Report this commentI am very uneasy about the secret ballot.
The electorate should know the votes cast by their representatives;that's one of the pieces of information necessary for forming an opinion on whether or not to vote for them again.
Kevyn Bodman
June 22nd, 2009 12:22pm Report this commentIt's time to ditch the convention of not running a candidate against the Speaker in the House of Commons.
The current lot of MPs have lost credibility with the voters.
It is not right that a Speaker elected by this lot should be immune from challenge in the House when the next lot come in after the election.
Then once the tradition is broken, it's broken.
Also look at the convention of running candidates in the Speaker's constituency. Why keep it?
oldtimer
June 22nd, 2009 12:38pm Report this commentThe problem is that after the next election he, or she, would have to come from the existing MPs who survived into the next Parliament.
The opportunity is that a new Parliament would have the opportunity to defenestrate the Speaker if the choice was deemed to be as politically and/or spitefully motivated as you fear.
Carol-Ann
June 22nd, 2009 12:39pm Report this commentI really despair of the MP's, for anyone who is interested or enjoys politics this is so depressing. If it were the public choosing the speaker only Ann Widdecome would stand a chance.
Ian Walker
June 22nd, 2009 12:41pm Report this commentPerhaps we could appeal to MPs greed. If they all backed an outside candidate (Haslehurst please) at the bookies, then voted for them, they could make almost enough money to cover the lost expenses!
Obama Beach
June 22nd, 2009 12:43pm Report this commentOur democratic deficit is almost on par with Iran but sadly there's scant chance of our people taking to thwe streets.
Beckett? Ugh!
Tory Girl
June 22nd, 2009 12:43pm Report this commentI hate to say it but maybe the best situation would've been to leave Martin in place and then elect a fresh at the start of the next Parliament. I wondered, at the time why, Cameron seemed reluctant to get rid of Speaker Martin. Maybe he saw this happening. We need to trust in Cameron's judgement a bit more.
Ray
June 22nd, 2009 12:44pm Report this commentAnne Widdecombe would have made the best speaker. Tenacious, principled, independent-minded, and not afraid to call a spade a spade - as many members on her own side have found out to their cost when she has had cause to accuse them of behaving like pillocks.
richardj
June 22nd, 2009 12:46pm Report this commentDespicable behaviour - we should be on the streets - this is enough!
Stan, UK
June 22nd, 2009 12:48pm Report this commentFraser, agree with your assessment of the situation completely. The political elite are despicable. I wish we could have a revolution.
mat
June 22nd, 2009 12:55pm Report this commentIn the era of open politics announced after the PLP meeting which retained GB it is disheartening how the election of Speaker appears to be playing out. Frank Field has a very good image outside Parliament, and shown himself an independent and creative thinker. If any doubt did remain about his strengths then it's answered in his actions. The respect he holds for the office of Speaker - I cannot imagine any other candidate withdrawing for lack of cross-party support.
I wish him every success from the backbenches.
Alex
June 22nd, 2009 12:58pm Report this commentAnd what about the constituents of the speaker? they get an MP who cannot represent their interests and who is basically unelectable.
Austin Barry
June 22nd, 2009 1:02pm Report this commentWhat kind of masochists are our MPs that they would countenance for one second having the knacker's-yard-equine, insufferably smug and self-regarding Beckett as Speaker? I suspect that the secret ballot will liberate our parcel of rogues from voting for this hideous harridan.
Publius
June 22nd, 2009 1:16pm Report this commentVile, hopeless, and utterly depressing. How can they go on?
Mitch
June 22nd, 2009 1:16pm Report this commentExcellent piece, Fraser. You're absolutely right.
Sir George would be my choice.
Bercow or Beckett would/will be disasters.
John Lea
June 22nd, 2009 1:22pm Report this commentFraser - spot on! It's like the expenses scandal never happened. I thought the whole point in electing a new Speaker - or at least a major part of it - was to try and restore some trust in our political system?
If they elect Beckett, it will be seen - as you rightly say - as an 'up yours' to the British people.
se1man
June 22nd, 2009 1:25pm Report this commentWhy does it have to be an MP?
In any other walk of life, when an institution or a business casts about for a new CEO or senior Exec, the search extends as far and as wide as possible; in fact external candidates may be preferred because of the fresh thinking that they will bring.
It might come as a shock to MPs but actually there are people out here in the real world who can chair a debate, control a budget, reform processes etc.
Paul
June 22nd, 2009 1:27pm Report this commentThis has got to be the final straw, hasn't it?
I'm going to write a letter to the Queen asking her to dissolve Parliament. Then, if that doesn't work, I think that I'm going to have to go to Parliament Square and get my head busted by the police as they "attempt to restrain me."
Simon Stephenson
June 22nd, 2009 1:38pm Report this comment"But when you ask poachers to choose a new gamekeeper, what do you expect?"
Mmmm. But the people have discarded the idea of being ruled by a disinterested aristocracy of representatives in favour of having their interests represented directly by people of their own kind. Why should the people expect such representatives to behave in a way that promotes the common good above self-interest, when in their own world, the world from which these people have been selected, the order of priority is precisely the opposite of this?
Susan Hill
June 22nd, 2009 1:42pm Report this commentWhat baffles me is Tony Benn publicly endorsing Bercow.
Scary Biscuits
June 22nd, 2009 1:45pm Report this commentThis isn't Parliament at its worst: it's Gorgon Brown at his worst. The Labour Party controls Parliament and Brown leads both. He is telling them to vote for Beckett (with menaces if they argue for any other). Brown is the roadblock to reform, just as he has been on other matters for the last 12 years. Even Michael Martin criticised for not showing leadership last year but he is showing leadership - it's just totally devoid of principle, which he no doubt justifies by his socialist antinomianism.
John Lea
June 22nd, 2009 1:49pm Report this commentNew Labour are up to their old tricks:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6553505.ece
Free Thomist
June 22nd, 2009 1:54pm Report this commentA truly dispiriting sequence of events-but not surprising given recent revelations. This Parliament continues to demonstrate that it is without any shame why it is unfit to represent us. Westminster will not regain its authority until we have returned a new Parliament; it must then elect a new Speaker.
Cameron and Clegg should make that clear immediately.
Malory
June 22nd, 2009 2:00pm Report this commentIt's also a fascinating example of how apparently principled reforms can have unintended consequences.
The idea of a secret ballot was pushed at the time as a major reform - removing the power of the whips. But it has had the opposite effect, allowing MPs complete unacounatbility in their choice.
Incidentally, I still dont buy the argument about Bercow. He might not be liked by some of the tories, but he is also the genuine "reform" candidate.
Who else is going to fundamentally change the way the commons works? Widdecombe has the manner, but has consistently voted against transparency and openness about expenses.
Verity
June 22nd, 2009 2:09pm Report this commentWhat on earth is the matter with HM? I'm afraid she's too aged to do anything bold. She must either step in here and dissolve the government, or retire and pass the crown to Charles, who seems to be NuLabour down to his toes. As does the dreadful, Dianesque William. Ugh! If we could just fast forward to Harry, we would be OK.
Simon Stephenson
June 22nd, 2009 2:19pm Report this commentse1man
Nice to read that I'm not just one in sixty million who has such a thought. Thanks!
Short the UK
June 22nd, 2009 2:25pm Report this commentScum is the best word to describe the majority of the Members. Pure and utter scum. If people had not died for our democracy I would now stop voting.
Kalvis Jansons
June 22nd, 2009 2:41pm Report this commentIt made me feel better to sign this petition:
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/please-go/
Oscar
June 22nd, 2009 3:18pm Report this commentFraser - excellent post. Tory Girl - I agree with you. Cameron is usually several steps ahead of everyone else. He knows how to play a long game and unlike the incumbant does not go for quick headlines (despite unfounded accusations to the contrary). Young did well in the hustings and would have my vote.
YouCannotBeSerious?
June 22nd, 2009 3:34pm Report this commentFraser - a scathing article, but am not sure at the end of it who you think should be the speaker. Are you arguing that if only Frank Field had stood, then this would have been a more legitimate process? Who, in your view, should have been on the shortlist?
Fraser Nelson
June 22nd, 2009 5:29pm Report this commentYouCannotBeSerious? it's more the debate than the candidates. The 'how do we shaft x' logic, rather than 'how do we get ourselves out of this mess'. Of the available candidates, I say Young or Haselhurst: both are decent, honest men (unlike Bercow) but neither will really reform Westminster.
john miller
June 22nd, 2009 5:49pm Report this commentVerity, what a wicked sense of humour you have.
And you being in the States for so long...
TomTom
June 22nd, 2009 7:51pm Report this commentWith John Bercow's background on the extremist Right of British politics the BNP should be welcome when they pick up seats in the next GE
Jim
June 22nd, 2009 10:49pm Report this commentI watched the entire contemptible fiasco: a whole day wasted by 600+ MPs as they marched in and out of lobbies, stood around for hours waiting for the count and then the en masse sloping off around the museum doffing caps and slamming doors in each others faces. Given a few buttons and a 500 quid PC they could have done the whole thing in 15 minutes without leaving their benches and then got on with something useful like voting for some decent modern accommodation and selling off Westminster to the Disney Corporation. Sickening!
hadrian
June 22nd, 2009 10:50pm Report this commentWell, we now all know it's Bercow who got it. Plainly, the MPs did NOT 'get it'. I don't know the man that well but from what I've seen of him the word 'smarm' springs to mind. Frank Field really should have gone for it; it is a strong commentary on the pettiness of NuLabour that he apparently felt constrained to withdraw because they had not sufficient confidence in him. Now we have a seeminly partisan Speaker taking perverse pleasure by all accounts in doing down his erstwhile Tory colleagues. This sounds like a sick joke.
It should be routine that each new Parliament starts with a fresh Speaker. Also NO EXTRAVAGENT pension for them. After all that's happened that 'little' perk is nothing short of a bloody disgrace.
Craig Pond
June 23rd, 2009 7:16am Report this commentPerhaps the reason Bercow won has something to do with his idea of raising MPs salaries to £100k?
We all know that the majority of these Westminster saddlebacks
will put personal gain before national need.
Val Duncan
June 23rd, 2009 2:22pm Report this commentWill it matter in the long run?
Come October we will be welded to Europe and Westminster will become no more than a little Euro Council with nothing to do but say "Yes Sir".
Herbert Thornton
June 23rd, 2009 4:53pm Report this commentVerity - (and John Miuller) -
"Cry God for Harry, England and St George", eh?
Moraymint
June 23rd, 2009 6:40pm Report this commentShysters ... the lot of them.
YouCannotBeSerious!
June 25th, 2009 10:42am Report this commentFraser - thanks for the clarification. I agree with you 100%
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