The campaign to ditch Speaker Martin gathers pace

Ben Wallace has just called for the Speaker to resign, joining Douglas Carswell’s call. This doubles the number of MPs who have broken the parliamentary protocol and are openly calling for the Speaker to go. Wallace explained his rationale on Channel Four news: from 2001 when Freedom of Information legislation was passed, it was clear this juggernaught was coming down the track. What Wallace didn’t say is that his old employer, the Scottish Parliament, felt this first – Tory leader David McLetchie was felled in a scandal about his taxi expenses. It was clear to Wallace (if to all too few of his new Westminster colleagues) that it would be a matter of time before this hurricane hit Westminster.

Wallace earned plenty enemies on his own side for his unilateral decision to publish all his expenses online, and for this deeply unpopular stance he was named Campaigner of the Year in the 2008 Spectator/Threadneedle awards.