Many, myself included, thought that Gordon Brown might use Michael Martin as a sacrificial lamb; a means of suggesting that the Government is doing “everything it can” on the expenses scandal, as well as to deflect attention away from their own misdemeanours. But signs are he’s playing a more devious game than that. Here’s the evidence…
Exhibit A: the Labour chief whip, and key ally of the PM, Nick Brown, has just said that Martin is “one of us” and that “the establishment” forced him out. Rather than subtly claiming credit for the Speaker’s departure, it seems that Downing Street is passing the buck. And onto the “establishment,” whoever they might be.
Throw in Exhibits B and C, and we get a clearer picture. The PM is making frequent references to Parliament being like a “gentleman’s club,” and he dropped a jibe about Douglas Hogg’s moat in PMQs
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