I’ve been hiding in a revision bubble for the last month or so, and as such have missed most of the expenses row. Emerged briefly to gasp for air and buy a newspaper to celebrate a relative lull in the exam timetable, only to find it still dominating the front pages.
I’m not clued up on the ins and outs of the scandal or the resignation, but on reading about Michael Martin one interesting detail stuck out. Women MPs, particuarly those elected in 1997, apparently tend to hold him in great regard for the help and advice he gave them on arriving at Parliament for the first time. As someone not quite from the establishment himself it was suggested he empathised with them and understood what it was like to be a relative outsider. I found this really interesting…
Now out of the real world and back to my bubble, five exams down, two to go.
Noone doubts his personal integrity. Its his ability to do the job and maintain order in the chamber thats the problem. Thats why he had to go.
No one mentioned that here… it was merely an unrelated but very interesting point
His integrity? He tried to cover up the scandal to save his own skin. The net result of his stupidity is that Labour will be out of office for 20 years. What you have missed whilst revising is the implosion of a government with no mandate to be in power, led by someone totally out of his depth.