Democracy is at stake in the Damian Green affair
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Contributing editor
Emily Hohler Dec 12, 2008
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The Speaker Michael Martin's "speedy investigation" into the arrest of Tory immigration spokesman Damian Green descended into acrimony on Monday night when the Tories and Liberal Democrats announced a boycott of the committee set up to examine the matter, says James Chapman in the Daily Mail. The two opposition parties are angry at the Government's insistence that the seven-strong committee should have a Labour majority to reflect the composition of the House. And that it should not hold any hearings until the police inquiry is over. That could take months or years.
The boycott was a setback for Michael Martin, who was hoping that his offer to set up a cross-party committee into the police raid on Green's office would show that he is taking the matter seriously, says Nicholas Watt in The Guardian. Martin still appears to aspire to serve a third term, even though his position is becoming increasingly untenable. Former Labour home secretary Charles Clarke warned of "widespread concern" about the Speaker's performance and even the Government can't seem to agree on whether or not to express confidence in him.
Martin is a "disgrace to his office" and if he is not prepared to resign, MPs should make him, says Simon Heffer in The Daily Telegraph. The Speaker performs an important and rightly respected role in the defence and preservation of British democracy. He defends the integrity of the House of Commons and protects the freedoms of its members. He faced a "critical test" when the police came to search Green's office, which he failed. "Mr Martin did not stand up for an MP's prima facie right to keep correspondence with his constituents private."
Martin made matters worse when he tried to blame the Serjeant-at-arms, Jill Pay, although she had kept him informed throughout and is under his authority. Aside from this episode there are the embarrassing allegations over his and his wife's expense claims and the frequent claims that he is "hopelessly biased towards Labour", says Peter McKay in the Daily Mail.
This saga has become farcical, but it isn't funny at all, embracing as it does "the accountability of Government, the freedoms of MPs, the relationship between police, ministers and Parliament, the impartiality of civil servants and the credibility of the Commons", says Matthew D'Ancona in The Sunday Telegraph. We need this machinery to run smoothly and in a "fashion that commands public confidence", yet clearly it is functioning "about as well as a Keystone Kops car".
Martin is being put "through the wringer" to deflect attention from our "useless" government, says McKay. We're told the police investigation into Damian Green was ordered by Cabinet Office officials and Gordon Brown and home secretary Jacqui Smith both deny that they "called in the plod". But is it really credible that civil servants would order such an investigation without the backing of the prime minister and/or home secretary? What we really need is a leak of the relevant Cabinet Office documents: if either of them has lied, they're unlikely to survive in office. Whatever Martin has done in his eight years as Speaker, he isn't responsible for the Government's "endless cock-ups" or their "police-style tactics".
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