Michael Martin insists: 'I could have fought on and survived' Gaby Hinsliff, political editor
In his first interview since being made to resign as Speaker of the House of Commons, Michael Martin tells the Observer that he was the victim of snobs who focused on his humble background and insists he would have survived if he had fought for his job.
Martin, a sheet-metal worker in Scotland before being elected as an MP, said working-class Glaswegians were "too good to wipe the boots" of his critics. During the interview with Roy Hattersley, the former deputy leader of the Labour party, Martin admits he had at times felt "nervous" and "on my own" in the job, but insisted he had never believed he was not up to it.
He quit because he had become a "lightning conductor" for public anger, he said, adding: "If I had fought, I would have won."
Martin's belief that he still had the support of most MPs will increase speculation that he blames Gordon Brown for the ending of his career, although he said he did not feel betrayed. But he said that MPs' rejection of his own expenses reform proposals last year was "deeply disappointing", reflecting his barbed suggestion in his resignation speech to parliament that all the party leaders failed to back him on reform.
Martin has long felt unable to rebut his critics because he declined press interviews while in the post. The interview is the first time he has revealed his true feelings over years of allegations that he was at best inadequate and at worst over-keen on the trappings of the job.
"Of course the attacks hurt," he told Hattersley, adding that criticism of his wife, Mary - whose own expenses claims were raked over by newspapers - were the worst: "One woman said she was only a steel smelter's daughter. Not fit to be a Speaker's wife. They must have gone to the trouble to look up her birth certificate."
As for the nickname "Gorbals Mick" bestowed on him by the Daily Mail sketchwriter Quentin Letts, Martin points out that he does not actually come from that largely deprived area of Glasgow, but would be proud to say he did.
Tomorrow a new Speaker will be elected, with signs that the previous favourite - Tory MP John Bercow, who has overwhelming Labour backing but almost no support within his own ranks - may have been weakened by the surprise candidacy of Margaret Beckett, a former cabinet minister. Beckett was seen as tainted by the expenses row after public fury at her gardening claims, but five potential candidates - including Bercow, who repaid more than £1,400 he said he had wrongly claimed on office costs - have returned money.
Many Conservative MPs plan to vote tactically to try to stop Bercow, while, if the Labour vote splits between the two candidates, a rival such as Tory grandee Sir George Young could be boosted.
Writing for the Observer online this weekend, Bercow said he confidently expected to win "significant support" from Tory MPs and insisted he had support from a "positively psychedelic" coalition across the political spectrum. Seeking to boost his appeal, sources close to him said he would favour more openness when expenses are next published this autumn, including limiting cuts to sensitive details, such as bank account numbers and exact addresses.
Among the first tasks for the new Speaker will be setting up a committee to investigate one of Martin's darkest hours, when police were allowed to enter parliament and search Conservative MP Damian Green's offices without a warrant. Martin's insistence that he had not been directly consulted was seen by many as passing the buck when he should have ensured he was on top of the issue.
But Martin appears to blame the police, telling Hattersley: "I had a right to expect senior officers to behave differently." He suggested he discovered there was no warrant only hours later, when a junior officer of the house showed him the paperwork and he queried why there was not a magistrate's name on it.
He also revealed that he defied a "very senior member of the government" before the Iraq war to allow debate on an amendment critical of the invasion.
Observer
