Bye Bye Elections

Even in defeat, Michael Martin yesterday could not bring himself to show one iota of contrition for his attempts - using our money - to block publication of MPs' expenses last year. Instead he chose to mark the occasion of his long-overdue passing by launching a pretty scathing attack not on his own party, (to which he has always, outrageously, remained tribally loyal like a good little corrupt Scots Labour, trade unionist good ol' boy should), but on all three party leaders for 'not supporting him'. Well, the Guardian today firmly gives the lie to that claim and points the finger of blame squarely at the Labour benches, front and back, for the failure of MPs to reform the way they pay themselves.

Martin, effectively the first Speaker to be ejected from office for nearly 300 years, rounded on MPs, describing their response to his own package of reforms as "deeply disappointing".

He said: "I wish with all my heart that that package of recommendations had won the confidence of the House [of Commons] last July. And I wish that party leaders had shown then some of the leadership they have shown now".

He accepted that such votes on MPs' pay are traditionally not whipped, but pointedly said: "This does not remove the responsibility of leaders to speak up for common sense and for the obvious wishes of the country in seeking necessary reform."

He reminded MPs : "Half of all Members did not attend to vote, and more than half of those who did vote rejected the proposals. I regretted that then: I deeply regret it now, and I expect that many Members of the House now share that regret."

In reality, David Cameron did whip his shadow cabinet to support the package, and much of the resistance was organised by Labour backbenchers.

Brown himself did not vote, some cabinet members including Jacqui Smith and Andy Burnham rejected the package, and 30 ministers voted for the status quo.

We all know why, too, don't we. That's thirty ministers on the gravy train, house-flipping and tax evading their way to becoming millionaires. It is true that the Tories and the Lib Dems have been guilty of abusing the expenses system, but their sleaze pails by comparison to the systematic fraudulence of many Labourists, especially ministers. And all Martin could do is continue to try to fudge the issue and blur the truth with his self-regarding, petty, crooked little speech. No wonder Brown looked like he didn't give two hoots what the Speaker was saying. He'd probably authorised the final version.

("The Scottish Connection" is the big, as-yet unwritten story of this catastrophic government's disastrous effect on so many aspects of British society. For instance: the Union, the banking system, the economy, the Civil Service, the House of Lords, justice, liberty, the armed forces and now Parliament itself. All have been poisoned and laid low by the most venal and incompetent government in UK history, a government, it must now be acknowledged, that was from the very start utterly dominated by corrupt Scottish Labour members with Brown always at the centre of the chaos they have generated everywhere.)

Meanwhile, the fallout is beginning to land in the real world. After Kitty Ussher's resignation yesterday for stealing £17,000 from us, calls from Vince Cable for a by election in her Burnley constituency will surely gain momentum. As the Grauniad goes on to say, another Labour crook, Jim Divine...

...the fifth Labour MP to be forced to stand down over his expenses claims, indicated he may force an early byelection after he was told by the party's disciplinary panel that his expenses claims disqualified him from standing for Labour again.

It seems from the direction this scandal now appears to be taking this summer could be remembered as the Summer of Elections. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Cameron should take control of the situation, show some real steel, argue that since Brown has decided to abandon democracy in Britain altogether, he will order all his MPs to resign their seats and fight by elections, facing their constituents and standing on their records.

Such an unprecedented move, given Labour's utter corruptness and paralysis, would, probably, force the autumn general election we all now want. Even if it didn't, it would be the right thing to do and would defnitively demonstrate Cameron's ability to lead us out of this, the darkest of the dark periods in the history of our country. It would also reveal once and for all and beyond any shadow of a doubt that the man responsible for this darkness, James Gordon Brown, is totally unfit for the office that he stole.