What is Happening With the British House of Commons?
“There’s something rotten in the [House of Parliament]. . .”
- William Shakespeare: Hamlet Act I, Scene 4.
There currently is a scandal going down in the British House of Commons. It was discovered that Members of Parliament (“MPs”) had been misusing public funds (appropriated to them for living expenses in their “second homes” they have in London when they are not in their districts). They used them for extravagant expenses such as cleaning a moat, buying expensive furniture, or laying down manure in their gardens. The public was absolutely disgusted and called for blood.
The Speaker of the House, Michael Martin, resigned. His position, unlike the position by the same name in the States, is largely bipartisan and responsible for keeping track of Members’ fees. So, by trying to cover up the Members’ extravagance, Martin was widely considered to have betrayed the public trust and had no choice, basically, but to resign.
However, some say that Martin was a fall guy, and the British media still clamored that the entire of “Westminster (this is a synonym for the Houses of Parliament) has sunk into a slough of despond.”1 Other Parliamentary leaders are calling for administrative reforms aimed at breaking up the entire Parliamentary “clubby” atmosphere, “where the members make up the rules, and operate them among themselves.”2
But the party that was most tarnished was the party in the majority, the Labour Party (Tony Blair’s party). For the last 12 years, Labour has been in the Majority and has seemed invincible, while the Conservatives were in political Siberia, but, now, this scandal threatens to upset the apple cart: the public wants the old order out, and the new order in. On June 4, there were elections for local offices and for EU offices, and the public used these to send a message to Labour how badly they want change.
Currently, the head of the Labour Party, Gordon Brown, is hanging by a thread. Not only has he been battered by this scandal, but the economy in Britain, like the rest of the world, is weak, so he’s bearing up under pressure about that also. On top of that, eleven members of his Cabinet resigned last week after the elections. On June 22, a new Speaker of the House was elected, John Bercow; the Speaker usually comes from the majority party (Labour) but the British populace elected a Conservative this time to show the growing disgust they felt towards Labour. (Interestingly, he is the first ever Jewish Speaker of the House in Britain.)
Finally, there is increasingly more and more pressure for Brown to call for a new General Election. This would make all the MPs go back to their districts and campaign in a new election in six weeks’ time, and give newcomers a chance to run, get in, and instigate change.
The Prime Minister says he is determined to remain in his job and does not plan to call for a General Election. He says he has plans to announce initiatives on bank regulation, school rankings and choice, police reform, and local community safety. He calls on all Labour MPs to go back to their constituencies during the summer recess and work to rebuild the public trust.
Will it work? In the words of the ineffably English author Lewis Carroll, things are looking “curiouser and curiouser.” 3 Keep checking DinnerTopics and we shall keep you informed.
(Photo by Tom Corser www.tomcorser.com. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 England & Wales (UK) Licence: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/uk/deed.en_GB)
Read on:
uk.Reuters.com – Martin’s exit fails to end clamour for clean-up
WashingtonPost.com – In Britain, A Desperate Brown Is Hanging On
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I like the article and its quotes!