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Prime minister backs Michael Martin over expenses row

25/02/2008

The prime minister has publicly backed Michael Martin, speaker of the House of Commons, over claims that he misused parliamentary expenses.

Mr Martin, MP for Glasgow North East, has been asked to show "greater urgency" in his inquiries into MPs' expenses, especially in light of criticism surrounding the speaker's own conduct.

Mr Martin's spokesman, Martin Grannatt, resigned at the weekend after he incorrectly denied a report by the Mail on Sunday newspaper that claimed the speaker's wife had incurred more than £4,000 in taxi expenses since May 2004, though Mr Grannatt said he had not received the necessary information from party officials.

However, the prime minister has come to the defence of the embattled speaker, telling reporters Mr Martin is a "very, very good speaker".

And speaking on Five's 19:00 GMT news show, Mr Brown added: "As far as his work as a speaker is concerned, I think most people know that Michael Martin, the speaker, has been, and is, a very good speaker.

"He obviously brings a huge amount of experience from things that he's done earlier in his life to the job and I think you'll find that there's any enormous respect for what he's achieved as the speaker."

Reiterating his earlier comments, the prime minister stressed that any allegations regarding Mr Martin's expenses were a matter for the comments.

Though he has been accused of abusing his position by claiming funds for his home in Scotland and its use as an office, these figures had been publicly declared and there is no indication misused his allowance.

Labour MPs such as David Blunkett, Tony Benn and Alan Johnson have criticised the media's 'witch-hunt' of the speaker.