Blame-showering the Speaker

I'm no fan of the Speaker of the House of Commons. Indeed, I believe that the porcine imbecile is a living, breathing evocation of the Peter Principle, and I would like to see him doing a job more suited to his talents. Like working in a supermarket warehouse or something. So this post is an odd one for me to have to write. Because I'm going to defend him. Sort of.

That the Speaker should go is of no doubt to me. In fact, he should have gone a long time ago. Partly because he is inept, and partly because he is very, very greedy. But the logic behind some of those plotting his demise is very different to those reasons given above. They talk about him being part of the status quo, of him being a roadblock to reform. Which is true. But I can think of other roadblocks to reform. Such as all the MPs who have failed to reform the system and have exploited it, and only really discovered their zest for reform when the whole system has come crashing down around them.

If the Speaker is part of the problem, then he has several hundred other co-conspirators around him, helping him. This talk of sacking the Speaker is acting as a distraction from the real story - that the Speaker is not alone in warranting the sack, and that there are many people in the Commons just as corrupt and incompetent as the Speaker. He's part of the problem, but getting rid of just the Speaker is not the solution.