Guardian says Speaker Martin to go before next election

From the Guardian website this evening:

Michael Martin will stand down as Speaker by the next gener al election after senior Labour figures warned his position was becoming "not tenable".

As MPs prepare to table a no confidence motion against him next week, friends of Martin say he is making plans for his resignation and wants to go on his own terms.

Lord Foulkes, who has been a friend of Martin's since they were elected in 1979, said it was "logical" for him to stand down in the next year. Martin, 63, will have been Speaker for 10 years next year.

It sounds like an attempt to buy off the current moves to get rid of him at once.

Later. The Daily Mail says the men in grey suits will go to see him next week:

One senior MP said Mr Martin had the "hide of a rhino", but lacked "political antennae".