Layla Moran's Murphy robbed in vote to find Parliament's Top Cat

Disappointing news this evening: Layla Moran's cat Murphy ("The most Experienced, Character-filled and Determined cat in the race" - L. Moran) finished runner up in the contest to find Parliament's Top Cat.

According to a news report from the organisers, Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, the contest was won by Mr Speaker's cat Attlee by only 40 votes.

Now, I'm not saying that Attlee used his occupancy of Speaker's House to pull strings, but shouldn't he come forward and clear this up once and for all?

It's not just the economy the Tories are trashing: they are setting about our democracy too

Only a former Labour MP could come up with such a repressive measure.

From the Guardian:

Ministers are considering proposals to ban MPs and councillors from engaging with groups such as the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil.

The plans, put forward by the government’s adviser on political violence, John Woodcock, say mainstream political leaders should tell their representatives to employ a 'zero-tolerance approach' to groups that use disruptive tactics or fail to stop 'hate' on marches.

Rishi Sunak and James Cleverly, the home secretary, are due to discuss the proposals as part of a review conducted by Woodcock, the former Labour MP who now sits as Lord Walney, a cross-bench peer.

MPs and councillors are not the representatives of their party leaders: they are the representatives of their constituents. They should therefore be free to talk to anyone they damn well choose.

The speaker of the Commons needs to say this loud and clear, but he is such a diminished figure that I doubt he will.

This is an attempt by the Conservatives to make it harder to express views that dissent from their own, even when those views have widespread support.

Public opinion favours a ceasefire in Gaza and is concerned about the climate crisis, even if voters are less supportive of some of the tactics climate protestors have employed.

It's not just the economy that the Tories are trashing before they have to call an election: they are setting about representative democracy too.

Bernard Weatherill, the best Commons speaker I have seen

Embed from Getty Images

The speakership of the Commons tends to be appointed on the basis of Buggins' Turn. Which is fine until there is a crisis, when a second-rate speaker will be exposed.

Michael Martin was not up to dealing with the scandal over MPs expenses: now Lindsay Hoyle has been exposed by his failure to deal with Boris Johnson's contempt for parliament.

The best speaker I can recall is Bernard Weatherill, who combined wisdom with old-fashioned courtesy and had no wish to be a "character". He served from 1983 to 1992.

There was a story about him that I have long known, and now I have a source for it I can post it here.

Peter Viggers, then the Conservative MP for Gosport, told it when the Commons was paying its tribute to Weatherill after his death in 2007:

For a while after the election of every Speaker, there is a period when the House wonders what kind of stamp or mark they will put on the House, so for a few weeks after the election of Mr. Speaker Weatherill the House was wondering how he would be as Speaker. 

During that period, there was a vigorous debate - it was a noisy event - and a very much loved, popular Member on the Labour Benches, Eric Heffer, was in full flow. 

If Eric Heffer had a fault, it was that he had a bit of a temper. He was being baited mercilessly by one of our younger whippersnappers on the opposite side of the House. Eventually, Heffer completely lost his cool, spun round and shouted, “Shut up, you stupid git!” 

From the Chair, Mr. Speaker Weatherill said, "Order, order. I think I’m meant to say that."

Lindsay Hoyle calls for John Bercow to be given peerage

Embed from Getty Images

There is something very shabby about Boris Johnson's act. His refusal to follow precedent and grant John Bercow the customary peerage given to retiring Speakers is just one more example.

So I am pleased to see that Bercow's successor Lindsay Hoyle has called for the precedent top be followed.

The Evening Standard quotes Hoyle as saying:

"My view is every speaker has been offered a peerage, so custom and practice says that's what's always happened. 

"It doesn't have to be taken but, personally, I think if that has always happened then we should continue with that. 

"I think it should be offered to him. He has served the House, he served for 10 years, he did some great things. And that's what makes the difference."

Good on Sir Lindsay. I was afraid that he would be one of those speakers who comes over as a character but is in reality a bit of a pussy cat towards the government. But maybe there is more to him than that.

For he has played down reports that he will ensure Big Ben will ring the UK out of the European Union on 31 January:

"What I'm willing to do is allow the House to make that decision. 

"But the story suddenly was, 'Lindsay Hoyle was going to bong Big Ben himself', by the sounds of it."

Keith Vaz eyes the speaker's chair

View image | gettyimages.com

"Keith Vaz has two ambitions. He is hoping that he will get a knighthood, and he would like to be the next speaker. 

"You can tell this by the way he is slavishly applauding the new Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, at Parliamentary Labour party meetings. He also seems to be tempering his criticism of the Tories."

So says an unnamed Labour MP in a new story on Exaro.

A similarly unnamed Conservative MP adds there:

"There is no question that Keith Vaz fancies the job of speaker as he is very ambitious. He is very well connected and very friendly with the current speaker."

The idea of Vaz as speaker comes straight from a Trollope novel, but this is not the first time it has been floated.

In December 2013 the Telegraph told us:

Keith Vaz, the chairman of the Home Affairs select committee, has emerged as a surprise contender to be the next Speaker of the House of Commons. MPs confirmed that the Labour MP's name has been doing the rounds as a possible replacement for John Bercow, who is due to stand down in the middle of the next Parliament.

We can only pray for the preservation of Lindsay Hoyle.

But be warned. The Commons can do strange things when it comes to choosing a speaker,

In 2000 the two front benches wanted Sir George Young to succeed Betty Boothroyd, but the swollen ranks of Labour backbenchers decided that a Labour house required a Labour speaker.

So Michael Martin was hoisted into the chair and sat there, red faced and scowling, until the expenses scandal meant his inadequacies could no longer be tolerated.

Sir Alan Beith to be a Deputy Speaker

Or so the rumour goes.

Jon Craig writes on the Sky News site:

We also have elections for the Commons Deputy Speakers to look forward to. Let me mark your card. Because the Speaker, John Bercow, is a former Conservative MP, the new Chairman of Ways and Means (the most senior Deputy Speaker) will be a Labour MP.

That means it won't be Tory MP Sir Alan Haselhurst, who has done the job since 1997, and he won't be putting himself forward for election for the more junior Deputy Speaker posts. The Labour candidates to succeed Sir Alan, I'm told, are Tom Clarke, George Howarth and possibly Sir Stuart Bell.

I'm also told that the coalition deal between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats includes an agreement that senior Lib Dem Sir Alan Beith will be one of the Deputy Speakers. Nigel Evans is standing for one of the Tory vacancies for a Deputy Speaker and Lindsay Hoyle for one of the Labour vacancies.

Doris Snood from Pontefract

Today's House Points from Liberal Democrat News. I have used the Duke of Wellington quotation before and, though I do try hard to believe in government action, will no doubt use it again.

Keep it simple

The good news: if this government does bring in national identity cards it will do it so inefficiently that no one will be able to keep tabs on you. The bad news: you may well be sent a card saying you are Doris Snood from Pontefract and spend the rest of your life trying to prove you are not.

If you don’t believe me, look at Monday’s work and pensions questions.

Adam Afriyie said he was alarmed. He had been to an Age Concern lunch in his constituency and found that none of the people he spoke to were claiming their full pension credit.

He was right to be alarmed, but he should not have been surprised. David Amess reported that 1.5 million people who should take up the benefit don’t do so.

Then Tony Baldry said more than £1 billion of council tax benefit goes unclaimed. And Lindsay Hoyle said that though extra money is available to carers, many do not claim their entitlement.

But maybe the people who don’t claim benefit are the lucky ones. Danny Alexander raised the sufferings of nearly two million families who have been overpaid through the tax credit system and are now having the money clawed back.

This is a huge scandal, as reports later in the week from the Parliamentary Ombudsman and the Citizens Advice Bureaux emphasised. HM Revenue & Customs has admitted that of £13.5bn paid in tax credits last year, £1.9bn consisted of overpayments.

Finally, a minister revealed a talent for understatement – “the problems with the Child Support Agency are well known to all of us in the chamber” – in reminding the House of an even worse problem.

We Liberal Democrats are not going to abandon our belief in government action, but the scale of the problems raised on Monday showed the mess results when grandiose schemes go wrong.

So we need to get away from Gordon Brown’s model of government – we should not aspire to be hunched over the ledgers in the small hours, trying to manage every aspect of national life. Instead, simplicity and modesty should be our goals.

And, just occasionally, we should remember the crustiest Tory of them all, the Duke of Wellington: “Reform, sir? Reform? Aren’t things bad enough already?”