Speaker Bercow - Bumptious little oik isn't he?

News is spreading that Speaker Bercow may be challenged today and I am all for that. The Speaker is meant to be a non-partisan position and up until Michael Martin's tenure it was. Michael Martin was a Labour Speaker, installed by a Labour party at the height of its powers in 1997 that decided not to back a Conservative candidate, as tradition would dictate, but instead install a loyal Labour MP. With Michael Martin's political demise Labour realised that another Labour MP as Speaker might be a step too far, so instead voted in as Speaker a Conservative MP who received no votes from his own party.

Whilst I agree that Menzies Campbell has the gravitas to be Speaker I am not sure how impartial he would be, he has some worrying links to the old Gordon Brown Labour party in Scotland. My vote, if I had one, would be for Sir Alan Haselhurst, he's been an excellent Deputy Speaker and would be a pretty non-controversial choice.