Has Speaker Bercow crossed a line?

Paul Waugh thinks that many Conservative MPs think he might have done and are discussing what action to take. Read The Standard article for the specifics, here's the conclusion:

"Some Tories tell me that the private discussions about unseating the Speaker are now becoming matters of open debate in the Tea Room.

"It's a question of when, not if, he is challenged," one says. "I don't wake up wanting to pick a fight with Mr Speaker. But I wonder whether he wakes up in the morning and wonders which Tory MP he wants to pick a fight with."

...

UPDATE: Tory backbenchers are going to the whips tonight to express their displeasure with the Speaker. I hear that one of the delegation is also to go directly to David Cameron himself."

Not all bloggers are gay

Paul Waugh isn't, neither am I, although Iain Dale is.

Is this of any relevance? No, but it's been a tough day and I am too tired to be as perceptive as usual.

"Damian McBride is NOT being expelled from Labour"

Paul Waugh reports that:

"Gordon's former Downing Street aide and spinner Damian McBride is NOT being expelled from the Labour Party.

I can reveal that the party's National Executive Committee (NEC) discussed his membership during its long meeting yesterday. McBride's "smeargate" emails attempted to spread stories about the private lives of several senior Tories including David Cameron and he was sacked as a result.

His local CLP in Finchley has decided not to take any action, despite grumbling from MP Rudi Vis, and the NEC decided that the matter should rest there, my source tells me. "The NEC are going to leave it at that," I'm told.

Vis said last month that McBride’s actions had been scandalous and he had been disgusted by it. "He has damaged the Labour party and I do not think we have even heard the whole story of what he planned to do. A person who damages the Labour government should not be party to that party he has damaged."

But Andrew McNeil, Finchley branch chairman, says there are no plans to discuss any individual’s membership. Suggestions that there would be an executive meeting and then a general committee meeting locally to discuss it are inaccurate, he is telling friends."

Sleaze at the heart of the Labour Party?