You couldn't be more wrong

Of course what the speaker or any other public servant does is a matter for the public, they're supposed to serve us and look after our interests.

Unfortunately they seem more interested in looking after their own - witness the way they abuse the expenses system and their pompous outrage about the protests in pareliment this week.

Andy, Glos, UK,

Of course we should have a say when we pay their wages and their fat pensions!

SOS, England,

There is no reason why the public should accept a dishonest public servant.In that field we can make an informed judgement.Incompetence is a different kettle of fish.

p robinson, Audierne, f

I fear you've gone native Matthew. Constitutionally you are correct. However, this is the Speaker who has appealed every attempt to obtain for us in England what every person in Scotland can find out freely about their MSPs. When we are now finding out what some of them are up because it offends even against the standards of their colleagues. I think the vast majority of MPS are honest, and public access to their spending will operate as an incentive for those who are not to clean up their acts. At a time when public confidence in politicians is at an all time low (a) the person responsible for overseeing that must be above suspicion, and (b) MPs must remove him if he isn't. Parliaments (European as well) will never be credible if their members are allowed to behave in a way that any commercial organisation would regard as corrupt.

Neil Howlett, Frome, Somerset

It is the media's and public's job to call Speaker to account if MP's are too craven to do so!

mal, lincoln, uk

You are on your own as far as I am concerned. I am not surprised that he lacks the morality to go of his own accord but I am horrified that others haven't had the courage and wisdom to evict him. There are a million prospective petty thieves saying "If its good enough for the Speaker of the House of Commons ...".

We slip one further notch into the squalid slurry of socialism.

Steve, Cambridge,

"I would double all their salaries"! That should stop them fiddling. Let's use the same rule of thumb across the board then. Give the social security fraudsters a 100 per cent increase, that will stop them fiddling. Don't think so Mr. Parris.

Callan, Liverpool, England

Due to the domination of the corrupt party system the current crop of MPs havn't got the guts or the integrity to do the job.
Hence the press campaign.
Without it the position would continue to deteriate. With it there is a faint chance that some form of representative democracy will be saved in respect of the ever dimminishing responsibilties of the Westminster Parliament.
Without it the descent into elective dictatorship will continue unabated

Stephen Green, Correns, France

Whilst it is till legal to criticise our honourable parliament and mark well ,the day will come ! I congratulate the media, sleuths and pollsters for exposing the corruption that exists in parliament. The press know more, but with the threats from a protective establishment have to bide their time. More witch hunting please !

William , Southampton, UK

As you suggest Mr. Parris, "Let our elected representatives be the lightning rod to register and transmit public opinion" Yes, ideally, but they won't, because they have too much vested interest in the system. I agree, pay them more and take away the allowances. And rather than pay them to buy their second homes, build a block of 660 2 bedroom apartments near Westminster that comes with the job. And while we are at it, take them off a final salary pension scheme and put them on a money purchase scheme as most non-civil servants now have. The closer the lifestyle of MPs is to their electorate, the better they will be able to represent us.

David T, Bourne End, Bucks

Pardon me but isn't the Speaker, like all MPs, a servant of the public ? We pay his salary and should be able to comment on the way he performs/doesn't perform his duties.

E C,
Sapin

E Clapham, Jalón, Spain

Wasn't Matthew an MP? A bit of guilt coming out here? Defend the indefensible because,' there but for the grace of God go I'?

Dudley Holley, Thorpe Bay, UK

"Get off the Speaker's back.." Why? Matthew, your antecedents are showing. The time is long overdue for all the 'honourable members' to become subject to become, visibly, subject to the same disciplines [laws?] and oversight as the rest of the long-suffering British. These are after all much sought after positions, with no shortage of 'wannabees', and which are almost literally fought over, yet demanding no previous qualifications or experience, other than the endorsement of a political party. Why should we continue to allow them to investigate their peers, and gently reprove one another if caught 'troughing'? Get real. Come back to planet Earth and join the human race!

S. Barraclough, Huddersfield, W. Yorkshire

Matthew's views just prove how out of touch MP's are with the real world where claiming reimbursement for a non-existent actual expense is punishable as fraud. And they wonder why the public is increasingly disenchanted with politics?

bruce burniston, swansea, UK

Labour politicized the post of Speaker when they rammed through Martin's appointment. By long-standing convention it was rightly the turn of a Conservative following the departure of Labour's Betty Boothroyd. By casting aside the fair and sensible tradition of alternating Speaker allegiance, Labour have fatally undermined the position of Speaker and poisoned and politicized the post.

The only way out of the Lab/Con squabbles is the appointment of a Lib Dem Speaker. Unfortunately this option hardly offers us a great reservoir of talent on which to draw.

D Rochedale, Liverpool, UK

Fanstatic, so he's not as drunk as previous speakers and stays awake. So that's all right then isn't it? The whole attitude of people in the Commons needs to sorted out and quick. He should go and the shower that supported him, well that was just another sign of how out of touch these people are with the rest of the Country.

Roger, Surrey,

'O-o-order, o-order'

Adam Neilson, Birmingham,

No, you're right Matthew. Fraud (if that be it) is a police matter.
The private conversion and use of public money is not, apparently, an unlawful deed in the Houses of Parliament.

However, If you sign a claim form for money to which you are not entitled, you are defrauding the public purse.

Get the ethics and the administration right and the Speakers' case is clear.

michael murphy, brightlingsea, england

I am a great fan of Matthew Parris. His support for "mediocre" Speaker Martin (as he describes him) does therefore surprise me.

Part of the defence is that he is not as bad as some past Speakers. But, MP admits, he is not as good as any of the last three ("St George, St Jack and St Betty"). Thus he has to go quite far back to find a worse Speaker.

The truth is that Martin has been an appalling Speaker.

But that does not matter to MP. It is none of our business. It is a matter entirely for the private club of MPs.

That is, it is a matter to be decided solely by those who are dependent on the Speaker's grace and favour.

Shame on you Matthew.

Steven Carrigan, Worthing, West Sussex

We pay his wages

Rob Scott, Liverpool,

Matthew, when parliament behaves as it is doing at the moment, with total disregard for the people who they are supposed to represent; it IS the media and the general public who should hold mp's like Martin to account.Who else is going to?

karl, Vaud,

Up to a point, Lord Copper. It would be sad if a feeding frenzy at the Speaker's expense diverted attention from the real scandal, which is the fact that financial governance standards that are taken for granted in all other walks of life have not yet penetrated Parliament. It would be wrong to scapegoat the Speaker for that when Parlimentarians bear collective responsibility. You missed the opportunity to write a pungent article on draining the swamp. Instead another headline focuses on the Speaker.

James, Hong Kong, China

it seems to me that the only person Mr Parris is trying to convince is himself.

paul kelly, limehouse, england

Oh come of it. This speaker is dull as dish water.
Lets get Betty back in asap

Rob B, Leek, Staffs

If the politicians can't be trusted to keep their own house in order then its right and proper that everyone else has a crack at it. All bodies that have self regulation be it Parliament or the legal and medical profession have a system that very few trust to be honest and truthful so why should we trust them. At least in some areas like the Financial area there is some recourse that does work to curtail the excess's and scams of the Insurance, Mortgage and banking areas. These are independent and do work reasonably well. If Westminster had committees with real teeth similar to Americas political system I'd feel a bit more confident, but the UK system has no judicial means to call MP's to account under oath with the appropriate penalties. Sorry Mr. Parris, the only real grilling Mr. Martin will get is from the media and public as most politicians these days treat the electorate with disdain and contempt.

Mike, Alicante, Spain

Get off his back, perhaps, but not the backs of our MPs who are so unwilling to do their jobs and sort him out

Peter Ryder, Middlewich, UK

Wrong wrong wrong. The speakers wife has seemingly had her hand in the till in a way that (were he a civil servant) would lead to instant dismissal and prosecution. Presumably he authourised the matter since he is the post holder and she is not.

This is a scandal of third world proprtions. Nor a lot of money in itself but as an example of what is wrong with our snouts in the trough politicians, it cannot be bettered. Brown was quite wrong to side with the Speaker, the sycophantic attitude when the speaker appeared was sickening. I am astonished that Mathew Parris does not see the point. The UK is beyond help now. Joining Europe has reduced our politicians to imitators of Italians. I would rather live in italy, the food is better and the sun shines.

David Raynes, Bath, Uk

If the public is paying the salary, then the speaker is accountable to the public.

lost hope, sydney,

'Quis custodiet ipsos Custodes?' The answer to Juvenal's question, 'Who shall guard (against) the guardians?', is surely the next higher authority; which, in the case of the Speaker, is the electorate. We are entitled to complain and even, as here, to call for his resignation or dismissal when he falls short of the very high standards legitimately required of his very high office.

Noel Falconer, COUIZA, France

It is very much our business what goes on in the remnants of our democracy. If the Speaker connives with the Government to sign our country over to a foreign power we want to know about it.
If the Speaker lives like a French aristocrat whilst ordinary people are going to the wall we want to know about it.
If we are to be dragged out of the age of representative democracy our Parliamentary institutions had better show the people of this country they have clean hands.

Peter, Manchester, England

All businesses dismiss employees for fiddling their expenses, in fact as another reader mentioned recently some employees end up in court and get prison sentences for doing exactly the same thing. So they should be reported to the police and let them deal with it.

Nick P, Camberley Surrey, U.K.

Get off our backs Matthew - and for goodness sake give me a break.

On this occasion your are totally and utterly wrong !!!! If you feel so strongly about this issue - become an MP again !!!!!

Ian Payne, WALSALL,

Mr. Parris is totally out of order, and absolutely patronising. There are many members of this public who understand the character ( and lack of it), and the who are the pompous and the ignorant - of which this labour party has a preponderance.Mr. Martin has been an embarrassment for far too long. To quote a famous phrase from 1939 - and this is directed at martin and the useless labour party - "in God's name, GO".

John Haydn Perks, westcliff on sea., Essex - England

The regulation of parliamentary expenses does rightly concern the public, just as the self regulation of newspapers and the BBC concerns the public. It is time in this modern era that parliament put paid to flippant attitudes like this. If this is not recognised, then the speaker should not only go, but have his functions replaced with someone outside of the self-serving constituency that elected him.

Philip Stobbart, London, England