Witchhunt?

Is it me or is the drama over the arrest of Damien Green becoming a media witchhunt against the Speaker of the House of Commons?

This article in the Daily Telegraph makes it clear that it is almost impossible to remove a sitting Speaker though moves are afoot in the Labour Party to encourage him to step down at the next General Election. In return his son, Paul Martin will be offered his safe seat of Glasgow North West.

The personalisation of this issue is regrettable because it detracts attention from the main issue, the nature of Government in this country. Nick Clegg is quite right to say that the Liberal Democrats will not serve on the proposed Committee of Enquiry as it is currently constituted. The Committee will be dominated by the Government and will just whitewash the whole affair.

If, instead of debating their own privileges and the future of the Speaker, MPs and the media concentrated on discussing how to address the culture of secrecy in Government then we would all be better off. An American style Freedom of Information Act would be a good start.