Disgraced Speaker Michael Martin To Be Elevated to the House of Lords

Michael Martin faces elevation to the House of Lords just as the Upper Chamber prepares to overhaul its system of expenses to give peers a less generous deal than before.

The Speaker will move from the eye of one expenses storm to another as the House of Lords is today expected to launch an independent inquiry into the £18m a year claimed by peers for expenses.

This will give Mr Martin’s new Parliamentary home a familiar feel. Speakers are given a peerage on completion of their time in the chair regardless of the circumstances of their departure.

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Absolutely fucking criminal!!!

Speaker Michael Martin Took Wife on Taxpayer-Funded Trips to Hawaii and Bahamas

Over the past six years Mr Martin and his wife Mary have enjoyed a total of 16 trips to destinations including Hawaii, the Bahamas, New York and Rome.

Each of the visits was approved by a cross-party Commons committee - whose chairman is Mr Martin.

Critics described the trips as "an insult to ordinary taxpayers".

Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that Mrs Martin has accompanied her husband on all but one of his 17 overseas visits since September 2002. Her travel bill alone for just 10 of the trips was £25,000.

Mrs Martin has no formal official role as the wife of the Speaker, yet the couple averaged an overseas trip once every four months to some of the most sought-after destinations in the world.

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Lawful Rebellion!