Ex speaker of the House of Traitors, Michael Martin, will be given a peerage and sit in the House of Lords despite being the first speaker to be thrown out of the job in 300 year!

I guess it’s a case of who you know, not what you know!

Even sleaze watchdogs have said that this move could damage the reputation of the House of Lords.

The House of Lord Appointments Commission sent a letter to Gordon Brown about Mr Martin’s expenses and his performance in the House of Traitors and the fact that he had been sacked.

But Mr Martin’s friend, Mr Brown, ignored these concerns and secretly nodded through a motion asking the Queen to approve the peerage.

The nomination of Mr Martin was pushed through with the help of Harriet Harman and fully backed by Gordon Brown.

A spokesperson for the Prime Minister said that the decision to award the peerage was “’an uncontested motion that went through the House.”

Well there’s no surprise there then because there was no vote on the issue!

Not only will Michael Martin be able to claim £25,000 in overnight expenses but he will also claim £3,000 in office costs and a juicy £1.4 million pension pot.

Of course, Mr Martin won’t get his peerage with all the other “common” people. He will get his own private audience with the Queen with a possible ban on the media.

It is said that Mr Brown gave Mr Martin a peerage so that he would retire from his role as speaker of the House of Traitors in a bid to restore public confidence in MP’s after their dishonourable abuse of the taxpayer’s purse in expenses.

Mr Martin’s claims included taxi fares to the tune of £4,000 which included chauffeur rides to Celtic Park football club and a job centre!

The House of Lords Appointments Commission advised Gordon Brown that although they could not block Mr Martin’s peerage, he might not pass their test of propriety.

A source at the House of Lords said, “They considered the possible impact of public controversy on the reputation of the Lords. There were causes for concern that were drawn to the Prime Minister’s attention.

‘It is for the House of Commons to put forward a nomination. They could have put it to the vote but they did not.” (That’s democracy for you!).

A spokesperson at the Appointments Commission said, ‘We do vet candidates. The Speaker is a special case but we did the usual checks.’ (Obviously not well enough but then again, they probably asked Gordon Brown!)

And a spokesperson for Downing Street said, ‘This decision was taken on the basis of a recommendation by the whole House of Commons in an uncontested motion.’

Erm…. the motion was uncontested because there was no vote!

So a man who tries to cover up the expenses scandal, because he is also in it up to his eyeballs, gets a peerage?

There you have it folks, you too can be a speaker in the House of Traitors, fail to do your job properly in regards to overseeing the expenses of MPs (which is one of the roles of the speaker!) and get a nice little peerage which means you may not ever have to turn up in the House of the “Highfaluting” Lords. (But still get paid!)

Then a few politicians/media come out and say that MPs/Speakers/Lords are out of touch with the public. I can’t see why that would be, can you?