Speaker Martin 'to announce retirement'
Under-fire Commons Speaker Michael Martin has faced further calls to quit amid reports he was preparing to announce he would retire next year.
Tory former shadow home secretary David Davis has become the latest MP to publicly criticise Mr Martin - on the eve of the tabling of a no-confidence motion.
Pressure on the Speaker to quit has mounted amid anger over his handling of the expenses scandal and his verbal rebukes to several MPs who questioned it in the chamber.
Conservative critic Douglas Carswell has the open support of several MPs from across the parties for his motion to remove a Speaker for the first time in more than 300 years.
Mr Martin is reported to be ready to say that he would step down at or just before the next general election in a bid to avoid a humiliating exit.
Mr Davis wrote in the Mail on Sunday that only a Speaker had the scope to deliver a way forward out of the expenses mess which has engulfed all parties.
"Only the Speaker has the authority and position to grasp this nettle, but this Speaker has lost that authority. His judgment is questioned, his credibility gone," he said. "So it is with some regret I have come to the conclusion the Speaker should stand down."
He urged Mr Martin to go of his own accord and not be pushed and said: "The Speaker has been told repeatedly the thorny issue of expenses must be sorted out and has taken the wrong turn at almost every stage of the process. He should have acceded to the original Freedom of Information request and tightened up the rules and systems much sooner.
"A strong Speaker would have called in the party leaders years ago, and told them in terms how he was going to fix it. Instead we are in a position where the standing of our entire parliamentary system is in freefall."
Liberal Democrat MP Jo Swinson has announced she will publicly support Mr Carswell's motion, telling The Herald newspaper: "The Speaker should have been at the forefront of finding a solution but has sadly become part of the problem. It is time for him to go."
