Speaker of the Commons resigns
‘A 34-day beauty parade began in Parliament yesterday as MPs began sizing colleagues up for the requisite qualities of gravitas, probity and irreproachable expense claims as the most powerful Speakership in decades came up for grabs.’ – Sam Coates, The Times
‘Veteran Lib Dem Sir Alan Beith has become the first MP to declare an interest in replacing Michael Martin as House of Commons Speaker.’ – BBC
‘On one of the most momentous days in British parliamentary history, the Speaker of the Commons, Michael Martin, resigned his office yesterday, and the prime minister desperately tried to defuse the constitutional crisis by announcing unprecedented plans to curb centuries of MPs’ self-governance.’ – Patrick Wintour, The Guardian
‘But today’s resignation of Speaker Martin had become the necessary first symbolic step to cleanse parliament.’ – Vernon Bogdanor, The Guardian
‘Much, much more needs to happen if MPs are to get out of the expenses morass, let alone for the Commons to begin to restore its reputation. Michael Martin’s departure as Speaker creates an opportunity for a fresh start. But powerful though the change will be symbolically, it is only a small part of the story.’ – Peter Riddell, The Times
MPs to debate reforms to expenses
‘Major changes to MPs’ expenses are to be debated as Gordon Brown warns of the need to end the “gentlemen’s club”.’ – BBC
Alistair Darling interview
‘Alistair Darling has predicted that the recession will be over by Christmas, brushing aside doubts that his Budget forecasts are overoptimistic.
In an interview with The Times, the Chancellor defied a gloomy assessment of Britain’s recovery prospects set to emerge today in an annual economic health check from the International Monetary Fund.’ – Gary Duncan and Philip Webster, The Times
Obama takes on gas-guzzlers
‘America’s gas-guzzling automobiles were heading towards extinction yesterday as Barack Obama set strict limits on car exhaust emissions and directed producers to make a more fuel-efficient vehicle fleet. The policy requires US auto makers to produce cars and trucks that achieve an average 35.5mpg by 2016, and will reduce America’s carbon dioxide emissions by 30%.’ – Suzanne Goldenberg, The Guardian
Obama meets Netanyahu
‘“Yes, we can” is not a message that translates well into Middle East diplomacy. President Obama met Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, in Washington this week for the leaders’ first direct talks since they took office. Mr Obama urged a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Mr Netanyahu responded that Israel was ready to resume peace talks immediately, but he pointedly refrained from referring to Palestinian statehood. He stressed that peace depended on the Palestinians’ accepting Israel’s permanent legitimacy.’ – Leader, The Times
‘We do not know what Barack Obama said to Binyamin Netanyahu for the two hours they spent alone in the Oval Office together. But we do know that it was alone. Mr Obama conducted the most closely watched meeting of his four-month-old administration without senior officials present. And when that includes people like his defence secretary, Robert Gates, and the national security adviser, James Jones, one can conclude that Mr Obama was determined to come to his own view about what could, and could not, be achieved with the new Israeli prime minister.’ – Editorial, The Guardian
‘The simple truth of efforts to reach peace in the Middle East is that pessimism has so often proved justified. So it will have come as no surprise to most observers – and certainly any observer in the region – that the first meeting this week of the new United States President, Barack Obama, and the even newer Prime Minister of Israel, Binyamin Netanyahu, produced no diplomatic breakthrough.’ – Leader, The Independent