By-election in Glasgow North East?

After watching the Speaker Michael Martins abysmal performance in the Commons yesterday, it is now looking increasingly likely that the Speaker will not only stand down from the Speakership but will resign as the MP for Glasgow North East as well! This would, obviously, trigger yet another likely devastating by-election for Labour!

Glasgow North East is just right next door to Glasgow East, now held by John Mason (Hooray!), and we all know that the last thing Gordon Brown wants now is another by-election defeat in a Labour heartland, and with the decision of whether a vote of no confidence on the speaker is to held or not now entrusted upon the Prime Minister, I'm not sure he will really want to hold a vote.

A vote of no confidence is urgently needed and I think over the coming days we will see various MP's demanding that the PM holds the vote. Of course, it's equally likely that the Speaker will use the threat of triggering a by-election as a way of hopefully persuading the PM not to hold the vote!

Whatever Gordon Brown decides to do, one thing is for certain, and that is that the next few days will be very interesting indeed and the likelihood of a by-election in Glasgow North East will increase dramatically! In the words of one MP, "We are looking at a dead Speaker walking!"