God, that was painful...............the Speaker's Statement

Well, the Speaker surely has his nails dug into the green leather chair despite the seeming intention of the House to drag him out of it. It's all extremely undignified.

He may have given a profound apology - but clearly it's just words. While acknowledging that he might have a part to play in what was going on, he was determined to take everyone who voted against the proposed reforms on 3 July last year with him.

This isn't just about the John Lewis list - it's about years of obfuscation and concealment and he's been at the heart of it all.

The scenes where he was repeatedly asked about the motion of no confidence in him were embarrassing to watch. It was like watching the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (the monster that thinks if it can't see you, you can't see it) in action. He batted down speaker after speaker - and it wasn't just the Awkward Squad - people who have been around for a zillion years like David Winnick and Patrick Cormack were trying to get him to see sense.

He kept saying that the motion wasn't in the correct form - I bet it is soon.

You would have thought he'd have looked up the procedure for dealing with the matter before he came to the House but he kept asking his officials for help.

He then said that it was up to the Government to decide what went on the order paper. Susan Kramer for the Lib Dems asked for the creation of an Opposition Day debate for it and he virtually ignored her.

David Heath, one of my favourite Lib Dem MPs, came up with the phrase of the afternoon, saying that the House was in a "midden of its own making" and called for the House to adopt in advance the Kelly Report before it was published. A good move.

If the Government refuses to allow debate of this motion of no confidence in the Speaker, then I don't think the public can have confidence in its commitment to clean things up. Somebody needs to get that motion on the order paper now.

LibDig This!