Tebbit Thuggery

Norman Tebbit was known as the Chingford Skinhead back in the days of his Tory prominence, as a result of his rather knee-jerk form of political engagement. He was back at it today, in an interview on the BBC 'Today' programme, where he was virtually urging voters to consider other parties than the Tories. Nick Robinson, commenting on this, said that Tebbit was almost going so far as to tell voters to vote UKIP. Robinson gave a very prescient commentary on the expenses scandal, worth listening to here - his comment is towards the end of the 10 minute segment.

Meanwhile, today's Telegraph revelations do rather reinforce the old class distinctions of Tory and Labour. Where their Labour colleagues claim for bath plugs and carrier bags, the Tories are busy claiming for their horse manure and moat cleaning. But it's the Speaker who's under fire today, as Tory MP Douglas Carswell continues to gather support for his motion of No Confidence. Without support from party leaders - who may prefer to avoid a damaging battle over the Speakership - Carswell may be unlikely to gain sufficient support to actually oust Mr. Martin, but his point has been made loud and clear, and Martin is damaged goods (again - listen to Robinson's comment about how Martin sees his duties). Whatever happens, Parliament in the short term is under scrutiny as never before.