David Maddox: Why are the Nationalists so keen to defend the Speaker?

Tomorrow (Monday) is a defining day for the future of the embattled Speaker Michael Martin (pictured right) as he makes as statement on expenses to MPs and faces his growing number of critics.

But one corner where he does have some friends appears to be among his historic die hard opponents in the SNP

This blog has noted before how SNP's Westminster leader Angus Robertson gave his backing to the Speaker Martin at another time of beleaguerment.

And this week his colleague Glasgow East hero John Mason (pictured below left) has been saying the same thing as the same thing on Good Morning Scotland and on the Politics Show today.

It is surprising considering that there is little love lost between Scottish Labour (especially of its West of Scotland variety) and the Nationalists. It is not even as though Mr Mason, unlike Mr Robertson, has had his snout in the trough.

Both Mason and Robertson at different times have pointed to the snobbery against the working class Glaswegian Speaker, but also paid tribute to his fairness.

"He always calls me to speak when I want to," said Mr Mason today, echoing the words of his Westminster leader a few months ago.

But interestingly of the Scottish contingent only the Lib Dems have taken a pop. the sole Scottish Conservative David Mundell has also supported Speaker Martin.

All of which gives the impression that possibly there is concern within the Scottish ranks cross parties that their opportunities may be more limited if he is replaced by a new Speaker from south of the border.

Ross Lydall: the SNP response to Jim Murphy

Further to my Jim Murphy interview, the SNP Westminster group leader Angus Robertson issued the following statement in response to the Scottish Secretary's claims about the First Minister:

“For Jim Murphy, politics seems to be about personal attacks and he needs to raise the level of his contribution. The Scottish Government is delivering an effective economic recovery programme, and it is vitally important that it is not undermined by Westminster-imposed cuts to public spending in Scotland.
“If Mr Murphy wanted to make a constructive contribution then he should dissuade Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling from slashing Scotland's budget by 500m a year from 2010/11.
“The reality is that relationships between the Scottish and UK governments are generally good, and would be a good deal better without the Scotland Office, which is basically an irritant in the body politic. A much better system would be for the devolved administrations to deal with Downing Street directly via the Cabinet Office.
"Jim Murphy’s typically unctuous attack on the SNP government underlines precisely why the Scotland Office is such an irrelevance.”

David Maddox: SNP ride to the Speaker's defence?

You can tell we're heading into the yuletide period because this is a remarkably sparce Sunday for politics.
The two main political items in the Sunday papers were Lord Mandelson's attempts to bully the Merger Action Group to drop their case against the Lloyds/ HBOS deal and Speaker Michael Martin insisting that he intends to "go on and on" in his current position despite the the fiasco over the arrest of Tory MP Damien Green.
We all know what happened to the Iron Lady when she announced she would go on and on, but it seems Speaker Martin is getting some support from surprising quarters.
On Friday I had lunch with Angus Robertson, the SNP's leader in Westminster. Now we all know that there is little love lost between Scottish Labour and the Nationalists, both parties would rather work with the Tories than with each other.
But, whilst acknowledginging Mr Martin is in deep trouble, Mr Robertson launched a stoic defence of the embattled Speaker whom he said had been the victim of a long class driven campaign by snobs who resented a boy from the back streets of Glasgow taking one of the highest offices in the land.
He also said that unlike some previous Speakers, Michael Martin always called the Nationalists to speak on statements and gave them a very fair hearing in the Commons. Added to that he said he was wonderful at conducting parliamentary events for visitors adding a really personal and moving touch to them.
In a weekend where a Labour MP has called for his resignation, it appears Mr Martin may then have friends in some less than expected paces.