UK parliamentary Speaker to step down over

LONDON, May 19

The speaker of Britain's lower house said on Tuesday he would step down in June after lawmakers from all the main parties demanded he resign over an expenses scandal that has tarnished the reputation of parliament.

Michael Martin, 63, becomes the most senior figure to step down after parliamentarians' expense claims for everything from manure to porn films triggered outrage across recession-hit Britain and opposition calls for an early general election.

"In order that unity can be maintained, I have decided that I will relinquish the office of speaker on Sunday, June 21," Martin said in a short statement to a packed parliament.

Parliament will elect a new speaker -- who could come from any of the major parties -- by secret ballot on June 22.

The last speaker forced from the post was John Trevor, who lost the confidence of the house in 1695 for taking a bribe.

The speaker is parliament's most senior official and his departure escalates the crisis engulfing British politics.

Martin has been criticised for opposing transparency on expense claims by members of parliament (MPs) but some lawmakers said he was being made a scapegoat for parliament's failings.

"If people think merely getting the speaker's head is going to be enough to assuage the justifiable public anger ... then I think they are very much mistaken," Martin Salter, an MP for the ruling Labour party, said.

Many lawmakers said they wanted a reforming speaker to cut through parliament's cosy gentlemen's club atmosphere.

Damaging Revelations

The ancient institution has been damaged by a series of reports in the Daily Telegraph newspaper based on leaked information on how members milked the expenses system to supplement an annual salary of around 65,000 pounds ($100,700).

In a rebuff to parliamentary officials who alerted police to the leak, police said on Tuesday they would not investigate.

In one of the most extraordinary parliamentary sessions of modern times, MPs on Monday called for Martin to step down. He faced a no-confidence motion signed by 23 MPs.

Conservative opposition leader David Cameron, well ahead of Labour in opinion polls before a parliamentary election due by June 2010, said a "very angry" public was more concerned about having an early chance to vote than the choice of speaker.

"They want to elect a new parliament," he told BBC radio.

Some analysts said the speaker's departure would be only the first step in a purge of parliament, but believed Prime Minister Gordon Brown would fend off calls for an early election.

"I suspect the opposition will continue to call for an election and the government will continue to avoid having one," said Andrew Russell, a senior lecturer in politics at the University of Manchester.

Labour lawmaker Kate Hoey told Sky News she thought Brown would "like to serve out another year of office so that some of the difficulties that Labour's had might get turned around."

Brown has called for fundamental reform of the expenses system to try to defuse a scandal that has damaged all the main political parties but is hitting Labour hardest after 12 years in power.

"No member of parliament, no candidate will stand for the Labour Party at the next election, if they have defied the rules," Brown told reporters after a Labour meeting on Tuesday.

"No minister will be in cabinet or in the government in future if it is proven that they have defied the rules."

Political leaders are keenly aware the main parties are rapidly losing support, and fear voters may turn to fringe parties in local and European elections on June 4.

(Reuters)