Profile: Michael Martin

Michael Martin was elevated to the Speaker's chair in 2000

Michael Martin is a man under pressure.

Since the Metropolitan Police were allowed to search Tory MP Damian Green's House of Commons office, many MPs have questioned whether the Speaker is doing enough to protect their rights and guard Parliament's ability to hold the government to account.

Some MPs have taken the rare step of criticising his abilities in public.

It is not the first time Mr Martin has had to deal with controversy, having been attacked over expenses, a supposed lack of impartiality and - by some - for not being up to the job.

But he and his supporters argue that the Speaker has faced an unprecedented campaign of snobbery and slurs since taking on the job in 2000.

With his Glaswegian brogue, Mr Martin was an atypical choice for the role.

Some in the press and on the Tory benches dubbed the former sheet metal worker and trade union official "Gorbals Mick".

Mr Martin is MP for Glasgow North East but, as Speaker, he ceases to represent any party and is expected to be neutral.

First elected as a Labour MP in 1979 for Glasgow Springburn, the teetotaller was seen as on the right of his party and a social conservative on matters such as abortion and homosexuality.

What the man is trying to do is do the job of Speaker properly Tam Dalyell, former Labour MP

There have been mutterings among the Conservatives that Mr Martin favours his old Labour colleagues.

After his elevation to the post of Speaker in 2000, he began his job with a press conference - provoking critics to say he had broken the convention of keeping a distance from the media.

The first Roman Catholic to serve in the role since the Reformation, Mr Martin - who underwent heart surgery in 2005 - has not been shy to dispose of other centuries-old traditions.

He did away with the tights worn by speakers in favour of dark flannel trousers and continued the precedent set by his predecessor as speaker, Betty Boothroyd, by dispensing with the traditional wig. He also appointed the first PR adviser to the House of Commons Commission.

Complaints

Mr Martin is paid a salary roughly equivalent to that of a cabinet minister and is expected to keep order and call MPs to speak during debates.

To help this process, none of the other main parties stand at general elections against whichever MP is Speaker.

Just one month in the role, he expelled pro-Israeli Tory MP John Butterfill from the Commons, after he complained he had not been called to speak during a debate, while six pro-Arab MPs had been.

In October 2001, he had to apologise after speaking up in favour of then Home Secretary David Blunkett's abolition of the voucher scheme for asylum seekers.

But he has also faced attacks from the government benches.

In February 2002, Mr Martin told off then-Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, and Tony Blair, for raising what he described as party matters during prime minister's questions.

SPEAKER'S DUTIES Keep order during debates Ensure House rules obeyed Act impartially Represents Commons Chooses MPs to speak Can suspend sittings Protects interests of minorities

In the ensuing row, it was reported that Mr Martin felt he was being undermined, because he is Scottish and working class. He said the attacks on him were "an attack on every working class person from Clydeside".

Later Labour MP Tam Dalyell said criticism of the speaker was based on snobbery about Mr Martin's background.

"All this stuff I read about 'Gorbals Mick' is odious. What the man is trying to do is do the job of Speaker properly," he said.

Former cabinet minister Tony Benn added that the attacks on Mr Martin were as a result of his "trying to assert the authority of the House of Commons".

Charles Clarke, then Labour Party chairman, was quoted in the Times newspaper in 2002 as saying Mr Martin had "become an embarrassment" - but he later denied saying this.

'Bizarre'

In 2006 Mr Martin provoked uproar in the Commons by stopping Tory leader David Cameron asking then Prime Minister Tony Blair whom he wanted as "his successor".

Mr Martin insisted prime minister's questions was meant for discussing government business, not party matters. But Mr Cameron called the decision "bizarre and extraordinary".

In 2007, Mr Martin angered the government benches when he warned Gordon Brown to use "temperate" language after the prime minister had accused Mr Cameron of "misleading" people.

Earlier this year critics turned their focus to his allowances - including claims he had flown members of his family in business class from Glasgow to London for a New Year break, using air miles gained from official trips.

Expenses

Newspapers went on to report that Mr Martin had claimed