Michael Martin has finally resigned as Speaker of the House of Commons – the first to be forced out in 300 years. But to pick the best replacement we really need to examine the qualities we need in a Speaker.

1. Non-partisan

This is quite possibly the most important quality. The Speaker of the House of Commons muct act as the presiding officer over the Commons chamber and decide who speaks and when. If they can’t do this in an imprtial way, they really can’t do the job.

However, it goes further. The Speaker also needs to be seen to be impartial – this means that he or she should not have been a major party political figure, not have held any major frontbench jobs an certainly never have been a party leader.

2. Uncorrupted and uncorruptable

This comes down to the MPs expenses issues. The next Speaker must not be implicated in any way in the Telegraph’s exposé in order to have any chance of gaining the public’s trust. If they are, they will not be able to rescue politics from itself.

3. Parliamentarian

The Speaker of the House of Commons is a parliamentary role. Whoever becomes Speaker must be seen by MPs themselves as much as the public as someone who believes in the sovereignty of Parliament rather than bowing to the wishes of government. Unless they are a parliamentarian, the Speaker will not truly be able to do their job.

4. Independent and impartial

As well as being non-partisan, a Speaker also needs to be – and be seen to be – independent of the party leadership. This is part of being non-partisan but takes it further. They have to be able to put aside tribal party tendencies and focus on behaving impartially. This is obviously a hard thing for MPs to do – after all, they’ve been elected and held their job through being the member of a party for a good number of years. It takes a rare person to be able to do it – and why Martin has been so widely regarded as a bad Speaker. He never managed to master this.

5. Professionalism

The Speaker plays a serious role. They have to be able to manage the business of the Commons efficiently as well as impartially. They need to have the ability to do the role properly – they have to be reliable.

5. Public profile

This is a tricky aspect. Public profile runs both ways – an MP with a low public profile outside the Westminster bubble can develop a eputation based on deeds as Speaker, but an MP who already has a public profile is far more likely to be able to engender public support far easier – and what Parliament needs now more than anything is public support.

However, an MP with a public profile would almost certain fall foul of at least the non-partisan quality. Few MPs can create a public profile without being a major player in one of the political parties. And if they have a public profile that isn’t through a political party, they’re probably a maverick – and thus not professional enough.

6. Reformer

This is a quality that isn’t usually required in a Speaker. But with the situation that parlament finds itself – entirely of its own making – whoever replaces Michael Martin needs to be a reformer. They have to want to clean up politics and be willing to slap down MPs and even party leaders who get in the way of that.

The expenses system that brought about Martin’s eventual downfall obviously needs to be reformed. That’s not going to happen unless the new Speaker is willing to make reforms that are unpopular among his or her peers. If they’re not a reformer, parliament will remain deep in the mire. Reform of MPs expenses is essential, and the Speaker has to lead the charge.

***

This is, of course, not an exhaustive list – please contribute more in the comments! But I think it does cover the major qualities we need in a Speaker, and its not easy to see any candidates that meet all of the qualities.

Also, I struggle to see why the Speaker remains a sitting constituency MP agaist whom no-one stands. It effectively disenfranchises about 60,000 people who no longer have a choice about who their MP is. But that’s a post for another day…