Is Ann Widdecombe fit for the woolsack?
This is exciting! Ten hopefuls for the post of Speaker made their pitches to a packed House of Commons yesterday. Will a woman sit again upon the woolsack that Betty Boothroyd once so memorably bestrode? Ex-foreign secretary Margaret Beckett, the bookies' favourite, told MPs she was a "House of Commons woman", while Tory MP Ann Widdecombe said her application for the post was "unique" as she would step down when she retires at the next general election.
For all those tyrants, from Cuba to Iran, from Venezuela to Zimbabwe, who find democracy so tedious, here's a snippet of recent British history showing how vital the woolsack is to the functioning of civil society.
That's Rik Mayall from The Comic Strip on the woolsack, by the way. Laughed and laughed and laughed. Especially at his references to "Mr Scoggle".
UPDATE: John Bercow, not Al Pacino, elected new Commons Speaker.
