For San Francisco readers keeping up-to-date on world news, we are pleased to present this story from The BBC.

MPs are to debate a police raid on the Parliament office of Tory MP Damian Green, amid concern about the role played by the Commons Speaker.

Liberal Democrats leader Nick Clegg said confidence in Speaker Michael Martin had taken a “massive battering”.

Conservative leader David Cameron said action was needed to restore confidence in the Speaker’s office.

A BBC poll of 90 MPs found that 32 said they no longer had confidence in Mr Martin after the Mr Green affair.

And 50 MPs said Mr Martin had been at fault over the Tory MP’s arrest and the search of his Commons office.

When BBC Radio 4′s The World This Weekend programme asked backbench MPs if they still had confidence in Mr Martin as Speaker, 56 of the 90 who replied, said they did.

There have been calls from three MPs, including one Labour backbencher, for Mr Martin to stand down.

The row erupted after Mr Green, the Tory immigration spokesman, was arrested 10 days ago and held for nine hours by the Metropolitan Police, while his homes and parliamentary office were searched, as part of an inquiry into allegations of leaks from the Home Office.

Mr Clegg told BBC 5 Live: “People’s confidence in him has taken a massive battering and with very good reason because he is responsible for the people who took the decision to allow the police – without a warrant – to search Damian Green’s office, and clearly he has got a lot of work to do to re-establish the trust and confidence without which he really can’t do his job.

“But I do think MPs will be making a big mistake if they somehow suggest to people that just by sticking a knife in the Speaker’s back everything is sorted.”<p

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation

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