How Michael Martin aired dirty laundry on expenses

The Speaker, Michael Martin, who has been at the heart of resistance to reform of the expenses culture of MPs and may face a motion of no confidence, has himself some longstanding form in the inappropriate use of taxpayers' money.
 
Back in the 1980s I published an item in Private Eye about a boast by Michael Martin MP to a colleague about his use of the parliamentary frank. (Free postage is awarded to MPs, who quite rightly need to reply to constituents' letters as well as initiate or respond to correspondence with ministers, public agencies, the press, and private individuals other than their own constituents. Special House of Commons or House of Lords envelopes with a pre-embossed frank are available to Members.) If caught, those MPs who use the frank for party political purposes - for example, distributing leaflets - are reprimanded and might be ordered to make some sort of repayment.
 
However, Michael Martin had found a rather unusual use for House of Commons franked envelopes. He would take a large envelope, stuff it with his used underwear, and send it home to his wife, Mary Martin, who then resided in their Glasgow constituency during the week. By the time he returned home at the weekend his laundry was waiting for him, lovingly washed and ironed. This struck me as funny at the time that first I published the story, not least for what it said about the antediluvian conjugal arrangements of a working-class Scottish MP.
 
When I wrote the daily 'Brutus' diary for the Daily Express in the late 1990s I again had occasion to publish this story. I can't remember the pretext, but it was probably in the context of another MP being reprimanded for inapproproiate use of the Commons frank. A few years later I was writing the diary for the Independent on Sunday when the Speaker was embroiled in a minor fuss - compared to today's crisis - over his claiming of lavish taxi expenses for his wife's shopping trips. (She was still in the role of domestic handmaiden, though now, of course, there was the staff of the Speaker's household to assist her.) Once again I decided that it was worth reminding my readers about his earlier laundry arrangements.
 
On none of these occasions that I recalled Martin's use of the Commons frank for this peculiar purpose did I receive a libel complaint. (By the time of the last occasion, Martin had retained libel solicitors Carter-Ruck & Partners to speak on his behalf about his general expenses claims.) So I feel I can air this story once more - with the readers of The First Post.
 
Of course, Martin and his wife both live in luxury in the Speaker's residential quarters at the Palace of Westminster. Perhaps there is a flunkey to put the Speaker's underwear into the washing machine, or perhaps Mrs Martin is still doughtily performing the role of laundress. But at least the UK taxpayer is not being charged for the ferrying of his used smalls from London to Glasgow. ·