Does a peerage beckon for Speaker Michael Martin?

It seems Speaker Michael Martin may survive the initial fallout from the expenses scandal and the controversial manner in which he has chosen to deal with it.

But my sources tell me even if this initial attempt fails, his days may be numbered.

My hunch would be to watch for a peerage. And so the man at the very heart of this maelstrom is the one least likely to suffer for it electorally.

And as well as the speaker, there is a possibility that some of the more embarrassing entities will be moved there to get them out of immediate trouble for their parties.

One of the measures that Gordon Brown could take would be to freeze all appointments to the House of Lords until this scandal is over – indeed, until after the next election.

The speaker by implication attacked the people who work in the Fees Office when he repeated an allegation on the floor yesterday that a House of Commons employee had leaked the material.

My sources tell me that there is almost no suspicion that they did the leaking but that an agent in an altogether different domain had the wit to get it out.