Clegg calls for speaker's resignation

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LONDON, May 17 (UPI) -- British House of Commons Speaker Michael Martin should resign over questionable expense claims by members of Parliament, the Liberal Democratic Party says.

Liberal Democratic leader Nick Clegg said Martin should step down because he was not the "right man" to lead Parliament through a crisis in credibility over continuing revelations of members making dubious personal expense claims, the BBC reported Sunday.

Clegg became the most senior politician so far to call for the speaker's resignation, dramatically upping the momentum behind efforts to unseat him, the broadcaster said.

Telling the BBC he didn't do so "lightly or with any relish," Clegg nonetheless said it had become clear Martin had to resign to help begin a process by which confidence in Parliament could be restored.

"I don't think he is the right man for the job of leading the renewal of Westminster that we need," Clegg said, adding that Martin is a "dogged defender of the status quo" at a time when Parliament needs a radical reformer.