Speaker spends £21,000 on Carter-Ruck

House of Commons Speaker Michael Martin paid £21,516 over the course of three months this year to the law firm Carter-Ruck in order to deal with newspaper stories that questioned his impartiality and conduct. The problem is that it came from the public purse rather than Martin's £136,677 salary. But I won't say anything rude about that - in case he spends even more by asking Carter-Ruck to send me a warning letter. (Via Press Gazette)