Out of order
In around two weeks time Speaker of the House of Commons Michael Martin will leave his post, the biggest casualty of the MP’s expenses row so far. But who will take his place? The Drum tasked agencies to come up with recruitment ads to find candidates
Those pesky MPs have been caught bumping up their expenses by sneaking through claims for second and even third homes, mortgages that have already been paid off, tins of cat food and, perhaps the most outrageous/ridiculous claim to date, that of Tory MP Douglas Hogg, who made taxpayers cover the cost of his moat to be cleaned.
Around two weeks ago the Speaker of the House and MP for Glasgow North East Michael Martin decided to fall (well, he was pushed actually) on his sword and resign as the big boss man at the Houses of Parliament after attempting to give a public apology to the British people, but stumbled over his words, struggled to recall parliamentary procedure and basically making a complete arse of both himself and the House.
And so the Speaker’s chair is to be vacated by Martin on 21 June and a new speaker is to be elected by secret ballot. Early front runners to take the post include the ‘bicycling baronet’ Sir George Young, Frank Field, the former Welfare Minister under Tony Blair, and Tory MP Ann Widdecombe, who reportedly offered to serve as a stand-in Speaker until the next election, when she is already due to stand down.
But The Drum was left a little deflated by this early list of potential candidates, so thought it a good idea to invite creative agencies across the UK to come up with recruitment ads to grab the attention of any wannabe Speakers who are yet to come out of the woodwork.
THE BRIEF
The House of Commons is in disarray after the expenses debacle and the Speaker of the House Mr Michael Martin has resigned from his position.
The House needs you to create a recruitment poster to identify fitting candidates to stand to become the new Speaker to the House.
Your ad must focus on the necessary requirements to fulfill this important post. Potential candidates must be able to demonstrate the following skills:
• Looking good in black
• Shouting ‘order’ in a very loud/bullying voice
• Able to sit on the political fence (or at least try)
• A good eye for interior (house/official parliamentary residence) design
• A love of all-expenses paid foreign travel
• 20/20 vision to spot MP’s wishing to waffle
• A good head for (fudging) figures
NB. A full clean driving licence is not required for this post, as you can (probably still) claim for a chauffeur.
Thank you to the following agencies for taking the time to answer our brief and hope their work on the following pages finds a suitable (and honest) candidate: Viv-id, Principles, Propaganda, IAS B2B Marketing, Tangible, The Gate Worldwide, KLM and WAA.