The last speaker to be sacked The current hot political topic is the sacking resignation of the Speaker of the House of Commons, Michael Martin. Apart from obscuring the slightly unfortunate fact that it was not, after all, the Speaker who submitted all those expense claims, it would also be the first time in over 300 years that a speaker has been removed from office. And the last one -- Sir John Trevor -- was sacked for taking a bribe. Sir John was speaker of the House from 1689 to 1695. In fact, he was removed twice. He was an MP from 1673. (After his successful election in 1682, he had to fight a duel with his beaten opponent). He was originally appointed by James II, the successor to Charles II, and when James was removed and replaced by William III, Speaker Trevor went as well. However, he returned to Parliament in 1690 and once again, was appointed Speaker of the House of Commons. Rather wonderfully, as the picture shows, Sir Trevor was renowned for being severely cross-eyed. Indeed, so severe was this problem that often members of parliament weren't sure if he was really looking at them or not. So catching the speaker's eye proved tricky and often MPs, thinking he had looked at them would speak out of turn. His downfall came when, on 7 March 1695, he was found guilty of accepting a bribe of 1000 guineas from the City of London.  (They were trying to secure