LONDON, (Reuters) – The leader of Britain’s third  main party yesterday called for the House of Commons’ Speaker to  step down and said parliament may need to be dissolved in the  wake of an expenses scandal that has shaken its reputation.

The highly unusual attack on the Speaker, Michael Martin, by  a party leader underlined the pressures on British politicians  to try to rebuild public trust after 10 days of damaging media  disclosures about extravagant expenses claims by members of  parliament.

Newspapers said Queen Elizabeth had expressed concern to  Prime Minister Gordon Brown over the disclosures, which have  angered Britons at a time of recession when thousands are losing  their homes and unemployment is rising sharply.

Pressure is mounting on Martin over his handling of the   scandal which involves allowances paid to MPs from the public  purse. He will make a statement to MPs today.

“I’ve arrived at the conclusion that the Speaker must go,”  Liberal Democrats’ leader Nick Clegg told BBC television.

“He has proved himself over some time now to be a dogged  defender of the way things are, the status quo, when what we  need very urgently is someone at the heart of Westminster who  will lead a wholesale radical process of reform.”

Martin’s spokeswoman said his statement would address the  issue of dealing with the expenses problem as swiftly as  possible. She would not comment further.

A motion of no confidence against Martin is expected to be  put forward in parliament today.

“We would have a free vote on our side if there was a vote  of no confidence in the Speaker,” William Hague, opposition  Conservative foreign affairs spokesman and ex-party leader, told  Sky television. “This needs resolving in the next couple of  days.”

Sir Stuart Bell, an MP for the ruling Labour party, said  Martin may attempt to mollify his critics by offering to stand  down at the next election.

“I would expect the Speaker to make an announcement  tomorrow, and that announcement would say that he’d stay on as  Speaker of the House until the next election,” Bell told BBC  television.

If ousted, Martin would be the first Speaker to be sacked  since 1695. The position of a Speaker or presiding officer in  British politics dates back to the 13th century.

As well as keeping order in the lower house of parliament  and calling MPs to speak, the Speaker is the house’s highest  authority who must have support across the political spectrum.

Clegg said politicians may have to go further than replacing  Martin and reforming the system to win back public trust.

“We might well need to dissolve parliament,” he said. “I  think this parliament will go down in history as a rotten  parliament and we do need it cleaned out, renewed and the people  and the procedures in it changed completely.”

In a series of disclosures from leaked files, the Daily  Telegraph newspaper has targeted all the main political parties,  detailing expenses claims ranging from moat cleaning and horse  manure to adult films, and dog food.

In its Monday edition, the newspaper reported that some MPs  were allowed to claim interest payments on their entire  mortgages even though the loans had been partly repaid.

The ruling Labour party has been hardest hit and polls point  to a backlash at next month’s European elections in favour of  marginal parties such as the anti-European Union UK Independence  Party, the Greens and even the far-right British National Party.

Labour has suspended two MPs and one of its junior ministers  has stepped down pending an investigation into his finances.