LONDON - BRITISH lawmakers were to elect a new speaker on Monday after the previous holder became the first to be forced out in 300 years amid an expenses scandal that has rocked the country's politics.

When Michael Martin stepped down on Sunday, he became the first speaker to be forced out in more than 300 years after his authority was critically eroded over his resistance to changing the system of lawmakers' expenses.

Some 20 MPs and ministers have quit in recent weeks, after a wave of embarrassing revelations about claims for everything from home loan repayments to duck islands and moat cleaning.

Some observers want his successor to be a reformer who is determined to restore public trust in the so-called Mother of Parliaments, but some lawmakers fear the election could produce another political lightweight.

The bookmakers' favourite, former foreign minister Margaret Beckett, is the only one of the candidates to have held one of the major offices of state.

Beckett, 66, is a veteran member of Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Labour Party. She is favourite ahead of George Young, a long-serving lawmaker from the main opposition Conservatives.

Another leading contender, John Bercow, is a Conservative who divides his own party because of his perceived sympathy to the Labour Party. He has wide Labour support.

Each of the hopefuls were to have the chance to make their case in a speech to their fellow MPs later Monday.

Some MPs have alleged that Labour whips are trying to influence the contest, which is supposed to be free from party influence as the speaker must have a neutral role as the 'referee' in parliamentary debates. -- AFP