Current and former Progressive Labour Party MPs rallied around Speaker Stanley Lowe yesterday and rebutted charges that he was a "puppet'' of Premier Jennifer Smith.

Telecommunications Minister Renee Webb and former veteran PLP MP Walter Roberts rounded on former UBP Minister Quinton Edness, who claimed Mr. Lowe was biased toward the Government and "petrified'' to stand up to Ms Smith.

They said Mr. Lowe was right to eject Shadow Works and Engineering Minister C.V. (Jim) Woolridge last month when he refused to withdraw an insulting comment toward Ms Webb.

And both denied Mr. Edness' claim in yesterday's Royal Gazette that the credibility of the House of Assembly is being undermined because Mr. Lowe is allowing more personal attacks than ever to go unchecked.

Former Speaker Ernest DeCouto refused to comment directly on Mr. Lowe's performance, but admitted the public perception is that standards were slipping.

Ms Webb acknowledged the standards of debates were poor and that MPs are often too emotional to get their facts right, adding: "If Mr Edness wanted to be constructive, he should have contacted Mr. Lowe directly.

"Mr. Woolridge was not thrown out for comments he made to me, he was thrown out for not withdrawing the comments. Most people say things that are out of order and he was asked to withdraw the comments. He didn't, and he was thrown out.

"Jim is into calling people names. He calls Delaey Robinson `Marley' because of his dreadlocks and he had already called David Allen a buffoon that day.

"If Mr. Lowe asked our MPs to withdraw comments, we would because that would be challenging the Speaker's decision, and if we don't, he has no choice but to throw a member out.

"We had former speakers who were perceived to be biased -- welcome to the Opposition benches.

"Under previous speakers only Opposition MPs were thrown out. Maybe that's a coincidence. To brand the Speaker a puppet is out of order.

"The level of debate in the House has never been high. People don't get their facts right and its just personal interpolations.

Government MPs rally around Speaker Lowe "Both sides are guilty and always have been. We're very emotional -- it's nothing new. The level of debate was the biggest shock and disappointment for me when I joined Parliament and I don't think Parliament would get any awards for debate.'' Mr. Roberts said that from listening to the radio, it appeared things were getting worse, "but I don't think that's the case. It has been happening all along.

"These types of remarks are always being bantered across the floor and sometimes the Speaker listens closely to the person speaking and doesn't hear what other people are saying, so to call him a puppet of the present leader is highly out of order.

"I've listened to the debates and sometimes thought Mr. Lowe leaned toward the UBP. I can't accuse him of something like that (being a puppet).

"I don't blame the Speaker, it is members' attitudes to one another. Mr.

Woolridge has a history of being very personal in his attacks. He is way out of order and he has been getting away with it, and as a sportsman he should know it is the retaliator who is dismissed from the field.

"I've been listening to people outside the House and they've said `you people act like a bunch of children' but it's not like that when you're in the middle of it.

Mr. DeCouto, Speaker from 1993 to 1998, said the Speaker is supposed to be impartial and ignore pressure from either side.

"When I was Speaker I had to listen very intently to every word spoken so that I could catch something before it became uncontrollable. If you allow it to go on you miss the original call, and that's when you get dissatisfaction,'' he said.

The new crop of PLP MPs meant that, understandably, there was a lack of experienced parliamentarians in the House, said Mr. DeCouto.

"Because of this, the responsibility of the Speaker is very important to help new members as much as he can with decorum and honour and respect.

"We have a lot of politicians, but not very many parliamentarians. I do not want to decry or criticise the Speaker, but at the same time Mr. Edness is entitled to his opinion.'' He said it was wrong for Ms Webb to say only Opposition MPs were ejected in the past. In 1997, Mr. DeCouto threw out Tim Smith, who was then a Government backbencher, when he refused to give an explanation or apology for remarks he made in The Royal Gazette .

When asked if standards of behaviour have dropped since he left the chair, Mr.

DeCouto said: "There seems to be the popular public opinion that standards have fallen.''