ERIC Forth was at his adversarial, pernicious best when he launched the first serious parliamentary attack on new Speaker Michael Martin. Mr Forth, Tory MP for Mid-Worcestershire from 1983-97, clearly relished the confrontation. Mr Martin, the gruff MP for Glasgow Springburn, does not enjoy cross-party support in the Commons.

Most Tory MPs abstained from backing him to succeed Betty Boothroyd even once it became clear he would win.

This raises questions over how long he will be able to hold on to his position, especially since a new Speaker could be chosen after the General Election. So he is determined to take no flak.

Miss Boothroyd frequently berated ministers for making announcements in the Press before telling Parliament.

Some people, especially journalists, might ar-gue that in a democracy there is nothing wrong in telling the people news before it reaches the ears of a select group of Parliamentarians. But that's another story.

Anyhow, Mr Martin held a Press conference on Wednesday to answer questions about what kind of a Speaker he would be. But this infuriated Mr Forth, who launched into him after Prime Minister's Questions.

''How did you feel able to give a Press conference outside the House this morning, before you had been able to share your thoughts with Members of the House?'' he seethed.

But Mr Martin seemed to have been prepared for such an onslaught and responded aggressively. He stressed that Miss Boothroyd was now ''gone'' as Speaker and that his family had been inundated with calls from the Press wishing to interview him.

''I chose, instead of giving individual interviews, to speak to them as a body. I think that that was a proper thing to do,'' he said.

''I say to the Right Honourable Gentleman that I will never stop him speaking to whom he wants to speak to - and he will not stop me.

''On anything to do with this House of Commons, I will be the first to come before the House of Commons and make a proper statement to the House.''

The former Worcestershire MP, who found a new seat in Bromley & Chislehurst, was silenced, at least temporarily.

But it was a question on Kidderminster Hospital the previous day which gave Mr Martin the first chance to make his mark.

He slapped down Ludlow Conservative MP Christopher Gill for embarking on a speech rather than asking a question to Ministers.