Paul Lane's desk in the corner: political payback or parliamentary procedure?

It was a sad sight. Paul Lane, rejected by the Liberal party, walking to his lonely desk in the far corner of the legislature, a man stripped of his standing in the party, his post as deputy chair of committees and the $13,000 pay bump that came with it.

It wasn't long before people on social media starting taking note of Lane's desk location in the corner of the legislature.

Paul Lane's desk location isn't punishment, though, for voting against his party. It falls to parliamentary tradition.

First of all, the government doesn't control what happens in the house. That's up to Speaker Tom Osborne, who may have been elected as a Liberal MHA, but was chosen by all MHAs to run the show and act impartially.

"No one said stick him as far aways as possible," Osborne said when asked about the location.

It comes down to the parliamentary pecking order.

Location reflects status

The more status you have, the closer you get to sit to the Speaker.

If the Speaker put Lane in the empty space between opposition leader Paul Davis and the Speaker, the other two opposition parties would object that he was getting a prime location.

Sitting closest to the Speaker on the opposition side is the privilege of the official opposition.

The third party, the NDP, gets the next closest spot to the Speaker.

Independents get whatever space is left, so Paul Lane gets the corner.

It could have been a little worse, he didn't get the very back row.

That's where Osborne was stuck when he left the former Progressive Conservative government to sit as an Independent.

At that time, the NDP had five members, thus forcing him further back.

"There was no slight to me when I was Independent," he said.