Speaker of the British House of Commons election, 2009

Speaker of the British House of Commons, 2009

22 June 2009

Candidate John Bercow Sir George Young Party Conservative Conservative Popular vote 322 271 Percentage 54.3% 45.7%

Speaker before election Michael Martin Labour Elected Speaker John Bercow Conservative

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The 2009 election of the Speaker of the House of Commons occurred on 22 June 2009 following the resignation of Michael Martin as Speaker following the parliamentary expenses scandal. Martin was the first Speaker since Sir John Trevor in 1695 to be forced out of office.^[1] It was the first Speaker election since 11 May 2005, and the first contested election of a Speaker since 23 October 2000.^[2]

Conservative MP John Bercow was elected as the new speaker, after three rounds of voting.

Rules

Under the new rules for the election of the Speaker, introduced in 2001,^[3] candidates needed to be nominated by at least twelve Members of Parliament, at least three of them members of a party different from that of the candidate. Each member was allowed to nominate only one candidate. After the candidates' speeches, the House voted by secret ballot, with an absolute majority required for victory. If no candidate won a majority, then the individual with the fewest votes was eliminated, as were any candidates who received less than five per cent of the votes cast. The House continued to vote until one member received the requisite majority under a voting system known as the exhaustive ballot. Then, the House voted on a formal motion to appoint the member in question to the Speakership.^[2] The Father of the House, Alan Williams, was the presiding officer of the Commons during the election process.^[4]

The final stage of appointment of a new Speaker is a formality but has constitutional significance. The Queen must signify her approval of the new Speaker, which is done by the appointment of a Royal Commission.^[5]

Candidates

Nominated candidates

The following individuals all confirmed their intention to stand for election to the office of Speaker, and were all in turn confirmed as nominated candidates by the Parliamentary authorities on the morning of the election:^[6]

• Margaret Beckett (Labour)^[7]
• Sir Alan Beith (Liberal Democrat)^[8]
• John Bercow (Conservative)^[9]
• Sir Patrick Cormack (Conservative)^[7]
• Parmjit Dhanda (Labour)^[10]
• Sir Alan Haselhurst (Deputy Speaker/Conservative)^[11]
• Sir Michael Lord (Deputy Speaker/Conservative)^[12]
• Richard Shepherd (Conservative)^[7]
• Ann Widdecombe (Conservative)^[13]
• Sir George Young (Conservative)^[14]

All 10 of the above candidates appeared at a Hansard Society hustings on 15 June.^[12] This was the first full hustings to take place for a Speaker election,^[15] although there was a hustings for the 2000 speaker election, which several of the candidates did not attend.^[16]

Candidate who withdrew prior to nomination

The following candidate announced his candidacy, only to withdraw before the election was held:

• Frank Field (Labour) – withdrew citing a lack of support from his own party^[17]

Results

The result of the first secret ballot was announced at approximately 17:10 (16:10 UTC) on 22 June 2009, after the nominated candidates had all addressed the House of Commons. The result of the second ballot was announced at approximately 18:55 (17:55 UTC). Following the result of the second ballot, Beckett, Haselhurst and Beith withdrew their candidacies after their support fell, leaving a straight runoff in the third round between Bercow and Young. The result of the third ballot was announced around 20:30 (19:30 UTC).^[18][19] Conservative MP John Bercow won, with 54% of the final vote.

Following the final vote, a voice vote was taken on the formal motion to elect John Bercow Speaker of the House, which carried without any audible opposition. After this, Bercow was dragged to the Chair (as per House custom) by Charles Walker and Sandra Gidley, and gave an inaugural speech.

Notes

1. ↑ At the time of the election, the full house had 646 seats. Two of these were vacant, five Sinn Féin MPs do not take their seats, and Alan Williams was not eligible to vote. Turnout is thus based on 638 possible voters.

• The Labour MP John Mann said he had spoilt his ballot due to the candidates being "dismal".^[23]

See also

• Speaker of the British House of Commons election, 2000
• Speaker of the British House of Commons election, 1992
• Speaker of the British House of Commons election, 1971
• Speaker of the British House of Commons election, 1951
• Speaker of the British House of Commons election, 1895
• Glasgow North East by-election, 2009

External links

• "Election of Speaker". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). United Kingdom: House of Commons. 22 June 2009. col. 617-641. 
• Speaker of the British House of Commons election, 2009 playlist on YouTube

References