Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom)
The Speaker of the House of Commons is the presiding officer of the House of Commons, the lower house and primary chamber of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.[3] The current speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, was elected Speaker on 4 November 2019, following the retirement of John Bercow. Hoyle began his first full parliamentary term in the role on 17 December 2019, having been unanimously re-elected after the 2019 general election.[4]
For a list of speakers, see List of speakers of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.
Speaker of the
House of Commons
- Mr Speaker (informal and within the house)
- The Right Honourable
(within the UK and the Commonwealth)
Speaker's House, Palace of Westminster
No fewer than twelve MPs, at least three of whom must be from different political parties
House of Commons
approved and sworn in by the Sovereign
At His Majesty's pleasure
elected by the Commons at the start of each parliament, and upon a vacancy
1377
Thomas Hungerford (first recorded holder, though role existed before)
The speaker presides over the House's debates, determining which members may speak and which amendments are selected for consideration. The speaker is also responsible for maintaining order during debate, and may punish members who break the rules of the House. By convention, the Speaker is strictly non-partisan; accordingly, a Speaker is expected to renounce all affiliation with their former political parties when taking office and afterwards.
The speaker does not take part in debate or vote (except to break ties; and even then, the convention is that the speaker casts the tie-breaking vote according to Speaker Denison's rule which results either in further debate or a vote for the status quo). Aside from duties relating to presiding over the House, the speaker also performs administrative and procedural functions. In addition, they remain a constituency Member of Parliament (MP), are part of the Privy Council, and represent the Commons to the monarch, the House of Lords and other authorities.[3] The official residence of the Speaker is the Speaker's House at the Palace of Westminster.[5]
History[edit]
Early history[edit]
The office of the speaker is almost as old as the Parliament itself. The earliest year for which a presiding officer has been identified is 1258, when Peter de Montfort presided over the Parliament held in Oxford. Early presiding officers were known by the title parlour or prolocutor. The continuous history of the office of speaker is held to date from 1376[6] when Sir Peter de la Mare spoke for the commons in the "Good Parliament" as they joined leading magnates in purging the chief ministers of the Crown and the most unpopular members of the king's household. Edward III was frail and in seclusion; his prestigious eldest son, Edward the Black Prince, terminally ill. It was left to the next son, a furious John of Gaunt, to fight back. He arrested De la Mare and disgraced other leading critics.
In the next, "Bad Parliament", in 1377, a cowed Commons put forward Gaunt's steward, Thomas Hungerford, as their spokesman in retracting their predecessors' misdeeds of the previous year. Gaunt evidently wanted a "mirror-image" as his form of counter-coup and this notion, born in crisis, of one 'speaker', who quickly also became 'chairman' and organiser of the Commons' business, was recognised as valuable and took immediate root after 1376–1377.
On 6 October 1399, Sir John Cheyne of Beckford (Gloucester) was elected speaker. The powerful Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Arundel, is said to have voiced his fears of Cheyne's reputation as a critic of the Church. Eight days later, Cheyne resigned on grounds of ill-health, although he remained in favour with the king and active in public life for a further 14 years.
Although the officer was elected by the Commons at the start of each Parliament, with at least one contested election known, in 1420 (Roger Hunt prevailing by a majority of just four votes), in practice the Crown was usually able to get whom it wanted. Whilst the principle of giving this spokesman personal immunity from recrimination as only being the voice of the whole body was quickly adopted and did enhance the Commons' role, the Crown found it useful to have one person with the authority to select and lead the lower house's business and responses to the Crown's agenda, much more often than not in the way the Crown wanted. Thus, Whig ideas of the Commons growing in authority as against royal power are somewhat simplistic; the Crown used the Commons as and when it found it advantageous to do so, and the speakership was one means to make the Commons a more cohesive, defined and effective instrument of the king's government.
Throughout the medieval and early modern period, every speaker was an MP for a county, reflecting the implicit position that such shire representatives were of greater standing in the house than the more numerous burgess (municipality) MPs. Although evidence is almost non-existent, it has been surmised that any vote was by count of head, but by the same token perhaps the lack of evidence of actual votes suggests that most decisions, at least of a general kind, were reached more through persuasion and the weight by status of the county MPs. In such a situation, the influence of the speaker should not be underestimated. Sir Thomas More was the first speaker to go on to become Lord Chancellor.
17th to mid-19th century[edit]
Until the 17th century, members of the House of Commons often continued to view their speaker (correctly) as an agent of the Crown. As Parliament evolved, however, the speaker's position grew to involve more duties to the House than to the Crown; this was definitely true by the time of the English Civil War. This change is sometimes said to be reflected by an incident in 1642, when King Charles I entered the House in order to search for and arrest five members for high treason. When the King asked him if he knew of the location of these members, the speaker, William Lenthall, replied: "May it please your Majesty, I have neither eyes to see nor tongue to speak in this place but as the House is pleased to direct me, whose servant I am here."[7]
The development of Cabinet government under King William III in the late 17th century caused further change in the role of the speaker. Speakers were generally associated with the ministry, and often held other government offices. For example, Robert Harley served simultaneously as Speaker and as a Secretary of State between 1704 and 1705.
The speaker between 1728 and 1761, Arthur Onslow, reduced ties with the government, though the office remained to a large degree political.
The modern speakership[edit]
The speakership evolved into its modern form—in which the holder is an impartial and apolitical officer who does not belong to any party—only during the middle of the 19th century.
Over 150 individuals have served as Speaker of the House of Commons. Their names are inscribed in gold leaf around the upper walls of Room C of the House of Commons Library. Betty Boothroyd, elected in 1992, was the first female speaker (the first woman to sit in the speaker's chair was Betty Harvie Anderson, a Deputy Speaker from 1970). Michael Martin, elected in 2000, was the first Catholic speaker since the Reformation. John Bercow, elected in 2009, was the first Jewish speaker.[8]
The speaker has significant influence on legislation, for example by selecting which amendments to a bill may be proposed, and by interpreting and enforcing the rules of Parliament as laid out in the official parliamentary rulebook, Erskine May. In 2019 Speaker John Bercow had significant influence in selecting which important amendments to legislation affecting Britain's exit from the European Union could be voted on,[9] and later by not allowing the government to repeat a vote on the terms of exit, as the same motion may not be proposed twice in the same session of Parliament.[10][11] Bercow was criticised for these interventions, but said that he was acting within his powers and enforcing clear rules in a non-partisan way.
Until 1992, all speakers were men, and were always addressed in Parliament as "Mr Speaker", and their deputies as "Mr Deputy Speaker". Betty Boothroyd was, at her request, addressed as "Madam Speaker". When Betty Harvie Anderson served in the 1970s as a Deputy Speaker, on the other hand, she was addressed as "Mr Deputy Speaker". Eleanor Laing, a Deputy Speaker since 2013, is addressed as "Madam Deputy Speaker".
The speaker has traditionally been offered a life peerage in the House of Lords upon stepping down - even if ousted following a political scandal.[12] This tradition was broken in 2020 when John Bercow became the first Speaker in 230 years to step down and not be nominated for the Lords by the government.[13][14]
Removal[edit]
There is no formal process for removing the Speaker. This is thought to be a deliberate protection against a majority government removing a speaker they are displeased with on a whim.[21][22]
The House may pass a non-binding motion expressing no confidence in the Speaker, which can make their position unsustainable in the face of opposition from a sizeable portion of MPs. The Speaker can be removed by losing their seat as an MP, for example through death, disqualification, expulsion, or a successful recall petition.[22]
Role[edit]
Presiding officer[edit]
The speaker's primary function is to preside over the House of Commons.[28] According to parliamentary rules, the speaker is the highest authority of the House of Commons and has final say over how its business is conducted. Traditionally, the speaker when presiding wore court dress – a black coat with white shirt and bands, beneath a black gown, with stockings and buckled shoes, and a full-bottomed wig. But in 1992 Betty Boothroyd, the first female speaker, eschewed the wig. Her successor, Michael Martin, also declined to wear the wig; moreover, he chose to simplify other aspects of the costume, doing away with the once customary buckled court shoes and silk stockings. His successor John Bercow abandoned traditional dress, wearing a plain black gown over his lounge suit when presiding.[29] For ceremonial occasions such as the State Opening, the speaker wears a black and gold robe with a train; previously, this was worn over court dress with a white waterfall cravat, but the present speaker wears plain morning dress.
Whilst presiding, the speaker sits in a chair at the front of the House. Traditionally, members supporting the Government sit on the speaker's right, and those in Opposition on the speaker's left. The speaker's powers are extensive – much more so than those of the speaker's counterpart in the House of Lords, the Lord Speaker. Most importantly, the speaker calls on members to speak;[28] no member may make a speech without the speaker's prior permission. By custom, the speaker alternates between members supporting the Government and those in Opposition. Members direct their speeches not to the whole House, but to the speaker, using the words "Mister Speaker" or "Madam Speaker". Members must refer to each other in the third person by the name of their constituency or their ministerial titles (not their names); they may not directly address anyone other than the speaker (who does call them by name). In order to remain neutral, the speaker generally refrains from making speeches, although there is nothing to prevent him or her from doing so. For example, on Tuesday 1 September 2020, Speaker Hoyle addressed the House on the subject of the arrest of a Conservative MP for rape.[30]
Deputies[edit]
The speaker is helped by three deputies elected by the House (addressed Mr/Madam Deputy Speaker). The most senior has an alternative style Chairman of Ways and Means; the title derives from the defunct Ways and Means Committee which could amend and expedite bills to tax. The others can be called the second or third deputy speakers but are formally in the House named the First and Second Deputy Chairmen of Ways and Means (this resembles the "Junior Lords of the Treasury" being the government chief whips). Typically the speaker presides for three hours each day; otherwise a deputy takes the Chair. During the annual Budget, which the Chancellor of the Exchequer reads out in outline, the Chairman of Ways and Means presides.
The speaker never presides over the Committee of the Whole House, which consists of all the members, but operates under more flexible rules of debate. This device was used so that members could debate independently of the speaker, who they suspected acted as an agent or spy of the monarch. Now the procedure is invoked to have a less procedurally strict debate.
Deputies have the same powers as the speaker when presiding and in deadlock are bound by constitutional precedent to follow Speaker Denison's rule. They do not take part in partisan politics and remain completely impartial in the House. They are entitled to take a full part in constituency politics including raising of questions, often written, of ministers. In general elections, they stand as party politicians.