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Speaker's election: MPs to choose John Bercow's successor | Speaker's election: MPs to choose John Bercow's successor |
(about 1 hour later) | |
MPs will elect John Bercow's successor as Speaker of the House of Commons later in the first election for the powerful post in more than a decade. | MPs will elect John Bercow's successor as Speaker of the House of Commons later in the first election for the powerful post in more than a decade. |
The Speaker keeps order in Commons debates and calls MPs to speak. | |
Eight candidates are in the running, including ex-deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman and current deputy Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle. | Eight candidates are in the running, including ex-deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman and current deputy Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle. |
At 14:30 GMT the candidates will make short speeches in the Commons after which MPs will cast their votes. | At 14:30 GMT the candidates will make short speeches in the Commons after which MPs will cast their votes. |
How will the vote unfold? | How will the vote unfold? |
MPs have 20 minutes to vote in a secret ballot, and it will take about an hour to count them. | MPs have 20 minutes to vote in a secret ballot, and it will take about an hour to count them. |
If no candidate receives more half of the votes, the individual who receives the least votes will drop out, as will anyone who obtains less than 5% of the total cast. | If no candidate receives more half of the votes, the individual who receives the least votes will drop out, as will anyone who obtains less than 5% of the total cast. |
After each round, there will be a 10-minute period for candidates to withdraw. | After each round, there will be a 10-minute period for candidates to withdraw. |
MPs will then continue to vote until one candidate obtains more than half of the votes. The process will be overseen by Ken Clarke, who as Father of the House is the long-serving MP in the Commons. | MPs will then continue to vote until one candidate obtains more than half of the votes. The process will be overseen by Ken Clarke, who as Father of the House is the long-serving MP in the Commons. |
Who is in the running? | Who is in the running? |
The eight candidates are: | The eight candidates are: |
BBC parliamentary correspondent Mark D'Arcy said most observers believed Sir Lindsay was the frontrunner. | BBC parliamentary correspondent Mark D'Arcy said most observers believed Sir Lindsay was the frontrunner. |
He has been Mr Bercow's senior deputy for years. | He has been Mr Bercow's senior deputy for years. |
"As Chairman of Ways and Means, he chairs Budget debates and selects amendments for committee stage proceedings on bills, and has had plenty of opportunity to demonstrate his credentials," our correspondent says. | "As Chairman of Ways and Means, he chairs Budget debates and selects amendments for committee stage proceedings on bills, and has had plenty of opportunity to demonstrate his credentials," our correspondent says. |
What is the Speaker's role? | |
The role of the Speaker has come under increasing scrutiny over the past few years - and Mr Bercow has been both praised for boosting the influence of backbench MPs and criticised for stretching parliamentary rules. | |
Some have also accused him of not being impartial when it comes to Brexit. | |
The Speaker is responsible for choosing which amendments can be voted on - a power that has proved particularly significant in the Brexit process. | |
He is also in charge of upholding parliamentary rules, and Mr Bercow twice angered some MPs by refusing to allow the government to hold another vote on an already rejected Brexit deal. | |
The Speaker can also permit MPs to ask urgent questions whereby government ministers are summoned to the House of Commons over a time-sensitive or important matter. | |
During his years in the role, Mr Bercow dramatically increased the number of urgent questions asked. | |
Analysis: Easy win or tactical battle | Analysis: Easy win or tactical battle |
By Mark D'Arcy, the BBC's parliamentary correspondent | By Mark D'Arcy, the BBC's parliamentary correspondent |
Later on Monday what one MP calls "the most duplicitous electorate in the world" will vote to choose a new Speaker of the House of Commons. | Later on Monday what one MP calls "the most duplicitous electorate in the world" will vote to choose a new Speaker of the House of Commons. |
So what might MPs want? First, there seems be an appetite for a different style - an end to Bercow-esque grandiloquence and those five-minute appeals for brevity, as well as for an end to the kind of clashes with MPs that the departed Speaker was prone to. | |
Remember his red-faced finger-jabbing clash with the then Chief Whip Patrick McLoughlin, or this week's spat with long-time Bercow critic Andrew Bridgen? | |
Then there's the much more important concern about the Speaker's sweeping powers to make the rules in the Commons, a power which saw him permitting amendments to Business of the House motions which were supposed to be taken "forthwith" - which many MPs believed meant they could not be amended. | |
Given no one party has a majority in the House, the winning candidate will be the one most capable of reaching across party lines, and building a majority out of factions of the main parties, the members of the smaller parties and their personal supporters. | |
Those seen as party gladiators first and foremost may find that hard to do. |