LONDON—British lawmakers elected Sir Lindsay Hoyle as the new speaker of the House of Commons on Monday night, taking over from John Bercow, who stepped down after 10 years.
“This House will change, but it will change for the better,” said Hoyle. For the first time in his new role he enthusiastically called the prime minister to speak.
Hoyle, previously a senior deputy speaker and Member of Parliament from the opposition Labour Party will be chairing the debates in the House of Commons from now on. He beat lawmaker Chris Bryant by 112 votes after four rounds of voting.
Unlike the United States the UK speaker must resign from their political party to remain impartial. They remain representatives of their parties, though, so they can deal with their local constituents’ issues as usual.
Dragged to the Chair
After winning the vote, two of his supporters dragged Hoyle to the chair, a ritual rooted in the speaker’s ancient role.
The role dates back to 1377. In those times the speaker used to report back to the monarch. But if the king or queen didn’t like the news they were given, the speaker was often blamed.
Several speakers between 1394 and 1535 were beheaded, so new speakers needed a little persuasion to take the post. It’s not clear, however, if having their heads chopped off was directly connected to being a speaker. Nevertheless, the tradition of the speaker being “dragged” to the chair lives on.
In Speakers House, there’s a collection of speakers’ portraits. Some, like John Bercow, Betty Boothroyd, and Micheal Martin are figures British people may remember within their lifetimes. Others are a little older, like William Lenthall, a speaker who defied the king.
In 1642, King Charles I went into the House of Commons to arrest five Members of Parliament for high treason, but Lenthall didn’t reveal where they were, saying he served the House. Since then, speakers haven’t had to confront the monarch.
‘They Watched Me Like a Hawk’
When speaker Michael Martin was taken ill in 2006, Lord Alan Haselhurst, who had been a Member of Parliament for almost 40 years, spent some time in the speaker’s chair.
“People tell me—I never realized myself—they watched me like a hawk. I made movements, coming forward in the chair as though as I’m about to intervene, and other times I would look at somebody and just give the slightest shake of the head or something to indicate I wasn’t going to be happy if I did what I thought they were going to do.”
It’s a bit like being a referee of a sports match.
“You’ve got to try to ensure that the dissident view can be heard and not squeezed out,” Haselhurst said. “But the things should be done in proportion to their parliamentary size that they would get their fair share of the ration.”
It’s one of the most senior roles in UK politics, and in the past three years it’s become an influential post in implementing and rejecting laws relating to Brexit.
The new speaker will be tasked with managing a House of Commons that is divided over Brexit. The UK will head to the polls for an early general election on Dec. 12.
