Speaker of the British House of Commons election, 2000
Encyclopedia
Betty Boothroyd
Betty Boothroyd, Baroness Boothroyd, OM, PC is a British politician, who served as Member of Parliament for West Bromwich and West Bromwich West from 1973 to 2000, initially for the Labour Party and, from 1992 to 2000, as Speaker of the House of Commons...
as Speaker. The election resulted in the election of Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
MP Michael Martin. It was the first contested election since 27 April 1992.
Nominated Candidates
- John McWilliamJohn David McWilliamJohn David McWilliam was a British Labour Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament for Blaydon from 1979 until he stood down at the 2005 general election.-Early life:...
(LabourLabour Party (UK)The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
) - Alan BeithAlan BeithSir Alan James Beith is a British Liberal Democrat politician and Member of Parliament for Berwick-upon-Tweed.-Early life:Alan Beith was born in 1943 in Poynton, in Cheshire...
(Liberal DemocratsLiberal DemocratsThe Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
) - Michael Martin (LabourLabour Party (UK)The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
) - Sir Patrick CormackPatrick CormackPatrick Cormack, Baron Cormack, FSA DL is a British politician, historian, journalist and author. He was a Conservative Party Member of Parliament from 1970 to 2010.-Early life:...
(ConservativeConservative Party (UK)The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
) - Gwyneth DunwoodyGwyneth DunwoodyGwyneth Patricia Dunwoody was a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Exeter from 1966 to 1970, and then for Crewe from 1974 to her death in 2008...
(LabourLabour Party (UK)The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
) - Sir Alan HaselhurstAlan HaselhurstSir Alan Gordon Barraclough Haselhurst is a British Conservative politician who is the Member of Parliament for Saffron Walden and was Chairman of Ways and Means from 14 May 1997 to 8 June 2010.-Early life, education and career:...
(ConservativeConservative Party (UK)The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
) - Sir Michael LordMichael LordMichael Nicholson Lord, Baron Framlingham is a British politician, and was Conservative Member of Parliament for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich between 1997 and 2010...
(ConservativeConservative Party (UK)The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
) - Nicholas WintertonNicholas WintertonSir Nicholas Raymond Winterton is a retired British Conservative Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament for Macclesfield from 1971 until he retired from the House of Commons at the 2010 general election....
(ConservativeConservative Party (UK)The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
) - Menzies CampbellMenzies CampbellSir Walter Menzies "Ming" Campbell, CBE, QC, MP is a British Liberal Democrat politician and advocate, and a retired sprinter. He is the Member of Parliament for North East Fife, and was the Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2 March 2006 until 15 October 2007.Campbell held the British record...
(Liberal DemocratsLiberal DemocratsThe Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
) - Sir George YoungSir George Young, 6th BaronetSir George Samuel Knatchbull Young, 6th Baronet is a British politician. He is currently the Leader of the House of Commons and Lord Privy Seal, and has served as a Conservative Party Member of Parliament since 1974, having represented North West Hampshire since 1997, and Ealing Acton before...
(ConservativeConservative Party (UK)The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
) - David ClarkDavid Clark, Baron Clark of WindermereDavid George Clark, Baron Clark of Windermere PC DL is a British Labour politician, former cabinet minister and author.-Education and early career:...
(LabourLabour Party (UK)The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
) - Richard ShepherdRichard ShepherdRichard Charles Scrimgeour Shepherd is a Conservative politician in the United Kingdom. He is currently a Member of Parliament, having represented the constituency of Aldridge-Brownhills since 1979....
(ConservativeConservative Party (UK)The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
)
Election
This was the last Speaker election to be was conducted by means of a conventional parliamentary motion with recorded votes on an amendment for each candidate. With an unusually large number of candidates, a significant number of MPs spoke in favour of switching to a less time-consuming procedure, but Sir Edward Heath, who was presiding in his capacity as Father of the HouseFather of the House
Father of the House is a term that has by tradition been unofficially bestowed on certain members of some national legislatures, most notably the House of Commons in the United Kingdom. In some legislatures the term refers to the oldest member, but in others it refers the longest-serving member.The...
, declined to allow a vote on this issue.
The repeated ballots took nearly six hours. Martin was the front runner going into the ballot and was never in any danger of losing during the election, winning every ballot by at least 76 votes.
As a result of this election, the rules for electing a Speaker were changed the following year to a use a secret
Secret ballot
The secret ballot is a voting method in which a voter's choices in an election or a referendum are anonymous. The key aim is to ensure the voter records a sincere choice by forestalling attempts to influence the voter by intimidation or bribery. The system is one means of achieving the goal of...
and exhaustive ballot
Exhaustive ballot
The exhaustive ballot is a voting system used to elect a single winner. Under the exhaustive ballot the elector simply casts a single vote for his or her favorite candidate. However if no candidate is supported by an overall majority of votes then the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated...
. This procedure was first used in the Speaker election of 2009
Speaker of the British House of Commons election, 2009
The 2009 election of the Speaker of the British House of Commons occurred on 22 June 2009 after the resignation of Michael Martin as Speaker following the MPs' expenses scandal. Martin was the first Speaker since Sir John Trevor in 1695 to be forced from office...
.
Results
| Winner | Loser |
|---|---|
| Michael Martin: 345 | Sir Alan Haselhurst: 140 |
| Michael Martin: 409 | Alan Beith: 83 |
| Michael Martin: 341 | Gwyneth Dunwoody: 170 |
| Michael Martin: 317 | Sir George Young: 241 |
| Michael Martin: 381 | Menzies Campbell: 98 |
| Michael Martin: 257 | David Clark: 192 |
| Michael Martin: 340 | Nicholas Winterton: 116 |
| Michael Martin: 309 | John Mcwilliam: 30 |
| Michael Martin: 290 | Michael Lord: 146 |
| Michael Martin: 287 | Sir Patrick Cormack: 130 |
| Michael Martin: 282 | Richard Shepherd: 136 |