Speaker Q&A: what happens next?
Updated on 19 May 2009
Constitutional expert Professor Robert Hazell explains what happens next both in the search for a new Speaker, and for Michael Martin.
Q: How will the new Speaker be chosen?
A: Following Martin’s resignation, there may be more than one candidate to take his place. As part of the new procedures agreed in March 2001, a secret ballot will be used.
Members will vote in a series of rounds with candidates eliminated until one candidate gains more than half of the votes. This procedure has not yet been used.
Q: Does the Speaker have to be selected from the Opposition?
A: It is a myth that there’s a convention which says the Speaker should come from the Opposition.
The long standing convention actually used to be that the Speaker came from the government benches. That was broken with the election of Betty Boothroyd in 1992.
Q: How was the Speaker chosen in the past?
A: The situation where there has been more than one candidate has occurred only four times since the beginning of the twentieth century. It happened most recently on 23 October 2000, when Michael Martin was first proposed as Speaker.
This election was carried out under the old procedures. Following a series of divisions on eleven other candidates (all of whom were defeated) the House eventually agreed to Mr Martin's election by 370 votes to 8.
Q: In your opinion, where did Martin go wrong?
A: It is in this second role that Martin has been particularly weak. He chairs the House of Commons Commission, which runs the House as an organisation. He decided to contest the disclosure of MPs' expenses. It may be that is what most MPs wanted.
But a stronger leader would have recognised the inevitability of change, prepared MPs for it and led them through it.
Q: What next for Michael Martin?
A: The past precedent has been that the out-going Speaker is appointed to the House of Lords. That falls under the discretion of the Prime Minister – so it will be up to Gordon Brown.
Once Martin retires as an MP he becomes a private citizen. He can retire to Glasgow or go on a world cruise.
