8 Comments

• Martin Land 13th Sep '19 - 10:48am

  Despite Andrea or because? A great result though after everything that’s happened in Northants I’m astonished that nearly 40% still voted Tory!

• Hick Collins 13th Sep '19 - 11:03am

  Also a strong advance in the Green’s share of the vote. I hope LibDems and Greens are thinking carefully about how and where they deploy their efforts in the coming General Election so as not to spoil each other’s chances.

• Ross McLean 13th Sep '19 - 4:47pm

  Very good results. And there’s twitter talk of another defection to us tomorrow… https://twitter.com/ClaireEllicott1/status/1172484061601902592

• Richard Underhill 13th Sep '19 - 5:24pm

  Andrea Leadsom has said she is a Democrat, by which she presumably means that she voted leave in 2016. She is, of course, a Conservative.
  As leader of the House of Commons she disagreed with the Speaker and has continued the vendetta after the reshuffle.
  https://www.biicl.org/events/11309/sixth-annual-bingham-lecture
  He has announced his retirement. He was previously elected as a Conservative, so the convention of alternation should produce as next Speaker an MP from the opposition benches. Labour seems to have several candidates. The SNP really want to leave the UK.
  Betty Boothroyd’s autobiography was published in 2001 by Random House. “The House has a right to choose its own Speaker, regardless of the Government’s wishes.” ‘Elect me for what I am’ page 139. Some comment on her appearance is allowable. She did not wear a wig, thereby breaking with convention. She is now a peer and recently commented jointly with Michael Heseltine.
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Boothroyd
  Gerry Adams explained to her why Sinn Fein does not take seats at Westminster. It is not about the oath. (To swear or not to swear? page 246)

• Ross McLean 13th Sep '19 - 6:00pm

  Richard – the principle of alternation doesn’t necessarily apply. Prior to Bercow Labour had 2 successive speakers (Betty Boothroyd and Michael Martin) so it could be argued that the next one after Bercow should be another Tory.

• Richard Underhill 13th Sep '19 - 6:57pm

  Ross McLean: There is a good reason why it should apply,
  which is that we have a Conservative government at the moment.
  The Speaker should be a check on the abuse of power and support back-benchers.

• Ross McLean 13th Sep '19 - 8:04pm

  “The Speaker should be a check on the abuse of power and support back-benchers.”
  Indeed, but remember that includes government backbenchers as well as opposition ones. Plus, the government is likely to change during a speaker’s term, so in that sense it really doesn’t matter whether the speaker is from the non-government party when he/she is elected. The whole point is that he/she is supposed to be independent from the moment they take the chair anyway.
  No, I say backbench MPs themselves are the people best placed to pick the person they think will do the job. They shouldn’t be constrained by party considerations – and they’re not. Look at Bercow. He was a Tory, but the Tory government hates him! Backbenchers like him though (all parties). That’s how it should be.

• GaryE 13th Sep '19 - 9:12pm

  And of course John Bercow is no fool, leaving before the election means his successor will be chosen whilst there’s a minority Government and less opportunity for executive meddling. It seems to me the overwhelming majority will look to Sir Lindsay Hoyle to replace him, he’s had 9 years of deputising so is well placed to step up at a defining moment.