Speaker election – it’s Bercow or Young

By Stephen Tall | Mon 22nd June 2009 - 5:07 pm

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1st round ballot result announced 5.10 pm:

John Bercow 179
Sir George Young 112
Margaret Beckett 74
Sir Alan Haselhurst 66
Sir Alan Beith 55
Ann Widdecombe 44
Parmjit Dhanda 26 – ELIMINATED
Richard Shepherd 15 – ELIMINATED
Sir Patrick Cormack 13 – ELIMINATED
Sir Michael Lord 9 – ELIMINATED

It looks like John Bercow might be pretty unstoppable, unless enough MPs unite behind Sir George Young. Credibtable performance by Sir Alan Beith, finishing fifth and ahead of Ann Widdecombe.

Read more by Stephen Tall or more about commons speaker.
This entry was posted in News and Parliament.

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5 Comments

Peter1919 22nd Jun '09 - 5:59pm

Does everyone get to revote after each elimination or what?
Ryan Cullen 22nd Jun '09 - 6:27pm

@Peter1919 the four with less than 5% have been elimated and there was 5 minutes for any of the candidates to pull out.
The House of Commons then printed new ballot papers with the 6 remaining names on them with everybody voting again for a second time.
If no candidate manages 50% there will be a third ballot, and we could have a few more if it gets close.
Why they couldn’t have opted for a simple STV ballot and got it all done in the first round I’ll never know.
Peter1919 22nd Jun '09 - 6:59pm

because that would allow for any manourving between votes (i.e. Tories voting for Beckett then switching to last remaining tory at the last vote)
Peter1919 22nd Jun '09 - 7:02pm

correction *would NOT
Bernard Salmon 22nd Jun '09 - 7:09pm

Anyone know what would happen if the vote between Bercow and Young is tied?