Election of Speaker

Cheryl Gillan Excerpts

Tuesday 13th June 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Cheryl Gillan (Chesham and Amersham) (Con)]

I beg to move, That the right hon. John Simon Bercow do take the Chair of this House as Speaker.

I start by adding my belated congratulations to the Father of the House. He took over earlier this year, when we sadly lost another member of the 1970 intake, the very well respected Sir Gerald Kaufman, of whom the Leader of the Opposition said:

“He loved life and politics.”

I can honestly say that that can be said of you, too, Mr Clarke. As Mr Bercow said, you have served in virtually all the Departments of State and the great offices throughout your long and distinguished career, and it is a tribute to your record of public service and to your resilience that you preside over the opening proceedings of our Parliament today and over the election of a new Speaker.

While I welcome all my colleagues who are returning to the House—they are naturally familiar with the Speaker’s role—we are all pleased to welcome the new Members on both sides of the House. They might not realise that the Speaker’s Office, under that name, goes back a mere 640 years. The Speaker was then the agent of the King, and was afforded little protection. If the agent of the King offered bad news, he suffered the monarch’s wrath, and no fewer than seven Speakers were beheaded between 1394 and 1535—[Hon. Members: “More!”] Let that be a warning to you! Fortunately, the job description has changed since then, and our modern Speaker protects us and our rights as Back Benchers without fear of losing his head—except, I have to say, when Members misbehave in the Chamber.

Compared with the Father of the House, with his 47 years of experience, I am just a youngster in this place. However, I have seen many changes over the 25 years I have served in Parliament. The wigs have gone, except for the one that I see being worn for a state occasion—[Interruption.] Sorry, the wigs have gone except for one or two. The hours have changed, the Committees have increased, the technology has advanced, the media never sleep, and the challenges of the job of the Speaker continue to multiply.

As the right hon. Member for Buckingham (John Bercow) has been our Speaker since 22 June 2009, I have seen him rise to those challenges and grow in this job. He

“has shown himself to be utterly impartial and fearless in defending the House of Commons from all comers whether it be over mighty Ministers or a raucous media.”

He is

“a determined champion of opening up our democracy”,

bringing in reforms that have made Parliament accessible to over 100,000 schoolchildren each year. He is an

“effective Speaker…who has used his office to reach out to people across our country”,

and

“an energetic ambassador for Parliament throughout the UK and around the world, and is also a devoted and hard-working champion for his constituents in Buckingham.”

Those are not my words, but endorsements from my right hon. Friend the Member for Sutton Coldfield (Mr Mitchell), the right hon. Member for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford (Yvette Cooper), the Leader of the Opposition and the Prime Minister, but my favourite endorsement is from the right hon. and learned Member for Camberwell and Peckham (Ms Harman), who is standing by the Chair, who said, on the Speaker’s reappointment in 2015:

“He may be small in stature, but make no mistake: in this office, he is a giant.”—[Official Report, 18 May 2015; Vol. 596, c. 6.]

Perhaps it is true that good things come in small packages.

Let me say in proposing the right hon. Gentleman for Speaker that, for my part, I have always found him to be scrupulously fair; he never allows his views to compromise his impartiality, although I think that Members in all parts of the House can agree that he is no stranger to controversy. I think he annoys Members on all the Front Benches from time to time, which is probably testament to his even-handedness. He fosters a sense of community among those who work in the precincts, and applies himself with vigour to all the many and varied tasks that fall to the role. He also has qualities that many of us wonder at. There is his ability to recall obscure information on Members, which I warn new Members about; his loquaciousness and command of the English language; and, in particular—please note, Father of the House—his ability to remain in the Chair for inordinate lengths of time, the record being an 11 hour and 24 minute uninterrupted stint during the Syria debate, which caused much admiring comment about the strength of his bladder.

Camel-like qualities aside, the right hon. Gentleman’s performance in the Chamber is matched by his record outside it. He has hosted over 1,000 events for charities in Speaker’s House, and presides over the administration of this place with great patience and good humour, to which I can attest.

This Parliament, like all that have gone before, will have its own character and present its own challenges. Over the next few years, our country will go through the great changes that peoples’ democratic votes have presented to us in this House. At the same time, we face very real threats to freedom, democracy and our precious way of life. That has been brought starkly into focus with the cyber-attack on our NHS, the two unspeakable acts of violence during the election campaign, the death of PC Keith Palmer, and, of course, the loss of our colleague Jo Cox, who was taken from us all a year ago this week.

As Speaker, the right hon. Gentleman has always acted swiftly to join others with words and acts of reassurance, and I was proud to see him in Manchester, standing shoulder to shoulder with the community who had come under such lethal attack. In times like this, and in all our deliberations in the House, we need the experience, maturity and commitment to our Parliament that I believe is shown by the right hon. Gentleman. His devotion to this House and this country cannot be disputed. He has served this House, and us as Members, with strength and fortitude, and I have great pleasure in commending him to the House to serve as our next Speaker.

Question put forthwith (Standing Order No. 1A), That John Bercow do take the Chair of this House as Speaker.

Question agreed to.

Mr Kenneth Clarke left the Chair, and John Bercow was conducted to the Chair by Sir Peter Bottomley, Mrs Helen Grant and Alison McGovern.