New Parliament

The process of assembling the new Parliament is now well underway. The first step is for the newly elected MP’s to assemble and decide on who will be the Speaker of the House. Whilst this is happening the proceedings of the House are chaired by the longest serving member referred to as the ‘Father of the House’ In this Parliament this honour falls to Sir Gerald Kaufman the MP for Manchester Gorton. AS expected the existing Speaker the Rt. Hon. John Bercow MP was re-elected as Speaker without any other Candidates being considered. My view is that this was the right thing to do. Mr Speaker was only elected days ago with the words The Speaker at the side of his name and it seems to me entirely right and proper that he should continue in that role. In his brief speech indicating his willingness to be re-elected Mr Speaker made it clear that he wanted to continue to be a champion of the backbenchers and for that I am sure all backbenchers on both sides of the Chamber will be grateful.
Today, the process of every MP taking an Oath of Allegiance to the Queen gets underway and is going to continue for the next couple of days as a Member is not permitted to take part in proceedings or vote unless they have taken the Oath of Allegiance.