British lawmakers are jostling over the best seat in the House.
Ten candidates are vying for the prestigious 600-year-old position as speaker of the House of Commons, each pledging sweeping reforms following a damaging scandal over legislators’ expenses claims.
They include a former top diplomat, a clutch of outspoken veterans and a young Sikh legislator.
The speaker’s ornate wooden chair is vacant after Michael Martin became the first presiding officer to be forced out in more than 300 years, tainted by his role in the scandal over the lavish expenses claimed by British legislators.
Martin quit last month amid anger over his reluctance to reform allowance rules and public scorn over his attempts to block the expenses’ publication.
Candidates to replace him launched their campaigns ahead of a secret ballot of the 646 lawmakers on Monday, pledging sweeping reforms aimed at shoring up public confidence in the country’s tarnished politics.
“We have to restore trust in politics,” opposition Conservative lawmaker John Bercow, a leading candidate to win the post, told a meeting at which all 10 contenders addressed their fellow lawmakers.
He pledged to be an agent for overdue change and said the expenses scandal had exposed parliament’s failings.
Ann Widdecombe, a veteran Conservative lawmaker known for her lighthearted appearances on reality television shows, has promised quick reforms if she is elected as speaker.
Since Widdecombe already has pledged to step down at the next national election, which is likely to be called in May next year, she vowed to “get in there, do a job ... and then hand over to a fresh parliament.”
Former foreign secretary Margaret Beckett, Martin’s deputies Alan Haselhurst and Michael Lord, and Parmjit Dhanda, a young Sikh lawmaker, are among others seeking election as speaker. Dhanda, 37, has pledged to hold key meetings outside London and use Internet polls to ask the public what issues lawmakers should debate.
An 11th candidate — maverick Labour Party lawmaker Frank Field — withdrew from the race shortly before the meeting, saying he doubted he had enough support to win.
The speaker also serves as an elected legislator for a political party, but is supposed to be impartial and independent of government — unlike the US, where the speaker of the House of Representatives is often a partisan advocate for the majority party.
Tasks include maintaining decorum — sometimes shouting “Order! Order!” — from a raised wooden chair in the middle of the Commons chamber. The seat features an ornate canopy, from a time when curtains were drawn around the chair, allowing a speaker to use it as a toilet and ensuring lengthy debates could continue without the need for bathroom breaks.
The speaker decides which lawmakers are called on to speak, can suspend those who break rules, and represents the chamber in discussions with Queen Elizabeth II and the House of Lords.
It is a post with a notable perk — a swanky “grace and favor” home inside parliament — but a grim history: seven previous speakers have been beheaded, one murdered and another killed in battle.
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