The duties of the Speaker of the House of Commons.

Christopher Stiff

The Speaker of the House of Commons

The duties of the Speaker of the House of Commons have evolved over the course of hundreds of years, since Parliament was instated. The principal duty of the Speaker has always been to chair the many debates that take place in the Commons. Today, the amount of direction and guidance the Speaker gives to the House of Commons places the Speakership right in the centre of the house’s daily business.

The Speaker is elected through a ballot of all members of the house. Once elected, the Speaker assumes chairpersonship of the house and must remain politically neutral, as will be illustrated later. The foremost functions of the Speaker of the House of Commons include:

Organising Debates – i.e. When debates will take place over certain issues.

Choosing people who are to speak in debates – During debates in the House, official spokespersons for both the government and opposition will take part. Also, representatives of minor parties, members who have constituency interests on the debated subject and specialists on the particular issue will all want to put their views into the debate. The Speaker has to recognise this, and therefore must balance everybody’s requirements when working out who should speak next or ‘be called’, as the parliamentary term is. Members may inform the speaker, in advance of their wish to speak in particular debates, but the decision rests solely with the speaker. At the beginning of certain debates that are already going to be lengthy due to the sheer amount of MP’s who have something to say, or instances where the government wishes to speedily pass a bill using a ‘Guillotine Motion’, the Speaker is able to invoke the ‘Short Speech’ rule, thus limiting the length of individual speeches.

This is a preview of the whole essay

Keeping Order in the House and Making Sure it’s Members are Honoured – As with any meeting or debate, sessions in the House of Commons require a chairperson to regulate the course of debate and preserve order in the house. For instance, a member who alleges dishonourable behaviour by another , or uses language that the rules do not permit, may be directed by the Speaker to withdraw the remark concerned. The Speaker can also administer more serious disciplinary action, in the case of wilful disobedience by a member, the speaker can suspend him/her from the house for a day or invite the house to approve expulsion for a longer period. This practice is known as ‘Naming a Member’ , and a notable example of when it has been used lies in ‘Betty Boothroyd- The Autobiography’. In 1992, Ian Paisley MP, accused Sir Patrick Mayhew (the Northern Ireland Secretary) of falsely denying that the government had had engaged in secret contact with the IRA. By calling Mayhew a liar, Paisley broke the rule that requires all members to treat each other as honourable people. Miss Boothroyd (the speaker at the time) appealed to him to withdraw, but he refused and she was forced to ‘name’ him. That is, to formally ban him from the house by mentioning him formally by name as being guilty of disorderly conduct – whereupon the house decided to suspend him for five days. The Speaker also has the power to suspend whole sittings in the case of severe general disorder.

Protecting the Interests of Minorities in the house – It is also the Speaker’s duty to ensure that all holders of an opinion, however unpopular, are allowed to put across their point of view. This is vital when deciding whether or not to accept a closure motion. For example, if minorities haven’t had chance to contribute, the debate hasn’t been fair, and this will weigh with the Speaker in his/her assessment of whether the debate can be closed.

Sanction Emergency Debates on certain issues – The Speaker has to exercise discretion over some matters that are prescribed in the Standing Orders of the House. These include decisions as to whether an application for an emergency debate is proper to be put to the House.

Act as a Senior Representative of the House – The Speaker acts as the House’s representative in it’s corporate relations with outside bodies and the other elements of Parliament: the House of Lords and the Crown. The Speaker is also the Spokesperson for the House on ceremonial and state occasions, for example, during the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations, when an address of congratulation from the Commons was presented to the queen.

Once elected, the Speaker must become politically neutral. The Speaker must be above party political controversy and must be seen to be impartial in all public matters. To accord with this, on assuming his/her office, the Speaker resigns from its former political party immediately. Whilst they are the Speaker, and even after retirement, a former Speaker will take no part in political issues (unless they are appointed to the House of Lords, where they will participate only as a cross-bencher). Becoming Speaker of the House of Commons means sacrificing much of the candidate’s political life, for example, old loyalties and friendships within the House will be annulled. The Speaker has to stay away from old party colleagues as well. Practical implications of this include that the Speaker doesn’t dine in the Commons’ dining rooms or frequent it’s bars. Despite this, the Speaker does remain a Member of Parliament, dealing with constituents’ letters and problems as other MP’s do.

The Speaker’s Residence

When the Speaker takes up office, they assume residence in the Palace of Westminster, at the Westminster Bridge end. Before every sitting of the House of Commons, the Speaker makes his/her way to the Chamber in a formal procession through the palace, via the Library Corridor, the Lower Waiting Hall, Central and Members’ Lobbies, being preceded by a Bar Doorkeeper, the Serjeant at Arms with the Mace, and followed by the Trainbearer, Chaplain and Secretary.