Thursday, May 20, 2010

Sir Alan Beith to be a Deputy Speaker

Or so the rumour goes.

Jon Craig writes on the Sky News site:

We also have elections for the Commons Deputy Speakers to look forward to. Let me mark your card. Because the Speaker, John Bercow, is a former Conservative MP, the new Chairman of Ways and Means (the most senior Deputy Speaker) will be a Labour MP.

That means it won't be Tory MP Sir Alan Haselhurst, who has done the job since 1997, and he won't be putting himself forward for election for the more junior Deputy Speaker posts. The Labour candidates to succeed Sir Alan, I'm told, are Tom Clarke, George Howarth and possibly Sir Stuart Bell.

I'm also told that the coalition deal between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats includes an agreement that senior Lib Dem Sir Alan Beith will be one of the Deputy Speakers. Nigel Evans is standing for one of the Tory vacancies for a Deputy Speaker and Lindsay Hoyle for one of the Labour vacancies.

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5 comments:

  1. Mr Eugenides20 May, 2010 18:12

    Is Alan Beith still even an MP? I mean, who knew?

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  2. Jonathan Calder20 May, 2010 18:30

    Boasting of ignorance never impresses me.

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  3. Anonymous21 May, 2010 05:49

    Mr Eugenides does live in Izmir (and appears, from his photo, to be aged only 18 months) so can, perhaps, be forgiven.

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  4. Frank Little21 May, 2010 12:07

    Stuart Bell and Nigel Evans - what an unholy alliance. ;-)

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  5. dreamingspire22 May, 2010 14:15

    The thing about Alan is that he doesn't go for the limelight, doesn't say much, yet I believe that he does a lot behind the scenes. Perhaps he was born like that, or perhaps it was that nonconformist upbringing. Sober suited, sober in demeanour and in body... I did know him for a while, then our paths diverged.

    ReplyDelete