List of Speaker of the House of Commons Candidates

Iain Dale has a live blog of the proceedings for the election of the new Speaker here.


+++ UPDATE: 22/06/2009 09:30: Douglas Carswell MP announces for Richard Shepherd for Speaker of the House of Commons +++

I seem to be getting a lot of traffic from people looking for a list of the candidates for Speaker of the House of Commons which takes place on Monday 22nd June so I thought I would be helpful and keep a list of them updated here as well as some further information and links to what other bloggers are saying about the race:

LIST OF DECLARED CANDIDATES:

Margaret Beckett
John Bercow
Sir Patrick CormackSir Alan Haselhurst
Sir George Young
Parmjit Dhanda
Sir Alan Beith
Sir Michael LordAnn Widdecombe
Richard Shepherd

Frank Field ruled himself out a few days before the contest.

Also, there is a page on Wikipedia which keeps track of the contest here. There is a BBC News list of the runners and riders here.

21/06/2006 - 16:00

There are some interesting posts about the race from the Political Betting blog here:

Bercow now becomes an evens firm favourite

The Speakership: Tracking the horse race

The Speaker race: the prices get tighter

Is the battle now down to Young and Beckett?

Iain Dale seems to think Alan Haselhurst could come through the middle. He also has a Youtube clip of Sir Alan in action here. He is a scary man!

21/06/2006 - 23:40

Guido reports that Labour whips are now getting MPs behind Margaret Beckett. This surely makes her almost unbeatable now?

22/06/2009 - 09:30

John Ward gives his views on the election.

22/06/2009 - 09:35

Mike Smithson of Political Betting says that Margaret Beckett is the favourite but asks if a late entrant (they only need to declare by 10:30am today) could act as a spoiler for these odds:

UPDATE: 22/06/2009 - 09:40

The Talking Clock thinks that the new Speaker will be tainted before they even start.

And Stephen Glenn urges MPs not to let Margaret Beckett sit in the Speaker's chair.

UPDATE: 22/06/2009 - 12:50
I am against Margaret Beckett (as are a lot of other Lib Dem bloggers) and for Richard Shepherd.

UPDATE: Just so you know, I am keeping the content of this page updated as we get closer to the election on Monday 22nd June hence it might change.

Finally, it's a bit academic now but here were my thoughts and why it should have been Frank Field (although I did not think it would be!).

Watch Flint

Following Hazel Blears spectacular resignation today, ministers like Peter Mandleson and Liam Byrne have been trying to imply on the media that the pressure was too much. As Iain Dale has said in the past don't underestimate a cornered chipmunk! They are playing a very dangerous game. What she had said so far can be spun that she was not being critical of the government but if she hardens her words she could make it impossible for this be portrayed as anything other than a huge slap in the face for Brown.

Also, keep an eye on Caroline Flint a staunch ally of Ms Blears. If she was to also go over the top (perhaps in sympathy as Hazel's treatment) that would be the local government minister and the Europe minister resigning just before the local and European elections. Again, no amount of spin can disguise the political catastrophe that would signal.

Will Ms Flint have the courage to make the move now at the point of maximum damage for Gordon Brown?

Frank Skinner should not be discouraging people from voting

I am a big fan of Frank Skinner. He has made me laugh more than most other comedians over the years but in recent times he seems to have taken it upon himself to comment about politics. To give him his due, he was quite impressive on Question Time a few weeks ago but his column in The Times last week was in my opinion misguided.

He called for anyone who is not fully versed in the political issues to not vote by launching a campaign called “If you don't know - don't vote”. I completely disagree with this. Mr Skinner is arguing that most people do not really follow politics and the issues and arguments closely enough to warrant a vote at all.

My view has always been that it is my duty to vote in every single election, national, local, European etc. I was brought up like this and cannot understand the sort of mentality that Frank espouses here. I thought like this long before I ever got directly involved in politics and have always made it my business to understand all the issues before every election.

I appear to be atypical in this respect but is it really such a hardship once every year or two for someone to sit down for an hour or so and read through the party literature and perhaps a few newspaper column comments (preferably across the range of papers) in order to come to a conclusion about who to vote for? Our forefathers and mothers fought and in some cases died for our right to a democratic society, the least we can do is exercise that right by going down to a polling booth and making our choice.

After all, if you don't vote for anybody, you don't really have any right to compain about the result afterwards. Perhaps I could start another campaign along these lines...

Gordon Brown has to go

The headlines for Brown today are absolutely dreadful. Mike Smithson (not a man to bandy odd about lightly) now gives him a 50% chance of survival and as we all know things can deteriorate fast once colleagues and opponents smell blood.

As Charlotte Gore posted about recently, it is now clear despite what he claimed in Autumn 2007 that there was never any vision. just a grim determination to hold onto power at any cost and to smear and denigrate anyonw who threatened that. But what is the point of holding on when the result is what we now see?

Gordon Brown is the worst Prime Minister I can remember and is vying for the title of worst Prime Minister in history. Whatever happens in the elections tomorrow his spinmeisters will doubtless try and claim it is not as bad as it could have been or similar. I can't see Brown voluntarily going so his cabinet will have to force him to. They have the constitutional power to do it. If they don't they will only have themselves to blame for the terrible price the electorate will wreak in less than 12 months.

Early Election?

Various political blogs are debating the likelihood of Gordon Brown going to the country very soon. There is apparently a rumour that advertising space is being booked (although latterly that is being denied by the company Iain Dale has claimed leaked the info to him).

Anyway, I would be very surprised if Gordon Brown went to the country any time soon. Labour was about 8 points ahead in September 2007 and he didn't go then. If I remember correctly, there was some polling done in marginal constituencies which showed Labour would struggle to gain a decent majority and that was enough to persuade Brown to call it off. Labour are now anywhere from 1 to 5 points behind and whilst the biased electoral system would still give them a chance of a majority (or at least being the largest single party) I just can't see him going for it nearly 18 months before he has to.

I have learned as well over the years that just because I might want it to happen (I love general election campaigns) does not mean it will.

I reckon he will go long and not call it until he virtually has to around May 2010.