Why the Speaker has no say in the re-election ballot
This summer John Bercow made history by becoming the first Speaker of the House of Common to be elected by secret ballot.
Many Conservative MPs were extremely unhappy with his election. They regard him as a Labour stooge, and are privately threatening to depose him should David Cameron secure a majority in the next election.
And if Mr Bercow was elected by secret ballot, then surely he should only be unseated by secret ballot too?
Er No. At least not as things stand right now.
The rules are as follows - when the new Parliament reassembles, assuming Mr Bercow is re-elected an MP (overcoming Nigel Farage's attempts on behalf of UKIP to defeat him in Buckingham), and assuming he wishes to remain as Speaker, then traditionally a motion is put to the House to re-elect him, and decided by acclamation.
And if there are a significant number of No voices, then it goes to a traditional vote, through the lobbies, where each MP's vote will be publicly recorded.
In such circumstances it's hard to see a majority of MPs - even if the House has a Tory majority - voting publicly against Mr Bercow. And, as we saw last spring, it takes a lot of courage to come out publicly against such a powerful figure as the Speaker of the Commons.
But if the vote went to a secret ballot instead then the outcome might be very different indeed.
The ball now seems to be in the hands of the Commons Procedure Committee, who are currently conducting an inquiry into last summer's Speaker election, and may make recommendations to introduce a secret ballot to re-elect the Speaker.
And certainly if the rules are to be changed then that has to be done in this Parliament, before the general election. It would be too late afterwards.
As a self-professed reformer more secrecy is surely is what Mr Bercow himself would argue for, especially since he himself was the product of a secret ballot. But he won't really get a say in the matter.
The Procedure Committee is chaired by Greg Knight, a former Conservative deputy chief whip under John Major.
No doubt he'd like to bring in a secret ballot to re-elect a Speaker.
But Mr Knight will have to tread carefully to get his way. His committee has only four Conservatives, compared with seven Labour members and two Lib Dems.
It all boils down to this delicious irony. With a traditional public vote Mr Bercow would probably survive; with a secret ballot he could well be sacked.
I'm Michael Crick, and I'm Newsnight's political editor. My guiding rule is that in any story there's usually something the politicians would prefer the world not to know. My job is to find that out. Follow me on
Comment number 1.
At 7th Dec 2009, barry white wrote:overall the job he has done is, well short!
And is it a good job? Who knows?
It is more of the electioneering that is going on at the moment than is he doing a good job.
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Comment number 2.
At 8th Dec 2009, barriesingleton wrote:I DON'T CARE TWO HOOTS - WESTMINSTER ITSELF IS THE PROBLEM.
While questions, at Question Time, go unanswered, without rebuke - condoned by speakers all - and a host of other Westminster stupidities go unchallenged, why should the ordinary public pay any attention?
SPOIL PARTY GAMES
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Comment number 3.
At 8th Dec 2009, IPGABP1 wrote:I would like a secret ballot on the question, Do you agree that the British people should be denied the right to choose their Head of State, and the majority of parliamentarians?
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