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John Bercow re-elected as Speaker of British House of Commons

Xinhua, May 19, 2015 Adjust font size:

British politician John Bercow was re-elected on Monday as Speaker of the House of Commons as members of the Parliament (MPs) met for the first time after the general election.

Bercow has been Speaker of the House of Commons since June 2009, when he was first elected following the resignation of his predecessor Michael Martin.

The election of the Speaker was the first step of the new Parliament before it begins the process of the swearing-in of MPs.

Bercow was re-elected without holding a vote, because no MP had opposed him remaining the Speaker.

"I should like to thank the house for again bestowing upon me the greatest honor that can confer upon any member," he said after being dragged by other MPs to his chair in the House of Commons.

Dragging a newly elected Speaker to the chair has been a unique British parliamentary tradition dating back centuries ago, when the job was deemed undesirable with risks of irritating the Monarch.

"I am intensely conscious of the responsibilities into which I again enter, and I shall do my best to discharge those responsibilities efficiently, effectively and fairly," he noted.

"Above all, I am conscious of the rights of the backbenchers and the need to facilitate members in championing the causes dear to them, and from whichever side of the House they come, holding the government of the day properly to account," Bercow told the MPs.

The State Opening of the new Parliament is scheduled to take place on May 27, when the Queen's Speech will be delivered. Endit