Sir Henry Bellingham has withdrawn from the speakership race. His concession letter emphasises the importance of cross-party support. Whispers are this is a tacit endorsement of Lindsay Hoyle, who is expected to pick up most of Bellingham’s second preference votes…
Read his letter to MPs in full here:
The race to be the next speaker is formally on, with a number of candidates now openly campaigning. In truth many candidates have been quietly on the campaign trail for well over a year. Harriet Harman has the most sophisticated operation and the most support from the Labour benches. Another serious contender at this stage is Deputy Speaker Lindsay Hoyle. Harman took to the airwaves on The Today Programme to declare that she agreed with Bercow’s flagrant disregard for precedent…
Guido brings you the runners and riders to be the next speaker in full here…
- Harriet Harman (Lab)
- The (self-described) ‘Mother of the House’. Pitching herself as ‘continuity Bercow.’ That will go down well with Remainers but is unlikely to pick up much Tory support…
- Lindsay Hoyle (Lab)
- Deputy Speaker. Good sense of humour with a decidedly smaller head than his would-be predecessor. Seen as less activist with a broader appeal across the House. But will this Remainer Parliament want someone less keen on breaking the rules for their own cause?
- Chris Bryant (Lab)
- Loves Parliamentary procedure so much he wrote a book on it. An also-ran.
- Charles Walker (Con)
- A close friend of Bercow and loyal Theresa May fan. May want to add ‘speaker’ to his title along with his KBE this morning.
- Eleanor Laing (Con)
- Seen as more cooperative in the eyes of Brexiteers…
- Rosie Winterton (Lab)
- Another Deputy Speaker and former Labour Chief Whip under Miliband.
- Meg Hillier (Lab)
- Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee.
- Sir Henry Bellingham (Con)
- Promised to bring back ceremonial outfits, including wifs for the clerks and speaker. Will go down well with traditional Tories…
- Sir Edward Leigh (Con)
- Certainly the Tory Brexiteer’s favourite… so a no-hoper if Bercow insists on this cohort of MPs voting in the next speaker.
- Pete Wishart (SNP)
- Clearly doesn’t think Scottish independence is likely any time soon…
Expect backroom dealings and grovelling campaigning over the next two months…
UPDATE: After putting his name about, Pete Wishart has sheepishly pulled out
UPDATE II: Election for the next speaker announced for 4th November
UPDATE III: Shailesh Vara (Con) has emailed MPs announcing he is also running for speaker, promising to be impartial and to address “everyone in a respectful and fair manner“.
Dominic Raab has carried on his early momentum by becoming the first candidate out of the blocks with his own campaign website. Raab has the opposite problem to Boris, he needs to build up momentum early on and hope he can maintain it to have a chance of getting through to the final two. DominicRaab2019 sets a high bar for the other candidates with a shiny, professional design. Tory MP Sir Henry Bellingham is credited as the website’s promoter, he’s now Raab’s Campaign Chairman…
Raab’s big pitch is on the idea of “fairer Britain” – it’s the tagline on his website and his new political ad. Aficionados of political ads may spot the similarities between Raab’s new campaign video and Vote Leave’s 2016 output – Guido hears Team Raab are planning to go big on video content over the next few weeks. The video is slick but the delivery could use a bit more passion if Raab is going to go all the way…
