Speaker of The British House of Commons - Non-partisanship

Non-partisanship

The Speaker, by convention, severs all ties with his or her political party, as it is considered essential that the Speaker be seen as an impartial presiding officer. In many cases, individuals have served in ministerial or other political positions before being elected Speaker. For example, Selwyn Lloyd and George Thomas had both previously served as high-ranking Cabinet members, whilst Bernard Weatherill was previously a party whip.

In the House, the Speaker does not vote on any motion, except in order to resolve ties. After leaving office, the Speaker normally takes no part in party politics; if elevated to the House of Lords, he or she would normally sit as a crossbencher.

If the current Speaker decides to contest a general election he/she does not stand under a party label, but is entitled to describe himself/herself on the ballot as "The Speaker seeking re-election", under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act. In the past the Speaker could sometimes be returned unopposed; this has not happened in the past few decades, but they have sometimes only faced opposition from fringe candidates.

However, the convention that major parties do not stand against the Speaker is not as firmly established as is sometimes suggested. Generally, former Labour Speakers have faced only fringe candidates, but former Conservative Speakers have faced major party candidates. The Labour and Liberal parties stood against Selwyn Lloyd in both elections in 1974, and Labour and the SDP stood against Bernard Weatherill in 1987. Speakers who represented Scottish or Welsh constituencies have also faced nationalist opponents; Plaid Cymru stood against George Thomas in 1979, and the Scottish National Party stood against Michael Martin in 2001 and 2005. At the 2010 general election, mostly just fringe candidates stood against John Bercow, but he was also contested by Nigel Farage, former and new leader of UKIP, who obtained 17.4% of the vote (up from 3.5%), and John Stevens, from the Buckinghamshire Campaign for Democracy party, who obtained 21.4% of the vote. Bercow won with only 47% of the vote.