Precedence, Salary, Residence and Privileges
The Speaker is one of the highest-ranking officials in the United Kingdom. By an Order in Council issued in 1919, the Speaker ranks in the order of precedence above all non-royal individuals except the Prime Minister, the Lord Chancellor, and the Lord President of the Council. In England and Wales, he also ranks below the two archbishops of the Church of England, in Scotland, he also ranks below the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, and in Northern Ireland, he also ranks below the Church of Ireland and Roman Catholic archbishops of Ireland, and the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church.
As of 2010, the Speaker receives a salary of £145,492, equal to that of a Cabinet Minister. Speaker's House, the official residence, is at the north-east corner of the Palace of Westminster and is used for official functions and meetings, with private accommodation in a 4-bedroom apartment upstairs. Each day, prior to the sitting of the House of Commons, the Speaker and other officials travel in procession from the apartments to the Chamber. The procession includes the Doorkeeper, the Serjeant-at-Arms, the Speaker, a trainbearer, the Chaplain, and the Speaker's Private Secretary. The Serjeant-at-Arms attends the Speaker on other occasions, and in the House; he or she bears a ceremonial mace that symbolises the royal authority under which the House meets, as well as the authority of the House of Commons itself.
Customarily, Speakers are appointed to the Privy Council upon election. Thus, the present and former Speakers are entitled to the style "The Right Honourable." Upon retirement, Speakers were traditionally elevated to the House of Lords as viscounts. The last Speaker to receive a viscountcy was George Thomas, who became Viscount Tonypandy upon his retirement in 1983. Since that year, it has instead been normal to grant only life baronies to retiring Speakers.
Read more about this topic: Speaker Of The British House Of Commons
Famous quotes containing the words residence and/or privileges:
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