Speaker of The House
Following the National Party's successes in the 2008 election, Members of Parliament unanimously elected Smith as Speaker of the House. Smith has taken a rather different approach from his predecessor, being more active in requiring ministers to provide answers to oral questions. Smith was re-elected as Speaker of the House again on 20 December 2011.
Smith is expected to retire from Parliament and to be appointed High Commissioner from New Zealand to the United Kingdom later in 2012
Read more about this topic: Lockwood Smith
Famous quotes containing the words speaker and/or house:
“There is also this benefit in brag, that the speaker is unconsciously expressing his own ideal. Humor him by all means, draw it all out, and hold him to it.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“If a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.”
—Bible: New Testament Jesus, in Mark, 3:25.