Who is the Father of the House?
Sir Peter Bottomley has become the new Father of the House. Dods Monitoring explains what his role entails.
All eyes turn towards Westminster today for the first sitting of the new Parliament. Whilst there are a host of new faces to get to know, two veterans of the Parliamentary community are also taking up new roles, with Sir Lindsey Hoyle the new speaker, and Sir Peter Bottomley becoming Father of the House. Ceremonial responsibilities will first fall on Bottomley who, in his only official role as Father of the House, presides over the Speaker election - the first item on the agenda at the start of each Parliament.
Bottomley was not necessarily expecting to find himself in this position. It was widely expected that Dennis Skinner would become the Father after Ken Clarke stood down as MP for Rushcliffe. However, after ‘the Beast’ lost Bolsover, Bottomley became Parliament’s longest continuously serving MP.
Hoyle, meanwhile, was elected Speaker in November and is widely expected to be elected again. Convention dictates that if a sitting Speaker wants to keep their post, they are elected unopposed. The Father puts forward a motion for their re-election and the vote is usually taken by ‘by acclamation’ (i.e. MPs shouting).
Hoyle paints himself as an impartial and fair figure, cutting a stark contrast to his predecessor. As Speaker, he has a number of challenges ahead of him, not least guaranteeing the safety of MPs, rebuilding relations with Government and changing the culture of Westminster to better support staff.
However unlikely, if the motion were to be challenged or defeated, the process for electing a new Speaker begins again via secret ballot. Needless to say, with a pressing Brexit agenda ahead, this would be the last thing that Boris Johnson would expect or want.
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