British Parliament elects new, 46-year-old speaker (Roundup)

Jun 22, 2009, 20:48 GMT

London - The British Parliament Monday elected a new speaker who promised to make a 'clean break' with the past and bring the historic institution into line with the 21st century.

With a clear majority, parliamentarians voted for John Bercow, a 46-year-old Conservative member of parliament (MP) who is unusually young to hold the traditional post.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown hailed Bercow's election, saying he would be the right person to 'begin a new chapter' following the damaging scandal over parliamentary expenses.

'Undoubtedly the road ahead will not be easy,' said Brown, adding that Bercow was the right man to lead Parliament on the 'path to renewal.'

The Conservative MP, who has been in the forefront of those demanding reform to the way business is done in the British Parliament, had widespread Labour Party support for his election.

He won the backing of 322 MPs, which is more than the 50 per cent required to secure election, and beat fellow Conservative George Young by 51 votes.

'I don't want to be someone. I want to do something. I want to implement an agenda for reform, for renewal, for revitalization and for the re-assertion of the core values of this great institution in the context of the 21st century,' Bercow said.

The election of a new speaker, or parliamentary president, became necessary after the previous incumbent, Michael Martin, resigned over the expenses scandal last month, becoming the first speaker in 300 years to be forced from office. He had been accused of covering up the potentially abusive claim culture under lax and old-fashioned expenses rules by preventing greater transparency.

As a result of the scandal, which caused widespread public revulsion, a number of MPs from all the major political parties have resigned and up to 50 have said they will not stand again.

Members of parliament (MPs) were able to choose Monday from 10 candidates running for the post in a secret ballot.

The Labour Party's former foreign secretary Margaret Beckett was initially among the favourites for the post but fell behind in a series of secret ballots.

Bercow, joking about his relative youth for the post, said that two applicants in the 18th century had been younger than him.

'Both went on to become prime ministers - not a likely career move in my case,' he joked, drawing laughter from a packed lower house of Parliament.