Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom) and 2005. At the 2010 general election, Speaker John Bercow faced ten opponents, including Nigel Farage, former leader of UKIP, who obtained 17.4% of the vote, and John Stevens, from the Buckinghamshire Campaign for Democracy party, who obtained 21.4%. Bercow won with 47% of the vote. The Speaker's primary function is to preside over the House of Commons. Traditionally, the Speaker when presiding wore court dress—a black coat with white shirt and bands, beneath a black gown, with stockings and buckled shoes, and a full-bottomed wig. But in 1992 Betty Boothroyd, the first female Speaker, eschewed the wig. Her successor,
Speaker of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland often given to members of the Nationalist Party or Northern Ireland Labour Party. Speaker of the House of Commons of Northern Ireland The Speaker of the Northern Ireland House of Commons was the presiding officer of the lower house of Parliament in Northern Ireland from 1921 to 1972. The Speaker had an official residence, Stormont House. All the Speakers were members of the Ulster Unionist Party on their election. There was initially one Deputy Speaker, also invariably an Ulster Unionist, who was also the Chairman of Ways and Means. In 1958 a second Deputy Speaker was appointed, and given the