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,
2015 Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons election 2015 Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons election The Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons election, 2015 was held on December 3, 2015, at the beginning of the first session of the 42nd Canadian House of Commons, following the 2015 federal election. Geoff Regan, the Liberal MP for Halifax West won. Regan replaced Conservative MP Andrew Scheer, the incumbent Speaker who was reelected to his riding in Regina—Qu'Appelle, although the incumbent Conservative government was defeated and became the Official Opposition. Scheer initially did not say if he would run for Speaker, but on November 18, 2015 he was