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 New Zealand House of Representatives the House, the speaker-elect is confirmed in office by the Governor-General. At the start of a term of Parliament, the newly confirmed speaker follows the tradition of claiming the privileges of the House. Each day, prior to the sitting of the House of Commons, the Speaker and other officials travel in procession from the Speaker's personal apartments to the debating camber. The procession includes the Doorkeeper, the Serjeant-at-Arms, the Speaker and the Speaker's Assistant. The Serjeant-at-Arms attends the Speaker on other occasions, and in the House; he or she bears the ceremonial mace that symbolises the royal authority under which