1992 Speaker of the British House of Commons election unprecedented scenes of spontaneous and sustained applause. Clapping was and remains disorderly in the House of Commons, but it has since been tolerated in subsequent elections of Speaker. 1992 Speaker of the British House of Commons election The 1992 election of the Speaker of the House of Commons occurred on 27 April 1992, in the first sitting of the House of Commons following the 1992 general election and the retirement of the previous Speaker Bernard Weatherill. The election resulted in the election of Labour MP Betty Boothroyd, one of Weatherill’s deputies, who was the first ever woman to become Speaker.
Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom) lead in offering to the Labour Party either Selwyn Lloyd or John Boyd-Carpenter as potential Speakers. The Labour Party chose Selwyn Lloyd, partly because he was perceived as a weak figure. However, when the House of Commons debated the new Speaker, Conservative MP Robin Maxwell-Hyslop and Labour MP Willie Hamilton nominated Geoffrey de Freitas, a senior and respected backbench Labour MP. De Freitas was taken aback by the sudden nomination and urged the House not to support him (a genuine feeling, unlike the feigned reluctance which all Speakers traditionally show). Lloyd was elected, but there was a feeling among all