2000 Speaker of the British House of Commons election for electing a Speaker were changed the following year to a use a secret and exhaustive ballot. This procedure was first used in the Speaker election of 2009. Under the old system for electing Speakers of the House of Commons, a candidate would be nominated and seconded, and alternative candidates would be offered as 'amendments' to that initial motion. In 2000, 11 candidates stepped forward, leading Sir Edward Heath, presiding in his capacity as Father of the House, to have the candidates voted on two at a time. He called Michael Martin to be nominated first. In the event, no
Speaker of the House of Keys first Speaker not to die in office. Since then, although it is possible to resign the office, or nowadays even to fail to be re-elected, all Speakers died in office until Sir Charles Kerruish in 1990, with the exception of John Robert Kerruish, who was elected to the Legislative Council in 1919. Since then none have died in office. Speakers dress in the same official dress as the Speaker of the British House of Commons: a black silk damask gold lace robe with full bottom wig for state occasions and a black silk gown for normal day business. The current