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 Australian House of Representatives Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives Jim Cope was the presiding officer. While impartial, the Speaker does not usually quit the membership of his or her party – as is traditional Westminster convention. The only two speakers to have not been formally a member of a party were Sir Frederick Holder (who resigned from the Free Trade Party upon taking the role) and Peter Slipper (who resigned from the Liberal Party the day after his election to the chair). On the other hand, the Speaker is not an active political figure like the Speaker of the United States House