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
1951 Speaker of the British House of Commons election 1951 Speaker of the British House of Commons election The 1951 election of the Speaker of the House of Commons occurred on 31 October 1951, following the 1951 general election and the retirement of the previous Speaker Col Douglas Clifton Brown. The election resulted in the election of Conservative MP William Morrison. This was one of the few Speaker elections held in the 20th century in which there was more than one nominee (the others including 1971 and 1992), and the first contested election of Speaker since 10 April 1895. The election was conducted by means of a conventional parliamentary