Worthing MP helps drag Bercow to speaker's chair

Worthing West's MP helped dragged Commons speaker John Bercow to his seat after his re-election this afternoon.

By The Newsroom

Published 13th Jun 2017, 16:13 BST

Updated 8th Jun 2018, 02:58 BST

Sir Peter Bottomley, Worthing West MP, helps drag John Bercow to the speaker's chair after his re-election (photo from Parliament.tv).

Parliament met for the first time today after last week’s general election.

Mr Bercow was re-elected as speaker of the House of Commons unopposed and was then physically dragged to the chair by other MPs, including Worthing West’s Sir Peter Bottomley.

According to Parliament’s website: “When a new speaker of the House of Commons is elected, the successful candidate is physically dragged to the chair by other MPs.

“This tradition has its roots in the speaker’s function to communicate the Commons’ opinions to the monarch. Historically, if the monarch didn’t agree with the message being communicated then the early death of the speaker could follow. Therefore, as you can imagine, previous speakers required some gentle persuasion to accept the post.”