John Bercow becomes Speaker of the House

Jun 23 2009 The Journal

Berwick MP Alan Beith sees his hopes shattered

BERWICK MP Sir Alan Beith last night expressed disappointment after failing to become Speaker of the Commons.

The Liberal Democrat MP pulled out of the election race after the second round as Tory contenders John Bercow and Sir George Young pulled ahead.

Sir Alan had won the support from dozens of MPs – including Lib Dem Treasury spokesman Vince Cable, former ministers and Wansbeck MP Denis Murphy.

He finished fifth in the first round, easily scoring enough to stay in the contest. However, his 55 votes put him a long way behind the front-runners. He withdrew after finishing fifth again, this time with 46 votes, in the second round.

"It is disappointing, but I am very happy to return to my normal role of being a very high profile MP for Berwick and the North East," he said.

He also expressed surprise that rival and former Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett failed to secure more support amid speculation that Labour whips tried to "fix" the election for her.

"I thought Sir George Young spoke very well in the debate, which probably strengthened his position," said Sir Alan.

But he declined to say whether Sir George or Mr Bercow had been his preference to avoid undermining the next Commons Speaker.

"The good thing is that some of the ideas I have been putting forward to make Parliament more effective have been widely backed and echoed by other candidates.

"So I think we have an opportunity to make the House of Commons more effective against the executive."

He also said the public wanted MPs to run the Commons with probity.