Bucks chairman talks Speaker's seat solution with Nick Clegg and Speaker
John Bercow MP invited Buckingham constituency Lib Dems chairman Julian Newman, together with other local political figures to the State Opening of Parliament on 9th May, followed by a reception in Speaker's House. I understand that you are the Chairman of the Buckingham Liberal Democrats.
This is a summary of Julian's report. (Left - Sally and John Bercow.)
"We were welcomed by John Bercow who promptly insisted we should meet our leader and he gestured Nick Clegg to join us with Jo Swinson MP. We had a brief conversation regarding the Speaker's seat issue, Nick did say he was aware of what we were doing, we went on to have a conversation where John Bercow and I explained the St Stephen's seat principal to Nick and Jo. [This is the long standing proposal that the Speaker should resign his seat when elected to the post, allowing a by-election to be called so constituents are given the chance to vote for the MP of their choice. The Speaker is then elected to an honorary seat, St Stephens, representing MPs only.]
"We went on to be greeted by Bob Russell who went on to introduce us to a few Lib Dem MP's including Steven Lloyd MP for Eastbourne. We had a very good talk about the coalition, Europe and the economy and I told him all about the Speaker's seat issue.
"This was followed by a round of conversations with various Bucks local politicians. Finally I was privileged to have a brief conversation with Tony Benn."