Bercow remains Speaker, as Parliament reconvenes

David Cameron sat alongside Nick Clegg on the government benches, with Harriet Harman two sword-lengths away as leader of the Opposition.  Even though the coalition has been around for a week now, it took the images from the Commons this afternoon to bring home just how extraordinary recent politics has been.  I mean, even the SNP’s Angus Robertson got to make a speech now that the Lib Dems aren’t a party of opposition.  This, plainly, is going to take some getting used to.

They were all witness, today, to the re-election of John Bercow as Speaker.  In the end, it was easy for the Buckingham MP, as the “ayes” heavily outweighed a handful of “nos,” and he was duly “dragged” to the Speaker’s chair without a formal vote.  Soon after, Cameron gave his first speech in the Commons as Prime Minister, stressing the need to “build trust between Parliament and the people we serve.”  And Harman responded, saying that Cameron faces an “awesome and heavy responsibilty”.  Few would disagree. 

And that, more or less, was the sum of it.  The start of a new Parliament, and an intake of breath before it’s business as usual tomorrow.

UPDATE: Here’s footage of Cameron’s speech:

[Picture courtesy of PoliticsHome]