John Bercow: 322 votes
Sir George Young: 271 votes
UPDATE: Bercow has just given his acceptance speech. Nothing too surprising: plenty of “heartfelt thanks” and references to reform. His tributes to the other candidates sounded unintentionally patronising (imagine this said very sloooowwly: “Each had a contribution to make … and I can honestly say that they made those contributions in a sincere fashion.”) I hope he speaks quicker when he adjucates PMQs – otherwise it will last forever.
UPDATE 2: The party leaders have paid tribute to Bercow. Brown’s speech starts off quite well – he gets a big laugh by saying that “some of us” thought that Bercow “had already cast off his previous political views” – but shifts oddly into tub-thumping about transparency and reform. Cameron rightly marks the “milestone” of Bercow being the “first person of Jewish faith” to be elected as Speaker.
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