A former member of the House of Commons’ Speaker’s Advisory Committee on Works of Art has been elected as one of the new Deputy Speakers. In a ballot of Members of Parliament on Tuesday, Caroline Nokes (Conservative, Romsey & Southampton) who sat on the committee from 2010 until 2015, and from 2020 to 2024, was elected as Second Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means.
Nokes has been an MP continually since the 2010 General Election. She held several governmental positions in the administration of Theresa May, including Immigration Minister (2018-2019) and Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Department for Work & Pensions (2016-2017). As well as these roles, she has been an important figure on House of Commons Committees, such as Chairing the Women & Equalities Committee (2020-2024), and sitting on the Education and Environmental Audit Committees. She was also one of the 21 Conservative MPs who rebelled against Boris Johnson’s no-deal Brexit prospect in 2021 and subsequently lost the whip, and only one of four who regained it and successfully stood again. She is generally seen to be on the left of the Conservative Party.
The Speaker’s team is made up of four individuals, with Nusrat Ghani (Conservative, Sussex Weald) and Judith Cummins (Labour, Bradford South) also elected as Chairman of Ways and Means and First Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means, with the former being the primary Deputy Speaker. This marks the first time a member of an ethnic minority has held a Speaker role. It also means the group are made up of predominantly women, with only the Speaker Lindsay Hoyle (Unaffiliated, Chorley) being male.
The Speaker of the House of Commons is charged with leading debates, selecting amendments to bills for consideration, maintaining order and participating in ceremonial duties, for which the elected members will now deputise. Speakers do not vote by convention, and whilst the Speaker themselves is expected to relinquish all party affiliation upon succession to the Chair (Hoyle was formerly a Labour MP), Deputy Speakers are not expected to do so. The primary Deputy Speaker, the Chairman of Ways and Means, is also charged with chairing the Budget debates by convention.
The election of Deputy Speakers came as all three of the positions were vacant following the 2024 General Election. Two of the deputies, namely Eleanor Laing (Conservative, Epping Forest) and Rosie Winterton (Labour, Doncaster Central) stood down at the General Election, whilst Nigel Evans (Conservative, Ribble Valley) stood for re-election and lost his seat to Labour. By the conventions of the Speaker team, they must include at least one male and one female member, and must also balance representation of the Government or Opposition parties of origin.
Nokes’ nomination to the role as Second Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means allows Arts & Theatre experience to be at the heart of British democracy. Whilst Nokes will no longer be able to vote or speak on such matters, her accession places Arts & Theatre knowledge into another key section of the House of Commons, and will now be part of a majority-female Speaking team.
The ballot for election of Deputy Speakers of the House of Commons took place on July 23rd
