The 1951 election of the Speaker of the House of Commons occurred on 31 October 1951, following the 1951 general election and the retirement of the previous

speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

Douglas Clifton Brown Douglas Clifton Brown, 1st Viscount Ruffside, (16 August 1879 – 5 May 1958) was a British politician who represented the Conservative Party (UK). He served as Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom), Speaker of the House of Commons fr ...

. The election resulted in the election of

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

MP William Morrison. This was one of the few speaker elections held in the 20th century in which there was more than one nominee (the others including

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

and

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

), and the first contested election of speaker since 10 April 1895.

Nominated candidates

* William Morrison (

) * Major

James Milner James Philip Milner (born 4 January 1986) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Liverpool. A versatile player, Milner has played in multiple positions, including on the wing, in midfield and at full-back. ...

(

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

)

Election

The election was conducted by means of a conventional parliamentary motion, originally to elect Morrison. He was proposed by Sir Hugh O'Neill and seconded by Sir Ralph Glyn. Samuel Viant then moved an amendment to the original motion to elect James Milner, who was then seconded by David Logan. Both Morrison and Milner then gave their speeches of submission to the will of the House.

Results

MPs voted on the motion that Morrison take the chair as speaker, which was approved by 318 votes to 251. Morrison was then conducted to the chair by O'Neill and Glyn.

References

House of Commons transcript, 31 October 1951
{{United Kingdom Speaker elections Speaker of the British House of Commons election

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...

Speaker of the British House of Commons election