London, Thanasis Gavos

It met on Tuesday afternoon, for the first time with its new composition, after last week’s elections the new House of Commons in Westminster.

In total 334 MPs (out of a total of 650) were elected for the first time, while the number of 263 female MPs means that for the first time the percentage of women in Parliament exceeds 40%.

The meeting was preceded by the ritual prescribed by parliamentary tradition in Britain. The so-called “Black Rod”messenger of the House of Lords, a role currently held by Sarah Clarke, was sent to the House of Commons to summon a delegation of MPs to the House of Lords to be entrusted, on behalf of the king, with a mandate to nominate a new Speaker of the House of Commons.

The mandate was assigned to MPs Ser Edward Lee and Diane Abbott, the “father” and “mother” of the House of Commons, i.e. the longest-serving male and female MPs in the legislature (since 1983 and 1987 respectively).

In the end, the body unanimously re-elected to the position of Speaker of the House of Commons Sir Lindsay Hoylewhich comes from Labor and has been elected since 1997 in the constituency of Chorley in the county of Lancashire in the north of England.

The election was followed by speeches from the leaders or representatives of the 11 parties that took seats in the House of Commons, who congratulated Sir Lindsay.

The beginning was made with sir Keir Starmerwho in his first parliamentary speech as Prime Minister reiterated that he wants to return the government and parliament “to the service of the citizens”.

From the position of leader of the official opposition, the now resigned leader of the Conservatives Rishi Sunak promised a “professional and effective” opposition.

His first speech in the House of Commons, as leader of Reform UK, was also made by Nigel Farage, reminding self-mockingly that he had tried many times in the past to occupy a seat in Parliament.

Already in his first speech, however, the controversial Eurosceptic politician caused murmurs as he attacked the former Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercawwhom he called a “little man” for trying to block Brexit.

This was followed by the swearing in of the government and members of parliament, which will conclude on Wednesday.