Under the provisions of Standing Order No. 1A, I am now required to ascertain whether Mr. Michael J. Martin is willing to be chosen as Speaker.

Hear, hear!

I hope the House will be so pleased with me after I make my speech.

Father of the House, I submit myself to the will of the House, as is the ancient custom. In doing so, I wish to congratulate you on becoming Father of the House. You were elected to this House in 1964, on the same day as my predecessor, Dick Buchanan. With your wealth of experience, I have always been impressed by the fact that Members from every side of the House listen when you speak. Because of your dedicated work with the British-American parliamentary group, you are well respected in the American Congress and in the Senate of the United States.

I would also wish the outgoing Father of the House, Tam Dalyell, a very happy retirement. [Hon. Members: "Hear, hear!"] Everyone agrees. May I also convey my very best wishes to his wife Kathleen, who is a most popular person in Scotland and comes from the Wheatley family, who are a family of distinguished parliamentarians?

I would like to thank my wife, Mary, who has ensured that I have a family life here at Speaker's House. I thank her because coming to London means that she has to leave her family and friends, and especially our two grandchildren, Ryan and Abbie.

Father of the House, my constituency, up until the election, was called Glasgow, Springburn. It is now known as Glasgow, North-East, because of boundary changes. It has been expanded to take in the districts of Possilpark, Lambhill, Hamiltonhill and Milton. These changes now mean that I represent a constituency where my wife Mary was raised, and where we were married and raised our son, Paul, and daughter, Mary. I thank the people of Glasgow, North-East for the honour they have given me, and I hope I will always be worthy of their vote of confidence.

If I were asked what impressed me most about my constituency, I would say that it was the tremendous kindness of the people there. There is no law that there should be clubs for our disabled people or our elderly, and yet every day, in every district, men and women volunteer to run those clubs so that their friends and neighbours can have a better quality of life. I have at least five community-based housing associations in which residents give up their time to improve the tenements and homes of their neighbourhood. Such people come to meetings after their day's work. Each and every one of those associations have built sheltered housing so that pensioners and people with special needs can stay within the community and live in security. They also provide new buildings so that young couples can live in the districts in which they were raised. Many asylum seekers live in my constituency and I am impressed by the number of local people who come to my surgeries asking for help for their new neighbours, who, only a few months previously, had lived in another land, many thousands of miles away.

I congratulate the Members who have been re-elected. I have enjoyed working with them over the past four and a half years. I hope that I have not been too hard on them. I also pay tribute to all Members, from every party, who have left the House. Their contribution will always be appreciated and well remembered. I wish new Members well and I am sure that they will enjoy the House as much as I have since my election in 1979. If I receive their support today, I will be a Speaker who will be approachable and who will help and advise them.

I have said previously, and I say today, that a Speaker has a clear duty to every section of the House, especially to Back Benchers. It is the Speaker's duty to serve the House, not the Executive—

Hear, hear!

It's in the bag. [Laughter.]

I think that I hear a voice of approval.

Re-elected Members will know that I think that it is right and fitting that a Cabinet Minister, and any Minister, who has some new statement to make, should make that statement here, on the Floor of the House. Her Majesty's official Opposition have built-in rights and privileges that the House has rightly given them. I say to those from minority parties represented here today, however, that their voices must be heard—[Interruption.] The Speaker-elect can hear them. I always remember the late Lord Callaghan saying, when he was Home Secretary:

"It is not just the case that the majority rules; the voices of the minorities must be gathered, and listened to, in any true parliamentary democracy."

As Speaker, I have received Speakers from our Commonwealth and from democracies from all over the world. I have also received many charitable organisations and educational bodies in Speaker's House. I wish to continue that work on behalf of the House of Commons.

The House is very fortunate in that we have an excellent staff: the cleaning, catering, Library and security staff, and many others who serve us so well. On behalf of the House, I should like to thank them. In these days of high security, I should also like to thank our Serjeant at Arms staff. They are excellent people, who have proved their great value in ensuring that every Member, the staff of the House and of course the public are well protected. I particularly thank our Clerk of the House, Roger Sands, Mr. Peter Barratt, the acting Speaker's Secretary, and the Chairman of Ways and Means and the First and Second Deputy Speakers for all their help and support in the last Parliament.

Let me take this opportunity to express my personal gratitude to the hon. Member for Tiverton and Honiton (Mrs. Browning) and to my hon. Friend the Member for Brentford and Isleworth (Ann Keen). Both have been a great source of support to me.

It is a great honour to be elected Speaker. The House will decide on the motion. I take nothing for granted; I can only assure each and every Member that I will strive to be fair.

I beg to move,

That Mr. Michael J. Martin do take the Chair of this House as Speaker.

I begin by congratulating you, Mr. Williams, on your accession as Father of the House. There is some indication that in the 1800s the position may have been subject to an election, but mercifully we have been spared that today. Your long and distinguished record of unbroken service is recognised across the House, and adds grace to today's proceedings.

It is with great pleasure that I commend the right hon. Member for Glasgow, North-East (Mr. Martin) as Speaker for our new Parliament. At his election in October 2000, he said:

"A Speaker has a clear duty to every section of the House, especially to Back Benchers, the minority parties and the Opposition parties. The House must hold the Executive to account. I am firmly of the view that the Speaker's duty is to serve the House, not the Executive power."—[Official Report, 23 October 2000; Vol. 355, c. 14.]

He has reaffirmed that today.

We are all concerned about people's disaffection with politics and the democratic process. It is therefore even more important for this Chamber, the heart of our democracy, to hold fast to the rights of each one of us so that we can all hold the Executive to account; and it is to the right hon. Member for Glasgow, North-East that we turn, for if our rights are not maintained, by definition those whom we represent are disfranchised.

In the right hon. Gentleman, we have a man whose political career was not born in the Whips Office and who began that career not as a Minister, but as a House of Commons man. Many here today will be sitting on these green Benches for the first time. I can tell them that in the right hon. Gentleman they will have a Speaker of great kindness. Many of us have, with gratitude, received a compassionate note when we have suffered bereavement, a cheery word in the Corridor when we have needed it, and always a smile.

Outside the Chamber the Speaker has many responsibilities, such as chairing committees and hosting receptions to which we are often invited. Indeed, I recall only too well the time when I thought I would never be invited to Speaker's House again, when Mr. Speaker invited me to a dinner that he was hosting for the Archbishop of Canterbury. Unfortunately, in the middle of the dinner I suffered an asthma attack. Two paramedics escorted me from Speaker's House. One said to the other, "I thought they said he was teetotal."

Mr. Speaker, you kindly invited me again to a most wonderful evening at Speaker's house, which I shall always treasure. That was your famous Burns night supper. I only wish that the rest of the House could have been there to hear you play the bagpipes to your guests. You are a member of the Glasgow college of piping. It is a talent that not many know you have. If only our new year celebrations could begin with you in that Chair welcoming us back—it would be a wonderful way to start the new year.

You have not been too grand to take advice. I recall you telling us the advice that you were given by Speaker Boothroyd:

"Be firm, especially with Senior Members. Don't let them pressure you and try to pull rank".

You have shown that you can take that advice. Many times, we senior Members have sat through long hours of debate on these green Benches waiting to be called, wondering whether to take an aspirin in case deep vein thrombosis set in. I can assure all Members of the House, old and new, that this Speaker treats all of us the same. He is a fair man, a kind man, a House of Commons man. I commend him to the House.

Question put and agreed to

Resolved,

That Mr. Michael J. Martin do take the Chair of this House as Speaker.

Whereupon Mr. Alan Williams left the Chair, and Mr. Michael J. Martin was taken out of his place and conducted to the Chair by Mrs. Angela Browning and Ann Keen. [Applause].

(standing on the upper step): Before I take the Chair as Speaker-elect, I wish to thank the House for the honour that it has bestowed upon me. I am aware that this is the greatest honour that the House can give to any of its Members. I pray that I shall justify its continuing confidence and I propose to do all within my power to preserve and to cherish its traditions.

Mr. Speaker, may I, on behalf of the entire House, congratulate you on your re-election? May I also congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for Swansea, West (Mr. Alan Williams) on becoming Father of the House? He has served the House and his constituency with distinction since his election in October 1964, both on the Government and Opposition Front Benches and, of course, as a highly respected Back Bencher. He has contributed both as a member of the Select Committee on Public Accounts and as an incisive Chairman of the Liaison Committee. He is a worthy Father of the House and we are all grateful to him for his supervision of your election today.

Mr Speaker, this is your third election as Speaker. You became the 156th Speaker in October 2000. You were unanimously re-elected in June 2001 and have been again for the 2005 Parliament. You have throughout served this House with impartiality, wisdom and good humour. I have no doubt that you will continue to do so.

We all know how important it is to you, Mr Speaker, that you have the strong support of your wife Mary. You are proud of your roots in Scotland, the trade union movement and of being the first Roman Catholic Speaker since the Reformation.

I note from my incoming brief that the other place has discussed the election of their own Speaker. I want to make it clear from the outset that, as far as this House and this country are concerned, you are the only Speaker.

The House, noting your obvious reluctance, is very grateful to you, Mr. Speaker, for agreeing to serve once again. That reluctance is the result of the responsibility that the position brings and, historically, even the prospect of more than a little danger. You are following in the footsteps of previous Speakers who have been forcibly expelled from this House, imprisoned or even beheaded.

The strain of being Speaker comes in many guises. There were reports that Mr. Speaker Fitzroy would remark to himself in a voice audible at least to the two Front Benches, "When is this boring fellow going to sit down?" [Hon. Members: "Hear, hear."] I decided to include that because undoubtedly the sketch writers will say it in any event.

Sir John Cust, Speaker from 1761 to 1770, collapsed in the Chair of the House and died a few days later. Family tradition that his death was caused by ailments brought on by long periods of confinement in the Chair were confirmed in a newspaper report of 27 January 1770 that the House of Commons had just introduced a rule allowing for the Speaker to depart the Chair whenever the usual calls of nature should require his absence, adding that

"the want of so provident a regulation is thought to have hastened the death of the last Speaker".

The modern equivalent of these ancient strains is probably to be done over by the sketch writers in the Press Gallery. When attacked in such circumstances, Mr. Speaker, no doubt the House could develop its historic powers to deal with dissent in more modern ways. It could introduce, for example, an anti-Speaker behaviour order; an ASBO for sketch writers who we feel might benefit from a short sharp stay in the Tower of London.

We look to you, Mr. Speaker, to uphold the

"ancient and undoubted rights and privileges"

of this House and to keep order in our debates. We have every confidence that you will keep all of us in this House, and us in government, on the right side of the rules in the Parliament ahead.

Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to have been appointed Leader of the House. In carrying out my responsibilities, I will ensure that colleagues in government are reminded of the importance of their duties in this House and of their accountability to its Members. It is a singular privilege to be elected as a Member of Parliament. It is a great honour to work for the people we represent. All of us on the Government and Opposition Benches have a duty to defend and uphold the powerful conventions of our democracy. Your role, Mr. Speaker, is the very embodiment of those traditions. We wish you well.

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of Members on these Benches, may I welcome your re-election as Speaker? This tribute normally would be paid by the Leader of the Opposition, my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Folkestone & Hythe (Michael Howard), but as you will understand, he is attending the service for the tsunami victims in St. Paul's at this moment. I know that he adds his congratulations and tributes to you as well.

May I also congratulate the new Father of the House, the right hon. Member for Swansea West (Alan Williams)? He and I have served together on the Public Accounts Committee and the British-American parliamentary group, and I pay tribute to him for the enormously important work that he has done on both of those bodies. I am sure that he will fulfil his role as Father of the House with great distinction although, before the election, he let me know that he was rather keen not to have undertake it as it made him feel a little elderly. I am sure that we will forgive him that.

It is a particular pleasure for me to be able to welcome you and to pay tribute to you today, Mr. Speaker. You and I go back a certain distance in politics, to the days when I was in Scottish politics and we were colleagues on the old Scottish Grand Committee, where we crossed swords on many occasions. I look back to those days with warm recollection.

Over the years, you as Speaker have been very distinctive in the style that you have cut. You have been enormously approachable, accessible to all Members and fair. You have been friendly to us all and you have shown a great feeling for this House. I hope, pray and believe that you will continue to do that in your role. You have proved to be a great custodian of the rules, privileges and traditions of this House, a very important part of the Speaker's role that you have again fulfilled with distinction.

We do look to you, Mr. Speaker, to be an independent Speaker in dealing with all the parties in this House. You will have noticed the cheer that you got when you re-emphasised that you are here not to work for the Executive, but to protect the rights of others, particularly those of Back Benchers. May I say from my position that I hope that you will occasionally feel able also to protect the rights of Opposition Front Benchers?

You have shown yourself, Mr. Speaker, to be a great defender of Parliament's status, and you have reiterated today the importance of the Executive's regarding this House as the port of first call—that statements should be made in this House before they are given to the press, and that this House should be treated with the respect that it deserves as a democratic institution. Our democracy depends on a strong House of Commons and an accountable Executive, and in many ways you are the bridge that can help to hold that balance.

Over the years since becoming Speaker, you have avoided one particular duty. On occasion, it is one of the onerous duties of a Speaker of the House to cast a casting vote when there is a tie in a Division. Sadly, that has not been a great necessity over the years since you became Speaker, but I hope that in the coming years, we will engineer a situation in which we might require you to carry out that onerous task.

Our job, Mr. Speaker, is to hold the Government to account, and I am sure that you will keep us up to that. One of your great injunctions in the last Parliament, which I hope you will reiterate, was to tell Front Benchers to be short in their questions and in their answers. I am sure that we will try to obey you in that regard. May I thank you for your past kindness and wish you well, on behalf of my party, for the future? Our wishes go with you for another very successful term as Speaker, holding that great office in this great House.

Mr. Speaker, may I, on behalf of my hon. and right hon. Friends, associate myself with the unanimous congratulations that you have received today on your re-election as Speaker? We wish you all possible success for the coming Parliament, and may I say that for me, it is a particular pleasure for one Glasgow boy to congratulate another? Kelvinbridge salutes Springburn, and although you now represent Glasgow, North-East, I suspect that it will always be Springburn to you; it will certainly always be Springburn to me.

I should like also to congratulate the new Father of the House, the right hon. Member for Swansea West (Alan Williams), whose friendship and wisdom I have had occasion to be grateful for over several years; both qualities will doubtless be available to the whole House in his new capacity. But those congratulations are tinged with one regret: the retirement of Tam Dalyell. I am not sure whether I will miss that frisson of apprehension and anxiety that the perfunctory early-morning telephone call, beginning with the words "Tam, here", induced in me from time to time. However, I suspect that my relief at the absence of such calls will be as nothing compared with that of the Government Chief Whip. We and you were right to mention the contribution of Kathleen Dalyell, and we might just pause a moment and think ahead. She is going to have to give Tam lunch every day of the week now.

Mr Speaker, we must all share a sense of disappointment at the continuing lack of engagement in elections on the part of so many of our fellow citizens. That being so, I hope that we in this place will continue in our steps to examine our procedures and practices, in an effort to ensure that they are as relevant and comprehensible as possible to those outside it. You will not be surprised to learn that during those discussions, we will argue that three-party politics in the country should be reflected in three-party politics in the House. Perhaps there is also something that we can learn from the other place.

For today, however, it is enough to say that we are delighted, Mr. Speaker, to join in the unanimous endorsement of your continuing responsibility in presiding over our proceedings.

Mr. Speaker, I came to this House more than 35 years ago, when I sat on the Government Benches. I was judged very swiftly by the Speaker, who said that I spoke too loud and that the Lords were having trouble carrying out their business—[Interruption.] I had thought that that should be a credit to me!

I should like to congratulate the Father of the House and endorse all that has been said about Tam Dalyell. I always admired him because he stuck to what he believed in and he kept at it, which I believe are good principles to follow in the House.

I am glad that you, Mr. Speaker, are in a minority, because we both refrain from indulging in the stronger waters—or the devil's buttermilk, as I sometimes call it. Although we differ in religion, we have long felt mutual admiration, and I must say that I have been graciously received by you, Mr. Speaker, and your good wife on many occasions, which I greatly appreciate.

I said on the last opening sitting that I hoped that you would remember, Mr. Speaker, that the numbers on the Democratic Unionist Benches had increased. Some of my colleagues do not think that you have learned that lesson, so we thought that we would increase again in order to teach the same lesson again. As you looked over at me, Mr. Speaker, I wondered what you were thinking. I think that you may have thought that Paisley had gone left or taken a left turning. If I took a left turning to sit a little further up these Benches, that would be okay, but I want to assure you that I am still the same as I always was and I hope to continue that way. I wish you well, Sir, and I hope that you will remember that there are nine of us now.

Mr. Speaker, speaking as someone who partakes very modestly in the devil's buttermilk, I do not think that I shall ever need a microphone system to hear the voice of the hon. Member for North Antrim (Rev. Ian Paisley).

On behalf of the Scottish National party and Plaid Cymru, I warmly congratulate you, Mr. Speaker, on your second unanimous re-election by the House. I also congratulate you, despite the best efforts of my party, on your thumping majority in Glasgow, North-East. Your campaigning in a non-political way is perhaps, given your thumping majority, a tactic that we should all employ.

It is five years—quite recent history—since you, Mr. Speaker, were first elected. At that time, a number of voices were raised—some in the House, many elsewhere—with question marks about your nationality, your class and even, in some cases, about your religious persuasion. It strikes me now how still those voices are as, over the past five years, your command and authority over the House has grown enormously. Your authority is based not on draconian punishment—though I would advise new Members not to chance their arm too far, and I speak from some personal experience in these matters—but on our belief in your fairness, your impartiality and the trust that we have in you to be a Speaker for all parts of the House.

I am encouraged that you have committed yourself, Mr. Speaker, to be a Speaker of this House, not of the Executive. I also greatly welcome your commitment, which has been demonstrated over the last five years, to listen to all parts of the House and to encourage the voices of minorities to be heard. That was particularly important when there were large majorities in the House, and it is now—during these interesting times in which the House now lives—even more important.

Mr. Speaker, I wish you and Mary many happy years in the premises that you now occupy and in the post and position that you now grace.