Bercow wins!

So John Bercow is the new Speaker after winning by 322 votes to 271 for Sir George Young, a healthy margin, much more so than the 5 that Tom Harris had tweeted a few minutes before and I immediately re-tweeted to everyone. I'm not going to slag him, though - it was good of him to share, in good faith, information that he could have kept to himself.

Anyway, as you know I was none to impressed with Bercow's effort earlier this afternoon, but I found myself warming to him when he was dragged to the Speaker's Chair by, among others, our very own Sandra Gidley. His speech was genuine, quite emotional in his reference to his family and he seemed to understand both the public anger and the feelings of MPs which is a good start if you are going to start on a process of change.

And what's with the PM? Gordon Brown was in excellent form this evening - he even cracked jokes that were funny - reminding Bercow of a previous Speaker who was acceptable to the House but not the Monarch, and teasing him about his political views - that he's abandoned them many years before. He was almost sparkling!

So, let's hope that the Tories, who have until now hated his guts, knuckle under and behave themselves and that Bercow will live up to his promise and be a genuinely reforming Speaker. I think there is cause for cautioius optimism as they say.

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