Voting for the Speaker of the House of Commons takes place today, using an exhaustive secret ballot system.

The ten candidates nominated to replace Michael Martin as Speaker of the House of Commons have been announced by the Table Office.

The candidates had to secure the signatures of at least 12 but no more than 15 members in order to get their name on the ballot. Nominations closed at 10.30am today (22 June), with the full list of candidates announced at 11am as:

• Margaret Beckett MP
• Sir George Young MP
• Ann Widdecombe MP
• Sir Alan Beith MP
• John Bercow MP
• Richard Shepherd MP
• Sir Michael Lord MP
• Sir Patrick Cormack MP
• Sir Alan Haselhurst MP
• Parmjit Dhanda MP

According to tradition, Alan Williams, presiding officer and the longest serving MP, will invite the candidates to address the House of Commons at 2.30pm today, with no time limit on their speech. Once everyone has spoken, the House will proceed to the first secret ballot.

A new system of voting, an exhaustive secret ballot system, has been introduced in order to determine the new House of Commons speaker on this occasion, following a review of the procedure in 2001. The new system means that a decision may not be known until late Monday evening (22 June).

The bookmakers’ favourite for the job is Margaret Beckett, ex-Foreign Secretary. According to BBC News online, at least one MP has accused the government of trying to install her. Ealing North MP, Stephen Pound, told BBC Radio 4: “There is a lot of skulduggery going on…. it is a depressing example of MPs looking inwards to their own advantage when we really should be looking outwards.”

The primary role of the Speaker of the House of Commons is to chair debates in the Commons chamber. Michael Martin stood down on 17 June after nine years in the position, following criticism of his reaction to the MP’s expenses scandal, which continues to beleaguer Parliament.