In the United Kingdom, the Speaker of the House of Commons is the presiding officer of the Lower House of Parliament, the House of Commons, and is seen historically as the "First Commoner of the Land". The current Speaker is The Right Honourable Michael Martin MP, who took office in 2000 and was re-elected on 11 May 2005 following the 2005 general election. The office of Speaker dates to the fourteenth century. The Speaker presides over the House's debates, determining which members may speak. The Speaker is also responsible for maintaining order during debate, and may punish members who break the rules of the House. Conventionally, the Speaker remains non-partisan, and renounces all affiliation with his or her former political party when taking office. The Speaker does not take part in debate nor vote (except to break ties). Aside from duties relating to presiding over the House, the Speaker also performs administrative and procedural functions, and remains a constituency MP. The Lord Chancellor presides in the Upper House of Parliament, the House of Lords, but this function will be devolved to a separate person under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, the Speaker of the House of Lords.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speaker_of_the_British_House_of_Commons

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1470: Richard Neville, the Earl of Warwick, restored Henry VI to the British throne during the Wars of the Roses. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Neville%2C_16th_Earl_of_Warwick)

1831: African American slave Nat Turner was captured after leading a brutally suppressed slave rebellion. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nat_Turner)

1905: Russian Revolution: Tsar Nicholas II reluctantly signed the "October Manifesto", establishing the State Duma as the elected legislature in Imperial Russia. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Revolution_of_1905)

1938: The radio drama The War of the Worlds frightened many listeners in the United States into believing that an actual Martian invasion was in progress. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds_%28radio%29)

1961: The Soviet hydrogen bomb Tsar Bomba was detonated over Novaya Zemlya Island in the Arctic Sea as a test; it was the largest nuclear weapon ever detonated. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsar_Bomba)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty." -- John Adams (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Adams)