Royal Approbation | Speaker of the House of Commons | House of Lords

On Monday 4 November Sir Lindsay Hoyle became the Speaker of the House of Commons.
Following his election he was called to the House of Lords to receive the Royal Approbation. This reflects the Speaker's constitutional role as spokesperson for the House, with rights of access to the Sovereign. At this time the newly confirmed Speaker laid claim on behalf of the Commons to “all their ancient and undoubted rights and privileges.”
Why does the House need the Queen’s permission to elect a new Speaker?
Historically the Speaker’s role was to report to the Monarch on the Commons’ deliberations. Although this has not been the case for several hundred years, the tradition of Royal permission and Royal approbation remains. The approbation is also the occasion on which the Speaker claims the traditional privileges of the Commons (e.g. of freedom of speech and debate) on behalf of the House.
#HouseofLords #Speaker #LindsayHoyle

[@joaovitorpillon]

Black Rod saying "ok, bow", "ok, wait", "one step back" was at the same time funny and "respectful".

[@user-nf9xc7ww7m]

Think she was pretty new too. Being new in the job and having to teach someone in their job...always fun

[@KaszanaKaszani]

@@user-nf9xc7ww7m nah she's been the black rod for a few years now

[@GaryWright238]

@@KaszanaKaszani She has been Black Rod since February 2018

[@KaszanaKaszani]

@@GaryWright238 my bad then, you are correct. I thought i saw her bring bercow to the house of lords once.

[@GaryWright238]

@@KaszanaKaszani Actually you did see her bring Bercow to the Lord's when they prorogued the parliament in September and October.

[@crazyblock9093]

Love that the wigs continue to be used on ceremonial occasions esp. The Lord Chancellor with the wig and the tri corn hat too!

[@Ettibridget]

I wonder how he can balance that hat on the wig. Must be like the queen wearing her crown... (no nodding, no bending over etc.)

[@Baccatube79]

Hoyle laughing about his middle name is a sight to see.

[@Ettibridget]

It is, but what's so funny about it? (not english)

[@cereal_chick2515]

​@@Ettibridget There's no inherent reason I can see, he seems to just think it's funny for his own reasons.

[@beenaplumber8379]

@@cereal_chick2515 Hoyle has an extraordinary cheerfulness about himself, and a tremendous sense of humor. (I'm obviously not a Brit either.) I wonder if he was not expecting to hear his middle name said aloud, and that simple unexpected utterance was enough to give him a chuckle? That would be such a Lindsay Hoyle thing to do.

[@KjartanAndersen]

One can say many things about this house and the other house, but one thing you may never deny and that is that they respect tradition. And in many aspects this is a charming part of the UK for us from other countries.

[@beenaplumber8379]

As an American, this looks so ridiculous, but at the same time I think we would benefit greatly from traditions like these. If our House speaker Kevin McCarthy knew he had to humble himself like this in front of our senate to receive a commission from, I guess the president or whatever (I can't honestly compare any American official to a monarch), would he take his job more seriously? Would our members of Congress behave a little less shamefully if they had to go through all this public ritual to validate their power and responsibilities? I can't honestly say, but it couldn't hurt. I have lately begun to see all this British ritual in a different light, beginning with the queen's funeral and learning what all the rituals and ceremonies meant to the people of the UK. That was a genuinely moving moment for me, and I began to see what I thought of as ancient silliness as a functional and important part of running a nation in a more holistic way. In the US, going against the practices of the previous Congress (going back a whole 2 years) seems like nothing compared to going against the continuous practices, accepted by the people, of the past several centuries. It still looks ridiculous through my cultural lenses, but I can see a terrific benefit to doing things this way.

[@cvhawkeye6255]

The House of Lords has so many traditions and protocols its so hard to tell who is who and who is in charge let alone what they do.

[@madabbafan]

Usually the one sat on the woolsack is 'in charge' so the Lord Speaker or the deputies.

[@lekimatuvakinatabua3831]

Watched this amazing culturally attired British Royal Approbation of the Speaker of the House of Commons and now know know why the British are proud to be British in all its norms and culture.Thank you so much for this very educational video.

[@hghyfyfiugou4448]

There is no such thing as British culture.

[@AmbivalentMind]

I love these weird traditions and customs in parliament

[@gabi140]

16:20 priceless......

[@XX2Media]

Ah yes... remember, remember the 4TH of November... congratulations, Sir Lindsay!

[@Ettibridget]

As a non-brit and not familiar with british traditions, I must say I am a bit in awe - and a bit amused too!😂

[@carmenhur4173]

I have always admire the way British people respect and follow traditions. Wonderful to see.

[@sirwelch9991]

Intriguing.

[@5mnz7fg]

I have a question: Lindsay Hoyle was elected by the old/present parliament from June 2017 which doesn't seat anymore. What is the purpose of electing a Speaker for just one or two days? Or is Lindsay Hoyle automatically the Speaker of the new House of Commons after the General Election December 12th?

[@davidwoods4366]

He is the speaker for the new Parrliament too

[@mfaizsyahmi]

I think previous Speaker John Bercow explained himself that he resigned in this time so that the next parliament doesn't have to elect a Speaker first thing and have the parties whips its members into choosing speaker candidates.

[@GamingMattStyle]

Hoyle will have to be reelected Speaker when the next parliament convenes after the general election. However, this is merely a ceremonial exercise, it is custom that a sitting speaker before distribution is reelected to the chair by the house unopposed. There will not be another contentious election of speaker until Hoyle retires.

[@colini100]

@@GamingMattStyle He will also have to actually get elected to Parliament first though on 12th December and given he's a Labour Member, presumably the Brexit Party at least will stand against him, even if the Tories and Lib Dems don't. Its only a convention amongst the main parties not to oppose a sitting Speaker, Bercow has been opposed in past elections by more minor parties.

[@GamingMattStyle]

@@colini100 He won't run as a Labour candidate but as 'The Speaker seeking re-election'. Given Hoyle's extreme popularity in his home seat of Chorley, I cannot imagine some random nobody BP candidate giving him too much trouble. Hoyle has been careful to position himself as NOT a remainer, so as to not lose appeal to constituents with eurosceptic tendencies.

[@mscott3918]

The Speaker can't even speak the words appointing him.

[@1chish]

No because the Speaker speaks TO Her Majesty while in this case Her Majesty was appointing / allowing him to be Speaker. Before the approbation he was not officially Speaker. It is a key sequence of events.

[@user-kc9rp3oj7s]

He he he I never paid for my arrest in 2005.

[@user-nf9xc7ww7m]

Ok. Now I know what I want to cosplay as next...royal commissioner (Red preferred) or blackrod. Choices, choices...

[@bawhatever5260]

Oh that's the lords

[@billyjoeness6546]

Can you extract me? Please IM fearing for my life

[@cursedspider]

how do you become a lord and be in the house of lords

[@markbenjamin1703]

Either appointed or inherit a title from your father or sometimes mother

[@user-nf9xc7ww7m]

Was that guy at the end mocking the commissioners? Tis a very British move...

[@crazyblock9093]

They were mocking the Lord Chancellor presumably because we was wearing a wig with the tri corn hat at the top. Remember hes an MP so they will know each other

[@colini100]

@@crazyblock9093 Andrew Percy MP for Brigg and Goole since 2010, a Tory but knowing the man, I suspect he realises how farcical the whole business is. Not just Brexit that has made the UK a global laughing stock! Clinging to these arcane "traditions" has become a fetish, lets hope when Brenda goes to that great Anglican place in the sky we can sweep most of it away. Maybe even us and Australia can become Republics.....

[@crazyblock9093]

@@colini100 really doubt uk becoming a republic. Monarchy is strong and is a major source of income for the UK.

[@frenzwilliamuyguangco605]

@Raunak hear hear...

[@bawhatever5260]

There's the truth just been given to you!!! Clocked in and received your£300_ £500 pounds just for clocking in???

[@nunosoares2329]

Congratulations once again Sir Lindsay Hoyle for becoming the new Speaker. All the best to you sir :-) . By the way. I wished the Brexit process could be this civilized and orderly. Ha! Wishful thinking :-D

[@MegaBeaumont]

Long live the Lords

[@user-nf9xc7ww7m]

Hear hear. Bicameralism very important in countries without proportional representation. Otherwise, to quote a new zealand source, the prime minister could get an idea in the morning and have it into law by the evening.

[@mscott3918]

Yes, but without life peers

[@colini100]

@@user-nf9xc7ww7m If you watched the General Election Bill, the Lords had it passed in about five minutes, literally, hardly much of a check on the lower chamber, itself elected by an extremely unrepresentative system of "first past the post". The Lords is an anachronism in the 21st Century, isn't it just the UK and Iran that have unelected clerics sitting by right in their upper Parliamentary chambers, that sort of makes us a Theocracy!

[@user-nf9xc7ww7m]

@@colini100 yeah. An Australian style Senate with 12 senators from each of the 4 nations would be better. But a fully restored power of review and Introduction of bills to the upper house would be helpful.

[@colini100]

@@user-nf9xc7ww7m Equality of representation sounds all very well but Northern Ireland has 1.5 million people and England has 45 million. Since it was partly resurgent English xenophobic nationalism that got us into our current mess, such an arrangement may not go down very well.

[@billyjoeness6546]

Oi, send the MI6 to extract me I told ye Im not here in MX please

[@Martell738]

Who was the lady sitting on the woolsack in the first minute?

[@umpire8025]

The lady, was there in place of Lord Speaker.

[@Martell738]

@@umpire8025 Thank you for that information!

[@madabbafan]

@@retched no the one in the middle is the Lord Chancellor (who is actually a member of the Commons) not the Lord's Speaker

[@madabbafan]

@@retched not really as it now tends to go with the cabinet position of minister for justice and as such he has to answer questions in the Commons. To do that he has to be a member of the commons. The roll here is a ceremonial one the other main duty is to hand the speech to the monarch at the state opening. The day to day former duties of the Lord Chancellor have been taken over by the lord speaker and the lord chief justice.

[@thardingau]

Why does the Speaker elected by the House of Commons require Royal approval?

[@baraxor]

The Speaker is officially to sole communicator between the Commons and the Sovereign (hence, "the Speaker"), and in olden times when the Commons was less powerful than either the monarch or the Lords it was important that the Commons chose someone who had the king's favor. While such favor has long been unnecessary, approval/approbation still serves certain purposes: it publicly states that the monarch is satisfied with the present Commons, so there can be no implying that the Crown is disputing the judgment of the House, and is a reminder that legally, if only in a very small ceremonial measure, the Sovereign remains the head of the Parliament. Parliament serves the monarch, not the other way around.

[@johnhaynes9910]

All great fun and long may such traditions, however quaint, continue.

[@arthurmingo]

What position does the black gentleman hold who stands next to Speaker Hoyle?

[@mscott3918]

The Speaker's Chaplain

[@arthurmingo]

M Scott could it be the Serjeant at Arms?

[@robertbainter2349]

Searjeant at Arms. The chaplain position is currently vacant

[@now_ill_show_you_the_kaioken]

their garment is hilarious in nowadays society

[@RanjeetKaur-qm3fv]

Give me my id which I use all the world.

[@LordHeath1972]

A fascinating pantomime.

[@pippipster6767]

Buckland is not a lord.

[@rivenoak]

irrelevant; as Lord Chancellor he is able to sit there remember Jack Straw ? he was MP AND Lord Chancellor and gave approbation speech to John Bercow

[@pauljordan4452]

Maybe the Coldplay guitarist SHOULD receive a peerage.

[@andrewjohnson2465]

How useless

[@karlthemel2678]

Great Britain is about to become Airstrip One and is happily united with the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and any number of Atlantic and Pacific islands into Oceania. The rest can do whatever they like no matter whether they call themselves Eurasia, East Asia, East Laurasia, Gondwana, Africa, or whatever and shoot steamers at each other!

[@particles2011]

This reminds me of a Gilbert and Sullivan opera, RIPE for satire! WHERE are the representatives of the people? Britain has FALLEN, gentle folk, and this 'theatre' is as meaningless as ANY farce! SHAME on the 'holders of power!' May ALMIGHTY GOD look down with mercy and compassion on the PEOPLE Of Britain who have to endure this spactacle

[@tkara1980]

What do you want then?

[@ow2750]

new speaker has such a horrible spelling and he is so hard to understand - really.

[@tkara1980]

Open your ears more than.

[@cdcoatman]

Cry about it.

[@FITZYIS]

total waste of taxpayers money !

[@frenzwilliamuyguangco605]

Probably an arrogant american🙄

[@markbenjamin1703]

Okay I agree, get rid of all Life Peers and only allow hereditary peers to exist and give them the power back to block Commons Bills for good

[@ow2750]

cant he speak normally and without that horrible dialekt

[@michaelprobert4014]

That is" normally" , at least where he comes from.

[@charlietravler642]

SAY NO TO 5G !!

[@bnap3221]

Why?!

[@charlietravler642]

@@bnap3221 look it up your self I'm sure you have a brain use it . 🤯