All Change In New-Look Commons
Tony Blair and John Major swapped roles in the House of Commons as the new Prime Minister and the new leader of the Opposition took their seats for the first time.
The jubilant mood on the Labour benches was evident when Gwyneth Dunwoody proposed the motion to re-elect Betty Boothroyd, the MP for West Bromwich West, as the Speaker.
"This is truly a beautiful day," she said. "The sun is shining. God is
in his heaven and I am happy to see a majority of the House of Commons wearing
the right colours."
Some of the many new members on the Labour brenches broke the House tradition against clapping in the Chamber, when they broke into spontaneous applause at Mr Blair's entrance.
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Betty Boothroyd: Speaker-elect
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The Labour leader congratulated Betty Boothroyd on her re-election as Speaker,
saying she had secured the "well-deserved support of every part of this House".
Pointing out that there were many new faces for Miss Boothroyd to get used to,
the Prime Minister drew laughter as he looked around and added: "Indeed there
are many new faces for me to get used to."
Miss Boothroyd even won a compliment from Ian Paisley, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, whom she had ordered out of the House during the last Parliament.
"Your rule has always been strong, but sympathetic. It has always been robust, but it has always been reasonable," Mr Paisley said.
Later, Mr Major entered to cheers from his own side. Many shadow ministers had gone briefly to the House of Lords, as part of the formal ceremony there for the assembly of the new Parliament. He was left alonew for a while on the Opposition front bench, cutting a lonely figure.
The Liberal Democrat leader, Paddy Ashdown, told Ms Boothroyd: "The fact that you were re-elected to this House and re-elected in this House without opposition and without dissent is a testimony to the respect in which you are held."
Among the new faces were Britain's first wheelchair-bound MP, Anne Begg. Martin Bell, the former journalist, entered the House in his trademark white suit, to take his seat as the MP for Tatton. Mr Bell defeated the ex-minister Neil Hamilton, the man at the centre of the "cash-for-questions" affair, on an anti-corruption ticket.
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