THE WORK OF PARLIAMENT 143

they please, but it is understood that they will choose someone
who is also acceptable to the minority. The modern practice is
to re-elect the same person as Speaker in successive Parliaments
until he retires, when he is given a pension of £4,000 a year,
and is created a Peer if he so desires. The present Speaker is
Captain Fitzroy, the Member for Daventry. At the 1935 Election
he was opposed by a Labour candidate, and this caused some
dispute. On the one hand it was urged that since a man who
would presumably be re-elected Speaker was not expected to
fight a party campaign, he ought not to be attacked; on the
other, that there were electors in Daverttry who wished to vote
for another party, and had the right to do so,

If the Speaker's powers of controlling debate in the Commons
and his power, under the Parliament Act, to certify Money
Bills, are considered together, the importance and prestige of
his office will be recognised.

The Speaker once elected, all Members take the Oath of
Allegiance to the Crown, and sign the Roll; not until this is done
are they fully M.P.'s. In the last century fierce objection was
raised to the taking of the Oath, which contains the name of God,
by an avowed atheist, Charles Bradlaugh, one of the Members
for Northampton. The Commons declared his election to be
void; the people of Northampton replied by re-electing him,
and the matter was solved by allowing Members, if they wished,
to make an Affirmation instead of taking- the Oath.

The lifetime of Parliament is divided into Sessions, each
of which usually lasts a year, beginning in November. The Session
opens with the King's Speech, which is read in the House of
Lords, either by the King or the Lord Chancellor on behalf
of Lords Commissioners given authority by the King. An
official called Black Rod goes to summon the Commons to hear
it; seeing him approach the attendants dose the doors; Black
Rod knocks and asks for permission to enter, which the Speaker
grants. This formality is a reminder that neither the King nor
his messengers can enter the Commons' House without their