The Spectator

Does the outcome of the Ashes dictate who wins a general election?

issue 14 September 2019

Party speak

Should the next Speaker of the House of Commons be a Labour MP on the basis that John Bercow was a Conservative before taking the chair? There has been a tradition in recent decades that the two main parties alternate in filling the role. But it doesn’t go back far — Michael Martin, Labour MP for Glasgow Springburn, succeeded Betty Boothroyd, also Labour, in 2000, not least because the Conservatives had only 165 MPs at the time and didn’t want to lose one. Between 1928 and 1965 a succession of four Speakers had been Conservative MPs. Between 1835 and 1905, by contrast, the Commons had two Whigs followed by four Liberals. Prior to that, four Conservatives were elevated to the Speaker’s chair between 1789 and 1835.

Caught out, voted in

Is there a link between the Ashes and UK general elections? In ten of the past 11 home Ashes series an English victory has been followed by the election of a Conservative government or an Australian victory has been followed by a Labour government.

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