Portrait of the week: Bercow steps down, Hoyle steps up and an election begins

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Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Labour MP for Chorley and deputy Speaker since 2010, was elected Speaker by the Commons. His first words were: ‘No clapping.’ Nigel Farage, the leader of the Brexit party, proposed an electoral pact with the Conservatives, but only if Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, repudiated the agreement on Brexit that he had made with the European Union. When this was not forthcoming, he said: ‘We will contest every single seat in England, Scotland and Wales.’ But he declined to stand for parliament himself (which he had done seven times before, without success). Philip Hammond, the former chancellor of the Exchequer, decided against standing as an independent in the election after all. Postmen rubbed their hands at the prospect of disrupting postal votes during the election by going on strike. Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union will strike for 27 days between 2 December and New Year’s Day on South Western Railway.