List_of_United_Kingdom_MPs_by_seniority,_2015–17

List of United Kingdom MPs by seniority (2015–2017)

List of United Kingdom MPs by seniority (2015–2017)

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This is the list of United Kingdom MPs by seniority, 2015–2017. The Members of Parliament (MPs) are ranked by the beginning of their terms in office, in the House of Commons.

The House of Commons of the 56th Parliament of the United Kingdom was elected on 7 May 2015 and first met on 18 May 2015. Under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 (as amended) the next general election was scheduled to be on 7 May 2020. An early election or one delayed by up to two months were possible in certain circumstances. In the event an early general election was authorised, by a two-thirds vote of the House of Commons, with the election being arranged for 8 June 2017. The formal dissolution of Parliament takes place twenty-five working days before the polling day to elect the new Parliament.

The constituencies and party affiliations listed reflect those during the 56th Parliament. Seats and party affiliations for other Parliaments will be different for certain members.

This article describes the criteria for seniority in the House of Commons, as set out in Father of the House: a House of Commons background paper.

Seniority criteria

The criteria for seniority, used in this article, are derived from the way that the Father of the House is selected. They are not laid down in Standing Orders but arise from the customary practice of the House of Commons.

The modern custom is that the Father of the House is the MP who has the longest continuous service. If two or more members were first elected in the same General Election (or at by-elections held on the same day), then priority is given to the one who was sworn in first. The order of swearing in is recorded in Hansard, the official record of proceedings.

When a member has had broken service, that does not affect his or her seniority (for the purpose of qualifying as the Father of the House) which is based on the latest period of continuous service.

The Sinn Féin members, who abstain from taking their seats at Westminster, have never been sworn in. They are ranked (in this list) after all other members who have taken their seats. Between themselves they are ranked by the first date of election, for the current period of continuous service. If that criterion is equal, then they are ranked by alphabetical order of surnames.

In the House of Commons, the sole mandatory duty of the Father of the House is to preside over the election of a new Speaker whenever that office becomes vacant. The relevant Standing Order does not refer to this member by the title "Father of the House", referring instead to the longest-serving member of the House present who is not a Minister of the Crown (meaning that if the Father is absent or a government minister, the next person in line presides).

Summary of members elected by party

More information Affiliation, Members ...
Notes
  • See here for a full list of changes during the fifty-sixth Parliament.
  • In addition to the parties listed in the table above, the Co-operative Party was also represented in the House of Commons by Labour MPs sitting with the Labour Co-operative designation. The number of these MPs was 24 after the general election, and was 28 at dissolution.
  • The actual government majority was calculated as Conservative MPs less all other parties. This calculation excluded the Speaker, Deputy Speakers (two Labour and one Conservative) and Sinn Féin (who followed a policy of abstentionism).

List of Members of Parliament by seniority

This article assigns a numerical rank to each of the 650 members initially elected to the 56th Parliament. Other members, who were not the first person declared elected to a seat but who joined the House during the Parliament, are not assigned a number.

More information Rank, Member ...

See also


References

  1. "Current State of the Parties". www.parliament.uk. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  2. "Members Sworn". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Hansard Digitisation Project. 30 June 1970. Retrieved 16 November 2011. (Kaufman was the 351st member to take the oath in 1970, Clarke 365th.)
  3. "Members Sworn". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Hansard Digitisation Project. 1 July 1970. Retrieved 16 November 2011. (Meacher was the 540th member to take the oath in 1970, Skinner 579th.)
  4. "Members Sworn". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Hansard Digitisation Project. 10 May 1979. Retrieved 17 November 2011. (Winnick to Field in order sworn)
  5. "Members Sworn". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Hansard Digitisation Project. 16 June 1983. Retrieved 17 November 2011. (Barron to Soames in order sworn)
  6. "Members Sworn". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Hansard Digitisation Project. 21 June 1983. Retrieved 17 November 2011. (Beckett sworn)
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  9. "Members Sworn". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Hansard Digitisation Project. 24 June 1987. Retrieved 19 November 2011. (Abbott sworn)
  10. "Members Sworn". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Hansard Digitisation Project. 28 April 1992. Retrieved 19 November 2011. (Cunningham to Gillan in order sworn)
  11. "Members Sworn". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Hansard Digitisation Project. 29 April 1992. Retrieved 19 November 2011. (Jenkin to Godsiff in order sworn)
  12. "New Members". Hansard. Hansard Digitisation Project. 14 June 1994. Archived from the original on 10 June 2023. Retrieved 20 November 2011. (Hodge to Timms in order sworn) Link is broken, but click on 14 June 1994 (on the top left of the error page) and then NEW MEMBERS c517 on the index list, to get access to the required information.
  13. "Members Sworn". Hansard. Hansard Digitisation Project. 8 May 1997. Archived from the original on 30 October 2020. Retrieved 23 November 2011. (Simpson to Pound in order sworn)
  14. "Members Sworn". Hansard. Hansard Digitisation Project. 9 May 1997. Archived from the original on 10 June 2023. Retrieved 23 November 2011. (Hoyle to Swayne in order sworn)
  15. "Members Sworn". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Hansard Digitisation Project. 13 May 1997. Retrieved 23 November 2011. (Hamilton to Chope in order sworn)
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  17. "Members Sworn". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Hansard Digitisation Project. 14 June 2001. Retrieved 24 November 2011. (Knight to Field in order sworn)
  18. "Members Sworn". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Hansard Digitisation Project. 15 June 2001. Retrieved 24 November 2011. (Weir to Bellingham in order sworn)
  19. "Members Sworn". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Hansard Digitisation Project. 19 June 2001. Retrieved 24 November 2011. (Farrelly to Wishart in order sworn)
  20. "Members Sworn". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Hansard Digitisation Project. 20 June 2001. Retrieved 24 November 2011. (Mitchell sworn)
  21. "Members Sworn". Hansard. Hansard Digitisation Project. 12 May 2005. Retrieved 26 November 2011. (Williams to Hillier in order sworn)
  22. "Members Sworn". Hansard. Hansard Digitisation Project. 16 May 2005. Retrieved 26 November 2011. (Wilson to MacNeil in order sworn)
  23. "Members Sworn". Hansard. Hansard Digitisation Project. 17 May 2005. Retrieved 26 November 2011. (Cooper and Griffith in order sworn)
  24. "Members Sworn". Hansard. Hansard Digitisation Project. 23 July 2007. Retrieved 26 November 2011. (Sharma and Wilson in order sworn)
  25. "Members Sworn". Hansard. Hansard. 19 May 2010. Retrieved 3 December 2011. (Vaz to Kirby in order sworn)
  26. "Members Sworn". Hansard. Hansard. 20 May 2010. Retrieved 3 December 2011. (Turner to Pearce in order sworn)
  27. "Members Sworn". Hansard. Hansard. 24 May 2010. Retrieved 3 December 2011. (Berry to McGovern in order sworn)
  28. "New Members" (PDF). Hansard. Hansard. 19 October 2012. Retrieved 25 May 2015. (Doughty sworn)
  29. "New Members" (PDF). Hansard. Hansard. 20 October 2012. Retrieved 25 May 2015. (Powell sworn)
  30. "New Members" (PDF). Hansard. Hansard. 3 December 2012. Retrieved 23 May 2015. (Champion to Reed in order sworn)
  31. "New Members" (PDF). Hansard. Hansard. 13 October 2014. Retrieved 25 May 2015. (McInnes sworn)
  32. "Members Sworn" (PDF). Hansard. Hansard. 19 May 2015. Retrieved 23 May 2015. (Salmond to Davies in order sworn)
  33. "Members Sworn" (PDF). Hansard. Hansard. 20 May 2015. Retrieved 23 May 2015. (Ryan to Cadbury in order sworn)
  34. "Members Sworn" (PDF). Hansard. Hansard. 21 May 2015. Retrieved 23 May 2015. (Harris to Donelan in order sworn)
  35. "Members Sworn" (PDF). Hansard. Hansard. 26 May 2015. Retrieved 27 May 2015. (Newlands to Johnson in order sworn)
  36. "Members Sworn". parliamentlive.tv. Parliament. 20 May 2015. Retrieved 4 June 2015. (Howlett sworn at c. 12.31 immediately before Morton, not recorded in Hansard)

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