On 24 May Abbott formally took up his position, attending the House of Lords regularly, and was the last Chief Justice to wear his official robes to the Lords (other than those acting as interim Speakers).
2.45pm: Ann Widdecombe says she is standing as an "interim Speaker" because what the Commons needs between now and the election is the restoration of its reputation with the public.
Would be interim Speaker until election.
He argued that the House should elect an interim Speaker, who would preside until the Ethics Committee completed its investigation of Gingrich for having made, as Gingrich himself acknowledged, misleading submissions regarding his political and charitable enterprises.
Mr. Osmani, who was named interim speaker by the members until a new speaker could be chosen after Parliament opened, said all of the attending members agreed.
She stresses that she will be an "interim" Speaker, because she is standing down at the next election.
The Californian has encyclopedic knowledge of House rules — as well as of the exact hometowns of lawmakers he yielded time to on the House floor ("my good friend from Hinsdale, Illinois") — and he was twice considered a possible interim speaker when Republicans ran into trouble at the top.
"In this regard, we want America, the United Nations, human rights groups and the international community to rescue our country from this crisis," Mr. Osmani, the interim speaker, said.
