John Bercow broke with tradition when he started work as the new Commons Speaker today by abandoning the traditional court dress worn by his predecessor, Michael Martin.
Taking the chair in the Commons at the start of the day's sitting, Bercow also told MPs that he wanted to speed up proceedings by keeping questions and answers short.
Bercow was wearing a suit, tie and a gown, instead of the old-fashioned outfit donned by Martin.
He began the session by telling MPs: "Just before I call the opening question, I would like to ask honourable members to keep their supplementaries to one question and I would ask that ministers' replies are kept to a reasonable length. I am determined that we make good progress through the order paper."
After two MPs welcomed him to his new post, Bercow asked other MPs not to bother because he wanted to make quick progress through the questions.
But Andrew Lansley, the shadow health secretary, made a joke about Bercow, 46, being the youngest Speaker for more than 100 years. "You know you're getting old when the Speaker looks young," said Lansley, 52.
In interviews with the Press Association, Sky News and the BBC before he took the chair, Bercow explained his decision not to wear court dress.
"I think it is perfectly proper that the Speaker should wear a business suit and have a simple and unfussy gown over that suit and that is what I intend to do," he said. "That is very much a personal choice for me. I think that is right for the spirit of the times."
Like Martin, Bercow also chose not to wear a wig. It was traditional for the Speaker to wear a wig until 1992 when Betty Boothroyd, the first female Speaker, decided not to wear one. When Martin succeeded her, he also decided it was not appropriate.
Bercow said that he would not be claiming the second-home allowance. Martin did claim the allowance, even though, as Speaker, he had access to a lavish grace-and-favour apartment in the Palace of Westminster.
Bercow also said that he wanted to see the issue of parliamentary expenses dealt with "in a timely fashion" and said reform should not be put off for "a period of several months" or more. But he stressed that, while transparency ought to be a fundamental principle of any new regime, financial support for MPs should not be pared away to the point where only those with a private income can follow a political career.
In the interview Bercow revealed he was keen to "move away from some of the boorishness that I think has disfigured the place".
But he would not be drawn on whether he thought it would be better for MPs to address each other by name, instead of by using titles like "honourable member".
He also said he had a "strong preference" for more openness in the publication of information relating to MPs' expenses.
And he brushed off claims that he did not enjoy support from his own side, saying: "I did enjoy very widespread support right across the house. I was informed by a very significant number of colleagues from my former party – my party at the time, the Conservative party – that they would be supporting me in the secret ballot and I have every reason to believe that they did so.
"I am not going to get into a numbers game and argue about how many people voted for me from one party rather than another, but I said I had broad support and I meant it and it is true."
Bercow is distrusted by Tories because of his political journey from the right to the left of his party. By convention, the Speaker renounces his party allegiance when he takes office.
The new Speaker insisted he was not even thinking about the possibility of his being challenged at the time of the next election, adding: "I am preoccupied with the rather important responsibility of trying to do my best to serve the House in this Parliament. My responsibility to the House of Commons is to devote myself wholeheartedly every day to the task of doing a good job as Speaker, by upholding the rights of backbench members, by facilitating fair play, by ensuring that the house does its business in the way that it should and as the public expects."
Bercow, whose new job comes with a £141,866 salary and a lavish apartment on the banks of the Thames, said that he and his family would be moving into the Speaker's apartment at Westminster, even though it was "not altogether child-friendly". He and his wife have three young children.
He also said he would not claim the parliamentary additional costs allowance (second-home allowance) to which MPs are entitled to cover the cost of staying away from home. Last year he claimed the maximum permitted, £23,083.
