[unintelligible] the speaker elect john bercow joins blackrod. the maze is being carried just like a baby. the house is still not properly constituted. on this one occasion, this mace is carried in this particular manner. our political correspondent is in the gallery when john bercow was declared the winner. he said a lot of conservative mp's did not applaud him. they sat on their hands. >> [inaudible] john bercow would have a lot of work to do. he certainly has his work cut out. >> and also bond with the british people. [inaudible] he thought it was best to return six and a half thousand pounds. he said he must deal with the anger of the british people on expenses. the mace is being carried in this unusual way followed by martin jack and the speakers secretary. -- speaker's secretary. >> my lords [inaudible] majesties faithful comments in obedience to the royal command have in the exercise of their rights proceeded through the election of the speaker and that their choice has fallen on me. i therefore present myself and submit myself with all hu

john bercow to be their speaker, which commission you shall now hear read. elizabeth ii, by the grace of god of the united kingdom of great brynn and northern ireland and other realms and territories queen, head of the commonwealth, defender of the faith, to all to whom these presents shall come, greetings. whereas we did lately -- difficult and pressing affairs concerning us, the state, and defense of our united kingdom and the church or detain this, our present parliament, to begin and beholden at our city of westminster, the 11th day of may in the 54th year of our reign on which day our said parliament was begun and holden and is there now holden and whereas we have been informed the lower house of our said parliament have lately made choice of our beloved and faithful john simon bercow, esquire, in the room of our beloved and faithful michael john martin, esquire, to be speaker of the said lower house of our said parliament of which choice we are graciously pleased to approve and to allow and confirm the same and for as much as the caused and considerati

bercow vow trode form the expense system for members of the house of commons. irena is next from florida. caller: hello. i'm a medical professional and a breast cancer survivor and a grandmother of an autistic boy. i've seen problems from both sides in many ways. and the mammoth in the room that no one is talking about is something that president obama mentioned in his campaign. and that is, in medicare alone, for every $6 actually spent on health care, the insurance companies are getting $11. the mammoth in the room is the profits of the insurance companies. that's why our health care is costing 40% more per person in the united states as in the next most expensive country. host: in fact, we have a tweet from france that says, no one mentioned france in the health care debate, it's ranked number one and is private and public insurance. >> live now to the senate subcommittee hearing on high speed rail. we'll hear from the heads of am track, the federal railroad administration and others the witnesses are in place in the hearing room, we're rating -- waiting fo

certainly not, bercow. you're not just too young, you're far too young. given that in my judgment the speaker ought to be virtually seen nile. [laughter] furp elected, it would -- if you were elected it would be disastrous for you, for the house, and for the country and with that, he slammed down the phone. just in case this is a widely held view, i shall merely observe, mr. williams, that speakers elected younger than me at 46 actually quite common in times gone by. in the 18th century, speaker grenville was elected at 29 and speaker addington at 32. indeed, both went on to become prime minister. not a likely career move in my case. in contrast, speaker omslow was elected at 76 and stayed in sit u for more than 30 years. not a danger in my case given my commitment to serve no longer than nine years in total. even further back, sir thomas moore was virtually my age when he became speaker, though frankly his rather sticky end does not fill me with encouragement. but then, again, he is the only member of this house fer to have been cannonized. my own prefer

his name is john bercow. is 46 years old and succeeds michael martin, the first speaker to be forced from office in more than 300 years. that cut -- about amid claims that he had curved to -- that he had failed to curb the abuse of the expense system. irina is next from jacksonville, florida. caller: hello, thank you for c- span. host: certainly. caller: i am a medical professional and also in breast cancer survivor and the mother of an autistic boy. i have seen problems from both sides in many ways. and the mammoth in the room that no one t