MPs on Thursday voted to elect the next speaker of the House of Commons through a secret ballot.

The vote followed widespread concern amongst MPs about the system of election used to select Michael Martin for the Commons chair.

The vote was close run, with MPs voting by just two votes to elect the speaker by a secret, rather than open, ballot.

Under the new rules, candidates for the Commons chair will need to secure 12 nominations - a change from the old system where candidates merely needed to secure a proposer and seconder to throw their hat into the ring.

MPs were widely dismissive of the old system, in which 13 candidates fought to become speaker using an "archaic" process which took over six hours to culminate in the election of Michael Martin.

The new system was proposed by the House of Commons Procedures Committee which conducted an inquiry into the system of election following last October's election.