Dragging the Speaker
When a new Speaker of the House of Commons is chosen, he or she is dragged to the chair, pretending to resist, by the prime minister and leader of the opposition.
Why the resistance? It's a symbolic show of hesitation. Becoming Speaker of the English House of Commons was once similar to signing your own death warrant.
In the early days of the English Parliament, speakers usually had to deliver any bad news to the king, such as a refusal to raise taxes.
Some monarchs were less than charitable in their reactions. Nine speakers were beheaded between 1394 and 1535.
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