Cameron and Clegg to take seats on government benches

David Cameron and Nick Clegg will today take their places sitting side-by-side for the first time on the Government benches in the House of Commons.

The inaugural sitting of the new UK parliament will again underline the dramatic changes in the political landscape since the election on May 6.

Conservative and Liberal ministers will sit alongside each other on the covernment front bench for the first time since Winston Churchill’s wartime coalition in 1945.

With the Tories taking the rest of the Government benches, Labour MPs will find themselves relegated to opposition benches for the first time in 13 years, joining the other smaller parties.

More than a third of the MPs – 226 of the new 650-seat chamber – will be fresh faces in Parliament after the expenses scandal prompted the biggest exodus in living memory.

Proceedings will begin this afternoon with the Commons being ceremonially summoned to the House of Lords, where the Lower House will be instructed to elect a speaker.

As the new parliament commences, MPs will take their seats simply to decide whether or not John Bercow should be kept on as Speaker.

If they decide that he should, the swearing in of all MPs will start tomorrow afternoon.

If they decide to elect a new speaker, that process will take place tomorrow and MPs will have to wait until Thursday morning before filing in to take the oath of allegiance.

The election of the Speaker is the only business MPs are allowed to conduct before they have taken the oath – or made the non-religious solemn affirmation - to the Queen.