<P> In the United Kingdom, the Speaker of the House of Commons is the individual elected to preside over the elected House of Commons . The speaker is a Member of Parliament (MP) and is elected at the beginning of each new parliament by fellow MPs . </P> <P> The Lord Speaker is the presiding officer of the House of Lords . The commonly used "Speaker of the House of Lords" is not correct . The presiding officer of the House of Lords was until recently the Lord Chancellor, who was also a member of the government (a cabinet member) and the head of the judicial branch . The Lord Chancellor did not have the same authority to discipline members of the Lords that the speaker of the Commons has in that house . The Lord Speaker is elected by the members of the House of Lords and is expected to be politically impartial . </P> <P> The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives presides over the lower house of Congress, the House of Representatives . This post is second in line to the presidency--after the vice president--and is therefore the third highest - ranking national office overall . In practice, this post is the highest - ranking in Congress, because the president of the US Senate is the vice president, who has his / her office, and predominant responsibilities, at the White House, and therefore does not have a day - to - day presence at the Congress . </P> <P> In the forty - nine states that have a bicameral legislature, the highest position in the lower house is usually called the "speaker". In Nebraska--the only state with a unicameral legislature--the senators elect one senator to serve as "Speaker of the Nebraska Legislature". In Tennessee, the senators elect a "Speaker of the Senate" who presides over the Tennessee Senate and serves as lieutenant governor . </P>

Who is the presiding officer of the legislative house