 Traditionally the House of Lords did not elect its own speaker, unlike the House of Commons; rather, the "ex officio" presiding officer was the Lord Chancellor.With the passage of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, the post of Lord Speaker was created, a position to which a peer is elected by the House and subsequently appointed by the Crown.The first Lord Speaker, elected on 4 May 2006, was Baroness Hayman, a former Labour peer.