of the committee led to him being described by The Daily Telegraph as being in with an outside chance of becoming speaker when John Bercow stood down. In the last parliamentary session before the 2015 general election, Walker explained what he knew about the Government decision to force a vote on changing the rules for electing a speaker for the next Parliament, in order to remove the then-Speaker John Bercow. Walker said he had written a report on the subject "years ago" but although he had talked to William Hague and Michael Gove that week, neither had told him their objectives. He had only found out via the grapevine, and stated that he would rather be "an honourable fool" than part of a plot. The government lost the vote and Walker received a standing ovation. Following the 2015 general election, Walker was returned unopposed as chair of the Procedure Committee. Walker was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2015 New Year Honours for political service, and was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in Theresa May's resignation honours on 10 September 2019, "for political and public service". In May 2019, Walker and Cheryl Gillan became acting chairs of the 1922 Committee after Graham Brady resigned to consider standing in the leadership contest to succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader. They stood down when Brady returned to the role in September of that year. Criticisms of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions: 2020–2021 In response to the Johnson government's attempt to control COVID-19 through a three tier system, Walker said in October 2020 that the government seemed to think it could "abolish death". He also accused the government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies of choosing to "ramp up" the "fear factor" regarding the disease. Regarding the second tier regulations in November, Walker said "As we drift further into an authoritarian coercive state, the only legal mechanism left open to me is to vote against that legislation. The people of this country will never, ever forgive the political class for criminalising parents seeing children." In November 2020, Walker called police officers a "disgrace" for enforcing government laws surrounding COVID-19 by arresting a 72-year-old woman who was "peacefully protesting" and who was charged under the Coronavirus Act. At the time, Walker called for the Constitution of the United Kingdom to be codified into