Kevin McCarthy was axed as Speaker of the US House of Representatives on Tuesday, October 3. Mr McCarthy was voted out of office. It has happened for the first time in 134 years. A resolution "to vacate the office of the speaker" was backed by the House with a 216-210 vote setting the stage for an unprecedented contest to replace Mr McCarthy a year before the presidential election. "The reason Kevin McCarthy went down today is because nobody trusts him. Kevin McCarthy has made multiple contradictory promises, and when they all came due, he lost," Florida conservative Matt Gaetz said after the vote.