A new Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons will be elected on Wednesday. Eleanor Laing is said to be the favourite; but Mr S has been reading the runes for the other candidates.
Henry Bellingham surprised colleagues by giving a solid speech last week that, according to one backbencher, was ‘witty and had gravitas’. Bellingham, though, is probably too posh to pick up Labour votes.
I detect a growing element of ‘who does Simon Burns think he is’ among Tory MPs: Burns is just out of government and now he wants to march straight into a new paid job. Burns is probably seen as too close to the government to pick up significant numbers of Labour votes; but he does have a notoriously rocky relationship with John Bercow, which may win him the jokers’ vote.
Someone could come through the middle; David Amess, Gary Streeter and Brian Binley are hoping it will be them.
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