Charm offensive
"You hardly dare set foot in the tearoom," sighs one new MP.
With elections on for the Labour leadership, the Lib Dem deputy leadership, three deputy Speaker posts and more chairs of select committees than you can shake a stick at, new MPs of no known allegiance find themselves being buttered up by candidates faster than they can butter their crumpets.
And the race for select committee greatness is producing some interesting nuances. It is noticeable how often X nominates Y, and Y then nominates X. So, for example, Tory awkward squaddie Christopher Chope is running for the chair of the Public Administration Committee, (which won such rave reviews under the leadership of the blessed Tony Wright in the last parliament). His supporters include Nick Raynsford, who is being nominated to the chair of the Communities and Local Government Committee by...Christopher Chope.
Similarly Keith Vaz and Patrick Mercer nominate each other for the chairs of ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Affairs and Defence, respectively. Sir Paul Beresford is supported in his bid for the chair of the Health Committee by Labour's Margaret Hodge, and he, in turn, is nominating her to chair the Public Accounts Committee. Rob Wilson wants to chair the Children Schools and Families Committee (soon to be restored to its old title of Education Committee) - his supporters include Labour's Louise Ellman (who he is nominating to chair the Transport Committee), Patrick Mercer (who he is supporting for Defence), Greg Knight (who he is supporting for Procedure)...
Then there's Karen Buck, seeking the chair of the Work and Pensions Committee, with the support of Nick Raynsford, who she is nominating for Communities etc...Keith Vaz, who she has nominated for ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Affairs, and Louise Ellman, who she has nominated for Transport. You get the picture. Is it genuine agreement on what the committees should do, or good old fashioned horse-trading? You be the judge...
Meanwhile here's an interesting development. New boy Neil Parish (Con, Tiverton and Honiton) and a farmer by trade, wants to take the chair of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.
His backers - with the exception of Robert Syms (Con, Poole) - are almost all new arrivals. They are Richard Graham (Con, Gloucester), Karen Lumley (Con, Redditch), Dr Sara Wollaston (Con, Totnes), Jacob Rees-Mogg (Con Somerset NE), Robert Buckland (Con, South Swindon), John Glen (Con, Salisbury), Neil Carmichael (Con, Stroud), Christopher Heaton Harris (Con Daventry), Pauline Latham (Con Mid Derbyshire), Oliver Colvile (Con, Plymouth Sutton and Devonport), Sheryll Murray (Con, South East Cornwall), Charlotte Leslie (Con, Bristol NW), Jack Lopresti (Con, Filton and Bradley Stoke) and Jackie Doyle-Price (Con, Thurrock).
Mr Parish agrees it might look a little over-ambitious for a newcomer to aspire to chair a select committee, but he insists he's no novice parliamentarian - he boasts a long career in the , and chaired its equivalent committee - so he's well-versed in the intricacies of the Common Agricultural Policy and the like. The other candidates are Stewart Jackson and Anne McIntosh - just back in the Commons after the delayed election in her Thirsk and Malton constituency.
UPDATE: There could soon be another position for MPs to vie for. Tonight MPs will be asked to agree the creation of an extra select committee on Political and Constitutional Reform with the job of scrutinising the ambitious agenda proposed by Nick Clegg. This includes voting reform, Lords reform, the equalisation of parliamentary constituencies and the rest. But the new committee will only be created if no-one shouts out "object." And at Business Questions today, the Conservative Christopher Chope suggested that this should be a joint committee of MPs and Peers, rather than a Commons-only affair. So he might object in order to force a debate.
I'm Mark D'Arcy and I'll be writing about what goes on in the chambers and committee rooms at Westminster.
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