Who will be the next Speaker?: Frank Field
Frank Field MP
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Wednesday, 20, May 2009 04:56
By Jonathan Moore
Following Speaker Michael Martin's announcement yesterday he would step down on June 21 all eyes have turned to his potential successor.
Despite inheriting what looks distinctly like a poisoned chalice there have been no shortage of names put forward in the early running.
The new Speaker faces the unenviable task of dragging the Commons out of the mire in the public's eyes and will doubtless require a figure of gravitas and charisma if they are to have any hope of restoring faith in parliament.
With such a mammoth task ahead of them, politics.co.uk looks at the potential candidates and the positives or negatives their appointment would bring.
As someone who one more than one occasion has been a real thorn in the government's side it's perhaps easy to see why Frank Field has support from the opposition benches but is a less popular choice with his own party.
Elected as the MP for Birkenhead in 1979 he has served on front benches of Michael Foot, Neil Kinnock and Tony Blair but never managed to hold on to his position for very long.
With a history of serving on the social security committee and working in the social security department he doesn't have a lot of direct experience working on parliamentary procedure and since 2005 he has worked solely as a backbencher, both of which may hinder his chances of election.
His recent attacks on the government - most notably over foundation hospitals and the 10p tax rate - will have rubbed a lot of his Labour colleagues the wrong way but as a long-serving MP who has not been implicated in the expenses scam he has a chance of being the reformer coming in from the outside which parliament sorely needs.
Coral: 6/1
Ladbrokes: 6/1
Paddy Power: 6/1
William Hill: 6/1