Running for office

It's quite hard to walk 10 feet in Portcullis House, the big new-ish office building that has become the centre of much parliamentary life, without running into an MP running for some office or other.

Would-be Labour leaders, or deputy leaders, would-be deputy speakers, would-be select committee chairs. This morning I was even asked about the likely make-up of one of the most obscure organs of Parliament, the Ecclesiastical Committee.

The key point about the select committee races is that we don't quite know which party will be allocated the chairs of what committees….which means that there's a conditional flavour to some of the campaigning.

And because the timetable's a bit obscure, too, there's the extra complication that MPs eyeing a deputy speakership, or deputy leadership, but who might fancy a select committee chair as a fallback, find themselves in a slightly awkward spot.

But one key situation vacant is the chair of the Public Accounts Committee - just about the biggest parliamentary role available to a backbencher.

In recent parliaments, it has attracted a succession of heavy hitters, carnivorous former ministers like David Davis, Edward Leigh and Margaret Hodge. This job always goes to an opposition MP - and a not-so-orderly queue is already forming. Former ministers Gisela Stuart, Meg Hillier and Helen Goodman have thrown their hats into the ring, and there's an intriguing rumour that one sitting select committee chair might fancy trading up to the PAC.

As with all select committee races, the winner will be the candidate who is most successful in attracting votes across the political divide….so a key indicator will be not just who has the most Labour endorsements, but who has the most impressive Tory signatures for their nomination.

For whoever wins, the role will be pretty much as demanding as a ministerial job - Margaret Hodge set a cracking pace, holding three or more committee hearings a week, each requiring intensive preparation, as well as churning out an unending series of reports, and taking to the media to defend them.

More than that, she made the political weather, particularly with her inquiry into tax avoidance by multi-national companies. And she made headlines by giving witnesses a very rough ride.

Her decision to require one senior civil servant to swear the oath (an almost unheard of proceeding) sent ripples through the Whitehall mandarinate.

And a stream of bruised and battered witnesses have slunk from her hearings, only to be further skewered in the subsequent committee report. By the end of the last Parliament, there were signs of dissent within the PAC - and one lesson of her tenure is that this ancient committee (founded by William Gladstone 200 years ago) functions best with cross-party agreement. Which means that the choice of senior Tory on the new Committee will be almost as important as that of the chair.

Keep watching.