IN THE RUNNING...

HERE are the potential new Speakers:

■ Sir Lindsay Hoyle: The son of former Labour MP Doug Hoyle, he has been the MP for Chorley in Lancashire since 1997. Prior to that he ran his own textile and screen-printing business.

As a backbencher he clashed with then Prime Minister Tony Blair over issues such as Gibraltar and tuition fees. Hoyle later said: “I’m not anti-Tony; he made us electable and won three times. But there are principles and promises you don’t break.”

Deputy Speaker since 2010, he is regarded as the frontrunner for the Speaker’s chair.

■ Harriet Harman: Known unofficially as the Mother of the House, she has been the MP for Peckham and then Camberwell and Peckham since 1982. Previously she was a solicitor and legal officer for the National Council of Civil Liberties (now Liberty).

She was Secretary of State for Social Security and the first designated Minister for Women in the Blair government.

She has been Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and for four months in 2015 was acting leader between the resignation of Ed Miliband and the election of Jeremy Corbyn.

■ Eleanor Laing: Another Deputy Speaker (since 2013), she has been the Conservative MP for Epping Forest since 1997.

■ Chris Bryant: MP for Rhondda since 2001, he has been Deputy Leader of the Commons and a Minister in the Foreign Office. Would be the first openly gay Speaker. A former priest in the Church of England.

■ Pete Wishart: SNP MP for Perth and North Perthshire and a previous constituency since 2001. He is a former musician with the bands Big Country and Runrig. He currently plays with the MP4 band which includes Cardiff West Labour MP Kevin Brennan.