Labour’s Parmjit Dhanda is the latest MP to throw their hat into the ring for the job of Commons Speaker.

Mr Dhanda, one of a handful of Asian MPs in the Commons, says he was spurred into action by the BNP winning two seats in the European Parliament.

…

Mr Dhanda, who is understood to have turned down a chance to return to government, announced his move for the job in an e-mail to MPs, ahead of the 22 June election.

The former fire services minister and MP for Gloucester plans to stand on an agenda of reforming parliament, including holding debates outside the chamber in provincial towns and cities.

In his email, Mr Dhanda admitted that he was not “an obvious choice” but told MPs: “Until I see someone more likely to win who will fight for the causes I spell out here, I’ll be in this contest.”

He said the new speaker should act as “the interface between Parliament and modern Britain, championing the role of MPs and encouraging greater participation amongst the public”.

If he took the chair, that would include encouraging parties to speed up moves to make MPs representative of society as a whole – something that would take 100 years on present progress, he said.

“The Speaker must actively encourage political parties to make changes, through law, to catalyse these changes over one or two terms, not 100 years,” he said.

Mr Dhanda, who is not among MPs whose detailed expense claims have been exposed by The Daily Telegraph, said the scandal had highlighted a serious lack of parent-friendly facilities, such as crèches.

At the moment, MPs are left to “use their archaic allowances system to come up with alternative child care provision. Parliament not only stitches them up at the outset, it then hangs them out to dry”.

He told BBC News he wanted to “change the macho culture of ministerial life”. BBC.