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Having brought their Backbench Business Committee into being, with control over 27 days of debates in the chamber of the Commons, plus some Westminster Hall debates, and who should be in charge of it.

And I've heard of three runners. ; the , and, by far and away the front-runner, the .

Sir Alan, who's one of the longest serving deputies in Commons history, is a hugely popular figure. The resounding cheer he received when he was called at PMQs on Wednesday was partly sympathy for the under-dog (since he failed to win the Chair in last year's election for a new Speaker) and partly affection for his genial but firm approach when he presided over the House. There's no question that he would bring vast experience to bear if he was the first Chair of the new committee.

But the critique of the committee among uber-reforming MPs is that it merely transfers a measure of power from the "usual channels" - the backstairs network of whips and business managers that has been quietly sorting out the Commons' agenda for centuries - to the Commons establishment. On the Richter scale of revolutionary events, the critics say, passing power from whips to bigwigs is not exactly the storming of the Winter Palace. Sir Alan could be painted as part of that establishment, simply on length of Commons service - and that may be the only way in which he could be defeated. But the chances are that he will win, and win convincingly - so the task of deciding how the Commons can be sharpened up and freed from the shackles of government will fall to him.

He and his committee will decide which topical subjects are debated, will look at revamping the Commons set-piece general debates and will rethink the handling of private members' bills. If they're seen to be too close to the whips, or too prone to favouring crabbed backbench heavyweights of vast seniority, it won't take long before the murmurs start. A lot of MPs who hope for a sharper, more relevant Commons, which processes legislation more effectively and keeps ministers on their toes, have pinned their hopes on this committee. Its Chair and members serve for a year before facing re-election. So Sir Alan and his colleagues had better deliver.

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