Just in, below are the results of the first tranche of Select Committee elections.
Two initial observations:
- I gather there is some discontent among backbench MPs that Ministers’ Private Parliamentary Secretaries were allowed to stand for Select Committee positions. Given the resentment stirred up under the Coalition about the lack of opportunities for Conservative MPs, many had hoped a majority would offer the chance of a job of some sort. To now find that members of the payroll and patronage vote are also allowed to stand for Select Committee seats has galled some to say the least – which is not ideal with a majority this small. By my count this tranche only contains one PPS: Andrew Bingham.
- There is a hefty leavening of MPs from the new intake. Fifteen of the 35 MPs listed below were first elected in 2015 (Huddleston, Allan, Donelan, Fernandes, Frazer, Mercer, Davies, Jenkyns, Throup, Whately, Atkins, Berry, Ghani, Jayawardena and Philp). On some committees they make up an outright majority of the Conservative contingent – for example, on the Education Select Committee and on the Health Select Committee, no fewer than four of the five Conservatives are new MPs.
Culture, Media and Sport
Nigel Adams, Andrew Bingham (PPS to Justine Greening), Damian Collins, Nigel Huddleston, Jason McCartney
Education
Lucy Allan, Michelle Donelan, Suella Fernandes, Lucy Frazer, Caroline Nokes
Defence
Richard Benyon, James Gray, Johnny Mercer, Bob Stewart
Foreign and Commonwealth
John Baron, Adam Holloway, Daniel Kawczynski, Andrew Rosindell, Nadhim Zahawi
Health
Dr James Davies, Andrea Jenkyns, Andrew Percy, Maggie Throup, Helen Whately
Home Office
Victoria Atkins, James Berry, David Burrowes, Nusrat Ghani, Ranil Jayawardena, Tim Loughton
Treasury
Steve Baker, Mark Garnier, Stephen Hammond, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Chris Philp