Three candidates for House of Commons Speaker offer their manifestos

Writing in today's Times, three candidates for the post of Speaker of the House of Commons, Parmjit Dhanda, Sir Alan Haselhurst and Sir Patrick Cormack, offer their manifestos.

It is a great shame that only three candidates have done so. As well as providing an overview of why they want to be speaker, it allows people to find about more about the person themselves.

Despite having read all three Speaker manifestos, I am still backing Ann Widdecombe for Speaker. I hope she wins.

Although I disagree with many of her views, in particular those on homosexuality, the post of Speaker is not affected to a large degree by the person's viewpoints.