If the Speaker of the House of Commons Sir Lindsey Hoyle steps down or is forced out of his job – there could be an unusual effect in Swindon.

Mr Hoyle came under pressure last week after he allowed a vote on a Labour amendment to an SNP motion calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Parliamentary convention would normally have not seen the Labour amendment debated and voted on – but Mr Hoyle said he had allowed it in the interest of MPs’ safety.

This did not go down well with many SNP and Conservative MPs and 71 of them signed a motion expressing no confidence in Mr Hoyle.

Originally a Labour MP, if he stepped down, by convention the next speaker would be a Conservative.

And as speculation continues to swirl, Sir Robert Buckland's name has been touted as a potential replacement.

Political reporter Tim Shipman of The Times said on X, formerly Twitter: “I suspect Lindsay Hoyle isn't going anywhere but if he is ousted, and on the principle that a Tory gets it next, spoken to several people who have a very good idea: Robert Buckland. Cares about the rules, friends across the house, looks the part in robes...”

If that did come to pass, it might cause something of an issue for the Labour candidate expecting to battle Mr Buckland in the South Swindon constituency – Heidi Alexander.

The Speaker must be elected like any other MP, but the convention is that they do not stand as a party politician but as “Speaker seeking re-election”.

And the convention is that the major parties do not put up a candidate against them, meaning perhaps Ms Alexander’s candidacy would be withdrawn - although the convention is not always observed.

Labour and the SDP both put a candidate up against Conservative speaker Bernard Weatherill in 1987, and the last speaker John Bercow faced an election against 10 opponents in 2010.

When approached by the Adver, Mr Buckland said: “It’s nice to be appreciated- but I have no comment.”

And his likely opponent Ms Alaxander said: "I suspect all of this Westminster conjecture will amount to very little. There’s no vacancy for the speaker at the moment. There will be lots of eager candidates should a vacancy arise.

"For my part, I’m 100 per cent focussed on Swindon and would love the honour of representing my home town in Parliament should I be successful at the next general election."