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Will MPs get their long-awaited debate on the appointment of the chairman and board of IPSA, their new ethics watchdog today?

The motion is on the Order Paper for today - but will only be debated if MPs manage to polish off their remaining consideration of the Equality Bill by 7pm.

And interestingly, there's now an amendment down from two senior Conservative backbenchers, Christopher Chope and Sir Nicholas Winterton, both members of the Awkward Squad. They want to remove Jackie Ballard, the former Lib Dem MP nominated to fill the place on the board reserved for an ex-MP. She was always a bit of an outsider during her single term as an MP - and there have been murmurings that she's too unsympathetic a figure.

The proposed replacement is Elizabeth Peacock, the former Conservative MP for Batley and Spen in Yorkshire, from 1983-97, .

Mr Chope turns out to be in Europe today, a fact which has already aroused suspicions about the timing of the debate.

And when I spoke to Sir Nicholas this morning, he bit back on any criticism of Ms Ballard - saying only that she had served just four years in the Commons while Elizabeth Peacock had 14 years on the green benches.

UPDATE: backers of the amendment to remove Jackie Ballard say they do expect the motion to appoint the IPSA board to be discussed tonight - around 7pm.

The Speaker has ruled that their amendment is out of order in its current form, because the proposed replacement for the former MP's spot on the board, Elizabeth Peacock, has not been approved by the Speaker's Committee on IPSA - the supervisory body of senior MPs which has to recommend appointments to the House.

But the Speaker will accept a "manuscript amendment" which just deletes Jackie Ballard. It'll be moved by Sir Nicholas Winterton, because Chris Chope is marooned in Paris and will not be able to get back to Westminster in time. He doesn't seem to think that influenced the timing in any way.

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