Jostling for position
I don't think you could quite say that pre-electoral tension has set in, in the Commons.
At least - not yet.
But behind the scenes quite a lot of positioning and horse trading is under way, for roles in the post-election Parliament.
A number of people who fancy Select Committee chairmanships are already lining up support, even beyond their own parties, on the assumption that some mechanism for electing, rather than appointing them is in place when the new Parliament assembles.
Then there is the discrete race to succeed Sir Michael Spicer as chairman of the Conservative - the voice of the Tory backbenches. The election for that post will be one of the first political choices facing incoming Conservative MPs, and will provide the first glimpse of their collective political instincts.
The support of respected party elders will be one of the few guides available for new arrivals, asked to choose a chairman (and indeed executive committee) from amongst candidates of whom they know nothing. So will it be Richard Ottaway, a whip in the Major years, and a former PPS to Michael Heseltine? Or might it be Graham Brady, who resigned from the Cameron front bench over the party line on grammar schools, and who might prove attractive to what is expected to be a robustly Eurosceptic new intake. Or might the party establishment anoint someone else? The chairman of the Defence select committee, James Arbuthnot, is being touted by some.
Among Labour MPs, the lure of the city halls is increasing. If a new wave of local government reform produces a new generation of elected mayors, a lot of backbench MPs might quite fancy a taste of municipal power. Not least the Londoners. It is universally assumed that Ken Livingstone hankers for a re-match with Boris Johnson, but an ambitious London backbencher might quite fancy making a name for themselves by challenging him.
So keep your ears cocked for the smooth smooching sound of coalition building....
Listen carefully and it's everywhere.
I'm Mark D'Arcy and I'll be writing about what goes on in the chambers and committee rooms at Westminster.
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