Mrs Bishop would come under increasing pressure to make sure she did not stand for re-election to Parliament, her critics in the party said. This would present an opportunity to put a strong candidate into the plum Liberal seat of Mackellar, on Sydney's northern beaches. Former speaker Bronwyn Bishop. Credit:Andrew Meares Another described the mood in the NSW Liberal Party in the wake of the disaster as "ABB: anyone but Bronwyn". Mr Smith and Mr Southcott, both experienced parliamentarians with frontbench experience, have become the early standouts in a "Melbourne Cup field" of possibilities now jostling for the plum $341,000-a-year post of Speaker. Their enthusiasm has been stoked by an open commitment from Prime Minister Tony Abbott to eschew any "captain's picks" in favour of selecting the next Speaker through an open race in the Liberal party room. A meeting is scheduled for next Monday, when Parliament resumes in Canberra.

Elbowing for the job has begun gently, with some MPs revealing they had made and received no calls on it and were happy for "whoever". Illustration: Ron Tandberg. The contest comes as it emerged Mr Abbott and Mrs Bishop decided she should resign from the speakership only after they realised a significant number of government MPs would not support her in a no-confidence motion, according to Liberal MPs. The loss of any Coalition votes for Mrs Bishop on the floor of the House would have been interpreted as an insurrection against the authority of the Prime Minister. Yet so serious had the discontent become that in private phone conversations a number of backbench MPs decided that they would refuse to vote for Mrs Bishop when a no-confidence motion, planned for next week, was moved against her.

While Mrs Bishop would have survived on those numbers, the trend was one way and the outcome was becoming increasingly uncertain. The number of Liberals planning to abstain from a motion to be sponsored by crossbench MPs and supported by the opposition had reached about 10, according to MPs involved, and was growing as the scandal continued. A senior government source said it was "exclusively" the threat of abstainers that finally convinced Mrs Bishop that she could not remain in the post without doing what colleagues called "enormous damage" to the government. Mr Abbott's decision to force her from the Speaker's chair on Sunday therefore averted a potential crisis for his leadership, potentially the second such "near-death" experience this year. It could have seen the Prime Minister's hand-picked Speaker humiliated or even tipped out of the chair as a result of his not being able to command a simple majority on that question on the floor of the chamber where government is formed.

And the danger for Mr Abbott has not passed yet. In a reprise of the roiling backbench discontent that led to a spill motion supported by 39 MPs in February, several Liberals are again pushing for material changes to the way the government is run, Fairfax Media can reveal, with the most common demand being no more "captain's picks". Mr Abbott was informed of fractures in party discipline at the weekend, Liberal MPs said. "The situation was already spinning out of his control," said a Liberal speaking on background. Mr Abbott sought to restore control by engineering Mrs Bishop's resignation and announcing an inquiry into the system of parliamentary expenses, parliamentarians said. Among the other MPs either seeking the speakership or being mentioned in dispatches are former Howard government ministers Philip Ruddock (NSW), Sharman Stone (Vic) and Teresa Gambaro (Qld), along with Russell Broadbent (Vic). Two others, Queensland Nationals MP Bruce Scott and South Australian Liberal Rowan Ramsey, are considered unlikely despite both being on the current Speaker's panel and thus possessing relevant chairing experience.

HEIRS TO THE CHAIR Andrew Southcott

Elected 1996

Seat: Boothby (SA) Shadow minister 2008-2009. Opposition spokesman, health portfolio 2010-2013. Medical practitioner and surgical registrar before entering Parliament, also studied economics and business administration. Tony Smith

Elected 2001. Seat: Casey (Vic) Briefly parliamentary secretary to prime minister John Howard. Chair of electoral matters committee and public accounts and audit committee. Research assistant at conservative think tank Institute of Public Affairs and adviser to former treasurer Peter Costello before entering Parliament.

Philip Ruddock

Elected in Parramatta in 1973, Dundas in 1977 and Berowra, NSW, since 1993. Longest-serving member of the House of Representatives (Father of the House), since 1998. Appointed Special Envoy for Citizenship and Community Engagement in May after being dumped as government whip following spill motion against Prime Minister. Attorney-general and minister for immigration, Indigenous affairs and multicultural affairs portfolios in Howard government. Immigration minister during the "children overboard" affair of the Howard government. Russell Broadbent

Elected in McMillan, Victoria, in 1996 but defeated in 1998 then re-elected every election since 2004. Previously member for Corinella 1990-1993. Member of the Speaker's panel since 2013. Moderate who came to prominence after defying Howard government and crossing floor in vote on immigration policy. Company director and served in local government before entering Parliament. Teresa Gambaro

Elected as member for Brisbane in 2010. Previously member for Petrie 1996-2004.

Opposition parliamentary secretary 2010-2013, in international development and citizenship portfolios. Made headlines in 2012 for suggesting immigrants weren't integrating properly and telling them to wear deodorant. Co-sponsor of cross-party bill to legalise same-sex marriage, having also pushed for a conscience vote. Small business owner before entering Parliament. Follow us on Twitter

