John Bercow can make a difference as Speaker of the Commons but he cannot change Parliament all on his own. That depends on the attitudes of MPs themselves.

In particular, he will have to overcome the extraordinary circumstances of his own election, thanks almost entirely to the votes of Labour and some Liberal Democrat MPs in face of the near complete opposition of Conservative MPs. This means working his way round a minefield of Tory suspicion.

Speaker Bercow certainly understands the need for reform. But in all the furore over expenses and the bubbling of debate over constitutional reform, the Speaker’s role has been widely misunderstood.

All the candidates yesterday portrayed themselves as reformers. But this muddied rather than clarified what the Speaker can do in practice.

First is style and tone. Mr Bercow will undoubtedly be more open and outgoing than Michael Martin, who, under pressure of criticism, defensively withdrew into a bunker.

Second, on his own authority, the Speaker can do a lot to sharpen up questions and debates by limiting MPs to a single question and keeping ministerial answers short. This could start today. Mr Bercow promised yesterday to use his discretion to grant more urgent questions and debates.

Third, the new Mr Speaker could also follow the successful lead of Baroness Hayman, the Lord Speaker, in taking a higher profile in explaining the work of the House and sponsoring educational initiatives. Mr Bercow said he wanted “to become both an advocate and an ambassador for Parliament”.

But, fourth, Speaker Bercow will require the co-operation of party managers to improve the way that legislation is considered, such as having more agreement on timetabling and allowing more scrutiny. Some changes, such as allowing MPs to refer to each other by their names, restoring the rights of backbench MPs to table motions to be debated and taking control over topical debates away from ministers, would have to be approved by the full House.

The Speaker has a more limited role on proposals to strengthen the independence of select committees and to create, as Mr Bercow favours, a business committee to control the programme of debates that is not dominated by party whips.

The Speaker has no role at all on more ambitious ideas for recalling MPs who have been found guilty of financial abuse or for holding primary elections to select candidates. These are matters for Parliament as a whole and for the parties.

But the new Speaker can signal a fresh start, and initiate overdue changes. As Speaker Bercow said, while he would always be neutral within the chamber (despite the overt scepticism last night of Tory MPs), he would not be neutral about the chamber. He promises to be a very active, as well as possibly a very controversial, Speaker.

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