The first Sikh MP to run for Speaker will promise today to take Parliament to the people by relocating key meetings to town halls around Britain.

Parmjit Dhanda, 37, the Labour MP for Gloucester, will announce his candidacy for the 632-year-old post with a plan to move some parliamentary business outside Westminster.

“A day of adjournment debates on local issues in the regions would be top billing in regional media and give us the chance to draw crowds to Parliamentary proceedings,” he says in a note to be sent to MPs today.

Mr Dhanda, who was a minister at the Communities Department until October last year, was born in London to Indian immigrants of Sikh origin. His mother was a cleaner at a hospital, and his father a lorry driver.

He said that he decided to run after the election of two BNP members to the European Parliament. “It is something that is so disturbing that I don't want to look back at this time in history as a time when I just stood by on the sidelines and watched.”

He hoped that his appointment would discourage the BNP and inspire a new generation of people to go into politics, he added.

“I don’t look like, sound like, a typical MP let alone a Speaker of the House. I don't speak in the traditions of parliamentary procedure, although I understand it, although my agenda is different.”

He is pledging to loosen the grip of party whips, with MPs electing heads of select committees, as well as making Parliament more family-friendly by introducing crèche facilities.

Mr Dhanda’s modernising credentials are undermined by the fact that in 2007 he voted to exempt Parliament from the Freedom of Information Act — which meant details of MPs’ expenses could be kept secret.

Mr Dhanda’s expenses claims have so far proved uncontroversial. He claimed £499 for a sideboard from Next, £2,878 for other furniture and £199 for two headboards.

After a days of speculation about the future of Gordon Brown, attention is now shifting to the election to succeed Michael Martin, which takes place on June 22.

Among those considering standing are the Conservative MPs Sir George Young, John Bercow and Sir Alan Haselhurst, Labour's Frank Field, and Alan Beith and Sir Menzies Campbell from the Liberal Democrats.

Mr Bercow and Sir George are thought to be the frontrunners. Mr Bercow, who is not regarded warmly by the Tory high command, has attracted the support of many Labour figures.

The first disagreement between potential successors to Mr Martin is emerging over how much time the next Speaker should spend in the media.

Sir George, who set out his stall in yesterday’s Times, said that the Speaker should make a few well-timed interventions but this should not include appearances on TV programmes such as Question Time.

Mr Dhanda said that there was scope for a bigger media role. “I do think that the next Speaker needs to be a public figure," he said.

Mr Bercow said that the Speaker should be an ambassador for the House of Commons.

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