Douglas Carswell, obviously. He has rightly emerged with great credit as somebody who cares deeply that we have an effective House of Commons. He understood the problem earlier than anyone else and so we should listen carefully to his analysis about how to put it right. Beware of attempts to dismiss him as a "maverick".
And also those who spoke out in the House of Commons on Monday.
However, the list of those who put their names to the no confidence motion makes interesting reading. 23 members signed it: 11 Conservatives; 8 Liberal Democrats; 4 Labour. None from the Nationalist parties. The UKIP Independent* MP, Bob Spink, was still praising the Speaker even after he had gone. Let's keep that in mind when the minor parties try to parade as "anti-politics".
A disproportionate number of signatories came from the 2005 intake: 12 altogether. 7 of them Conservative (Carswell, Hollobone, Main, Davies P, Davies DTC, Stuart, Walker) and 5 Liberal Democrat (Hemming, Featherstone, Swinton, Williams, Mulholland). None from Labour. Indeed the 4 Labour signatories were all old hands - the most recent entrant was Ian Gibson in 1997.
Unless you are tribally Labour, it is really encouraging to see that it was the newest MPs leading the public charge. This gives real hope that, with a major influx of new blood after the next election, there will indeed be genuine change.
On a related note, before a general election is called, all parties will want to make sure that they have cleared out all those MPs who would be vulnerable to an independent. Association members and officers need to back the leadership in this; it has been depressing to see that some Conservative Association officers still don't get this. Associations should be consulting their fellow constituents and their members, not just their officers and their councillors. I remember Association officers, as well as MPs and candidates, being told at the Take Your Seats conference in 2006 by the then Party Chairman that we need to be absolutely ruthless in our determination and discipline to get back to power, because the stakes for our country were too high for us to fail. He was right then; even more so now.
1.30 Additional comment:
The figures above are revealing, but not surprising. The 2005 intake will be less immersed in the old Westminster culture, and more likely to understand open-source politics.
*15.00 Thanks to "Independence Home" for pointing out that Bob Spink is not (any longer) a UKIP MP. I can understand why UKIP members would wish to dissociate themselves from his support for the Speaker. A quick Google search reveals that in April 2008 Bob Spink announced he was defecting from the Conservatives to UKIP, but may never have got round to paying his sub and joining UKIP, then last November asked that he be re-designated as an independent MP, but stressed that he remained UKIP's MP and still supports UKIP. Whatever. I am happy to confirm that UKIP does not have any MPs.