MAVERICK MP Frank Field is poised to bid to be the next Commons Speaker – while admitting he may be too unpopular among his own Labour colleagues.

The Birkenhead MP announced he would spend the next 10 days developing a “reforming manifesto”, before making a final decision in the first week of June.

The former welfare reform minister acknowledged his long history of attacking Gordon Brown and flagship Labour policies might count him out of the race to succeed the departing Michael Martin.

Indeed, a small polling exercise outside the Commons chamber yesterday failed to find a single Merseyside MP backing Mr Field. One said: “The winner will not be Frank.”

But Mr Field suggested the contest would be the first in the 630-year history of the coveted position to be decided by public opinion, rather than MPs.

If so, he would hold an advantage, as a prolific blogger with strong backing among Conservative-supporting newspapers, and Tory MPs. Mr Field said: “The next Speaker will only be the most powerful in history if he or she is elected on a programme that points to the next phase in our Parliamentary history.

“I have been asked whether I will throw my hat into the ring. I am thinking about that, as I accept that there may be too many colleagues on my own side who would block any such possibility.

“I am therefore spending the next 10 days or so developing the details of a programme, and I shall be happy to support anybody who is more likely than I to drive through the programme of reform.”