Nicky Morgan elected chair of Treasury Select Committee

Conservative party centrist MP Nicky Morgan defeated hard-liner Jacob Rees Mogg by 290 to 226 votes in a ballot to chose the next chair of the powerful Treasury Select Committee.

The Speaker of the House of Commons announced late on Wednesday that Morgan, a supporter of a more 'soft' Brexit, had been elected as the committee's new chair, replacing the highly respected Andrew Tyrie.

Former education secretary and Treasury minister, Morgan will formally take up the position of chair when the remaining members of the committee have been appointed.

The decision was seen as a big wins for the Tory party's more liberal wing, with Morgan recently saying she wanted the job as it “will be more important than ever to forge a wide consensus on Brexit and for parliament to question ministers on their decisions”.

The Treasury Committee's role is to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of HM Treasury, HM Revenue & Customs and associated public bodies, including the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority.

As well as overseeing public grillings of Bank of England Governors Mervyn King and Mark Carney, predecessor Tyrie played a part in the resignation of BoE deputy chief Charlotte Hogg and heaped pressure on high street banking chiefs over a variety of issues following the financial crisis, as well as issuing a formal summons to Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the Vote Leave campaign, to appear before the Committee.

Although the powers of select committees are limited to conduction inquiries and reporting on the results, the grandstanding and grilling during its public sessions is a powerful means of holding power to account and bringing important information into the public domain.