MPs will gather in the House of Commons for the first time since the general election today, with the Tories forming a majority bloc on the green benches for the first time since 1997.
The other major change will be the presence of the SNP’s 56 MPs since the party’s landslide victory in Scotland.
The initial hours and days of the 2015/20 parliament will be given over to pageantry and administration as preparations are made for the attendance of the Queen at next week’s State Opening.
At 2.30pm, MPs will meet and wait to be summoned by Black Rod to the Lords to hear a Royal Commission ordering them to elect a Speaker – set to be a reappointment of the controversial John Bercow after an 11th-hour bid by the Conservatives to undermine his position before the election failed.
MPs will be led from the Commons by Sir Gerald Kaufman, the Labour MP who has taken over the mantle of Father of the House – an honorary title given to the MP with the longest unbroken service in the Commons.
Once MPs have returned to the Commons, Sir Gerald will put a question “that John Bercow do take the chair of this House as Speaker”.
If this is opposed, a division will be called – though Mr Bercow is expected to win any vote despite grumbling from some on the Conservative benches about his behaviour as Speaker.
In the unlikely event that Mr Bercow is defeated, elections for a new Speaker are pencilled in for Tuesday. This would be done by secret ballot to determine who is the popular choice amongst MPs to take on the powerful post.