The Cabinet Office minister Greg Clark had called for a full investigation by the Speaker's committee, which oversees the work of the commission.
The commission is accountable to parliament through the Speaker's committee, and it should be made to explain its apparent discrimination - all the more so since the MP who sits on the committee and answers for the Electoral Commission in parliament is Sir Peter Viggers (the Conservative MP for Gosport).
Announcing the change in policy at the Speaker's Committee, Mr Cameron said: "It's my intention, if we continue as we are, that some of those shortlists will be all-women shortlists to help us boost the number of Conservative women MPs," he said.
Mr. Vallone, who was barred from seeking re-election by term limits and lost a bid for the mayoralty this year, was speaking of the effort started by a small group of new members to change various Council procedures to siphon power from the speaker to committee leaders and other members.
The Speaker Series Committee is focusing on developing mentorship and networking opportunities for students and alumni.
Graduates and degree candidates are also encouraged to serve on the student speaker selection committee.
Louisiana Republican Representative John Fleming said the speaker "threw committee chairmen under the bus" in the push to get a deal, while Michigan Republican Justin Amash said lawmakers are "really tired of the top-down, micromanagement where you have just a few people, or in this case just the speaker and his team, determining the outcome".
Dr. Jongen has received honoraria from Sanofi-Aventis, Teva, Merck-Serono, Novartis, Bayer-Schering, Biogen-Idec and Allergan for activities as speaker, advisory committee member, research support, or travel grants for conferences.
The group is made up of 42 Tories, 28 cross-benchers, 3 Liberal Democrats and 2 Labour peers, while 15 deputy speakers and committee chairmen were elected last week.
Bercow has deployed Speaker's committees to look at issues such as the representation of minorities in parliament, but it is the first time he has looked at how democracy can be reformed beyond parliament.
