Lisa Nandy made a thinly-veiled pitch for the Labour leadership in her first Commons speech since the election.
She made a powerful speech to second the nomination of Sir Lindsay Hoyle as Speaker - praising him as someone who would represent ordinary voters.
The Wigan MP, tipped as a possible successor to leader Jeremy Corbyn , praised Hoyle, saying voters who view parliament "as a bastion of privilege where ordinary people like them cannot wield power" saw Hoyle as one of them.
She told the Commons: "What does it say about people in those communities, communities that have just sent shockwaves through the political system, many changing hands for the first time in 100 years?
"What does it say that they see Parliament as a whole as a bastion of privilege where ordinary people like them cannot wield power?
"So for all of us in this House whether we've won or we've lost we have done this place a service by electing someone to be our face, and our voice, who people - many miles distant from here - see as one of their own."
The speech will be widely seen as an opening bid in the race to replace Mr Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party.
Hoyle, 62, who was first elected in November just before parliament was dissolved for the five-week general election campaign, was re-elected uncontested. He had been deputy speaker since 2010.
"A speaker has to be trusted," Hoyle said, before two lawmakers carried out the parliamentary tradition of dragging him to the Speaker's chair. "I have a proven track record of being impartial, independent and fair."
The Speaker is the arbiter of procedural disputes in the Commons, parliament's lower chamber, and determines which potential challenges to the government's plans are allowed.
A Member of Parliament for the seat of Chorley in his native Lancashire, northern England, since 1997, Hoyle ran his own texitle printing business before entering parliament. His father, Doug, was also a Labour member of parliament.
