I will admit that I always thought John Bercow, former Speaker of the House of Commons, was a rather pompous, arrogant and unpleasant little man. That he also used his position as Speaker to try to advance the cause of the 'Remainers' during the Brexit debate was obvious and another reason for my dislike of him. His abuse of his position was palpable and shocking. However, having no direct personal knowledge of the man, I had no idea just how nasty he really was.
Yesterday, a report by an independent committee revealed that they had found Bercow to be a serial bully and serial liar. For someone who had ambitions to be appointed to the House of Lords, as has been usual for retired Speakers for centuries, and to go down in history as a 'Great Speaker', this determination is crucifying. Bercow had already left his erstwhile home in the Conservative Party and joined Labour, largely in pursuit of a seat in the Lords; it had become clear that the Conservatives were never going to put him forward for such an honour so what else was he to do ? For a man blinded by ambition and his own self importance, there was no choice but to forget whatever beliefs he had ever held and simply sign up with anyone who might, just, give him what he wanted. Jeremy Corbyn, a man whose political views could not have been further removed from those of any Conservative, eventually did propose him for a peerage but the nomination was blocked due to the investigation into his behaviour.
Now, and following the release of the utterly damning report, Bercow has found himself on the point of being kicked out of the Labour Party and ostracized by the entire political establishment. The report says that, were he still a sitting Member of Parliament, the committee would recommend that he be expelled by resolution of the House, and recommends that Bercow never be allowed a Parliamentary pass again, effectively banning him from ever being promoted to the House of Lords and barring him from being anything more than a public visitor to the Palace of Westminster in the future.
To compound his dishonour, Bercow has thrown scorn on the report, calling it amateurish, unjust and a travesty of justice. Rather than acknowledging any wrongdoing and apologising, Bercow has denied all the allegations against him, decried those who made the allegations and criticised those who spent some 22 months going through the evidence in minute detail.
Never has any Speaker so defiled this great office of state. What a nasty little man he is.
No comments:
Post a Comment