The scandal over MPs’ expenses had brought the reputation of the Commons to an historic low when John Bercow became Speaker following the MP for Springburn, then Glasgow North East, Michael Martin’s departure. When the Speaker’s chair became vacant, his candidacy was championed by the Labour side and opposed by the majority of his former Conservative colleagues, who suspected him of bias against them. They even had a failed attempt to oust him while William Hague was Leader of the House. He was equally loathed by the old guard establishment within the civil service who resented his determination to reform the role of Speaker and the procedures of the House of Commons.
A good example of this was when he opposed Trump addressing the Commons because of his ‘opposition to racism and sexism’. Another was when pictures emerged of his car with a “Bollocks to Brexit” sticker on its window. He claimed it was his wife’s.
I have no idea if he was guilty of bullying or not but I do know with certainty that he was the finest Speaker in generations. Speaker Bercow set about shifting the balance of power internally, making sure Parliament held the executive to account, and speaking up for parliament externally. He greatly increased the number of Urgent Questions allowed by the Speaker, forcing ministers to come to Parliament at short notice to explain government actions. He nurtured and encouraged new, younger, and especially women MPs to play a full role. Externally, he spent a lot of his time and energy travelling up and down the UK to engage with young people about why parliament matters. He opened up the Speaker’s apartments in Westminster to facilitate visits and charitable events. Bercow is convinced a great deal of the momentum behind the accusations he faced was caused by the entrenched opposition of these civil servants to his determination to promote diversity across the whole Parliamentary estate.
His predecessor, Michael Martin came face to face with the same intransigence and snobbery of the ‘old boys network’ when he was Speaker, and was finally driven out of office as the scapegoat for the MPs expenses scandal. Even so, he then became Baron Martin of Springburn, in the House of Lords, an honour granted to all former Speakers. John Bercow’s appointment was blocked. I remember sitting in the gallery once when Speaker Martin had to read out a long winded, jargon laden ruling on some obscure parliamentary procedure. He put down his bit of paper and sighed, ‘well that certainly wasn’t written by a Glasgow man’. The difference between Michael Martin and John Bercow was that Bercow was well and truly up to them. They would not be allowed to frustrate his aims. The truth is the establishment have this sense of entitlement that means they will never concede graciously, never put aside a grudge and move on. They were determined to ‘get him’, however long it took. ‘Banned from Parliament for life’ screamed the headlines. The truth is it has been recommended that he be denied the House of Commons pass for life usually given to former MPs. However, he can still attend Parliament as the guest of a current member or just as a member of the public. In any case he has stated that he has never applied for the pass and has no intention of doing so. The famous quip of Groucho Marx comes to mind, ‘I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.’