Former speaker ‘sick of Johnson’s lies’ defects to Labour
London - The colourful former speaker of Britain’s House of Commons John Bercow said he has left the Conservatives to join the opposition Labour Party, saying the country is “sick of lies” under prime minister Boris Johnson.
In an interview with the Observer newspaper published on Sunday, the former MP said the Conservative Party under Johnson was “reactionary, populist, nationalistic and sometimes even xenophobic”.
Bercow, who stepped down as speaker in October 2019 after 10 years, said he joined the Labour Party a few weeks ago because he shared its values.
“I am motivated by support for equality, social justice and internationalism. That is the Labour brand,” he told the Observer.
“The conclusion I have reached is that this government needs to be replaced. The reality is that the Labour Party is the only vehicle that can achieve that objective. There is no other credible option.”
In an interview with Sky News, Bercow insisted his decision was “not personal against Boris Johnson”.
But in scathing comments, he said Johnson had “only a nodding acquaintance with the truth in a leap year” and the way he treated parliament “with contempt” was “lamentable”.
Bercow also told The Observer the prime minister was “a successful campaigner but a lousy governor”, criticising policies such as cutting the international aid budget.
“I don’t think he has any vision of a more equitable society, any thirst for social mobility or any passion to better the lot of people less fortunate than he is. I think increasingly people are sick of lies, sick of empty slogans, sick of a failure to deliver,” he said. Bercow also directed a jibe at health minister Matt Hancock, widely criticised for his handling of the pandemic, telling Sky: “I would buy him at my valuation and sell him at his and realise a healthy profit in the process”.
On the other hand he described Labour leader Keir Starmer as “an honest, decent person”.
He denied suggestions that he was angling for a peerage from Labour after the Tories denied him this.
Conservatives sought to downplay the significance of Bercow’s defection.
Justice minister Robert Buckland told Sky News: “To be fair to John Bercow, I think he left the Conservative Party a long time ago.”