At last! Bercow to quit – but not until next year thanks to Labour propping him up over Brexit

BELEAGUERED John Bercow is finally quitting as Commons Speaker – but not until next year because Labour MPs want him to remain to give them a say over Brexit.

In a remarkable admission, Dame Margaret Beckett even said that for Labour, Brexit ‘trumps’ concerns over Mr Bercow’s response to bullying and sexual harassment at Parliament.

Earlier, shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry had suggested Mr Bercow’s stance on Brexit meant he should stay. And former Labour culture secretary Ben Bradshaw told MPs the Speaker should stay on to ‘stand up for members’ against an ‘intolerable Brexit’.

Last night, it was claimed Mr Bercow had told friends he intends to stand down as Commons Speaker next summer, though his office would not confirm this. It came after an extraordinary Commons debate in which MPs told Mr Bercow he should quit following a scathing report on Parliament’s ‘macho’ culture.

The report said bullying and sexual harassment had been allowed to ‘thrive’. Mr Bercow has personally faced bullying claims from former members of staff. He denies any wrongdoing.

In the Commons yesterday, Conservative MP Anne Main called for a regime change at the top, saying: ‘The fish rots from the head.’

And fellow Tory Maria Miller said there was a ‘shocking culture of fear and deference driven right from the top of the House of Commons’.

‘The report is clear, there needs to be complete change in leadership at the most senior level – including you Mr Speaker – as chief officer if we are to press the reset button,’ she said.

Later however, on the Radio 4 PM programme, veteran Labour MP Dame Margaret Beckett said: ‘Abuse is terrible, it shouldn’t happen, behaviour should change anyway..

‘But yes, if it comes to it... the most difficult decision we’ve made for hundreds of years [Brexit] trumps bad behaviour.’

And Miss Thornberry told Sky News yesterday: ‘I think this is absolutely not the time to be changing Speaker.

‘We don’t know, for example, with regard to Brexit, what is going to happen: whether there is going to be, technically, an amendable motion or not... We do need to have all hands to the deck at the moment.’ Sir Kevin Barron, the outgoing chairman of the standards committee, accused her of prioritising Brexit, rather than ensuring Parliament was a safe place to work.

And Dave Penman, the general secretary of the FDA union of senior civil servants, called for her to stop putting ‘party politics before people’.

Theresa May refused to publicly back Mr Bercow last night, saying his position was a matter for Parliament to decide. When elected Speaker in 2009, Mr Bercow pledged to stay in the role for no longer than nine years. That deadline passed on June 22 this year.