Now Bercow compares Boris to a bank robber
In astonishing outburst, he warns Premier MUST comply with No Deal law
JOHN Bercow delivered an extraordinary warning to Boris Johnson over Brexit last night, telling him not to disobey the new anti-No Deal law.
The outgoing Commons Speaker suggested that breaking the law just passed by MPs would be like robbing a bank.
And he warned that Britain would not leave the EU without Parliament’s approval, threatening extra ‘procedural creativity’ at Westminster if necessary to thwart any attempt
Mr Bercow also called for Britain to have a written constitution to prevent the Government ‘perverting’ the law.
The comments – which come after he allowed backbenchers to take control of Parliamentary time to pass a law ruling
‘The most terrible example’
out a No Deal Brexit on October 31 – are likely to enrage Tory MPs. Mr Bercow has faced repeated accusations of anti-Brexit bias and has angered the Tories to the extent that they vowed to break convention and stand a rival Tory candidate in his Buckingham seat at the next election.
Mr Johnson has repeatedly vowed to deliver Brexit on October 31 and has said he would rather be ‘dead in a ditch’ than ask for an extension to Britain’s EU departure date. It has been suggested that he might try to wriggle out of the new law or find a way to fight it or even sabotage the request for an extension.
In his speech last night at the Bingham Centre, part of a legal institute in London, Mr Bercow said it was ‘astonishing’ that anyone even entertained the idea that the Prime Minister could disobey the law.
He said that the effect of the new law passed by MPs meant that the only possible Brexit outcome was one approved by Parliament. On the prospect of the PM refusing to request an extension, he said: ‘Not obeying the law must surely be a non-starter. It is astonishing that anyone has even entertained it.
‘It would be the most terrible example to set to the rest of society. One should no more refuse to request an extension of Article 50, because of what one might regard as the noble end of departing from the EU as soon as possible, than one could excuse robbing a bank on the basis that the cash stolen would be donated to a charitable cause immediately afterwards.’
Mr Bercow added that if Mr Johnson did consider such a course of action, then MPs would act again – and that ‘procedural creativity’ may be required. He said: ‘We should not be in this linguistic territory. If we come close to being there, I would imagine that Parliament would want to cut such a possibility off and do so forcefully.
‘If that demands additional procedural creativity to come to pass, it is a racing certainty that this will happen and that neither the limitations of the rulebook nor the ticking of the clock will stop it doing so.
‘If I have been remotely ambiguous so far, let me make myself crystal clear: the only form of Brexit which we will have, whenever that might be, will be a Brexit that the House of Commons has explicitly endorsed.’
In a self-aggrandising speech, Mr Bercow said Parliament had undergone a ‘renaissance’ in the past decade since he took the chair. He said his reforms that have allowed backbenchers to hold the Government to account had changed Parliament for the better.
But his comments angered Tory MPs. Brexiteer Michael Fabricant said: ‘If Bercow thinks he can break the rules in order to thwart the will of the people in the referendum, I say, “Boris, do whatever you need to do to be the people’s PM.”’ His colleague James Duddridge added: ‘I welcome him resigning. Even if he exceeded his nine-year election pledge.’ On Monday, Mr Bercow announced that he would step down on October 31 – even if no Brexit deal had been agreed. Opposition MPs paid tribute to him for 90 minutes, while Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn shook his hand.
It came after the Tories said they would put up a rival Tory candidate in his Buckingham seat at the next election. By convention, parties do not stand candidates against the speaker.
Mr Bercow originally said that he would serve a nine-year term, but changed his mind after the 2017 snap election and vowed to stay on to see Brexit through.