Bercow says he will continue as Speaker after summer as it’s the wrong time for a change
JOHN BERCOW has indicated he wants to remains House of Commons Speaker beyond the summer, warning against switching the person in the chair while Parliament was still debating such “great issues”.
Mr Bercow rejected the suggestion that he would step down in July and said it would not be “sensible” to vacate the role now, as he visited Washington DC and gave a speech.
The comments risk angering hardline Eurosceptics who believe Mr Bercow has unfairly helped pro-eu MPS in his parliamentary decisions – something he has always denied.
Discussing his possible departure, after a decade as speaker, Mr Bercow told The Guardian: “I’ve never said anything about going in July of this year.
“Secondly, I do feel that now is a time in which momentous events are taking place and there are great issues to be resolved and, in those circumstances, it doesn’t seem to me sensible to vacate the chair.”
He added: “If I had any intention to announce on that matter … I would do so to parliament first.”
In a speech in Washington, Mr Bercow praised the intellect of Jeremy Hunt and Michael Gove, as the two Cabinet ministers tussle for the Conservative Party leadership.
He extolled the “intellectual self-confidence” and “dexterity” in parliamentary debates shown by the two men. The praise will raise eyebrows given that Mr Bercow’s role requires impartiality.
During his speech, Mr Bercow also said that a no-deal Brexit was not inevitable and declined to backtrack on previous criticism of Donald Trump, the US president, who will make a state visit to Britain next week. Speaking at the Brookings Institution think tank, Mr Bercow discussed his tenure as Speaker and his determination to grant more urgent questions on pressing issues.
“The best ministers in each government tend not to complain,” Mr Bercow said, picking out Jack Straw, the former Labour foreign secretary, for praise.
He went on: “In the present Government, if I may say so, I would cite Michael Gove and Jeremy Hunt as very good examples of extremely capable ministers who’ve got the intellectual self-confidence as well as the communication skill and the dexterity … to cope with that which is thrown at them.
“So sometimes people complain that the Speaker has granted an urgent question. But neither of those two has ever in my earshot complained. They’re people who know that they can hack it.”