Bercow’s lines to Powell’s widow emerge as he bows out
Mother of the House refers to the Speaker’s former membership of far-right group the Monday Club
Harriet Harman, a contender to replace John Bercow as Speaker of the House of Commons, yesterday praised him on his last day in the job. Well, sort of.
Ms Harman reminded her fellow MPS that Mr Bercow was not always as “politically correct” as he is now. “You started off towards the views of the Monday Club,” she said, adding: “You are ‘woke’ now – but my goodness me, you were in the deepest of slumbers.”
In the early Eighties, Mr Bercow had stood for election to the executive of the far-right Monday Club on an anti-immigration ticket and a demand for a “programme of assisted repatriation”.
But incredibly, he stood down yesterday after a decade as Speaker as a heroic figure among Remainers and as a darling of the Labour Party.
Just how far and how quickly Mr Bercow has travelled on his political journey is evident from two handwritten letters sent to Pamela Powell, the widow of Enoch Powell. The letters, whose existence emerged yesterday, were sent by Mr Bercow in the May and August of 2000 in praise of her dead husband.
At the time of writing, Mr Bercow, now 56, had been an MP for three years, winning the safe seat of Buckingham in the 1997 election.
The letters suggest that Mr Bercow remained appreciative and sympathetic towards Powell for almost 20 years after he had first dabbled with the Monday Club. He would later dismiss his brush with the group as the actions of a “boneheaded” student.
“Dear Pamela,” he wrote on Commons-headed notepaper on Friday May 26 2000, thanking her for her “charming hospitality” having dined with her the evening before.
Mr Bercow wrote: “As I said, Enoch has always been my hero and there can be little doubt that you and he are one the great partnerships of twentieth century public life.”
The MP, 37 at the time of writing, expressed his delight at being able to browse Mrs Powell’s collection of her husband’s speeches, describing them as “a reminder of Enoch’s extraordinary gifts and achievements”. He goes on to stress “the esteem in which you are both held, not least by young Conservatives” and to express his eagerness to “meeting you again in due course”.
On Aug 11 2000, Mrs Powell, who died aged 91 in 2017, wrote to Mr Bercow praising him for an outspoken attack on Cherie Blair, whom he had described four days earlier as the “Lady Macbeth” of British politics. Mr Bercow had drawn stinging criticism from the Labour Party when he accused Mrs Blair of profiting financially from the introduction of the Human Rights Act after she co-founded Matrix Chambers.
On Aug 14 2000, Mr Bercow replied, thanking Mrs Powell for her support.
In the letter he bemoans the Human Rights Act and complains that it “hands power to unelected judges, will increase court costs and threatens a welter of vexatious claims” before adding: “Given that Mrs Blair will be further enriched by it, a self-denying ordinance on her part would be
‘Enoch has always been my hero and … you and he are one of the great partnerships of public life’
welcome but, alas, it seems to be too much to expect!”
In the six-page, handwritten letter – again written on Commons-headed notepaper, he once more is gushing in his praise of Powell, insisting he has never “come across anything to match Enoch’s work and I doubt that I ever shall”.
He concludes by inviting Mrs Powell to supper either at the Commons or near her home and thanking her for “your kindness in writing”.
At the time of the letter, Powell had been dead two years. He had been sacked by Edward Heath as shadow defence secretary after his infamous “Rivers of Blood” speech in 1968. Mr Bercow, though, had long been an admirer.
Despite being descended from Romanian Jewish immigrants, Mr Bercow had been at the forefront of Right-wing Conservative student politics while at Essex University in the early Eighties. One former member of the Monday Club at the time recalled Mr Bercow’s admiration for Powell, telling this newspaper a decade ago:
“He used to read Powell’s speeches and regurgitate them word for word, because he has this amazing memory.” Mr Bercow left the Monday Club – of which he was secretary of its immigration and repatriation committee – in 1982, saying he found its views “unpalatable” and instead concentrated his energies on the Federation of Conservative Students. From university he went into banking and then worked as a lobbyist before entering Parliament in 1997, where he started his move in the early 2000s towards a more centrist Conservative politics. In 2002, he married Sally Illman, a Labour supporter, with whom he has three children. In the same year, he resigned from the
Tory front bench after rebelling to vote for Labour plans to allow gay couples to adopt children.
His election to Speaker in 2009 promptly provoked allegations of anti-conservative bias, which have resounded ever more loudly following the referendum to leave the European Union.
Yesterday, as he bowed out he earned final plaudits for his “humanity” in dealing with the aftermath of the murder of Jo Cox and the Westminster terrorist attack.
Sir Henry Bellingham, a Conservative and a candidate to be the next Speaker, praised him for doing a “superb job” for backbenchers.
“You can leave this place confident and secure that what you are leaving behind is a very powerful, special and long-lasting legacy,” he said.
Mr Bercow, never normally modest, said of the lengthy tributes paid to him: “This is quite an embarrassing experience.”