Bullying- row Bercow ‘screamed at clerk and called her a little girl’

COMMONS Speaker John Bercow was under fresh pressure in Westminster’s bullying row last night after claims he ‘screamed’ at a clerk and called her ‘little girl’.

Mr Bercow was accused of yelling at Commons worker Libby Bradshaw when he could not find an envelope he was looking for.

Her claim comes after an official inquiry by Dame Laura Cox found bullying and harassment were not being dealt with in the Commons due to ‘a culture cascading from the top of acquiescence and silence’. Mr Bercow has faced calls for his resignation over the damning report as well as claims he bullied two former private secretaries, which he has vehemently denied.

But in a fresh claim yesterday, former Commons clerk Ms Bradshaw said that Mr Bercow had yelled at her when he was a backbencher. In an article for HuffPost UK, she claimed that Mr Bercow ‘screamed at me and called me a “little girl” simply because he had been unable to find an envelope (which was exactly where I said it was, for the record).’

Ms Bradshaw, who worked in Westminster for 12 years, added of the bullying culture: ‘There’s been a haemorrhage of talent from Parliament because of this issue alone, and some of the brightest, most capable people I worked with are no longer there because of the treatment they received.

‘This is not only bad for public service, but it turns the patriarchy into a self-fulfilling prophecy in one of the most high-profile organisations in the country.’

Last night the Speaker’s office said Mr Bercow ‘has absolutely no recollection of this alleged incident – and it’s not, in his experience, the sort of statement he would make’.

The Speaker has defied calls to quit from both Labour and Tory MPs. But he yesterday agreed not to chair this week’s meeting of the Commons Commission to discuss action over the bullying report.