Boothroyd suggests Commons Speaker should retire mid-term

Commons Speaker John Bercow should stand down before the next election, one of his predecessors has hinted.

Mr Bercow has said he intends to serve a full term, keeping him in the Speaker’s chair until 2022 unless there is an early general election.

But Baroness Boothroyd said the Speaker should retire midterm, in order to allow MPS to elect a replacement they have been able to properly assess.

She told The House magazine: “I always believed, long before I was Speaker, that a Speaker should retire mid-term. 0 John Bercow has said he intends to serve a full term

“It should never be at the end of a parliamentary session.

“I was in the unfortunate position of when [Bernard] Weatherill retired, it was at the end of a parliamentary session. And therefore, you have a new House, you have new members, they don’t know who they’re getting.

“Whereas, if it’s mid-term, they know the weaknesses and strengths of a candidate.

“I believe all Speakers should do that courtesy – it is a courtesy – to the House.”

The crossbench peer also called for the size of the House of Lords to be slashed from its current 785 members.

The Lord Speaker’s committee on the size of the House of Lords has recommended the House be reduced to 600 members,butladyboothroyd said: “I want to see the House of Lords reduced to a membership of something like 400.”