It’s wrong to portray Speaker Bercow as hero as the Brexit clock counts down

Some like to portray the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, as a hero as he quotes precedent to stop the government in its tracks (“Bercow fights on into the final set”, 20 March).

Yet for many he is applying this precedent in a rather selective way, having ignored it for previous motions and amendments that perhaps he was more sympathetic to.

Equally, he has ignored the impact of the clock ticking down in the exceptional circumstances of Brexit as we get ever closer to running out of time, a situation that renders this point in the process as truly without precedent.

The rainbow coalition of convenience of those wanting to prevent a deal on Brexit at any cost range from the hardcore Brexiteer purists, content only with simply walking away from the EU with no deal and no care for the consequences, through to the SNP who have only ever seen Brexit as an excuse to try to reinvigorate the cause of Scottish independence, no matter what the people of Scotland actually want.

Mr Bercow appears to have picked sides amidst this Westminster maelstrom of political dogma and infighting with his own views on the European Union and a penchant for self-promotion combining to affect his judgment.

The country will wait to see if the majority that arguably now exists in Westminster for an orderly Brexit somehow find a way to work with the Prime Minister to release us from this chaos.

KEITH HOWELL West Linton, Peeblesshire Theresa May has rightly announced that we have a crisis. The hard Brexiteers will be furious if she asks for a long delay and livid if she takes Michel Barnier’s advice and develops a new plan – which will have either a referendum or an election.

But in the same way that one can’t afford to give in to every demand of a screaming child she can’t allow herself to be the sole protector of the present Conservative Party.

Fury or no fury, the Brexiteers have to cool it and act like adults in the room.

For too long Mrs May has failed to learn the lesson of Dunkirk in 1940.

With France on the brink, Lord Halifax wanted to negotiate. Winston Churchill reputedly said: “You can’t negotiate when your head is in the tiger’s mouth.”

Now she has to allow the Brexiteers to face the apocalypse of a divided Conservative Party.

Subversive politicians lose their appeal eventually. Remember Marat, the Girondins, and the French Revolution.

Politicians are subversive when they bang on about what they are against while being unrealistic in stating what they are for. So let’s get realistic.

The Prime Minister should meet the European Union’s demand for an election or referendum in return for a long delay.

By being decisive she can show integrity and help create a less divided country. Let the Brexiteers roar. They are not lions.

ANDREW VASS Corbiehill Place, Edinburgh