Bercow steps aside for harassment meeting

JOHN BERCOW has bowed to pressure to recuse himself as chairman of the House of Commons watchdog when it discusses the findings of a report on bullying and harassment in Parliament.

The Speaker has agreed to allow an independent member of the Commons Commission to chair a meeting of the panel this week to consider the findings of the inquiry by Dame Laura Cox.

The report singled out “a shocking culture of fear and deference [that] is driven right from the top of the House of Commons”. Mr Bercow has faced claims – which he denies – that he bullied two former officials.

The announcement yesterday that the Speaker would step aside for the meeting came as Amber Rudd, the pro- Remain former home secretary, hit out at Labour MPs who have backed Mr Bercow, saying it was “outrageous” to prioritise the Speaker’s Brexit role over the bullying claims against him.

Dame Margaret Beckett, the former acting leader of the party, and Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, cited Brexit as the reason why Mr Bercow should not quit following the damning report.

Miss Rudd said: “It’s outrageous. What are Labour saying: that it is more important for him to handle Brexit and the constitutional implications than be held to account for bullying? That’s just wrong.”

MPs had expressed concern that Mr Bercow was due to chair an emergency meeting of the commission tomorrow.

A spokesman for the Speaker had said he would decide whether to chair the meeting “in due course”. Yesterday, a spokesman for the Speaker’s Office said: “The Speaker believes that when the commission discusses these particular matters, the chair should be taken by Jane McCall, the more senior independent member of it.

“Ms McCall is not available on Monday, so the meeting has been moved to Wednesday, October 24.”

Yesterday, Libby Bradshaw, a former Commons clerk, wrote on the HuffPost UK website that Mr Bercow had once “screamed at me and called me a ‘little girl’ simply because he had been unable to find an envelope”. Mr Bercow’s spokesman said: “The Speaker has no recollection of this alleged incident – and it’s not, in his experience, the sort of statement he would make.”

Dia Chakravarty: Page 16