MPS fear Bercow will ‘humiliate them or stop them speaking’
MPS are afraid of criticising John Bercow because they believe he will block them from speaking in the Commons or “humiliate” them, a senior Tory has claimed.
Maria Miller, the women and equalities select committee chairman, said “many people” had been on the “receiving end of the Speaker’s displeasure”.
“The reason people will not speak out is fear of the Speaker … and maybe they have just cause to be fearful of him,” Mrs Miller added. “He controls your ability to be able to contribute in the chamber, and secondly his outbursts can be very embarrassing and for some people even humiliating.”
She said that the Commons risked being brought into “disrepute” over the “disgraceful” way a damning report into bullying and harassment in Westminster was being taken forward. Mrs Miller criticised the rate of change following the independent inquiry by Dame Laura Cox, adding that “significant issues” she raised appeared to have been “swept under the carpet”.
She said: “It’s absolutely disgraceful the way in which the Cox Report is being taken forward, and that significant issues that she raised appear to be being swept under the carpet … At the moment it’s clear that a number of modernisation projects have stalled.”
She said Dame Laura was “absolutely clear” that there would not be a change in the culture unless there was a change in senior management – including Mr Bercow and the Commons Clerk [Sir David Natzler]. “Sir David Natzler has announced that he will be leaving: we now need clarity as to when the Speaker will be leaving,” she added.
A spokesman for Mr Bercow said: “The Speaker, alongside the entire House of Commons commission, has committed to swift and lasting change in response to [the] report and accepted its key recommendations.
“A number of changes have already been made and the Speaker hopes and expects to see further such progress in 2019. The Speaker was elected by the House in 2017 for the course of the Parliament. In the event he has anything to say on his future plans, he will make an announcement to the House first.”