Self-important, but not servile: the pride and prejudice of John Bercow
John Bercow was being compared to Gilbert & Sullivan’s modern major general this week, but a better literary comparator is surely Jane Austen’s Mr Collins, the pompous, unctuous clergyman from Pride and Prejudice. Close textual analysis of their speeches reveals striking similarities in style and theme. In both cases, their favoured topics are their own duties and rank.
Take this example from Mr Bercow: “The Speaker is elected to discharge his responsibilities to the House to the best of his ability. That is what I have done, diligently, conscientiously and without fail for the past nine and a half years.”
Mr Collins: “As a clergyman, moreover, I feel it my duty to promote and establish the blessing of peace in all families within the reach of my influence; and on these grounds
I flatter myself that my present overtures are highly commendable.”
Mr Bercow, again: “I am the Speaker of the House of Commons, a very important part of
Parliament.” Mr Collins: “I consider the clerical office as equal in point of dignity with the highest rank in the kingdom.”
And just as Mr Collins refers frequently to the beneficence of his patron, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Mr Bercow likes to throw in his own little references to Her Majesty. “On the occasion of Her Majesty the Queen’s visit to this place,” the Speaker recounted, “as I said directly to her, the honourable Member for Stone speaks and votes only and always as he thinks the national interest requires. There can be no greater compliment.”
Mr Collins likewise enjoys passing on compliments to his betters: “I have more than once observed to
In both cases, their favoured topics are their own duties and their rank
Lady Catherine, that her charming daughter seemed born to be a duchess.”
This is where the comparison falls down. Whereas Mr Collins is constantly surrounded by his social superiors, his self-importance punctured by servility, Mr Bercow has no such constraints. In fact, with such a dysfunctional Government in place, the Speaker reigns supreme. Nothing could better gratify his immense sense of his own dignity.