Speaker aims to have last word on his successor
Bercow to quit on October 31 – but not before trying to ensure Remainer Commons chooses his replacement
JOHN BERCOW, the man who used the office of Speaker to frustrate Brexit, was last night accused of “gaming the system” to ensure his successor is chosen by a Remain-backing Parliament.
Mr Bercow will stand down on Oct 31, the day Britain is due to leave the EU and before a likely election, meaning the next Speaker of the Commons will be chosen by the current crop of MPS, of whom more than two-thirds voted Remain.
Brexiteers reacted with fury, saying Mr Bercow had once again demeaned the supposedly impartial role of Speaker in order to stamp his own personal politics on the nation’s future.
Mr Bercow was also accused of arrogance after suggesting that if he had waited until an election to stand down, new MPS would not be “informed” enough to make the right choice.
It came after Boris Johnson visited Ireland for the first time as Prime Minister. He told his Irish counterpart, Leo Varadkar, that a no-deal Brexit would be a “failure of statecraft” and that he was confident a deal could be reached. His comments brought about speculation that he could consider an all-ireland backstop, which would impose a border in the Irish Sea.
Mr Johnson was last night expected to be defeated for a second time in his attempt to call an election on Oct 15 after Labour and other opposition parties said they would once again block it.
Downing Street announced Parlia- ment would be prorogued at the close of last night’s session, meaning the Commons will not sit until the day of the Queen’s Speech on Oct 14.
Labour is plotting to reject the Queen’s Speech and bring down the Government when Mr Johnson returns from an all-important summit of European leaders a week later, meaning a general election could happen in late November or early December.
Mr Bercow, who has been Speaker for more than 10 years despite pledging to serve a maximum of nine, is a passionate Remainer who has faced repeated accusations of abusing his post to block the Government’s Brexit plans.
He announced yesterday that he would stand down on Oct 31 unless an election happened before then.
The four bookies’ favourites to take over are all Labour MPS. Three of them – Harriet Harman, Dame Rosie Winterton and Chris Bryant – voted Remain, while the fourth, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, has never revealed how he voted.
Mr Bercow said he wanted the election for the next Speaker to take place “when all members have some knowledge of the candidates”, which was “far preferable to a contest at the beginning of a parliament when new MPS will not be similarly informed and may find themselves vulnerable to undue institutional influence”.
David Jones, a former Brexit minister, said: “He is gaming the system, as he has done for years. He wants to make sure a Remain parliament elects his successor and before that he is hanging around to oversee the process when the Prime Minister comes back from the summit of EU leaders.
“And to say that experienced parliamentarians are needed to choose the next Speaker – well, he should know that an MP is an MP, no matter how long they have served.”
Steve Baker, chairman of the European Research Group of Brexiteer Tory MPS, said: “It’s absolutely crucial that the Speaker of the House of Commons is scrupulously neutral about policy.”
Nigel Farage, the Brexit Party leader who tweeted “good riddance” when Mr Bercow made his announcement, said: “We are going to get a Speaker probably in the same image as John Bercow. The lack of change is very disheartening.”
Mr Bercow announced he was standing down and resigning as an MP after the Tories said they would fight his Buckingham seat, rather than abiding by the convention of leaving the Speaker’s seat uncontested. He said he had “concluded that the least disruptive and most democratic course of action would be for me to stand down at the close of business on Thursday Oct 31”.
“Least disruptive because that date will fall shortly after the votes on the Queen’s Speech expected on October 21 and 22,” he added. “The week or so after that may be quite lively and it would be best to have an experienced figure in the chair.”
Yesterday Mr Bercow allowed two emergency debates aimed at defeating the Government, the first time a Speaker has done so since 1979.
As a result Mr Johnson was defeated for a fifth time in five votes last night when MPS voted by 311 to 302 to compel his most senior aides, including his strategy chief Dominic Cummings, to hand over private text messages and other correspondence relating to the prorogation of Parliament.
Labour and other opposition parties believe Mr Johnson decided to suspend Parliament in an attempt to prevent MPS from blocking a no-deal Brexit, which Downing Street denies. The motion requires the documents to be produced by 11pm tomorrow, but No 10 said its staff would not comply because it does not believe the order is lawful.
Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, praised Mr Bercow for being a “superb” Speaker, and said he had “totally changed the way in which the job has been done”.