Bombshell leaked email accuses Bercow of secret power grab

COMMONS Speaker John Bercow faced a crisis last night after the leak of a bombshell Downing Street email denouncing his ‘bizarre’ decision to give an Australian woman a £200,000-a-year Parliamentary post.

Mr Bercow’s determination to give Australian official Carol Mills the powerful job of Commons Clerk has sparked an allparty revolt. He has been accused of a ‘politically correct’ stunt – and trying to use manager Ms Mills’s inexperience in Parliamentary debates to grab more power for himself.

The dispute took an extraordinary turn last night after one of Ms Mills’s senior colleagues at the Australian Senate effectively branded her unfit to do the job. Rosemary Laing, Clerk at the Australian Senate – the equivalent of the post planned for Ms Mills – said the ‘embarrassing’ appointment was ‘an affront’.

The onslaught came in an email widely circulated in Westminster, including No10.

The dispute threatened to turn into a major row as it emerged that outgoing Commons Clerk Sir Robert Rogers, allegedly told to ‘f*** off’ by Mr Bercow, kept a sensational secret diary of the Speaker’s outbursts. The Queen risks being dragged into the row amid reports David Cameron is ready to refuse to send the appointment to the Palace for Royal approval. And MPs’ calls for a vote to overturn the Speaker’s choice of Ms Mills have been backed by ministers.

But last night, the Speaker refused to back down, insisting via a spokeswoman that Ms Mills’s appointment was ‘open and fair’.