Return to: Home | Politics | UK Politics

Vote Bercow for a real reformer

Published 18 June 2009

He is the most progressive candidate in the race-a genuine reformer.

He is a white, male, Conservative MP, once so right-wing that he chaired the “immigration and repatriation committee” of the extremist Monday Club.

Oh, and he’s our choice for Speaker. But before you throw your magazine against the wall, hear us out. The Tory John Bercow is, curiously, the most progressive candidate in the race – a genuine reformer, unafraid of challenging the status quo.

The backbencher, who in 2002 told his own party it was “racist, sexist, homophobic and anti-youth”, has proved himself the most independent-minded of all the ten candidates. State-educated, and someone who sends his own children to state schools, he is no longer regarded as “one of us” by his party colleagues. Appalled at his marriage in 2002 to “that woman” Sally Illman, a Labour activist, Tory MPs have looked on in horror as he has emerged as the unlikely front-runner – initially highlighted in this magazine even before he had gained the support of roughly 200 Labour MPs. Other candidates such as Margaret Beckett may be more experienced, but, in this particular election, freshness is what matters. And at a time when the legislature needs strengthening against an almighty executive, a nonconformist, anti-Establishment backbencher is what we need.

The son of a minicab driver, Bercow seeks to be the face of a parliament urgently in need of modernisation. He is the clean-break candidate. Members from all sides should support him.

Post this article to

3 comments from readers

Hereford Cow
18 June 2009 at 10:58

I'm a little taken-aback at the innocence of many otehrwise sensible folk: a man who spent the 1980s saying fairly vile things (when this was likely to see him advance in the Tory party, and hence power) then chooses to say the exact opposite when it is (a) fashionable and safe and (b) likely to see him make powerful friends. Something not quite right there....

Voice of Reason
19 June 2009 at 21:42

You are quite right to come out for John Bercow as the NS candidate for Speaker. He has shown real guts taking on his own party on issues like gay adoption and ID cards - he was against when they were in favour. I hope enough Labour and Lib Dem MPs support him. The idea of Labour whips pressing their MPs to vote for Margaret Beckett is awful. She doesnt have a record of standing up for Parliament or backbenchers in the way John Bercow has and she wouldnt be running for the job if she had not been sacked in the last Government reshuffle. That is not a recommendation to be Speaker of the House of Commons.

Roland Baker
20 June 2009 at 19:30

I believe the following are the 11 candidates for Speaker:

BECKETT, Margaret; BEITH, Sir Alan; BERCOW, John; CORMACK, Sir Patrick; DHANDA Parmjit; FIELD Frank; HASELHURST, Sir Alan; LORD, Sir Michael; SHEPHERD Richard; YOUNG, Sir George; WIDDECOMBE, Ann.

Among these, the unequivocal support for John Bercow surprises me in the New Statesman. The vacancy for Speaker arises amid a catastrophe for the reputation of Parliament caused by members "mentioned in expenses" so the normal party rotation of candidates must be suspended. The inclusion of Sir Alan Haselhurst, otherwise the best qualified candidate, is surprising in this regard.

Who is Parmjit Dhanda and what does he stand for? Sir Patrick Cormack can be a bluff cove but is perhaps wizened in the ways of that which has been at the root of the present crisis. Anne Widdecombe is too outspoken and Margaret Beckett too underspoken. The once reliable Frank Field is now too maverick. Richard Shepherd stood after first pointing out that he is already older than Speaker Martin.

Resolving the choice to John Bercow, Sir Alan Beith, Sir Michael Lord and Sir George Young I find Sir Alan Beith too safe, Sir Michael Lord probably not well enough known in the country and John Bercow too unpredictable and inexperienced.

So I choose Sir George Young. He is capable of good detached judgement for which I am sure he can give reasons. I am not sure any of the other candidates would be wholly prepared to forego their political instincts and constituency profiles for the relative donnish isolation of perfecting their learning in Erskine May for the prospect of a peerage. Nor does any other candidate command the requisite determination and standing to keep order in the House.

It is not for the Speaker to determine the business of the House. It is the Speaker's job to run the business of the House, not be the President of Parliament.