Will he follow predecessors and stay till his mid-70s? Last night night I took part in a PoliticsHome poll of “Westminister insiders” on John Bercow’s chances of staying in the job for this parliament. Thinking about the question it is hard to see how he could be forced out if he was determined to stay. He’d brazen it out, surely, and it’s unlikely there would ever be a situation when a there’d be a majority of MPs willing to pass…
Evening Standard website The full feature’s out later – and it’s free After a couple of months when there’s been much muttering at Westminster about the speaker, John Bercow, his wife, Sally, has sparked of more controversy with an interview and photo-shoot that will be appearing in full in a few hours time in the Friday magazine of the London Evening Standard. For the “taster” on the Standard website has, not surprisingly, been getting massive coverage and, no doubt, that…
What are the chances of him actually going? Following the growing criticism of the speaker, John Bercow, the PB thread last night and now the main Times leader this morning Ladbrokes have put up a “Will Bercow survive?” market. The prices are: “John Bercow to leave post of Speaker in 2011” – 3/1. “John Bercow to remain as Speaker until end 2011” – 1/5 Certainly anger amongst Tory MPs has been growing following the incident featured in the clip above…
Could we see another speaker being forced out? The above is a quick Google News search that I did earlier this evening on the speaker, John Bercow, and as can be seen he’s involved in quite a range of different controversies which will just add to the “whispering campaign” amongst Tory MPs that is said to be going on. Their complaint is that he’s being unduly helpful to Labour and over-harsh the government, particularly members of the party that he…
Hat-tip to Iain Dale for picking up this one – a row last night between the government chief whip, Patrick McLoughlin, and the speaker, John Bercow. It arose over Tory concerns about Bercow being what they thought was over-helpful to a Labour whip on a procedural matter. McLoughlin made an inaudible comment to Bercow who responded in a manner that I cannot recall ever happening before. It strikes me that the hostility is moving into very dangerous territory for both…
A special piece by MORUS on this afternoon’s statement Firstly a Judicial Review cannot happen, because a Judicial Review is not permitted to review the workings of the High Court (inc the Election Court) or the Court of Appeal. If the High Court takes complete leave of its senses and awards a Judicial Review, it should be ignored as being an unconstitutional crackpot court. Secondly, any appeal to the Court of Appeal concerning the illegal offence is tangential to the…
Click on picture to watch Is the by election going to be deferred? The next big move in the Oldham East and Saddleworth saga is a statement this afternoon from the commons speaker, John Bercow, on what’s going to happen next, particularly the timing of the by election. The question is whether, as would be normal when a vacancy occurs, it is for the house to call for the by election. Or will Bercow rule that this should be deferred…
Could it be Stevens not Farage who floors Bercow? One of the great side-shows in the election is the scrap in Buckingham where the speaker, John Bercow, is seeking to defend his seat. The main parties are following the convention of not standing against him but there are one or two tricky opponents who might cause him problems. The efforts by ex-UKIP leader, Nigel Farage, have been well documented and he must be in with a chance. But there’s another…