John Bercow
My lack of schadenfreude worries me
Something has been bothering me of late, and that is my total lack of schadenfreude. The malicious pleasure at someone’s…
Portrait of the week: Zelensky channels Churchill, Russia blocks BBC and Bercow banned from parliament
Home President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine addressed a packed House of Commons by video, echoing Winston Churchill by declaring that…
Would you pay £80 for a video from John Bercow?
There is much to be said for meritocracy, and Adrian Wooldridge, in his new book, The Aristocracy of Talent, says…
Will Lindsay get his chariot back?
As Speaker, John Bercow could never be accused of underselling his position. During his tenure the diminutive parliamentarian attracted criticism…
Letters: How to squash a Speaker
No special protection Sir: Rod Liddle’s joke that the election might be held on a date when Muslims cannot vote,…
Portrait of the week: The Speaker resigns, BA pilots strike and Mugabe dies
Home A bill sponsored by Hilary Benn and supported by Alistair Burt and other dissident Tories was passed — becoming…
How John Bercow saved me from Short Man Syndrome
I think my colleagues on the pro-Brexit side of the aisle have been a little unkind in their response to…
The six strangest moments from Parliament’s prorogation protest
Early this morning at around 2am, the Commons witnessed some of the most extraordinary behaviour seen in the Chamber in living memory,…
Who will replace John Bercow as Speaker?
Now that John Bercow has announced his imminent departure, an inevitable political bun fight will surely follow. The outgoing Speaker…
John Bercow’s nauseating farewell
I didn’t think the smug triumphalism of the Remainer Alliance could get any more nauseating, but this afternoon it did.…
There’s nothing wrong with Jacob Rees-Mogg lying down in the Commons
If you are a journalist covering politics this year, every moment is a bad moment to take a holiday. I…
Speaker-speak: the maddening rhetoric of John Bercow
Much has recently been written about the incumbent Commons Speaker, from (vigorously denied) allegations of bullying to (less vigorously denied)…
Why New York loves John Bercow
‘The British political class has offered to the world an astounding spectacle of mendacious, intellectually limited hustlers.’ This is a…
What lies behind John Bercow’s use of the word ‘colleagues’?
The parliamentary press gallery has in the past given a pair of silver shoe buckles to the Speaker as a…
Portrait of the week: a government defeat, the harassment of Anna Soubry and Trump’s wall crisis
Home The government drifted towards a vote by the Commons, which it had cancelled in December, on its withdrawal agreement…
Is ‘woman’ now an offensive word?
I do not know whether the Speaker of the House of Commons called the present Leader of the House a…
What makes a cad (and why this was such a good year for them)
From Lord Sewel to – let’s not be sexist – Sally Bercow, there’s life in the old rogue yet
It’s not just the Russians – there is no morality in top-level sport
Why do transgendered people need separate toilets? I thought, according to the prevalent orthodoxy, that the new gender they had…
Portrait of the week
Home The annual rate of inflation turned negative in April, for the first time since 1960, with deflation of 0.1…
Portrait of the week
Home Theresa May, the Home Secretary, said that Britons who went to Syria or Iraq to fight could be stripped…
If John Bercow were two-and-a-half inches taller, he'd never have been such a big success
Unlike 99 per cent of my colleagues, I was quite touched by John Bercow’s comment about how fed up he…
John Bercow must rein it in — Parliament can't afford to depose two Speakers in a row
John Bercow could go down as a great reforming Speaker of the House of Commons. It’s thanks to him, in…
