Bercow slammed as ‘appalling’ by officials who claim ‘establishment stitch up’ has shielded Speaker from bullying probe
JOHN Bercow has been slammed as “appalling” by senior officials who claim an “establishment stitch up” has shielded the Remainer Speaker from a bullying probe.
The staffers believe Parliamentary authorities have dragged their heels over acting on complaints against Mr Bercow.
‘STITCH UP’
They claim this is because they don’t want to intervene before he steps down from his powerful role on Thursday.
Parliament only announced last week that it was opening up its new Independence Complaints and Grievance Scheme to allegations dating back to before 2017.
Mr Bercow’s ex-private secretary Angus Sinclair, who said the Speaker regularly mimicked him and said he was prone to “over-the-top anger” when he worked for him between 2009 and 2010, said the “horse has long bolted” in terms of investigating his allegations.
Mr Sinclair told The Telegraph: “I think we’ve lost the moment.”
And David Leakey, a former top Parliamentary official who worked closely with Mr Bercow during his job as Parliament’s ‘Black Rod’, said the new rules allowing old incidents to be investigated had come “too late” to hold the Speaker accountable before he quits.
But he called for him to be denied a place in the House of Lords, which is usually given to former Commons Speakers, saying he set an “appalling example” to the country by “demeaning MPs” in the Chamber.
BULLYING PROBE
Mr Leakey – who was one of the most senior officials in the Lords from 2011 to 2017 – wrote in the Telegraph: “The icing on the cake of an establishment stitch-up in the public perception would be for Mr Bercow to be given a peerage.
“It would be a scandal that Parliament would struggle to live down.”
Mr Sinclair said he “utterly stands by” the allegations he made about Mr Bercow’s intimidating and bullying behaviour.
He quit his job working for the Speaker and was paid £86,250 to stay silent about his experience.
But last year he broke his silence to tell his bombshell allegations of life working for Mr Bercow and explained that the Speaker once became so angry that he smashed a phone on a desk in front of him.
Mr Sinclair’s successor Kate Emms was signed off with PTSD after working for Mr Bercow for less than a year.
MOST READ IN POLITICS
And Parliament’s ex-‘Black Rod’ David Leakey delivered a stinging verdict on his former colleague – saying Mr Bercow was “unworthy of someone in public office” and described the Speaker as “genuinely intimidating”.
Mr Bercow has firmly denied the bullying allegations against him.
He is due to stand down as Speaker on Thursday and his replacement will be elected by MPs on Monday November 4.
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