With you all the way on Bercow.

He was extraordinary liberal on abortion last year, and I think we all wondered out loud then when that would come back to bite him.

He said this at one of the early abortion rights meetings, when Mad Nads having what I think was her second attempt at reducing the time limit for late abortion:

‘There isn’t a compelling scientific, or ethical, argument that is made to support this proposition …We shouldn’t simply be fighting a defensive and rearguard action against an attempt to turn the clock back 40 years with truly frightening consequences for thousands and thousands of women… there is a compelling case for the modernisation of abortion law… I happen to believe there is a good argument for a wider variety of locations in which the abortion procedure can be performed… I will be with the supporters of the 21st century and of women’s rights….’

Great man. No wonder they’re trying to ringbark him. He used to have the nickname Son of Tebbit because of his ultraconservatism, but he couldn’t be faulted on abortion rights.

I thought the Speaker was supposed to be a centrist? They’re supposed to have some cross-party support and respect. Surely this rules out Dorries – although lack of Tory support could be Bercow’s biggest hurdle.

PS hope you had a good holiday! Marrakech rocks man – went there earlier this year and had a great time. Your pics of the Jemaa el Fina bring and the Atlas mountains bring it all back…

@2 Don’t think Dorries is standing, although it would be highly entertaining if she was.

She’s just part of the anti-Bercow attack squad, coz she’s settling scores for his support of liberal Abortion Act amendments during last year’s readings of the HFEB. He made her look like a twat.

More of a twat, that is.

she does mention his criticism of her on the HFEB: it means he can not be “fair and balanced” (in the style of fox news i presume)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1194459/What-John-Bercow-really-wants-To-Speaker–100-000-salary-MPs.html

I think the fact the Mail are attacking him shows that he is a perfect candidate for the job.

And there was me thinking that Nadine Dorries’ problem with John Bercow was that his wife is – this is very shocking, so I must whisper it – a socialist.

Parmjit Dhanda seems to me to have been overlooked a little unfairly in all of this. On the Newsnight hustings the other day, he was head and shoulders above the other candidates. He seemed like the only one who’d make a really noticeable difference to parliament.

http://petespolitics.wordpress.com

I think Bercow has too many enemies. It’s probably between Beckett and Young. In truth, MPs want to go on claiming for their bathplugs and duck islands and they will elect whichever speaker will do the least House-cleaning. It’s the same as with the bankers, really – they just want to get back to their old tricks as soon as possible.

And welcome back, Sunny.

Please not Beckett.

If there is anyone unlikely to effect change it is she- so patently tied to the tough and so lacking the comprehension to understand why anyone could think that was unacceptable she was booed on Question Time.

If she’s elected it throws the contempt the party machines have for the electorate into even sharper focus.

Please not Beckett.

“Bercow was perhaps the rare sensible and rational Tory voice on the issue”

Translation : “Bercow was a non-Tory voice on the issue”

Mr Bercow’s political odyssey is fascinating and worthy of further study … and if he ever recants his current views Sunny and Co will be reprinting all his Monday Club stuff from way back when … still, the endorsement of Lib Con will do his cause no end of good

[10] Isn’t the story that Bercow fell for a NuLabourette with the usual consequence when his political views don’t match hers?

Thanks for the welcomes.

Laban: Translation : “Bercow was a non-Tory voice on the issue”

Given that the Tory voices were dominated by Nadine Dorries, who spectactularly misrepresented everything, while being funded by a fundamentalist and bigoted Christian organisation, then that’s definitely a good thing. By most sane standards.

The fact Dorries is against him doesn’t make him the right man for the job. In fact the right man for the job IMO is Parmjit. But the man who’ll get the most votes in round 8 or whatever is Margaret Beckett.

They should “reopen nominations” or better still disestablish the post and have any number of trained up “chairs” able to take turns in the chamber and elsewhere.

PS Bercow’s wife was apparently already (or always?) a Tory, albeit a libertarian (and possible liberal) one … see Guido quoting a conference speech of hers.

PPS I’m told Dorries is a political anti-abortionist who has previously been a political pro-abortionist. There are people who have watched her antics down the years who believe that what she says on the matter is not only barmy bonkers lies but also that she herself doesn’t believe or word of it or could just as happily take the diametrically opposite view. In 2001 she allegedly stood or at least spoke out as pro choice in Alderley Edge.

Best leaflet momen there: bare foot Nads captioned: “she’ll knock your sock off!!”; best local media moment: daughter – also given code name – doing exams with sprained ankle/broken arm/nasty attack of nits. Something like that.

I think Bercow has too many enemies. It’s probably between Beckett and Young. In truth, MPs want to go on claiming for their bathplugs and duck islands and they will elect whichever speaker will do the least House-cleaning. It’s the same as with the bankers, really – they just want to get back to their old tricks as soon as possible.

Looks like you’re right: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/jun/21/speaker-commons-bercow-becket-young

Wow, that IS dirty. Tories and Labour whips and backbenchers, all plotting, then planning to double-cross each other – seriously, do these guys just spend all their time plotting and briefing against each other? When do they represent their constituents?

If this is true it shows they’ve learn’t nothing from the expense scandal.

Of course they haven’t – the expenses scandal contributed to and exacerbated a mood among the public that already existed: that politicians are irrelevant to people and have nothing to do with them. Whilst there was a lot of outrage, its main effect was to make people even more apathetic – witness the drop in turnout at the Euro elections. If people are apathetic, and now come to expect politicians to be corrupt, they won’t bother to try and expose them. They’ll just get on with their lives, oblivious to the fact their livelihoods depend on how much power they exert over the political process.

MPs know they can plot to elect a Speaker who won’t bust their balls – because they know the public will ultimately not bother to go after them for it. The Tories will be in next year and this will all continue. This has all happened before and it will all happen again..

Interesting to note that people here seem keen to support Bercow despite his origins in the Monday Club, ‘hang Nelson Mandela’ days. I had naturally assumed that the opinions and behaviour that one exhibited at university were indelibly fixed in one’s character.

Or is that only social drinking clubs?

Frank Field supports Anne Widdicombe as she has the determination to clean up the system and has a good repuation wth regard to expenses. She has proved she is willing to stand up to her party. Martin’s problem was that he favoured Labour over the other parties; will Beckett be any different?
Beckett and Bercow will be exteremely unlikely to persuade the public to trust MPs . Who does the public trust the most and has the willpower to make the changes to clean up the system?

The public won’t trust Widdecombe as far as they can throw her, which is probably not very far.

Field supports her because they are both right-wing on immigration. The only way she stands up to her party is to chide it on not being conservative enough.

Bercow, to most people outside the political bubble, is an unknown quantity. But at least he can give a good speech, articulate his views well, and is bipartisan – i.e. not a nutjob. I know who I’d rather have as the Speaker.

I hope Beckett wins.

It’s not the Speaker’s job to lead radical reform. That’s parliament, and in particular the elected government’s job, and if the public think someone else would do better they can always vote for someone else.

The expenses scandal will have to be dealt with, and a new system and culture put in place – MPs clearly realise this. What’s of more concern is what happens after. Bercow might be radical on the odd issue but he’s incredibly right-wing on economic and other non-social/constitutional issues. I’m concerned he would aid the most right-wing tendencies of a possible future Tory government . I don’t think there is such thing as a neutral Speaker, but it is important that the Speaker is someone who listens to backbenchers and is fair-minded – something MPs from all parties would say of Beckett.

Rayyan

Field isn’t right wing on anything. Just because he listens to his constituents concerns about unlimited immigration (instead of ignoring them like most MPs) doesn’t make him into a right-winger or a conservative.

Anne Widdecombe however, is right wing. But then at least she honestly represents the views of tory voters. Bercow on the other hand is completely unrepresentative of the opinions of those who vote tory yet somehow remains on the tory benches. It would be much more honest and far better for him if he voiced his opinions from the Labour or Lib Dem benches where he would feel much more welcome. Why should the electorate trust someone who pretends to be something that he isn’t? And if you think he’s ‘bi-partisan’ then how come he lacks the support of almost all his fellow tories?

Latest: Widdecombe, Beckett, Haselhurst and Beith out. Next speaker will be a Tory, and, so says Andrew Sparrow, will probably be Bercow. This will please the statesman, strangely enough.

Bercow will win, and will be Cameron’s puppet in the next Parliament.

Iain Dale’s readers are gloating over him having lost £100 on Alan Haselhurst. Ha-ha.

While Guido is quid’s in

Anon 26: according to Andrew Sparrow at the Guardian; “David Cameron said that he would support Bercow, but other Tories have been muttering about running a candidate against him at the general election, or trying to vote him out of office at the next election.” Also, Cameron said some not very nice things about Bercow – horrible things like ‘he’s not a real Tory’ (words that decent people would embrace, perhaps even Bercow himself – you never know).

I think that’s certainly what Cameron wanted Labour MPs to think. Bercow is unpopular with the Cornerstone types, and that means the leadership can’t be seen to like him. But Cameron has got a Speaker who will be very compliant with his premiership.