By all accounts the tory party does not like him anymore because he is not brownshirt enough for them. So if he is not pretending , then this is better than establishment toady Young.

Pity the Labour party could not find a back bencher who could have won. Beckett was just a govt stooge.

A sad loss. Decent Tories are as hard to find as scooter riders at a biker meet.

Charlieman – I assume you mean “decent” in the Euston sense of the word here

Awful, awful choice, with the sole saving grace of Not Being Widdecombe.

Bercow has been extremely loyal to Cameron’s leadership on everything except the issues where Cameron has had to play-up to the god-bothering Cornerstone types (and those are the only Tories who really dislike Bercow). I reckon Cameron has pulled a blinder – getting Labour MPs to elect a Speaker who will turn out to be his version of Gorbals Mick, ensuring the legislature remains submissive to his executive.

I’m so excited I just swallowed my own colon.

Fair coment, burkesworks. But doesn’t that photograph of Bercow on your blog remind you of David Miliband line dancing. I’d post a link to the Daily Mail if it wasn’t against my religion.

I’d have preferred Parmjit Dhanda, but Bercow is a good choice nonetheless. If the Tories try to get rid of him after the election, they’ll look pretty pathetic.

http://petespolitics.wordpress.com

Why could the labour party not find a backbencher with no links to the govt machine?

Just shows are crap they have become.

That the motivation behind this seemed to be to irritate the Tories is not a good sign. We need a Speaker who will be good at his job, not one who fulfils certain partisan desires.

“First – Bercow was the rare sane voice on the Tory side on the HFE bill last year. Second, because it looks like all that frantic briefing against Bercow by Nadine Dorries MP, Iain Dale and Guido Fawkes had no impact and perhaps even strengthened him.”

How exactly do these factors qualify him as a good Speaker?

I didn’t say they did. I said I was pleased with the result for those reasons.

Charlieman – Bercow looks rather less awkward among the Billy Boys of Glasgow than Miliband does demonstrating his yee-hah skills among those old dears in South Shields! A definite “John Redwood grooving on down with the Barron Knights” moment for David there.

“We need a Speaker who will be good at his job, not one who fulfils certain partisan desires.”

In that case we don’t want a Tory toady then if they are about to become the govt.

10 “How exactly do these factors qualify him as a good Speaker?”

If he does not have the vote of Dale and Fawkes then that makes him more qualified than the Tory trolls they would have backed.

Don’t know about brilliant, Sunny.
At least it wasn’t the godawful Beckett, mind…

I wouldn’t usually quote Quentin Letts but …’The House of cheats and nodding oil derricks got its perfect Speaker’

Bercow is a nothing but a flashy man of ambition. A grotesque example of our corrupt and insular political class, totally disconnected from the concerns of ordinary people.

Decent, principled supporters of Parliament like Frank Field, have to stand aside while the system elevates slimeballs like Bercow. His election is proof that our political class is unreformable.

Dhanda made the right noises, but his voting record suggests he’s lobby fodder and his ACA was full to the brim. Interesting that the candidates with low expenses and occasional rebellions (Shepherd and Widdy) on their records got nowhere.

Give him a chance – and if he has pissed on Guido’s, Dale and Dorris’ fire – all well and good.

I don’t know which I find more surprising- the fact that Margaret Beckett didn’t win or the fact that Unity wrote the shortest blog post of his life!

As a member of the armchair ‘anyone but Young’ lobby I suppose I am happy, but, Sunny, one should add that this result will upset many many Tories, and that’s good enough for me.

I think as far as Westminster politics go, Bercow is alright.

I like the fact that he gave them a headache or two during the years of the Age of Consent and Section 28 debate. It took some guts to do so. Impossible to believe for our younger readers, but a mere 9 years ago the Tories were to the right of Pope Benedict the 109th.
Bercow went against that. In my books credit to him.

I think as far as Westminster politics go, Bercow is alright.

I like the fact that he gave the Tories a headache or two during the years of the Age of Consent and Section 28 debates. It must have taken him some guts to do so. Impossible to believe for our younger readers, but a mere 9 years ago the Tories were to the right of Pope Benedict the 109th.
Bercow went against that. In my book credit to him.

“but a mere 9 years ago the Tories were to the right of Pope Benedict the 109th.”

They still are. That is why they hate him . Look at the loons Cameron has teamed up with in Europe.

How much constitutional lee-way does the speaker have?

I hear a lot of talk of how he is going to lead a re-engagement with politics and so on. What can Bercow do to encourage that? Is it just hot air?

In any case, I’m glad that there’s someone in the speakers chair who has got some cross house support and who isn’t in the pocket of the Tories.

Decent, principled supporters of Parliament like Frank Field

That one’s up there with ‘debauched party girls like Ann Widdecombe’ in the ‘eh?’ stakes.

Agreed with Claude here (olive branch?) – the best we can hope for from the incoming Tories is that they combine bad economic policies with not being *insanely* socially right wing, and this was a resounding defeat for the social right.

Hey – Sunny is right. Dale, Dorries and Staines must all be feeling pretty stupid about now. Bercow is not perfect, but for that alone, I’ll salute him.

“Decent Tories are as hard to find as scooter riders at a biker meet.”

Oh I don’t know, I’ve seen some pretty crap machines at biker rallys in my time.

john b- olive branch

Bercow may not be the headache for the Tories that some think, especially if he forces Brown to give direct answers to questions at PMQs.

if he forces Brown to give direct answers to questions at PMQs

Hahahahahahahahahaha, yeah like that could ever happen…

I think it says everything that needs to be said about politics that Bercow is considered ‘young’ at 46.

John B, If you think that a charlatan like Bercow is better man than Frank Field then you’re a poor judge of character. At least Frank Field represents the views of Labour voters whereas Bercow speaks for nobody but himself.

@31 to the extent that some Labour voters are halfwits, perhaps. http://bit.ly/4syse

(don’t know why I bitly’d that Unity link – too much time on Twitter, I think)

“the fact that Unity wrote the shortest blog post of his life!”

Yup, that’s the surprise right there.

What happens at the next election in Buckingham – I’ve heard other candidates stand aside for the Speaker to be re-elected? What if they want someone else to represent them in Parliament?

“I think it says everything that needs to be said about politics that Bercow is considered ‘young’ at 46.”

Less of the ageist crap, smarter ‘oldies’ like Ken Clark and Dennis Healey saw the Iraq fiasco coming unlike ‘youthful’ berks like Blair.

So much for a clean start. It seems that MP’s think it is OK to vote for a ‘flipper’.

The major parties might not oppose him at the next election but he will lose to any independent who highlights his record on expenses.

I didn’t say they did. I said I was pleased with the result for those reasons.

Of course now he can’t express any opinions on those issues, can he?
D’oh!

Getting one over on the Tories – and on Guido and Dale (who MUST BE IGNORED) – is a bad reason for voting for/supporting him.

Still, he can’t be any worse than MM.

Though I understand his “solution” to expenses is to pay them all 100k – great!

On that last point, it is clear that he like most of the rest of the candidates he doesn’t “get it” as the impressive Dhanda put it in his pitch.

Bercow’s acceptance speech talked about how MP’s felt “very sore and very vulnerable”.

Poor babies.

Why didn’t you Tories support Dhanda then?

Oh yeah, must be something to do with – well, you know.

(1) I am not a Tory
(2) I didn’t have a vote

I don’t know how the deputy Speakers are appointed but it would be good to see Dhanda as one and maybe Young as the other.
The existing deputies came across as rather useless.

As a member of the armchair ‘anyone but Young’ lobby I suppose I am happy, but, Sunny, one should add that this result will upset many many Tories, and that’s good enough for me.

Sure you’re not an MP? Choosing a speaker in order to annoy the opposition doesn’t exactly have an auspicious pedigree (Mr Martin?), and the glee that many in Labour are showing at getting one over on the Tories is pretty unedifying.

However, a couple of things. Firstly, make the most of it lads. There’s at most a year left before you’re out, and the Tories are in. “We are the masters now.” And having shown such tribal pettiness right up to the end, Labour can hardly complain when the Tories do the same. What goes around…

And the second point is that John Bercow has shown loyalty to no-one unless there’s identifiably something in it for him. He was Torier than the Tories until he got virtually the safest seat in the country. Then, during 12 years of New Labour rule, he slid closer and closer into the Blairite big tent. Always praising ministers, always denigrating his own side, who after all had no patronage to offer. Now, however, he’s the Speaker. Ain’t no-one going to kick him out this Parliament. He needs nothing from Labour now. In fact, the only people he has to worry about are the Tories. Don’t be surprised to see him change tack.

Oh, and personally, I couldn’t give a monkeys. He’ll surely be better in the Chamber than Martin was.

Yes, it’s so tribal to elect someone who isn’t a member of your own party and who.only the most Republican-lite Tories really hate.

He wouldn’t have been my choice either, but if Labour MPs were picking someone to annoy Tories they’d have made Dennis Skinner the Speaker (and that I’d have liked to see; there probably isn’t anyone cleaner on expenses either; maybe if it wasn’t for his health….)

who only the most Republican-lite Tories really hate

He got, at most, half a dozen Tory votes. He is more disliked by the Tory Party than the overwhelming majority of Labour MPs are. He could find one Tory to nominate him out of fifteen nominators. His campaign manager was Martin Salter. He began his husting speech by taking the piss out of a Tory MP.

I don’t care particularly, but to deny that he is disliked by the parliamentary party is deluded.

Will Bercow clean up the expenses and pay fiasco? I doubt it. Widdicombe had a good record on expenses and only wanted to stand for 10 months. In that time she could have encouraged a cleaning up of the system without being worried about being loathed as she was going to stand down at the next GE.

Will Bercow clean up the expenses and pay fiasco?

He cannot, because it has already been taken out of the hands of the Speaker.

“Yes, it’s so tribal to elect someone who isn’t a member of your own party and who only the most Republican-lite Tories really hate.”

Bercow is despised not just by tory MPs. He is rightly hated by many people outside Parliament who have had dealings with him. Also, his socially left-wing views represent the preoccupations of the metropolitan class and not the concerns of ordinary tory or labour voters.

Parliament is at probably its lowest point in history, rightly despised by good people. There was clearly a need for a principled, non-partisan figure who could restore the institution. How typical that Labour MPs, could not lift their aspirations above the gutter relied on their in-built majority to force through their choice.

@47 “his socially left-wing views represent the preoccupations of the metropolitan class and not the concerns of ordinary tory or labour voters.” – if only we could say the same for the other 645…

@47 I can see what you’re getting at but it does seem to me to be pushing it a bit to blame the Labour MPs wholly for which Tory MP got the job. If the Tory party hated Bercow so much couldn’t they have persuaded him not to stand? Or backed a Labour/LibDem candidate to keep him out?
I personally would have liked Anne Widdicombe to win but mainly for the entertainment value it would have afforded.

They don’t like Bercow because he has changed his views dramatically from the right of the Tories to the centre. A turncoat as a lot of Tories put it. Well hasn’t Cameron too veered from the right into some kind of comfy cosy centric Tory, or is it an illusion to deceive the people of this country.

They don’t like Bercow because he has changed his views dramatically from the right of the Tories to the centre

I don’t think this is quite right. They don’t like him because, while changing his views dramatically etc etc, he has systematically greased up to Labour ministers (helpful interjections in debates, little notes congratulating them on the brilliance of their speeches etc) and been unnecessarily offensive to fellow conservatives. Just by way of illustration, he started his hustings speech with a rather cruel impersonation of Sir Peter Tapsell, who was sitting eight places down from him. Labour laughed, the Tories didn’t.

The Tory brown shirts are really showing their true colours over the speaker vote.

The brown shirts don’t want to reform parliament, they just want to control it. The Tories wanted a Cameron toady who would be biased to the Tory leadership. When a Tory says he wants an independent speaker you know they are lying through their teeth. Like all the tory trolls on here.

Having seen the brown shirt, jack boot wearing fascist that Cameron has now got into bed with in Europe and the Tory party in Parliament wanting a signed up brown shirt to be speaker it is clear that fascism is coming to Britain under a Cameron Govt..

What Nadine Dorries the Eva Braun of the modern Tory party is saying today is that Labour Mps should have voted for a Cameron ass licker. Says all you need to know about her, and the Dale Conservative brown shirts.

50 “Well hasn’t Cameron too veered from the right into some kind of comfy cosy centric Tory, or is it an illusion to deceive the people of this country.”

It is all an act. Cameron is a far right wing Conservative.

“Labour laughed, the Tories didn’t.”

That is because Conservatives have no sense of hunour. They think have but they don’t. Just public schoolboy humour which is no humour at all.

The brown shirts don’t want to reform parliament, they just want to control it.

I don’t know what colour the Labour shirts are, but they have taken the executive control of parliament further than anyone.

Let’s hope Bercow rolls that back anyway. We’ll soon find out.

52 – moderately entertaining, though there remains the ghastly thought that you might actually believe this piffle.

cjcjc “(1) I am not a Tory”

Then why are you on here every day pushing Tory party talking points then troll?

I belkieve every word.

The Tory party is is full of brownshirts. . Always has been, and always will be.

57 – Remarkable.

Then why are you on here every day pushing Tory party talking points then troll?

To please you, pottymouth.

Also, his socially left-wing views represent the preoccupations of the metropolitan class and not the concerns of ordinary tory or labour voters.

The fact that you think Bercow is socially left-wing, as do most Tories, shows how out of touch they are on social issues.

59 So we can take it that you are not telling the truth when you say you are not a tory.

No.

Can we take it that you are a Tory troll yourself, as others have suggested?
You must be computer generated, surely?

There is no other explanation for your speak-your-weight style:

brownshirt – scum – nazi – tory – troll – fascist – jackboot – brownshirt – scum – nazi – tory – troll – fascist – jackboot – brownshirt – scum – nazi – tory – troll – fascist – jackboot

(repeat ad nauseam)

57. Sally you accuse the Tories of being brownshirts . Which party had more members with medals for gallantry for fighting the nazis in the post WW2, Hof C/ H of L? In Thatchers Cabinet, Whitelaw, Pym and Carrington won the Military Cross. Please name the Labour MPs and Lords with medals for of gallantry awarded for fighting the Axis Powers.

Denim Justice

‘Why didn’t you Tories support Dhanda then?

Oh yeah, must be something to do with – well, you know.’

His ‘colour’?

No, I think it would be down to the fact that he has little credibility in the Commons, as somebody who hotfooted it down from London to throw his hat in when Tess Kingham resigned as Gloucester’s MP. He’s Alastair Campbell without the engaging personality, but he thinks his campaign organising skills transfer to serving a Midlands constituency.

You really need to meet him to appreciate what a thoroughly unpleasant character he is. I got the chip-on-the-shoulder ‘Is it because of my colour’ spiel too. Not often Prince Philip and I agree on something…

By the way, I link to PD’s blog, to give more people an opportunity to savour his risible efforts at blogging.