Wednesday, March 10, 2010

A Matter for Regret?

Why is it that I have this feeling in my bones that John Bercow might come to regret his all out attack on Conservative MP Simon Burns at PMQs today? He accused him of being a "bore and boorish". It's not the first time the two have clashed.

It's just a feeling. That's all I'm saying.

17 comments:

................................. said...

"A bore and boorish?" Talk about a sense of irony...

Pip said...

I noticed that. I didn't know there was a history, but the chill was noticeable compared to the unctuous reprimand to the labour side.

Magical_Mist said...

Vote Farage.

Bird said...

If the Tories win, Bercow should be replaced after the GE. Never mind today, he never gets Brown to answer PMQs.
Also for the chop: Public service job adverts in the Guardian which would bring the ant-Tory rag to its knees. (The job ads should go online.)
This leads to another priority - the savage cutting of the BBC, particularly its news departments, which have been doing Mandelson's work for him on the demonisation of Ashcroft.
Don't get me started on Labour-dominated quangos.

Andrew said...

Bercow is useless. Pretends to be a reforming Speaker but allows Brown and his ghastly followers to undermine PMQs by such wonderfully witty references to Ashcroft.
Bercow should have reprimanded Brown to show who's boss---oh I forgot, voted for by by labour.

Martin S said...

I think you could be right, Iain.

Behaviour unbecoming of a speaker...

Ralph Hancock said...

An MP disloyal to his party can be denied the whip, but that has no relevance if the MP is the Speaker. Or he can be deselected by his constituency, but there is no sign of that happening.

Suppose, and it's far from certain at the moment, that the Conservatives win a clear majority at the GE, and Farage fails to beat Bercow at the polls. What sanction against him is available beyond the above? Can an MP be expelled from a party? Can he be forced to resign for any conduct short of plain criminal?

Anonymous said...

There may be a bit of rancour here:

http://services.parliament.uk/hansard/Commons/ByDate/20090702/mainchamberdebates/part005.html

This is where Simon Burns took a swipe at Bercow over his alleged leaking of Parliamentary Business to the media before it was announced in the House. This just days after Bercow moaned about other MPs and Ministers doing it.

Just a guess...

Paul Halsall said...

You seem to want to fire a speaker for ideological reasons.

Interesting.

Anonymous said...

Well this speaker and the last one were elected for idealogical reasons Mr Halsall.

That certainly is more than interesting.

Ralph Hancock said...

Paul Halsall:

If a Speaker is elected from any party and simply does his job of ensuring fair debate and keeping order, fine.

If he engages in naked prejudice against any party, whether his own or the other, it becomes a matter of ideology.

Suppose that the Conservatives got in, and Bercow, realising which way the wind was now blowing, creaked round like an unlubricated weathercock and started shamelessly favouring them, that would be equally discreditable.

Jimmy said...

I'm not sure I understand the complaint? Is it that Burns was falsely accused or that boorish behaviour should not be discouraged?

Newmania said...

Paul Halsall

Were you interested when he was elected for ideological reasons ?

Tapestry said...

Bercow the only declared 'eurosceptic' who voted against a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty...

Farage is the answer to Bercow.

While his party are Brown's best friends.

curious and curiouser

Moriarty said...

"I'm not sure I understand the complaint?"

Nobody is the least bit surprised.

Richard Wells said...

If the Tories win the General Election I would hope that they have more to concern themselves with than trying to get rid of Bercow.
The country needs fixing before anything else and it would be extremely poor publicity to waste time on what would essentially be a petty internal party squabble.

I'm not a huge fan of Bercow but he is there, he was elected there and it doesn't matter who elected him. Time to move on.

DespairingLiberal said...

I think it says a lot about the Tory blogging fraternity as people that they still have the knives out for Bercow many months after he was elected and despite what is actually proving to be a fairly impartial and intelligent Speakership. Oh and by the way, the MP in question is both a bore and boorish.

As for Bird and his ritualised attacks on the BBC, I am beginning to suspect he is a Murdoch plant on this blog.