Britannia Radio

Does Brown think he rules by 

Divine Right?

There is a chorus of solidarity behind the new speaker but it is more ritualistic than heartfelt.  

This parliament is moribund and discredited amd nowhere more than in the Labour Party.  The speaker is normally expected to continue in office till he retires.  Thus a discredited parliament is lumbering a new parliament with a speaker roundly rejected by the party to which he nominally belongs but which rejects him.    The new parliament, whatever the outcome of the election,  is expected to contain around 300 MPs who are new to parliament and who are totally untainted by any scandal.   Why should they have to stomach a Speaker foisted on them by a discredited House of Commons? 

The Telegraph’s Mary Riddell lists what Brown proposes to do next.  - Reform Britain without a mandate and force that through with his residual majority of soon-to-be-gone MPs.   She succinctly lists the proposals as:-

In the next few weeks, a confetti of Bills will seek to underpin a creaking constitution. Legislation for a Parliamentary Standards Authority is due out today. Also imminent is the long-delayed Constitutional Renewal Bill. If its aim – to move power away from government to Parliament and the people – had only been advanced earlier, Mr Brown might not be in the mess he is today. But constitutional change, his earliest priority, was stalled by the economic crisis, as well as Cabinet divisions and disinterest.

A third Bill will cover House of Lords reform, including abolition of the hereditary peers [The only honest group to be found anywhere! -cs] and possibly a provision for a fully elected upper chamber. Some of the PM's top team are embracing constitutional affairs with a fervour worthy of Thomas Paine. The removal of the bishops from the Lords would pave the way for Disestablishment.   [Not content with wrecking the State he as a Scot wants to meddle weith the Church of England too! -cs]  I understand that Commonwealth leaders will also be sounded out this year about repealing the Act of Settlement of 1701, which bans heirs to the throne from marrying a Catholic, and about getting rid of male primogeniture. Both prescriptions are "a blot on equalities", says a source close to Mr Brown.

All of this is a fit subject for debate and may indeed have merit.  But he only has 10 months at most and cannot possibly debate this fully and reach a consensus view.  So it is obscene that a discredited prime minister with a unmoveable majority in a discredited House of Commons should have the arrogance to think that this is a fit moment to give Britain a new constitution.    The words ‘paranoid delusion’ come to mind.  

Christina Speight

EU REFERENDUM Blog 23.6.09

Collective suicide

Ann Treneman certainly does not like him, and she is not alone. Regarded as a turncoat, barely tolerated by his own side despised by many outside Parliament who have had dealings with him, John Bercow is the new Speaker, the 157th to hold that office.

Writes Trenemen, "In the end, the most irritating man won. Even in victory, John Ber-Cow, as even he calls himself, provoked disharmony." Ber-Cow had been the anti-Tory Tory and, because of that, he was the one that the Labour Party wanted. 

When the result was announced, on the dot of 8.30pm, after six hours and three ballots, Labour MPs erupted in a deafening clatter of applause — a rare sound in the chamber — and an instant standing ovation. Across the way, Tories, the winner in their midst, sat on their hands and bums, we are told (although that is not what the picture shows).

At a time when Parliament is at its lowest ebb, with MPs regarded with contempt by the bulk of the populace, there was a need for a principled, non-partisan figure who could restore the flagging fortunes of the institution. Labour MPs, however, could not lift their aspirations above that of the gutter and they chose Bercow, relying on their inbuilt majority to force through their choice.

Seen as Labour MPs' revenge for ousting Speaker Michael Martin, by installing in his place a maverick Tory hated by his own party, furious Tory backbenchers are now threatening to challenge his right to stay in the chair after the next election.

This is not a man who carried with him the confidence or support of the House. With his campaign run by Labour MPs and backed by senior Cabinet ministers, he is not the man who will restore Parliament. Bolstered by Labour MPs, the institution has, in effect, committed collective suicide.

It is unlikely that it can now find its way back.

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Posted by Richard North

POLITICS HOME  23.6.09

Radio 4 ‘TODAY’    at 08:17

Dorries: Three Conservative MPs voted for Bercow last night

• Nadine Dorries, Conservative MP

Ms Dorries said that only three Conservative MPs voted for John Bercow last night, and described his election as Speaker as “a vindictive political act”.

She said the election of Mr Bercow “was a vindictive political act by the Labour party...towards the Conservative party and the British people”, and claimed “three Conservative MPs voted for him last night”.

She went on to say that the Conservatives wanted a candidate “elected who could bring about reform...who could command the House”, and added that Mr Bercow’s election “was nothing to do with reform” but “almost a two finger salute to the British people”.

DAILY MAIL 23.6.09

New Speaker is Tory hated by his party, tainted by expenses furore... and facing plot to unseat him

By JAMES CHAPMAN and KIRSTY WALKER

The election of John Bercow as Commons Speaker was today branded a desperate 'two-fingered salute' by Labour to the Tories and to voters.

Tory Nadine Dorries openly attacked Labour for backing the maverick MP in an act of revenge over the historic ousting of Michael Martin. 

Mr Bercow won the coveted post last night after a series of secret ballots despite commanding virtually no Tory support.

Furious Tory backbenchers, dismayed at his victory, are already threatening to challenge his right to stay in the chair after the next election.

They are plotting to force another vote at the start of the next Parliament, rather than nodding through the existing Speaker as convention dictates. 

Miss Dorries, an outspoken critic, said this morning that she believed just three of her colleagues had backed him in the contest. 

She claimed Labour had only given him its support to give the Tories a bloody nose, believing he will cause problems for David Cameron.

'This was the last hurrah of a dying Labour Government and I think it was almost a two-fingered salute to the British people from Labour MPs, and to the Conservative Party,' she said.

'It was a vindictive political act on behalf of the Labour Party towards what they see to be the future Conservative government and the British people.

'It had nothing to do with reform - it was all about the Labour Party playing party politics through a red mist.' 

 

A senior Tory said privately that MPs had 'sunk to the occasion' by voting along partisan lines rather than choosing the best candidate to rebuild public trust after the expenses scandal that has engulfed Parliament.

Shadow leader of the Commons Alan Duncan agreed many Tories felt Mr Bercow had positioned himself to capture Labour votes.

'A lot of people are annoyed that it worked', he admitted, although he insisted everyone must now accept the result and respect his office. 'The House of Commons has made a decision and it would be churlish of us to try to thrash the guy the day after he is elected,' he said.

'What we have to do is respect the Speakership and the Speaker and make sure that the dignity of the House of Commons, which has gone through a very difficult few months, is restored.

'We are not going to restore it by sniping... As far as I am concerned, he is the Speaker and we should respect him as such.'

Tory Douglas Carswell, who led the revolt against Mr Martin, revealed he had not voted for Mr Bercow but would support him now for the good of Parliament.

'Parliament and the Commons is still in a hole but at least we now have a speaker I think is committed to reform,' he said.

'He was not my first choice but he's committed to reform and I hope we now see some radical reform.'

Gordon Brown had prompted jeers from the Tories last night as he hailed Mr Bercow's victory.

He praised Mr Bercow's 'great personal strength, integrity and independence', but he drew furious cries of 'No, it has not' from Tory MPs by suggesting that the appointment had healed 'party divisions'. 

There are doubts over the new Speaker's credentials for cleaning up Parliament. He has campaigned for MPs' pay to be increased to £100,000 a year and has himself been caught up in the expenses row. 

He has already repaid more than £6,500 that he avoided in capital gains tax after ' flipping' his second home allowance between London and his constituency. 

The Buckingham MP, a Tory left-winger who has previously attacked Mr Cameron's privileged background, has long been viewed by colleagues as a potential Labour defector after he accepted an advisory job from Gordon Brown. 

His campaign to become the 157th Speaker of the Commons was run by Labour MPs and backed by senior Cabinet ministers. 

Mr Bercow, 46, knocked out rivals including former Labour minister Margaret Beckett, who had been expected to pick up significant Labour support, and former Tory minister Ann Widdecombe.

In the final round he beat Tory MP Sir George Young, nicknamed the ' bicycling baronet', by 322 votes to 271.

Mr Cameron gestured to his benches to join applause from the Labour benches as his victory was announced. 

But only around half did so and many Tory MPs sat stony-faced. One, Nadine Dorries, shouted 'Not in my name' as Mr Bercow's victory was sealed. 

In a traditional ceremony he was dragged to the chair of the Commons by Tory MP Charles Walker and LibDem Sandra Gidley to serve 'against his will'. 

The job comes with a £144,520 salary, a grace-and-favour apartment overlooking the Thames, and one of the most generous pension schemes in Britain. 

His youth will allow him to build up a pension pot worth as much as £1.75million. 

The new Speaker-elect, whose appointment must now be approved by the Queen, said he had pledged 'immediately and permanently to cast aside' all his political views. 

Mr Bercow's campaign manager, Labour MP Martin Salter, said the new Speaker would quickly dispense with Parliament's outdated conventions. 

'I don't think he will be wearing any wigs, that's for sure,' said Mr Salter. 'I think we could see a bit of a sort-out of the arcane practices and Parliament's management style, which of course has led us into all sorts of trouble.'