Toby Young Toby Young

If John Bercow were two-and-a-half inches taller, he’d never have been such a big success

Take it from an insecure five-foot-eighter: little men have a lot to recommend them

Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow Photo: AFP/Getty 
issue 12 July 2014

Unlike 99 per cent of my colleagues, I was quite touched by John Bercow’s comment about how fed up he is with jokes about his height. ‘Whereas nobody these days would regard it as acceptable to criticise someone on grounds of race or creed or disability or sexual orientation, somehow it seems to be acceptable to comment on someone’s height, or lack of it,’ he said.

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