John Bercow has once again broken with convention. The former House of Commons Speaker has defied three centuries of tradition by announcing a return to party politics post-speakership with an ‘extraordinary broadside‘ against Boris Johnson.
His reason for joining the Labour party – or making the move official, as Tory wags now quip – is primarily his disgust at the ‘reactionary, populist, nationalistic and sometimes even xenophobic’ Conservative party and his support for the ‘Labour brand’ of ‘equality, social justice and internationalism.’ Quite a claim for a onetime committee secretary of the hard-right Monday Club who backed the ‘assisted repatriation’ of immigrants.
In typical Bercow style, even the news was broken ungraciously: after the Mail on Sunday’s diminutive scoophound Brendan Carlin approached him with the story, Bercow took it to the left-leaning Observer to ensure a more favourable write up instead.
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