John Bercow loses his battle to appoint Carol Mills as Commons clerk

John Bercow has lost his biggest attempt at a power grab after MPs recommended that the appointment process for the Commons clerk be terminated. The governance committee set up after the row over the Speaker’s desire to appoint Carol Mills became too big to handle has called for a new director general job to be created and that and the Clerk job should be readvertised.

Now Mills can notionally re-apply for the job but would struggle to meet the new criteria set out by the committee. It says the Clerk is ‘adviser to the House of Commons on the procedure and practice of Parliament, including parliamentary privilege’. The row about Mills being considered for the role was sparked by her lack of experience in this area.

This is of course a victory for anyone who dislikes John Bercow, whether for personal or professional reasons. He certainly has plenty of enemies whose opposition finds its origin in both.