John Bercow should keep his opinions to himself

Late on in PMQs today, Joanna Cherry, an SNP MP, asked Theresa May about the case of a Syrian refugee in her constituency who can’t go on a school holiday to Spain as he doesn’t have the necessary papers and the Home Office are saying it will take three months to sort this out. Cherry asked the Prime Minister to intervene, to speed up the process.

So, a standard, good constituency question. As was May’s reply, she said that the Home Secretary had heard what Cherry had said and would look into it.

But then John Bercow rose from the chair and said ‘good’. This was completely inappropriate. It is not the job of the Speaker to opine on whether what the Prime Minister is saying at the despatch box is ‘good’ or ‘bad’. If May had said that she wouldn’t interfere in an individual case, would Bercow have got up and said ‘bad’?

Bercow’s comment on May’s answer illustrates one of the main problems with him as Speaker.