Well, after months of Parliament appearing boring, tired and without things to discuss, the zombie seems to have woken up. MPs are currently in uproar in the Chamber over William Hague’s proposal to make the re-election of the Speaker at the start of the Parliament a secret ballot.
Naturally, those who really dislike Bercow are very happy with the proposal, but it’s not just Labour MPs who have expressed their distaste for what’s going on. Passionate supporters of Parliament as an institution, including Jacob Rees-Mogg, have criticised the move as one that undermines the House. Rees-Mogg called this ‘jiggery-pokery’ motivated by grudges against Bercow. It was not presented in the usual way at Business Statement last week and instead was snuck in at the very last minute last night. Tory MPs were only sent a text message around 6pm last night confirming that the procedure motion they were being required to stay behind for was about the secret ballot on the Speaker.
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