Well that’s that then. This morning’s report by the Independent Expert Panel into John Bercow’s behaviour makes for damning reading for the former Commons Speaker. It finds him guilty of bullying House of Commons staff and has banned him for life from holding a parliamentary pass for former members. The move effectively kills his chances of getting a peerage. Poor Sally.
The report on Bercow concluded he was a ‘serial bully’ who ‘repeatedly and extensively’ bullied staff. In all 21 separate allegations were proved and have been upheld. It finds that:
This was behaviour which had no place in any workplace. Members of staff… should not be expected to have to tolerate it as part of everyday life. No person at work however senior, indeed particularly such a senior figure, should behave in this way. This was an abuse of power.
Bercow for his part is gloriously unrepentant, firing off a pre-emptive press release with more pomp than the state opening of Parliament.
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