Dear All
This new parliament will see either a
re-new government or a change of government or a hung parliament. One thing for
certain, is that John Bercow, the Speaker will be gone from the Chair after
spending a decade in it. You could say his tenure was clouded by a running feud
with certain members of the Conservative Party who wanted him removed. The feud
I would argue would ‘colour’ his judgment in relation to his former party. In
fact, the Conservatives in this election planned to stand someone against him
in his constituency, something not traditionally done.
In the latter end of his career, post
Cameron, things didn’t improve, and although he will be remained as Speaker, he
might have a bit of a wait for a peerage which traditionally the Speaker would
get for services rendered. The wait will I suspect be long due to his actions
re Brexit, the Speaker must be neutral, without that de facto position, the
arrangements in the House of Commons don’t work. Although a departing Speaker
usually will get praise, John Bercow also had it re-enforced how much he was
disliked.
Yes, it seems that there is an open wound
between him and the Conservative Party which I doubt will be forgotten anytime
soon, if at all. In most of his exchanges in the Commons, in the round, John
Bercow did prove able in the position. But with the election of a new Speaker,
a chapter must be closed in relation to the Speaker being ‘Partisan’ and appear
biased towards one side of the House. Of the contenders for the position, the
person to me who I would choose has been selected as the new Speaker.
Sir Lindsay Hoyle.
He in my mind was the obvious choice in the
field; the newly elected Speaker of the House of Commons had been the
deputy for nine years, he was the most suitable candidate and I am glad others
saw fit to vote for him. He isn’t a man to take liberties with as his
no-nonsense manner has led to clashes with some MPs. No doubt the SNP would
have wish for someone else as he had to tell them off for their antics, such
as, singing EU anthem Ode to Joy two years ago. His most famous dust up was
with former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond during a Brexit debate
in February 2017.
Alex Salmond accused the Deputy Speaker of
cutting off SNP MP Joanna Cherry while she was speaking and the row escalated
as Mr Hoyle shouted that Mr Salmond “should know better” and ordered him to
“sit down”.
When Salmond raised a point of order
saying:
"It is quite clear that the honourable
member had not resumed her seat, Sir. Being in the chair accords you many
privileges but you cannot reinterpret the wishes of an honourable member who is
on her feet."
Mr Hoyle responded:
"As the chair I have the right to make
decisions on this House. What I would say is quite rightly when I wanted to
bring her in [Joanna Cherry MP], which I did ... I certainly don't expect
advantages to be taken of the chair on the agreements that I make."
Alex Salmond lost that fight, not helped by
SNP MP Joanna Cherry self of entitlement which blew up in her face as she was
made to sit down, it seems her declaration of taking as long as she liked to
speak; didn’t find favour. Alex Salmond was shot down in flames and his copilot
shot down in flames alongside him.
You can tell by Alex Salmond’s anger, he
doesn’t like rejection.
One can only hope that in Sir Lindsay
Hoyle, the pledge he made to be a neutral Speaker is honoured during his tenure
both in practice and in spirit. As new Speaker, he stated an aim to "tame
the bear pit" of a "toxic Parliament" by cracking down on
aggressive language. Presumably given the SNP’s tendency to faux outrage, he
will have a busy workload ahead.
Finally, on the issue of a peerage for John
Bercow, I would say if the new government is Conservative, they should honour
tradition and draw a line under the Bercow matter. I don’t think that drawing
this out serves any purpose whatsoever, especially when there are other pressing
issues to get on with.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow
University
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