John Bercow was out campaigning with his one-year-old daughter in the Portcullis House coffee shop at the House of Commons yesterday morning — a new man promising to be the “clean break” candidate in the race to be elected House of Commons Speaker. “We need change,” he told MPs, as he set out his plans to push through “an agenda for reform and renewal”. He wants a new expenses system, more independent scrutiny of legislation — and an enhanced role as an ambassador for Parliament, explaining the mysteries of politics to the outside world. Will he now exchange the Speaker's tricorn hat for a baseball cap?
On the face of it, MPs voted for modernity last night. But in fact the whole contest shows just how out of touch the House of Commons still is. Mr Bercow — a former Monday Club rightwinger, who became the Tories' überliberal — was elected because so many Labour MPs wanted to irritate David Cameron not because they thought he was the best man for the job. During the ballot, one backbencher told the Tory leader he was going to vote Conservative for the first time in his life and got the response: “John Bercow doesn't count!”
The resignation of Michael Martin was supposed to be a catalyst for change, but the process of choosing his replacement has revealed how little politicians understand the scale of the problem that they face. While the voters are crying out for honesty and integrity, the election of the new Speaker has been all about petty politicking and party power games.
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