Formal complaint issued against Bercow by senior advisor

A formal complaint has been issued against former Commons Speaker John Bercow by a former senior advisor.

Lord Lisvane, who served as Clerk of the House between 2011 and 2014, said he submitted the formal complaint to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards on Wednesday which is believed to be centred around accusations of bullying.

Bercow made a statement and said Lord Lisvane had “ample opportunity” to raise issues in their five years working together.

“At no stage did he do so, even though he became Clerk of the House – the most senior official. The timing of this intervention is curious.”

Bercow spent 10 years in the role and has faced other accusations of bullying during his time in office, but has denied all the claims. He was the first speaker in 240 years not to be automatically given a peerage but it is thought that Jeremy Corbyn has nominated him for one in a move that has sparked outrage.

Former Leader of the Commons, Andrea Leadsom, said anyone found to have bullied or harassed colleagues in Parliament “should not be offered a peerage”.

She told BBC Radio 5 Live:

I worked cross-party to put in place a complaints procedure which would mean anybody, whoever they are, including the Speaker of the House of Commons, or indeed of the Lords, would be subject to those same complaints procedures.

Specifically, we made sure if you were an MP and you were potentially going to be offered a peerage, that anything that was alleged against you would be taken into account.

So, I think it is really important, whoever you are, that all of those complaints are taken seriously.

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