John Bercow was a “serial bully” while House of Commons Speaker and should not be given a parliamentary pass according to a damning report just released.
The Independent Expert Panel said “his behaviour fell very far below that which the public has a right to expect” from an MP.
It also said he had displayed “undermining behaviour” towards staff.
Bercow said the inquiry into the complaints was “amateurish” and based on “tittle tattle”.
A report by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Kathryn Stone found that Mr Bercow had displayed “intimidatory” and “undermining behaviour”, and “threatening conduct” towards staff, including verbal abuse, and displays of anger.
Bercow called the report “a travesty of justice rooted in prejudice, spite and hearsay”. He said claims of misconduct were “upheld even when eyewitnesses testified that they had not taken place”.
He also argued he had been “targeted by three disgruntled former staffers because he had set out to be a reforming figure prepared to set aside custom and practice in the pursuit of a more radical agenda intended to make the Commons more inclusive and diverse”.
One of the complainants, Kate Emms, said: “I am supremely glad to be vindicated by the report of the Independent Expert Panel.”
She said her time working for Bercow had been “the one and only genuinely horrible, undermining and consistently upsetting period of my career” which had led to “stress, anxiety and a loss of confidence”.
She said Bercow had failed to remorse and had instead “blamed the process for being flawed, amateurish and unjust and not even applicable to him”.
Unity News Network (UNN) Staff Writer | To find out more details about our staff, please head to the About Us section on our website.
