Victory for Barrister as Bercow set to be investigated for historical claims

Highly controversial speaker John Bercow could face bullying claims going back several years after Parliamentary authorities opened a formal complaints process just 10 days before he quits as Speaker.

The Telegraph are reporting:

Any findings against the Speaker could jeopardise his expected elevation to the House of Lords, following the precedent set by other retiring Speakers of the House of Commons to become “cross-bench” independent peers.

The Commons authorities said in a statement that “Parliament’s Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme is now open to receive complaints from any member of the parliamentary community, present or former, who wishes to make a complaint about bullying, harassment or sexual harassment, that occurred at any point.”

Leading the charge for these investigations has been top barrister Rebecca Butler who has herself written numerous letters and encouraged tens of thousands of people to lobby Parliamentary authorities to conduct this investigation.

Speaking exclusively to UNN Rebecca said:

“Ever since 17.4m people answered a simple question in 2016, expectations of decency and fair play have been eroded. Precisely because they are decent people, they haven’t taken to the streets. They don’t shout, they don’t have time or money to march. Instead they pick up their pens and put pressure on the institutions that have let them down. It works. The pen is always mightier than the sword. “

This comes as Sir Bernard Jenkin has hinted John Bercow’s days as Speaker of the House of Commons could be numbered, telling Parliament an influential committee on which he sits was poised to launch a wide-ranging hearing on the “Speaker’s role”.