Tory MP hits out at Speaker Bercow
By Alex Stevenson Follow @alex__stevenson
Speaker John Bercow will face a Commons becoming "increasingly dissatisfied and restless" with his performance, a Conservative MP has claimed.
Tory Rob Wilson, the MP for Reading East, used a comment piece in the Telegraph newspaper to attack the "divisive, bombastic and insecure" Mr Bercow.
"Many MPs now believe he has emerged as a partisan, divisive figure, and one far too full of his own importance," he wrote.
He cited a large pay rise for his own department and the "monumentally indiscreet Labour-supporting wife" as justifications for criticism.
"Yet of far greater concern is his behaviour in the Commons itself," he added. "His combustible displays of temper and, more importantly, his naked demonstrations of bias against the Tory party are all too often the talk of the tea room and beyond."
Mr Bercow was never popular among Tory right-wingers who had observed his gradual slide towards the political centre, apparently as a result of his wife Sally's influence.
But the Speaker has won praise for his readiness to summon government ministers with Commons procedures like urgent questions – or today's unusual last-minute debate on phone-hacking.
Mr Wilson accused Mr Bercow of giving "generous leeway" to Labour MPs and claimed he "constantly interrupts and chastises" Tory backbenchers.
Mr Wilson's comments could win the approval of the prime minister. David Cameron appeared infuriated after he was rebuked by the Speaker during last week's PMQs. He told Mr Cameron: "Prime minister's questions is principally for backbenchers."
Mr Bercow was elected to the job in June 2009 after Michael Martin resigned over the expenses scandal.
"He does have the gifts to live up to the grandeur and significance of the office," Mr Wilson concluded.
"But if he is to bring people together, and win back the respect that his position demands, he will have to alter radically his approach. This is not just a vital in terms of his career, or his tenure in the Speaker's chair: it is a constitutional necessity."
