When John Bercow was elected Speaker in 2009, his campaign team said:

“The Speaker can either be a road block to reform or an agent of reform and change and there’s no doubt about it that John Bercow will be that agent of change.”

After five years in the £142,000 job, the only thing that has changed is the size of Speaker’s bill. Not happy with just his coat of arms, Bercow has grown his team to a nine-strong entourage of helpers at a cost of £383,000 a year. As Guido revealed in yesterday’s Sun, they include a £42,000 train-bearer whose job it is to carry his ceremonial cloak:

• Speaker’s Secretary: up to £93,380
• Assistant Speaker’s Secretary: up to £61,255
• Chaplain: up to £61,255
• Trainbearer: up to £42,401
• Diary Secretary: up to £35,723
• Personal Secretary: up to £29,330
• Secretary: up to £29,330
• Ad hoc Adviser: up to £15,512
• Cleaner: up to £15,042

Add that to the £37,500 a year on jet-setting around the world and his £8,000 annual expenses bill and Bercow has creamed the taxpayer for more than £2 million since 2010. The ‘agent of reform and change’ is hardly short changed…