Bercow and Julian Lewis have been thick as thieves for decades so it was no surprise to see the Speaker call his old campaign manager at PMQs, despite the Defence Select Committee Chairman wannabe not being on the order paper. No surprise either to see Lewis asking about Nato and Defence spending. You might imagine the other candidates will be a little miffed with such a blatant favouritism at a time of heightened campaigning. Lewis may well be picking up a lot of Labour support due to his opposition to intervention in Syria, but being Bercow’s Boy will hardly endear him to Tory backbenchers…

UPDATE: Tory MPs took the mick out of the Speaker so much when his old nemesis Simon Burns rose for a question that he had to intervene. The PM even joined in the mocking.

Another great day at the office.