Tory MP Michael Fabricant has been tweeting about another spat he has had with the Speaker this afternoon. Guido asked him what it was all about, and here is Fabbers’ side of the story:

“After our spat in the chamber before prorogation, the Speaker called me to the chair and apologised. He said he hadn’t heard what I’d said, he had a cold. But that wasn’t my problem, he said, it was his. He said that next time I wanted to get in he’d call me early – given that I wouldn’t tweet about it.

Today, at the UQ I wanted to get in. He called me at the very end. The very last. I raised the matter of my constituents persecuted by Islamic extremists, and all the time I was speaking, Bercow was pulling faces at me.

“I went up to him afterwards. He leant away from me hoping I’d go away. ‘Mr Speaker,’ I said. ‘I thought you were going to call me early?’

‘I don’t remember saying any such thing.’

‘I don’t believe you can’t remember!’ I said.

‘You can believe what you like,’ he said.

‘Well, I think it’s disgraceful behaviour,’ I said to him. And as he’d broken the deal we’d struck I did tweet about it, to show him as the dishonourable person he is.'”

He adds:

“Bercow’s been good in bringing more power back to Parliament but he lets Parliament and himself down by his temperament, along with his behaviour both inside and outside the House. Eventually, for instance, we’ll find out why the Clerk, in good health, retired early.

It’s not just Conservatives who are becoming impatient with his erratic behaviour. I know colleagues on both sides of the House who feel enough is enough.”

Strong words…