A cross-party group of MPs is planning to issue John Bercow with an ultimatum to announce a departure date or face a new move to oust him this year. Tory MPs have approached colleagues in other parties attempting to entice them with offers of extra debates in exchange for not opposing a move against the Speaker. Traditionally Labour MPs have defended Bercow against Tory attempts to unseat him – but the mood is said to have changed following the recent bullying revelations and the emergence of Harriet Harman as a candidate to replace him. So determined are Tory MPs to finally see the last of Bercow that some have let it be known they would prefer Harman to him in the chair. Separately, one well-placed source says Tory candidates have been speaking with CCHQ about the potential availability of his Buckingham seat… 

Back in June 2009, when he became Speaker, Bercow promised he would serve “for no more than nine years in total”. 9 years would be June 22 this year, or 63 days from now…

The talk of the tearoom during and after the Syria debate was John Bercow’s repeated order to unruly MPs to take a “medicament” to calm them down. Tory MPs say this is another example of his bullying tone – watch his bad-tempered, finger-wagging treatment of Alec Shelbrooke above. Labour MPs have queried whether it is a mental health slur, noting that the word traditionally referred to a substance used to control patients during therapy. Guido has had a look through Hansard and Bercow seems obsessed with the phrase:

To Alec Shelbrooke on 17 April 2018: “Stop it… you are over-excitable and you need to contain yourself. If it requires you to take some medicament, then so be it.”

To Guy Opperman and Ronnie Campbell on 26 March 2018: “It is very unseemly and very unfair on the cerebral Minister at the Dispatch Box. Mr Opperman, Mr Campbell: calm yourselves. Take some sort of soothing medicament and you will feel better.”

To David Davis on 17 December 2017: “I will not take points of order in the middle of Question Time, but I gently say to the Secretary of State that I understand his predicament. A soothing medicament may assist him.”

To the whole House on 13 September 2017: “We have some very excitable denizens of the House today. They ought to take some sort of medicament and calm down.”

To the whole House on 19 July 2017: “Members are shouting, and shouting excessively. They must calm themselves. Take some sort of soothing medicament.”

To Jon Ashworth on 10 July 2017: “Mr Ashworth, you are a cheeky and rather over-excitable whippersnapper. Calm yourself and, as I say, take some sort of soothing medicament.”

To Khalid Mahmood on 5 July 2017: “I noticed earlier, Mr Mahmood, that you seemed to be in a very hyper condition today. I recommend that you take some sort of soothing medicament or go and lie down for a little while. You will feel better at the end of it.”

To David Morris on 19 April 2017: “You are a very restrained individual, bordering on the cerebral, but you have become rather over-excited. Calm yourself. Take some sort of soothing medicament; it will have a beneficial impact upon you.”

Certainly seems a bit hypocritical given the modernising Speaker’s claims to care passionately about mental health issues. Also just very odd…

Bercow absolutely laid in to Boris Johnson for calling Emily Thornberry ‘Lady Nugee’ in the Commons. pic.twitter.com/QQWaEWGn4I

— Hugo Gye (@HugoGye) March 27, 2018

Bercow says Boris is “sexist” for calling Emily Thornberry “Baroness Nugee”. What would the Speaker call bullying female staff members then?

The Speaker has to be impartial during all Commons debates. How can he possibly be impartial on a debate about his own bullying?

John Bercow has spent half his Speakership boasting about how he was going to improve working conditions for women in parliament. Now the very women Bercow’s PR drive claimed he was defending want him to step aside over his bullying of female staff.

A cross-party group of senior female MPs is calling for him to suspend himself from his duties while he is investigated. Caroline Lucas is tabling an Urgent Question in the Commons today, she says: “I think at the very least he should withdraw from that decision and that the three deputy speakers might judge on that. There might also be a case for stepping back temporarily if an investigation is carried out”.

Jess Phillips, previously a Bercow fan, says: “clearly there has to be some kind of independent investigation. And it may be that he should consider stepping back until that has taken place”.

The Sunday Times reported Harriet Harman is considering moving against Bercow. It is significant that the anger against the Speaker isn’t just coming from the Duddrigde / Bridgen crowd – these are female MPs and Labour MPs on whom Bercow has previously relied on for support who now want him to step aside. Will Bercow listen to the women he claimed he would use his Speakership to protect?

Back in June 2009, when he became Speaker, John Bercow promised he would serve “for no more than nine years in total”. 9 years would be June 22 this year, or 111 days from now.

In light of recent revelations, that sounds about right to Guido…