Tag Archives: john bercow

Opinion: David Laws takes another step on the road to redemption

By Mark Valladares | Published 19th July 2011 - 12:53 pm

Last night, despite the rather unpleasant efforts of a handful of Labour backbenchers to throw stones from an already rather damaged greenhouse, the House of Commons overwhelmingly passed a motion proposing six members to form the Joint Committee to scrutinise the draft Financial Services Bill.

Usually, such motions are passed without a murmur, especially as the nominees are proposed by the various political parties. However, on this occasion, the presence of David Laws, the former Chief Secretary to the Treasury, drew the ire of, amongst others, Thomas Docherty, the Labour MP for Dunfermline and West Fife, and John Mann, …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged david cameron, david laws, draft financial services bill, john mann, thomas docherty | 27 Comments

Want a copy of Parliament’s rules? That’ll be £268.40

By Mark Pack | Published 14th January 2011 - 12:25 pm

Erskine May is the House of Commons rulebook – but if you want to get a copy, it’ll cost you £268.40 from a commercial publisher, and Parliament has said no to a request for a free electronic copy from a member of the public.

The origins are typical of the British constitution. Erskine May started off as a unofficial guide written by an assistant librarian in the House of Commons. Over time it established itself as the reference work and is now treated just like an official rule book. But unlike Hansard – another Parliamentary publication which originated with …

Posted in Op-eds, Parliament | Also tagged erskine may | 21 Comments

PMQs: Prime Minister’s tennis

By Paul Walter | Published 16th June 2010 - 5:50 pm

Prime Minister’s Questions today was preceded by Scottish Questions, with our man in the chair. So we had a real bonus today, LibDemmy Chaps and Chapesses ! Nick Clegg on Cameron’s right and the large granite-like figure of Michael Moore on the left. For it was indeed he – “Most Handsome LibDem MP 1997 -2004” or “1997 – present day” for some, I’m told. Pass the smelling salts – the intoxication of power is overcoming me!

Talking of people on the front bench behind Cameron, they ought to realise that the camera picks them up. They seem to think if they …

Posted in PMQs | Also tagged alistair darling, david cameron, douglas carswell, harriet baldwin, harriet harman, kenneth clarke, michael moore, nick clegg, vince cable | 6 Comments

Daily View 2×2: 18 May 2010

By Sara Bedford | Published 18th May 2010 - 9:15 am

Good morning and welcome to today’s Daily View on International Museum Day.

On this day in 1991, Britain’s first astronaut, 27-year-old Helen Sharman, blasted into orbit on the Soviet Soyuz TM-12 space capsule. I wonder if I should mention that Ms Sharman is from Sheffield?

Sixty years ago, twelve nations agreed the aims and objectives for the permanent organisation of NATO. The founder members at the launch at Lancaster House in London were: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Britain, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and the United States. Later that year, Dwight D Eisenhower was appointed Nato’s first supreme commander.

Posted in Daily View | Also tagged alex folkes, david miliband, dwight d eisenhower, helen sharman, mark pack | Leave a comment

BNP announce Parliamentary Candidate for Buckingham

By Helen Duffett | Published 9th March 2010 - 12:58 pm

The BNP has announced its Buckingham candidate for the 2010 General Election, adding another candidate to a slate which already includes UKIP, John Stevens (former Lib Dem member and before that, Conservative MEP,) Patrick Phillips (“conservatively minded” Independent candidate) and Geoff Howard (former Conservative and UKIP member).

With the three main parties refraining from standing against the Speaker, it will be interesting to see how the vote is split by the minor parties and independents, all of whom have or have had right-wing leanings.

The Liberal Democrats have chosen a spokesperson rather than a candidate.

From the Buckingham Advertiser:

The British National

…

Posted in General Election, News | Also tagged adam worley, bnp, buckingham, geoff howard, john stevens, nigel farage, patrick phillips | 9 Comments

How much of a battle does Bercow face in Buckingham?

By Helen Duffett | Published 26th February 2010 - 9:10 am

Further developments in Buckingham, John Bercow MP’s constituency, where convention dictates that other parties don’t put up a candidate against the incumbent Speaker:

UKIP is looking forward to a large donation, whilst claiming that fundraising on Bercow’s behalf breaches Parliamentary rules. Meanwhile, Buckingham Liberal Democrats announce their plan for the General Election.

The Times reports that a UKIP member from Buckingham has complained to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards after receiving a letter from fundraising team “The Friends of Speaker Bercow”:

[John Russell] has written to the commissioner expressing concern that The Friends of Speaker Bercow may be breaching parliamentary rules

…

Posted in General Election, News | Also tagged buckingham, marie-louise rossi, nigel farage, ukip | 23 Comments

Why shouldn’t Buckingham Liberal Democrats join in?

By Philip Young | Published 22nd December 2009 - 10:45 am

The accepted wisdom is that it is “protocol” not to oppose the Speaker. Yet there are plenty of examples that this is simply not true – Selwyn Lloyd, for one, was opposed, and there are other examples (and we are not talking pre-war or the mists of time).

What is going on in Buckingham is extraordinary. The Speaker is unpopular with his local party – not just a large block of Conservative MPs in Parliament – and his wife has shot through the Labour Party hoops and jumped other hurdles to go on the list of approved …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged buckingham, nigel farage, sally bercow | 26 Comments

Speaker Bercow tells Nick: no inquiry into MPs’ ‘flipping’ or CGT evasion

By Stephen Tall | Published 28th October 2009 - 12:10 am

Two weeks ago, Nick Clegg wrote to Sir Thomas Legg – in the wake of Sir Thomas’s decision to recommend MPs repay public money if they had been found to have overclaimed expenses for cleaning and gardening – asking that he examine the most serious allegations levelled against MPs:

… when your inquiry was first announced, I think most people expected the worst offences such as flipping to come under the toughest scrutiny. The letters sent this week, however, appear not to focus on these offences. If your review is to be seen as credible it must expose every single one of those MPs who claimed for a non-existent mortgage or ‘flipped’ their second homes purely for personal gain, some of whom then went on to avoid Capital Gains Tax. Some of these MPs appear to have made tens or even hundreds of thousands of pounds in profits with the help of taxpayer subsidies. They must be exposed and these illegitimate profits returned.

Today Nick got his answer, but not the one he – or the public – would have hoped for. Sir Thomas passed Nick’s letter to the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, to reply. Here’s what he said (with a big hat-tip to The Times’s Sam Coates):

Posted in Parliament | Also tagged christopher kelly, commons speaker, mps expenses, nick clegg, thomas legg | 6 Comments

Nick Clegg – “Parliament houses a shooting gallery but not a creche”

By The Voice | Published 20th October 2009 - 10:20 pm

Today witnessed the appearance of Nick Clegg (as well as Gordon Brown and David Cameron) in front of the Speaker’s Conference, chaired by the new Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow.

The issue this special committee has been asked to look at is: “Consider, and make recommendations for rectifying, the disparity between the representation of women, ethnic minorities and disabled people in the House of Commons and their representation in the UK population at large”.

You can watch Nick give his views and answer questions on the Parliament website here (his part begins about 48 …

Posted in Parliament | Also tagged commons speaker, equalities, nick clegg, Parliament | 6 Comments

Daily View 2×2: 18 September 2009

By Helen Duffett | Published 18th September 2009 - 8:42 am

2 big stories

Star Wars – the end?
The Guardian and the Times both lead with the news that President Barack Obama has decided to scrap US plans to build missile shields in Poland and the Czech Republic. This is seen by Republicans as an attempt to “appease” the Kremlin, which had objected that a missile shield so close to Russia’s borders would threaten its own defences.

President Obama justified the change of plan by citing new intelligence that shows Iran’s long-range missile programme to be far less advanced than previously thought. Instead of being close to developing missiles capable of

…

Posted in Daily View | Also tagged jo shaw, mps expenses | Leave a comment

Standing against the Speaker: never mind the politics, what about the voters?

By Stephen Tall | Published 5th September 2009 - 2:15 pm

There’s been plenty of interesting Lib Dem internet chatter asking whether – now Ukip’s soon-to-be-ex-leader Nigel Farage is breaching normal convention and standing against the incumbent Speaker, Tory MP John Bercow, in Buckingham – the Lib Dems should follow suit.

Opinion is divided. Some say we absolutely shouldn’t – here, for instance, is Stephen Glenn:

… while the ‘convention’ for not standing against a sitting speaker is not as set in stone as some people may have you believe, it is none the less a precedent symbolising the apolitical nature of the role. Indeed it seems to be one, that even if contested, the constituents seem to back up as not one speaker seeking election since 1969 has polled less than 50% of the vote.

And here’s the Wit and Wisdom blog:

Liberal Democrats wanting to be taken seriously should give the Speaker a clear run at the next election as is the convention.

Meanwhile Mark Littlewood at Liberal Vision is more open to the idea that the Lib Dems should stand a candidate to oppose Speaker Bercow and Mr Farage:

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged buckingham, commons speaker, electoral reform, nigel farage, proportional representation, ukip | 11 Comments

Speaker accuses whips of leaking information

By Mark Pack | Published 6th July 2009 - 10:33 pm

Speaker John Bercow certainly didn’t flinch from his accusations of leaking against whips. As I Spy Strangers reports:

The Speaker of the House of Commons has told MPs that neither he nor his staff leaked details of his statement to the House on proposals to elect his deputies.

John Bercow said that he had consulted with government and opposition whips before he made his statement last Thursday…

The Speaker told MPs that

…

Posted in News, Parliament | Also tagged commons speaker | Leave a comment

Bercow: deputy speakers should be elected

By Helen Duffett | Published 2nd July 2009 - 12:47 pm

John Bercow, the Speaker of the House of Commons, today told the House that his new deputy speakers should be elected by MPs.

From the BBC:

In a statement, he told MPs he wanted two deputy speakers from the government side and one from the opposition side.

He is believed to be concerned that following his own election by secret ballot last month the three deputies should also be elected.

Mr Bercow indicated he had consulted party whips, who normally appoint the deputy speakers, about the plan.

It is thought that Mr Bercow is looking to implement the changes – or

…

Posted in News, Parliament | Also tagged commons speaker, parliamentary reform | Leave a comment

Congratulations Speaker Bercow

By Stephen Tall | Published 22nd June 2009 - 8:30 pm

Final result announced 8.30 pm:

John Bercow: 322
Sir George Young: 271

Read Speaker Bercow’s manifesto HERE.

Posted in News, Parliament | Also tagged commons speaker | 8 Comments

Gidley and Carmichael back Bercow for Speaker

By Stephen Tall | Published 18th June 2009 - 2:46 pm

Two Lib Dem MPs have declared who they’re supporting in the forthcoming election for the next Speaker of the House of Commons. Sandra Gidley and Alistair Carmichael are co-signatories to a letter published in today’s Guardian extolling the virtues of Conservative MP John Bercow:

With the standing of parliament at an all time low, the next Speaker will take office in unprecedented circumstances (Speaker candidates call for end to prime minister’s questions, 16 June). Reform is desperately needed as the “old” way of doing things does not carry the confidence of those we serve – too many of our traditions,

…

Posted in News, Parliament | Also tagged alistair carmichael, commons speaker, sandra gidley | 3 Comments

Tag Archives: john bercow

2 big stories

Search

Poll