Bercow wants Lords Mandelson and Adonis to be questioned by MPs

General Zod

The wrong man makes a very good point.

Chuck Unsworth

Yes, well Brown was similarly the wrong man for the job. Are you suggesting that he, too, should be allowed to get on with it?

Death or Tory

Good Grief!

Has Bercow suddenly become a 'real' Speaker after all?

I wonder what has prompted this 'Damascene Moment'?

I suspect certain NuLab Backbenchers will be looking at each other in bewilderment and muttering "that wasn't supposed to happen..."

A J Scott

An excellent and timely suggestion from Mr Speaker. Will he now when he will implement it, and how?
However, he should not (even in irony) refer to Lord Mandelson as esteemed or an emperor. The Speaker is the First Commoner and must be sure he speaks about and treats all (MPs, Peers and al the rest of us) equally.
It seems the Labour sheep who followed their leader on the Speakership Election may have wrought better than they could possibly conceive. One hopes so.

Mirtha Tidville

Whether or not he is allowed to `get on with it` seems,now, to be the within the remit of one Nigel Farrage!!!!

Nicholas

"Government has become less accountable under New Labour"

I think Government has become unaccountable under New Labour and opposition parties have become incapable of representing the interests of the people by holding the government to account. I would go further and say that in comparison to our past ages both Houses in Westminster now most represent a form of exploitative tyranny to the British people.

They are all out of touch to a greater or lesser degree and pursue policies of party ideology, or in some cases personal hobbyhorses, which have very little direct relevance to the lives of the constituents they are supposed to represent. In many if not most cases the only relevance is that the policies become yet another burden for the hectored, nannied, herded and long suffering British people to bear.

All parties and all unelected agencies have become arrogant, have devalued the concept of the party manifesto and have confused representation with ruling. The carrot has been abandoned for the stick and the term "public servants" now applies to the public who are by and large the unwilling servants of those who rule us so capriciously, from arrogant cabinet ministers to shaven-headed hospital car park enforcers. Their extortion of us is used to fund their control over us. Their arrogance and their lack of humility adds insult to injury.

As with society in general the demise of decent standards of behaviour, the setting of examples and the routine expectance and demonstration of integrity has removed the self scrutiny of peer pressure. There is no intercession by the decent to arrest the acts of the churlish. In private life those who dare to intercede now get arrested by the police under the insane laws that have vaporised common sense and civic duty. In public life there is now no-one to intercede on behalf of the people as the Baroness Scotland scandal so clearly demonstrates. The politicians at Westminster play their word games, literally, at our expense. This is something that a General Election can no longer change. It will require tanks and guns and an iron resolve to overturn tyranny.

Florence Nightingale

"the esteemed Lord Mandleson"?? Esteemed by whom for Pete's sake? That creepy little turd Bercow makes me want to throw up.

Fernando

A good move, which may revolutionise who becomes a minister. If the Lords are elected the PM will not be able to parachute people into government by making them peers, and this will reduce the pool of talent. The pool would he even smaller if the size of the Commons is cut.
So we might move to a situation where being a member of parliament is no longer a requirement to be a minister. However, they still need to be accountable and this proposal goes some way to address that.

Fearless Frank

So Maybe Bercow's not all bad after all.

Mind you, I think Mandy may be rather pleased at the Alexander the Great reference.

Minnie Ovens

In circumstances where there was a decent and honourable Speaker I might applaud Bercow's remarks.
Not in this case. Bercow is a man to whom honour is an alien word. I think he sees the way of the land and now feels it is best to appear to be neutral in order to stunt potential attacks on his constituency in the election.
If the stables are to be cleared out in 2010 then best we start off with a Speaker who will bring gravitas and dignity to the role.
So let us see someone strong contending Bercow's election, to get rid of this pompous, egotistical little fellow.

Craig Strachan

John Bercow wants to keep his job come June.

Boudicca

The little Berk is obviously nervous of the populist Farage.

Hysteria

@ Nicholas - "This is something that a General Election can no longer change. It will require tanks and guns and an iron resolve to overturn tyranny."

Absolutely - the party system is inherently anti-democratic

Verity

Nicholas, as ever, a strongly articulated opinion with which I concur.

The phone rang and now I cannot remember the second post with which I was going to concur, and as this elephantine new site does not provide access to switch back and forth between comments already up, and comments being written, I'll just have to come back.

Anne Wotana Kaye

Bercow is behaving like a shrewd insurance broker. He is covering all options, and he can swing either way when it comes to crunch. Lord Mandelson is not the only cunning lad in the village, and should watch his back.

terence patrick hewett

I hope Nigel Farage defenestrates the little weasel.

Hysteria

Verity - I share your frustration. This site just becomes a long list of disconnected ramblings - no structure, no links to related topics. I am becoming inreasingly disenchanted.

There must be a better libertarian / independant environment that is better organised - I don't like the profanity and shallowness of Guido r DK. I do like the (usually) intelligent comments here and on Burning Our Money.

Note to Speccie Techies - I hope you are researching further improvemnts.......

Sir Graphus

Bercow makes a good point, but he should take it 1 step further; it would be better if ministers were also answerable to the people. If they were members of the Commons, they could be questioned in the House, and seek a proper mandate every 4-5 years.

Richard Price

Simple solution. Elect the Lords.

2trueblue

As said already, insurance. Roll on the election and see if he is still there himself.

michael

The Queen of Mean accountable?.....Handy!

Simon Stephenson

"at a time when the Cabinet contains the esteemed Lord Mandelson, whose empire is of a scale not seen since the death of Alexander the Great"

John Bercow

Is it just me, or does anyone else feel that the dignity and gravitas in which one would expect to hold the Speaker of the House of Commons is not done any favours by Mr Bercow coming out with the sort of irrelevant hyperbole that might just be acceptable if it was being used to catch the attention of a class of bored 13-year olds?

Shouldn't we be trying to draw the population up to the level at which purposeful politics must be conducted, rather than reducing political comment to the type of mindless tittle-tattle which too many people have been allowed to assume as their comfort level?

Norman Dee

comments on comments,
1. I wish I could write like Nicholas, nail on the head !
2. as regards hyperbole and inelegance of remarks when referring to a mamber of the governmant, yes under any other circumstances, but this is Mandelbum, he deserves no less.

JohnAnt

I think many would also relish the opportunity to see Brown, Miliband etc all being forced to answer questions in the Lords.