It’s not been an easy month for Speaker John Bercow. Dogged by allegations of bullying and intolerant behaviour, he’s so far only managed to cling on to his job by promising to resign in the summer of 2019.
Yet his imminent departure from political life has not stopped the indefatigable Speaker from giving his own opinions about how Parliament should be turned into a modern workplace. Mr S can reveal that yesterday morning, at an event organised by British Council, Bercow was the star speaker of an event titled ‘Modernising Parliament’ for young leaders.
Great start to day 2 of the @BritishCouncil #FutureLeadersConnect forum in @UKParliament – lively introductory session with the Speaker John Bercow MP and now mentoring for our young leaders with Parliamentarians, helping them take forward their visions for global change pic.twitter.com/XMrLTtpMnm
— John Dubber (@johndubberUK) October 30, 2018
Bercow’s decision to speak at the event seems in somewhat poor taste though, especially after the damning Cox inquiry into bullying and harassment in the House of Commons found that the current leadership’s own failings (i.e. Bercow’s) meant it was unable to bring Parliament into the, er, modern age by tackling its severe bullying problem.
Fortunately, Bercow was on hand to silence the doubters and offer some pearls of wisdom to the young crowd, apparently telling them that ‘the easiest way to avoid controversy is to do nothing.’
“Easiest way to avoid controversy is to do nothing.” — John Bercow MP, Speaker @HouseofCommons in a session on ‘Modernising Parliament’ with @BritishCouncil #FutureLeadersConnect members at Westminster London pic.twitter.com/RUarpckCqn
— Danish (@Danish_Bhutto) October 30, 2018
No doubt the serially harassed Commons workers will be delighted to hear that the Speaker might then actually do something about the ‘toxic culture’ of Parliament he’s overseen for almost a decade.
But if Bercow is really looking to modernise parliament, Mr S can suggest one relic that definitely should go first…
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