At long last, the bullying report into John Bercow is out. After two years of claims and counter-claims, an independent panel has delivered its findings after Bercow appealed against the initial report by Kathryn Stone, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards. Mr S has been slowly making his way through the brutal 89-page review alongside Bercow’s 87-page defence.
The conclusions themselves are conclusively damning, with the former Buckingham MP being described as a ‘serial bully’ and ‘serial liar’ who ‘repeatedly and extensively’ breached ethics rules. But below are some of the other lowlights from the probe, which looks set to kibosh any remaining hopes Bercow had of getting a peerage…
The range of accusations
The independent panel found Bercow’s behaviour ‘fell very far below that which the public has a right to expect from any member of parliament’. It upheld 21 out of 35 complaints against him by three former staff between 2009 and 2014. These were Angus Sinclair, the Speaker’s secretary, Kate Emms, his successor and Lord Lisvane, clerk of the House.
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