Enlarge image
Former British Speaker of Parliament John Bercow: Conservatives under Boris Johnson "reactionary, populist, nationalist and sometimes even xenophobic" (archive image)
Photo: Matt Dunham / AP
Former British Speaker of Parliament John Bercow turns his back on the Tories and joins the opposition Labor Party.
In an interview with the Observer, he criticized the Conservatives, led by Prime Minister and party leader Boris Johnson, as "reactionary, populist, nationalist and sometimes even xenophobic."
Johnson's government must be overturned and only the Labor Party will be able to achieve that goal, said Bercow.
The longtime President of the House of Commons, who stepped down in November 2019, described Johnson as a "successful campaigner but a miserable head of government."
The Prime Minister has no vision for a "fairer society".
More and more people were fed up with "lies and empty slogans," said Bercow.
With his idiosyncratic style, Bercow had been at the center of the extremely emotional parliamentary debates around Brexit for more than three years.
His legendary "order" calls, with which he exhorted the members of parliament to calm, echoed more than 14,000 times through the London House of Commons.
The speaker is something like the trainer of the British Parliament.
He is committed to strict neutrality.
In office he lets his party membership rest.
As a conservative, John Bercow had repeatedly put the Tory government in its place - in favor of parliament.
The son of a London taxi driver with Romanian roots fought with great self-confidence, especially for the rights of smaller parties and backbenchers.
In doing so, he drew the wrath of some governments and party leaders.
But he also won the respect of many ordinary members of parliament.
Supporters of the British exit from the EU accuse Bercow of deliberately delaying the ratification of the exit agreement.
However, Bercow always emphasized that he had behaved neutrally and also treated the Brexit supporters fairly.
After his tenure, however, he made it clear what he himself thought of the project: "I think that Brexit is the greatest foreign policy mistake in the post-war period."
Last August Johnson denied him a seat in the House of Lords. The 58-year-old is the first »speaker« in more than two centuries who was not granted this honor.
