LONDON (Reuters) -John Bercow, the former speaker of Britain’s House of Commons lower house of parliament, will be banned for life from holding a parliamentary pass after an independent panel found he was a “serial bully” of his employees.
Bercow, whose shouts of “order, order” won him fame around the globe during years of parliamentary struggles over Brexit, was found to have repeatedly bullied his staff with “behaviour which had no place in any workplace”, the Independent Expert Panel said on Tuesday.
The panel, which adjudicates on complaints against lawmakers in parliament, also said his evidence showed he was “a serial liar”.
“His behaviour fell very far below that which the public has a right to expect from any member of parliament,” the panel said in a statement.
“The respondent’s conduct was so serious that, had he still been a Member of Parliament, we would have determined that he should be expelled by resolution of the House (of Commons). As it is, we recommend that he should never be permitted a pass to the Parliamentary estate.”
Bercow stepped down in October 2019 after 10 years in the Speaker’s chair, from which he refereed debates, ruled on procedural disputes and made sure lawmakers followed parliamentary rules.
In response, Bercow said the ruling was a “travesty of justice” and that the investigation was “amateurish” that relied on “tittle tattle and malicious gossip”.
“At the end of it, the panel has simply said that I should be denied a parliamentary pass which I have never applied for and do not want. That is the absurdity of its position,” he said in a statement.
“It is a travesty of justice and brings shame on the House of Commons.”
(Reporting by Kylie MacLellan and Elizabeth Piper; editing by William James)
