Hattie Turner has a piece in CAPX about the Bercow bullying issue.
Bullying Bercow is gone – but are staff any safer in Parliament?
With his pomposity and verbose interventions at PMQs, John Bercow seemed like an entertaining and charismatic figure to those outside Westminster. But for anyone who has worked in Parliament, it’s a very different story.
The Independent Expert Panel’s report into Mr Bercow’s conduct describes him as ‘intimidatory’, ‘undermining’ and often in use of ‘threatening conduct’. One researcher who has worked in Parliament for decades told me, ‘Bercow was the worst ever [and] an extremely biased Speaker…There are no words to describe how toxic the place had become under his Speakership.’
Bercow was certainly the worst Speaker I can remember, although his predecessor didn't shine either.
Thankfully, things have now improved somewhat. The Members and Peers Staff Association (Mapsa) along with Unite representatives in Parliament and the then Leader of the House of Commons, Andrea Leadsom MP, set up the first Independent Complaints and Grievances Scheme (ICGS) prior to the 2019 election. This now gives staff a process for dealing with abuse and bullying, meaning the Standards Commissioner has the authority to confidentially investigate complaints. Another long-serving researcher told me, ‘I am pleased we now have a system where victims, even of one of the most powerful people in Parliament, can hold abusers to account. Shame it took so long and not until he was already out of Parliament, but this is a huge step forward.’
6 comments:
Yes, electing people we shouldn't. We want the larger-than-life because they are entertaining, and the forceful because we hope they will achieve change for us. But when those traits are manifested in ways that we don't like, we complain. Spittle-flecked rants (I read all of the report, and it's amazing how often spittle is mentioned by the complainants) and mimicking people are definitely wrong. But just imagine if Bercow had been on the Brexit side, bending parliamentary procedures and brushing aside the qualms of people like Grieve and Soubry. I would have thought it a price worth paying. Naughty, but justified.
Bercow did exactly the same degree as me, and was taught by the same people, a few years later. They should have asked me to do the job. I would have been superb.
Spose he did a good job for us really. He helped in the showing up of our treacherous elites.
Not a likeable biased little shit, but together with his wife's rather lurid adventures they did provide entertainment, and after all a very large number of those he crossed swords with were equally obnoxious and useless and they are still there
It's not over yet by a long chalk.
Our failure to vote for competent candidates is entirely a consequence of the complete lack of competent candidates. I have been spoiling my voting slip for a couple of years and don't anticipate changing that until some decent people put themselves forward.
Sam - yes the spittle seems to have made quite an impact on people, as it would. Sounds particularly unpleasant - maybe his teeth don't fit very well.
Tammly - yes, if they could let him in it tells us something, especially when we add quite a few others to the list.
Wiggia - almost as if he was thrown under a bus to distract us.
James - it never will be.
Andy - I may do that. Least bad option tends to be my approach but I'm not convinced it's worth it.
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