Published on January 28th, 2012 | by Sam Hargreaves
Image © [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="243" caption="The Speaker doesn't have a minor role in politics ©UK Parliament"][/caption] Last week I compared Prime Ministers Questions to a Shakespearean play. In true political style I have decided to ignore my previous statement and come up with an entirely new position. The House of Commons is a classroom and the speaker of the house, John Bercow, is the teacher controlling it and he's rather good at doing it. Don’t worry this isn’t another attempt to connect the loose wires of an analogy, no this is a much rarer blog post, an article that heaps praise on the Speaker. John Bercow as speaker of the House of Commons does not have an easy job. His predecessor, Michael Martin, oversaw a collapse in confidence in parliament as an institution and allowed MPs to claim expenses at criminal levels. One would think that Bercow would benefit by the comparison when he is discussed in the press, however this is not the case. The criticism that he has leveled at him the most has in fact little to do with him. His wife, Sally Bercow, has gained a level of celebrity as a star of big brother, Labour campaigner and Daily Star columnist which has led to many commentators saying that her behavior isn’t appropriate for a speakers wife. The implied criticism is that it John Bercow’s role to control his wife. This is a ridiculous thing to assume, the office of the speaker has existed for five hundred years, but this is the 21st century the antiquated notion that one partner should be dominant over the other went the way of powdered wigs and muskets. Admittedly questions could be raised if John was posing in a bed sheet in the Evening Standard, but again even that has little to do with the business of parliament. The Sally criticism has come mainly from the right wing press, the mail and the telegraph, the other front that he faces is from the benches from where he originally came. Conservative back benchers have campaigning quietly for him to be replaced; despite the fact prior to his election to the position of speaker he was considered a true blue thatcherite Tory. His former colleagues are feeling disappointed that he is not showing the favourable treatment to them that Martin showed towards the Labour benches during their time in government. In his first year John allowed MPs to ask urgent questions of minister 22 times compared to Martins pathetic 2 questions in a year. John has given parliament a much greater ability to scrutinise the government. Bercow also has many firsts, which he can be proud of, he is the first Jewish speaker and he has long record of campaigning for gay rights. The latter helped dictate the coat of arms he customarily receives as speaker of the house, it features the colours of the gay rights movement and declares ‘All Are Equal’ a statement of intent that must be admired. Finally John Bercow is a friend to all those who want to see greater involvement by young people from all backgrounds in politics. Following controversy surrounding unpaid internships in parliament he set up the Speakers Parliamentary Placement Scheme, which pays interns fairly for the work they do while in parliament. By standing up for a fair and independent parliament to shedding some of the pomp that turn off young voters he has and still continues to be an excellent speaker for the House of Commons, we must encourage the MPs who represent us to ignore the media and to continue to support him and his work.