JOHN Bercow has blasted Boris Johnson – saying he was the worst Prime Minister he saw during his time as Speaker of the Commons.
Speaking exclusively to Camilla Tominey Today, Mr Bercow also insisted “he wasn’t a bully”.
And he blasted the probe into his behaviour claiming that calling it a kangaroo court would be unfair to kangaroos.
Turning his guns on the former PM, Mr Bercow told GB News: “By a country mile, Boris Johnson was the worst Prime Minister. I didn’t think he was fit for office. I thought he was immoral, unethical, unfocused, and utterly devoid of any coherent vision or plan for our country. He is, I think, without a doubt, also the worst public speaker of any Prime Minister I’ve ever heard. I’ve never known anybody so fumbling at speeches.”
Despite this, Bercow insists he doesn’t hold any “personal hostility” towards the former Conservative leader and denied he was ever motivated to cause him any problems.
He added: “Why should I have been out to get Boris? When he was Foreign Secretary, he and I got on very well. He was always very amicable and good-natured. He invited me to the Foreign Office residence and we played tennis together. I had the very great and delectable joy of beating him six love, six-love, six love and then we had a very convivial lunch. I had no reason to feel any animosity towards him at all.”
Mr Bercow also addressed the bullying claims that have dogged him for years, as well as reports he’d been banned from Westminster.
He said: “I’ve not been banned from Westminster. That’s the first point. The second point is that I was apparently told that I couldn’t have a parliamentary pass, well I didn’t ask for a parliamentary pass. So it’s a completely toothless, meaningless, absurd and implausible sanction. Certainly what I would say to you is, look, I’m not without flaws or blemishes. I’ve made my fair share of mistakes. But I don’t believe that I bullied anyone, in any way, anywhere, at any time. And when it was suggested that I had lied, many things have been said about me over the years, but I’m never anything other than straightforward and candid. I haven’t lied about anything. And I don’t believe that I bullied anyone either.”
On the probe that was carried out into his behaviour he continued: “I think perhaps the most significant thing to say is this – it was an amateurish, ramshackle, hopelessly flawed process of investigation undertaken into me. I had people making allegations about what I did or didn’t say and witnessed in a room a decade or more earlier. It’s an absurd process which had no weight or credibility. To call it a kangaroo court would be unfair on kangaroos.”
Mr Bercow also defended his record as speaker in relation to Brexit which he’s long faced claims he was out to stop.
He added: “The logic of the argument is that anybody, in order to be Speaker, has never previously had or does not entertain an opinion. The issue for the speaker is not that he or she has never had an opinion about anything, but that he or she discharges the duty of the Office of Speaker fairly, impartially, dispassionately and with a view to ensuring that all views are represented. And that’s exactly what I did on Brexit.
“So I was fair to the Brexiteers when they were strong. I did the same for the remainers after 2016 and that’s what the Brexiteers didn’t like. I did what I thought was right.”
Admitting to flaws he added: “I am a bit of a show-off. I think most politicians are to a degree. And if you say do I like the sound of my own voice? I plead guilty. Do I talk too much? I plead guilty to that too. Was I unfair? No. Did I try to do the right thing at all times by all parts of the house and all shades of opinion? I did so relentlessly for over 10 years.
“And I make the point again, it is quite an important point, whether people agree with it or not. That’s what I was seeking to do. I was not trying to frustrate, to impede, to prevent Brexit. What I was seeking to do was to facilitate the House of Commons in the discharge of its function.”
