John Bercow lambasts ‘born to rule’ David Cameron’s referendum decision

Former Commons speaker John Bercow has criticised David Cameron's decision to hold a referendum. Picture: PA - Credit: PA Wire/PA Images

The former speaker John Bercow roundly criticised David Cameron’s ‘public school-instilled’ self confidence that led to calling for the 2016 referendum.

Bercow said that the former prime minister “thinks people like him are born to rule” and that he only called the referendum because he thought it would “work for him”.

After calling Brexit the biggest mistake of the post-war era in an interview with the Foreign Press Association, Bercow has now told the Observer that he believes Cameron called the 2016 referendum only because of “chuntering in his own party” and not for the good of the country.

MORE: ‘The biggest mistake after WW2’: Bercow finally confirms Brexit view“David is relentlessly tactical rather than strategic. Let’s face it, he chose to call the referendum. Was there a clamour for it? There was not,” he told the Observer.

“There was chuntering in his own party, but the public wasn’t demanding one. He just thought it would work for him.”

Bercow, who attended a comprehensive school, said Eton-educated Cameron has the “most enormous, probably public-school-instilled, self-confidence”.

“He thinks people like him are born to rule, that the natural order is that people like him run things, and that he is in a superior position.”

The former Tory MP has previously said he respects Boris Johnson, but refused to say how he would vote at the election.

He stood down as MP for Buckingham at the end of last month after more than two decades in parliament, and will be replaced by Labour’s Sir Lindsay Hoyle.

In an unusual tribute, a Belgian dance musician has released a track sampling the former speaker’s cries of “ORDER!”

LISTEN: Speaker John Bercow honoured in Belgian dance single ‘ORDER’