John Bercow says he is the victim of a concerted campaign to destroy his reputation
John Bercow walks over Westminster Bridge on his last day as speaker of the House of Commons. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA. - Credit: PA
Former House of Commons speaker John Bercow has claimed he is a victim of a concerted campaign to destroy his reputation by those he describes as 'snobs and bigots'.
Speaking at a Guardian event in conversation with Owen Jones, the former Tory MP addressed claims of bullying.
He said: "I was astonished when those allegations first surfaced on Newsnight nearly two years ago and for the best part of two years I've had to put up with this issue being weaponised against me."
He added that those behind the claims were from a faction who were "snobs and bigots" and resistant to change.
He explained: "More recently it's very obvious there is a concerted and orchestrated campaign to assassinate my character."
You may also want to watch:
Bercow said he had worked with a number of loyal members of staff for some time who took a contrasting view to those who had gone public about the former speaker.
He said: "One characteristic that so far several of the detractors have in common, and they are now going public, briefing, smearing, trying to use the media to prosecute the case against me ... is that they are institutionalised. They are change-resistant and they are people who are very long accustomed not just to having their say but to having their way."
In an interview with The New European the former speaker said that Remain MPs backing an early general election was one of the "saddest" days of his career.
Most Read
- 1 Nigel Farage loses nearly 50,000 followers after Twitter suspends QAnon accounts
- 2 Progressive alliance could see Labour win 351 seats at next election, new analysis reveals
- 3 Tory minister admits UK rejected EU's music visa offer in order to 'take back control' of borders
- 4 What Auf Wiedersehen, Pet teaches us about Britain and Europe
- 5 Fifteen ways to fix Britain
- 6 Michel Barnier tells UK to be 'very careful' in Brexit diplomatic status row
- 7 The rocky road to Rejoin
- 8 The polling that signals the plight of the Union
- 9 ‘Don’t haste ye back’ - Nicola Sturgeon's perfect farewell message to Donald Trump
- 10 Brexiteer says he'd never have voted for Brexit 'if we knew we'd lose our jobs'
Become a Supporter
The New European is proud of its journalism and we hope you are proud of it too. We believe our voice is important - both in representing the pro-EU perspective and also to help rebalance the right wing extremes of much of the UK national press. If you value what we are doing, you can help us by making a contribution to the cost of our journalism.