Now this is ground-breaking stuff.
What to think, what to do?
John Bercow is the new speaker of the House of Commons and the Tory MP for somewhere posh in Buckinghamshire where I understand his majority is around 18000. Imagine that, we have MPs who did not even get that many votes, never mind a majority that big.
Nigel Farage has stood down from his leadership of the UKIP party in order to challenge Mr Bercow at the next General Election.
There is a protocol of long-standing that says that the sitting speaker should not be challenged in an election but, as they are meant to be an independent figure in Westminster, should be allowed re-election without competition - on a bye if you like, using footballing terms.
But it would seem that he is to be challenged. So what should we make of this? I cannot think there is a lot of point in the Labour Party joining in and making this a free-for-all, we haven't won there before and we wont win there again, it is not our territory. And if you have to have Conservative MPs, I do think John Bercow has some aspects to recommend him. As an insider on the debate, I know that he almost alone on the Tory benches was a fierce supporter of the bill to allow gay men and women to adopt children. He has been much more aware of and supportive of the Equality and Diversity debates that rage in Parliament, than his Tory colleagues, hence the reason that they didn't support him in the Speaker's debate, and in the end the Labour MPs did.
Is this the real reason Nigel Farage is opposing him? Not because of the furore around MPs expenses, but because he is to the left of the Tory party?
I think on balance that I prefer to hope that if there is an election in this Buckinghamshire constituency, it remains between UKIP and the Tories. And that Mr Bercow wins, not because he is a Tory, but because he is a progressive.
What do you think? Should there now be a free-for-all, or should the other parties keep out of it?
2 comments:
Even though he is a Tory, albeit a somewhat radical one,protocol should be observed, and he should not be challenged. UKIP are just being opportunist. I half expect the BNP to stand as well,given John Berkow's Jewish extraction.
"There is a protocol of long-standing that says that the sitting speaker should not be challenged in an election but, as they are meant to be an independent figure in Westminster, should be allowed re-election without competition"
This old chestnut again. Where is this protocol written? Certainly not in the constitution of the Labour party.
The last time a Speaker was returned without any opposition was in 1931 and this was also the last occasion in which Labour declined to oppose a Speaker who had originally been elected as a Conservative.
The last Conservative Speaker, Bernard Weatherill, faced Labour and SDP opposition in 1987. Speaker Martin was opposed by the SNP at the last election. The only party which acknowledges any such supposed 'protocol' has been the Conservative party - Labour and the Liberals appear to do so when there is a Labour Speaker but not when there is a Conservative one.
I suppose Bercow for all practical purposes comes into the former category. Nigel Farage is not breaching any 'protocol' in contesting this election.
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