John Bercow has joined Labour - wow

Oh what a surprise!! He may have been a member of the Conservative party for a long time but his heart belonged to Labour

Mamardoit

Well he's certainly the Billy-no-mates of the tory party. I bet he's seething not to be in the House of Lords. Let's hope he's one that doesn't get his nose in the trough.

No job at the EU either. Bit of a shame given how much they love him.

Let's hope he's one that doesn't get his nose in the trough.

Really, REALLY?

Not a particular likeable character but he has spirit and not afraid to use it something the party has been missing for a long time
Hes forthright, bumptious, and intelligent
Starmer is a safe pair of hands almost too intelligent and moderate and seeming to be lacking in passion / drive
Bercow will stir it up with a big old wooden spoon he will tie bumbling Boris into bigger knots than ever, a quick thinker

Like him or loath him he ll cause a stir

I don't have any strong opinion about Bercow. I don't think he would make an easy friend but I doubt many of us need him to be that. He was a great defender of the House of Commons which is why this undemocratic Tory government hated him. It will be interesting to see what history says. He was known as being very right-wing at University and has had a journey to find wisdom as he got older and move away from what he accurately describes the Tory party has become.

I can only think the amount and extreme of the bile being poured out on this thread indicates how shaken the GN Tories are by the loss of the by-election.

In reply to those muddling my personal opinion, with various articles and academic reports relating to reasons that the middle class is turning away from the Tories. —

First looking at the younger age group, from an article in the Tory mouthpiece The Spectator.

The most obvious one is ethnic background. Those from an ethnic background tend to not vote Tory.
Only 2/100 of voters over 80 are from an ethnic background but this rises to 20% in the under 30s.

Education. Tony Blair ensure a far larger level of the population had the opportunity to attain further education qualification. Many took up this opportunity. This dramatic expansion of higher education has dramatically shifted life outcomes, values, debt levels, and world views of this generation, and they are far less likely to vote Tory. Analysis of the referendum shows this in stark figures.

The young are drawn to cities, those left behind are feeling exactly that and the Tories show no desire to provide opportunity to those in these rural locations, which again had previously been a source of Tory votes.

Home ownership. This has previously been a big driver in Tory votes. The gap continues to grow between wage ratio and home ownership.

Student fees have de-coupled another portion of young vote from the Tories.

Corruption, tax dodging, and economic downturn all play its part.

Brexit - no further explanation needed.

Finally, Tories are seen as stuck in the past - the Tories are more likely to resist movements like BLM, LGBT, etc.

The Spectator was correct in its analysis, the last lot of elections in May show that so many of what were once rock solid Tory strongholds are now looking shaky and indeed analysis of the voting patterns confirm exactly that.

Let us hope it is structural and not merely a blip.

The bullying claims against Bercow, by ex Black Rod and others, formal complaints, not media gossip, and unfortunately not formerly investigated, should be enough to be a warning to any party admitting him. As a victim of bullying, which can be done in underhand as well as shouty ways, the Conservative Party is well shut of him, and Labour is welcome to him. Cannot understand anyone supporting him.

A lot of “new” Tory votes are the older, Brexitty population who have switched from Labour to UKIP to Tory, meanwhile many of the “traditional “ tories in the shires and wealthier cities don’t really identify with this group. Tories are the new UKIP.

PippaZ

Mamardoit

Well he's certainly the Billy-no-mates of the tory party. I bet he's seething not to be in the House of Lords. Let's hope he's one that doesn't get his nose in the trough.

No job at the EU either. Bit of a shame given how much they love him.

Let's hope he's one that doesn't get his nose in the trough.

Really, REALLY?

Unfortunately I can't do bigger than REALLY!

Why the outrage?

I've not commented on his appearance, his marriage, or his children. I've not even mentioned the amount of taxpayers money he spent on a flat refurbishment. I've said nothing offensive.

Kali2

In an explosive interview with the Observer, Bercow says he regards today’s Conservative party as “reactionary, populist, nationalistic and sometimes even xenophobic”.

How can well educated middle-class people accept this? If they do, then, what can I say, they are part and parcel of this.

Why would what John Bercow says carry any weight with what I accept?

And, i was being sarcastic about not realising he was a Tory!!

Bercow will stir it up with a big old wooden spoon he will tie bumbling Boris into bigger knots than ever, a quick thinker

I'd like to think so, BlueBelle but I doubt he'll get the opportunity. He's only joined the LP, not become an MP.

I have a lot of time for him. He was an excellent Speaker who did his job. Which was to defend the supremacy of the Commons Legislature against Executive attempts to override it.

Forget tories being cross about Amersham; this Bercow hate goes back much further. I note that it's coming mostly from former Leave voters who were fed, and completely absorbed, the ridiculous story that Speaker Bercow, in doing his job properly, was thwarting the will of the people.

This outrage is only a five minute wonder, and nothing to get terribly wound up about, but interesting in the level of bile and hate.

Self serving, attention seeking, little creep. Just when Starmer thought things couldn't get much worse........................

Shall we just go the whole hog and ask for this section to be renamed from "News and Politics" to "Venom and Bile"?

Sarnia

Self serving, attention seeking, little creep. Just when Starmer thought things couldn't get much worse........................

I knew that some sections of the LP wouldn't be very pleased, either..

I am not sure it's what the labour party needs to be honest.

Galaxy

I am not sure it's what the labour party needs to be honest.

Honestly! Don’t get it out of proportion.

Bercow has become a Labour party member. There are many well known figures who support Labour or a centre left ideology. He is amongst many others.

Nasty little man seeking revenge for not getting his peerage. Good luck with that John!

No I dont assign him too much importance but there is a drip drip thing going on with the labour party at the moment. It's currently trying to work out a seemingly endless stream of issues and the publicity just adds to that.

I am not sure it's what the labour party needs to be honest.

Quite agree. Starmer has a big enough job on his hands getting the Labour Party united and becoming electable again without having Bercow's supersized ego to contend with. He's far better suited to the Tory party; inflated sense of self importance, a bully and has an on/off relationship with honesty and integrity. Sadly I think that this is an own goal for Labour.

PippaZ

Callistemon

He always was!

He does like the limelight, perhaps he thought everyone had forgotten him.

He was correct.

Meow!

???

You have to admit that he's been out of the news for some time.

Quite apart from anything else comments that refer to this person as “little” and “dwarf” are not acceptable.

Hilarious to see left wing posters described as sneering Tory haters posting swastikas (really? Where?) followed by the outpouring of vicious comments !

Lauranorder. I’m not sneering or anything like it but you said this “ Nor do you speak for many party members of my acquaintance who are fully supportive of the current government.”. I’m interested to know if you are fully supportive of everything the current government has done/is doing ? I mean everything ?

Sorry, for example do you support Boris “spend spend spend “or Sunak “who’s going to pay for it “ ?

Alegrias1

Shall we just go the whole hog and ask for this section to be renamed from "News and Politics" to "Venom and Bile"?

Or maybe we just need to toughen up and accept that posters are allowed to have different opinions. People are not being offensive just because they have opposing views.

Bercow is no shrinking violet and we are allowed to express our opinions if someone starts a thread about him.

Of course you are. Calling somebody a poison dwarf and a slimy individual doesn't add much to the political debate though. I just thought the new title would be more apt.

I think this is the bit where you tell me that Boris gets called names all the time, isn't it?