The former House of Commons Speaker will join host Dermot Murnaghan to give his colourful take on events as the battle for Downing Street unfolds in just under four weeks’ time. John Bercow stepped down from his position in Parliament after 10 years at the end of last month. Head of Sky News John Ryley said: “We’re delighted to be welcoming John Bercow to our general election coverage.
“House of Commons Speaker for 10 years, John will bring his own authority, and no little wit to a night of high drama.”
But the decision from Sky News to bring Mr Bercow on board for the general election coverage on December 12 has infuriated the British public, who have threatened to boycott the broadcaster that night.
The controversial former Speaker had a front-row seat and was often pivotal in the Brexit crisis smothering the UK since the EU referendum in June 2016.
But he recently claimed voting to leave the EU was the “biggest foreign policy mistake in the post-war period”.
The public took to Twitter to accuse Sky News of Remainer bias in their recruitment of Mr Bercow.
One said: “Sky’s Remainer panel is complete, so expect an EU and Lib Dem love in on election night, and forget impartiality.”
Another commented: “One not to watch then but Bercow will be right at home in that nest of undemocratic Remainers.”
A third person wrote: “Well that’s one programme I won’t be watching. You definitely are showing your anti-Brexit bias.”
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A third person wrote: “Well let’s hope other channels are on form because I’m one viewer you’ve lost.”
During his time as Speaker, Mr Bercow was accused by some Brexit-backing MPs of siding with Remainers.
Just days after quitting as House of Commons Speaker, he sparked fury when describing Brexit as “the biggest foreign policy mistake in the post-war period”.
Mr Bercow said he no longer had to “remain impartial” after stepping down from his decade-long role.
When asked if Brexit would be good for the UK’s global standing, he reporters at the Foreign Press Association in London: “The honest answer is no.
“I think that Brexit is the biggest foreign policy mistake in the post-war period, and that is my honest view.”
But Mr Bercow also hit back at his critics, insisting he had “always treated the Brexiteers in a fair way” and “always treated the Remainers in a fair way”.
He said: “I will assert to anybody that will listen until my dying day that I have been impartial in the chair, pro-Parliament and impartial in the chair.”
But his Brexit comments sparked a furious reaction across Westminster, with one incumbent MP labelling him as the “biggest mistake in the history of the Speaker’s chair”.
Brexit Party MEP Martin Daubney launched a scathing attack on Mr Bercow as he accused him of “enabling the obstacles” to the Brexit process over the past three years.
Speaking to LBC, Mr Daubney said: “John Bercow is the biggest mistake in the history of the Speaker’s chair.
“Now we are seeing the true, unbridled contempt he has for Brexiteers, for the majority of the electorate in the 2016 referendum.
“His position was meant to be neutral, that’s the entire point of the Speaker’s chair and he wasn’t.”
