'Scandal' if Bercow got peerage – ex-Parliament official

It “would be a scandal that Parliament would struggle to live down” if the former Commons Speaker John Bercow got a peerage, an ex-Parliament official has said.

David Leakey who served in Parliament as Black Rod accused Mr Bercow of “intolerable behaviour”.

But speaking to Sky News, Mr Bercow dismissed his claims as “total and utter rubbish from start to finish”.

There are reports that Mr Bercow has been nominated for a peerage by Labour.

Getting a peerage would enable Mr Bercow to sit in the House of Lords – but he has suggested Downing Street is seeking to block his appointment to the upper chamber.

Speaking to the BBC’s Today programme, Mr Leakey argued Mr Bercow should not be given a peerage on the grounds of his behaviour as Speaker.

“He would fly into a rage, the red mist would descend, and he would be jumping up and down and balling out, and shouting insults,” he said.

“He called me an anti-Semite once after being rather rude and insulting about my background, education and military career.”

In 2018 Mr Leakey accused the ex-Speaker of creating a climate of “fear and intimidation” and more recently has said he would submit a dossier to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards detailing his complaints.

Lord Lisvane, who served as Clerk of the House between 2011 and 2014, has confirmed to the BBC he has submitted a formal complaint, which was understood to be centred around bullying.

‘Preposterous’

Hitting back at the accusations, Mr Bercow told Sky News the claims were “absurdly preposterous”.

He accused Mr Leakey – who left his parliamentary role in 2018 – of “commenting on matters that he can’t possible know about because he had already left”.

“He is in absolutely no position whatsoever to comment on my relations with my parliamentary colleagues, of which he is completely and utterly ignorant.

“What we have got here is somebody who left the House, who is thrashing about, desperate to remain relevant, popping up at every turn, trying to make himself seem very important, very centre-stage, very at the heart of things in the way that I went about my work.”

Support for the ex-Speaker came from shadow home secretary Diane Abbott who tweeted that Mr Leakey had “served in Germany, Northern Ireland and Bosnia. But claims he was bullied (i.e. intimidated and coerced) by John Bercow. Unlikely.”

Mr Bercow stepped down as Speaker in October after 10 years in the role.