Boris Johnson pays backhanded tribute to speaker John Bercow
Prime Minister Boris Johnson paid outgoing speaker John Bercow a backhanded compliment today when he compared him to lauded physicist Stephen Hawking.
Johnson said Bercow has had the “longest retirement since Frank Sinatra” after the speaker announced on 9 September he would step down from the role.
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The PM offered a plaudit to Bercow’s “trademark Tony Montana scowl” and said he will be remembered for “peppering every part of this chamber with your own thoughts and opinions”.
In fact, his frequent interjections during debates made him “an uncontrollable tennis ball machine”, Johnson added.
The Prime Minister, whose bid to prorogue parliament ended in failure when the UK’s highest court overturned it, also said the speaker had “done more than anyone since Stephen Hawking to stretch time in this session”.
Bercow, who will quit his role tomorrow after 10 years, ordered MPs back to parliament late last month after the Supreme Court ruled against Johnson’s attempted suspension in the run up to the 31 October Brexit deadline.
He said he would allow “additional procedural creativity” to allow parliament to stop the PM from ignoring a law requiring him to seek a Brexit delay.
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Labour MP Jess Phillips offered Johnson a taste of his own medicine in her praise for the speaker.
Complimenting Bercow and noting that his children were in the public gallery, she added: “I know he takes his responsibilities as a parent very seriously.”
Then she paused and said: “And now to the Prime Minister.”
But Johnson had some kind words to say about Bercow too.
“Although we may disagree about some of the legislative innovations that you have favoured there is no doubt in my mind that you have been a great servant of this parliament and of this House of Commons,” he told the speaker.
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“You have modernised, you have widened access, you have cared for the needs of those with disabilities.”
“And you have cared so deeply for the rights of backbenchers that you have done more than anyone since Stephen Hawking to stretch time in this particular session.”