‘Bullying Bercow’ would fly into rages, thump table and call staff names, ex official reveals as he stands by complaint
JOHN Bercow would fly into rages, thump the table and call staff names when his “red mist” descended, an ex-Commons official said today. David Leakey stood by his complaint about the former Speaker, and insisted it would be a “travesty” if he got made a peer due to his past behaviour. Speaking just hours after […]
JOHN Bercow would fly into rages, thump the table and call staff names when his “red mist” descended, an ex-Commons official said today.
David Leakey stood by his complaint about the former Speaker, and insisted it would be a “travesty” if he got made a peer due to his past behaviour.
Speaking just hours after Mr Bercow insisted the claims of bullying made were “total and utter rubbish”.
On Sky News last night he said the former Black Rod did not know what went on in the Commons.
He has denied all the bullying claims against him.
Mr Bercow said: “Total and utter rubbish — from start to finish. . . . he has absolutely no intelligence on those matters.”
But this morning Lieutenant General stood by his comments, and said he first raised concerns years ago.
He said: “The red mist would descend, he would thump the table, ball out insults to me.
“He called me an anti-Semite once, was extremely rude about my background and military career.
“I’ve never come across that in my 46 years of working in the public service.”
Last month Lieutenant General Leakey said he would submit a dossier to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards outlining the ex-Speaker’s “intolerable rudeness and explosive behaviour”.
He said this morning that it would be a “scandal that Parliament would struggle to live down” if he was allowed to head to the House of Lords.
“I spoke up two years ago as I felt no one else was speaking up,” he said.
“He tried to intimidate me. This is a Parliament Me Too moment.”
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The Sun revealed last month how another Commons boss claimed John Bercow bullied him so badly his health collapsed and he was forced to take early retirement.
The bombshell fresh allegation by Lord Lisvane is believed to be at the centre of a substantial dossier the peer has submitted on the former Speaker to Parliament’s watchdog this week.
The friend told The Sun: “Bercow told Robert he was no good, he was useless, he was f***ing this and f***ing that, all of the time.
“He tried to make him feel completely worthless, without ever making any specific allegations of what he was supposed to have done wrong.
“The clerks used to call it Bercow’s ‘carpet chewing’.
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