Independent Inquiry Finds Former Speaker Bercow Was A 'Serial Bully'

The former House of Commons Speaker John Bercow has been found to be a serial bully and liar by an independent inquiry, which has banned him from holding a parliamentary pass and said he could have been expelled from the Commons if he were still an MP.

- Jessica Elgot & Rowena Mason

Complainants described Bercow's amazing display of temper” including an incident where he ordered a staff member to stay seated “then threw the mobile phone right in front of me on my desk and it burst into hundreds of bits and I could feel them hitting me”.

Labour has suspended Bercow, who joined the party after leaving parliament, pending an investigation, the Guardian understands.

In an excoriating verdict on Bercow's conduct during a decade as Speaker, the independent panel found his behaviour fell very far below that which the public has a right to expect from any member of parliament”. It upheld 21 out of 35 complaints against him by former staff members.

The report said: “The respondent's conduct was so serious that, had he still been a member of parliament, we would have determined that he should be expelled by resolution of the house. As it is, we recommend that he should never be permitted a pass to the parliamentary estate.” Bercow called the investigation amateurish and said he had not ever required a parliamentary pass and could circumvent any ban by being let in by a “friendly passholder”.

He said the complainants had been resisting his attempts to modernise parliament and said it had been a protracted, amateurish and unjust process which would not have survived five minutes scrutiny in court”.