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{{Infobox Speaker
{{Infobox Speaker
| honorific-prefix = <!-- <small>[[The Right Honourable]]</small><br> Is he PC yet? -->
| honorific-prefix = <small>[[The Right Honourable]]</small><br> <!-- Is he PC yet? - he was reffered to as rt. hon. in the royal warrant-->
| name = John Bercow<br />
| name = John Bercow<br />
| honorific-suffix = <small>[[Member of Parliament|MP]]</small>
| honorific-suffix = <small>[[Member of Parliament|MP]]</small>

Revision as of 21:24, 22 June 2009

The Right Honourable
John Bercow
MP
File:Bercow.JPG
Speaker of the House of Commons
Assumed office
22 June 2009
MonarchElizabeth II
Preceded byMichael Martin
Member of Parliament
for Buckingham
Assumed office
1 May 1997
Preceded byGeorge Walden
Majority18,129 (37.5%)
Personal details
Born (1963-01-19) 19 January 1963 (age 61)
Edgware, Middlesex
NationalityBritish
Political partySpeaker
Other political
affiliations		Conservative (1997-2009)
SpouseSally Illman
Alma materUniversity of Essex

John Simon Bercow (born 19 January 1963, in Edgware, London) is a British politician and Speaker of the British House of Commons. He has been Conservative Party Member of Parliament for the constituency of Buckingham since being elected in 1997. He served in the Shadow Cabinet under former Conservative leaders Iain Duncan Smith and Michael Howard. On 22nd June 2009 he was elected as the 157th Speaker of the House of Commons and so became the first Speaker to be elected by an exhaustive ballot.

Early life

The son of a Jewish taxi driver, Bercow attended Finchley Manorhill, a large comprehensive school in North London. He attended the University of Essex during the 1980s, graduating with First Class Honours in Government. During this period, he became a controversial figure in student politics and was a member of the right-wing Conservative Monday Club, becoming Secretary of its Immigration and Repatriation Committee. However at the age of 20 he left the club, citing the views of many of the club's members as his reason.[1]

After graduating from university, Bercow was appointed the National Chairman of the Federation of Conservative Students (FCS). He attracted the attention of the Conservative leadership and in 1987 was appointed by Norman Tebbit as Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Collegiate Forum (the successor organisation of the FCS) to head the campaign for student support in the run-up to the 1987 General Election. After a spell in merchant banking, Bercow joined the lobbying firm Rowland Sallingbury Casey in 1988, becoming a board director within five years.

Councillor and Government Advisor

In 1986, Bercow was elected as a Conservative councillor in the London Borough of Lambeth. He served as a councillor for four years. In 1987, he was appointed the youngest Deputy Group Leader in the United Kingdom.

In 1995, Bercow was appointed as a Special Adviser to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Jonathan Aitken. After Aitken's resignation to fight a libel action, Bercow served as a Special Adviser to the Secretary of State for National Heritage, Virginia Bottomley.

Bercow was an unsuccessful Conservative candidate in the 1987 General Election in Motherwell, and again at the 1992 General Election in Bristol South. In 1996, he paid £1,000 to hire a helicopter so that he could attend the selection meetings for two safe Conservative parliamentary seats on the same day - Buckingham and Surrey Heath - and was selected as the candidate for Buckingham.[2]

Parliamentary career

Bercow was first elected to parliament in the 1997 General Election as the MP for Buckingham with a majority of 12,386. He has since increased his majority, having been elected at the 2005 General Election by a margin of 18,129 votes.

Bercow rose quickly through the opposition's junior ranks before being brought into the Shadow Cabinet in 2001 by the Conservative Party's then party leader Iain Duncan Smith. During his first spell on the front bench, Bercow publicly stated that he thought his lack of ruthlessness would prevent him from rising any further through the ranks.

When the Government announced a Bill to allow unmarried gay and heterosexual couples to adopt children in 2002, Duncan Smith imposed a three-line whip on the issue rather than allowing a free vote. In protest, Bercow defied the whips and voted with the government arguing that it should be a free vote. He then resigned from the front bench.[3] As a backbencher he was openly critical of Duncan Smith's leadership, declaring that he was about as likely to "meet an Eskimo in the desert" as Duncan Smith was to win the next general election.[4]

In 2003, the new Conservative Leader Michael Howard appointed Bercow as Shadow Secretary of State for International Development.

Bercow has a long-standing interest in Burma and has frequently raised issues of democracy and genocide in the country. In 2006 he was made a Patron of the Tory Reform Group.[5] In 2001, he also supported the ban on MPs becoming members of the Monday Club, an organisation of which he is a former member (see above).[6]

With a colleague, Bercow runs the Advanced Speaking and Campaigning course, which has trained over 600 Conservatives, including several current MPs. He has also lectured in the United States to students of the Leadership Institute.

Opposition MP of the Year

In 2005, Bercow won the Channel Four/Hansard Society Political Award for 'Opposition MP of the Year'. He said,

I shall treasure this award and I am extremely grateful to my colleagues for it. Winning it has raised the question of what is good opposition. I think that the public is fed up with one politician simply ranting at another politician for the sake of it. The public deserves to see a more measured and constructive approach to politics. In addition to pursuing a wide variety of local issues, I have attempted to question, probe and scrutinise the Government in the House of Commons on important national and international topics which concern people. Over the last 12 months, I have constantly pressed the case for reform of world trade rules to give the poorest people on the planet a chance to sell their products and improve their quality of life. The plight of the people of Darfur, Western Sudan, has also been a regular theme. They have suffered too much for too long with too little done about the situation. I shall go on arguing for Britain to take the lead in the international community in seeking decisive action for peace and justice.[7]

Rumours of defection

Following the defection of Conservative MP Quentin Davies to the Labour Party on 26 June 2007, persistent Westminster rumours[8] named Bercow as the next most likely candidate for defection to the Labour Party.

In September 2007, Gordon Brown announced that Bercow had accepted an advisory post on a government review of support for children with speech, language and communication needs. The Conservative Party Chairman, Caroline Spelman, confirmed that this appointment was with the consent of the party.[9]. Bercow has had a long-term interest in this topic. As he mentioned in a speech in the House of Commons on 1 February 2008 [10], his own son Oliver has been diagnosed with autism.

The Bercow Review

In 2008, John Bercow was asked by the Labour MPs Ed Balls and Alan Johnson to produce a substantial review of children and families affected by speech, language and communication needs (SLCN). After the report, the government pledged £52 million to raise the profile of SLCN within the education field.

The review looks at the extreme consequences communication problems can lead to – from initial frustration at not being able to express oneself, to bullying or being bullied at school, fewer job prospects and even the descent into criminality.[11]

The interim report highlighted a number of core issues: that speech, language and communication are not only essential life skills but fundamental human rights;[12] that early identification of problems and intervention is important to avoid social problems later on; and that the current system of treatment is patchy, i.e. there is a need for services to be continually provided for children and families from an early age.

Expenses

During the 2009 expenses scandal, Bercow turned out to be one of the cheapest MPs in terms of total expenses for 2008/09, coming 631st out of 645 [13]. However, in terms of the "additional costs allowance", he had been one of the most expensive over the past six years [14].

Speaker of the House of Commons

Wikinews has related news:

Bercow has long campaigned quietly to become Speaker [15] and has been touted as a successor to Michael Martin. There is a website [16] supporting his claims which has been set up anonymously. On 20 May he officially announced his intention to stand in the election, with his manifesto.[17] Anne Begg MP said that she would back him to become the new speaker [18] Bercow received the most votes in the first round of the 2009 Speaker election with 179 votes, but fell short of the majority required for victory. Nevertheless, he reached the third and final round, along with Sir George Young. Bercow was then elected 157th Speaker with 322 votes against Sir George Young's 271 votes[19], and held the office as Speaker-elect until the Queen approved the appointment at 10pm that night.

Personal life

Bercow married his Labour-supporting[20] wife, Sally Illman, in December 2002. They have three children - Oliver (born in December 2003), Freddie (born in November 2005) and Jemima (born April 2008). His constituency website states: "Outside of politics, John enjoys tennis, squash, swimming, reading and music, and he is a supporter of Arsenal F.C. He is a qualified lawn tennis coach and takes a keen interest in amateur dramatics."

References

  1. ^ "Profile: John Bercow". BBC Online. 2002-11-04. Retrieved 2009-01-28. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  2. ^ Citation Needed
  3. ^ "Tory resigns over adoption vote". BBC News online. 4 November 2002. Retrieved 2007-11-24. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/brianreade/tm_column_date=09012003-name_index.html
  5. ^ About People page, Tory Reform Group
  6. ^ "Tory MPs resign from far-right club". BBC News online. 7 October 2001. Retrieved 2007-11-24. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ "Opposition MP of the Year for 2005". Buckingham Conservative Association. 8 February 2005. Retrieved 2007-11-24. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ "Bercow defection is expected at time of maximum embarrassment". ConservativeHome.com. 14 July 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-24. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ "Mercer and Bercow to advise Brown". BBC News online. 3 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-24. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ^ http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200708/cmhansrd/cm080201/debtext/80201-0004.htm ,
  11. ^ www.dcsf.gov.uk Retrieved on 24th Sep 2008
  12. ^ www.medicalnewstoday.com Retrieved on 22nd Sep 2008
  13. ^ http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/john_bercow/buckingham#expenses
  14. ^ http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/john_bercow/buckingham#expenses
  15. ^ http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/simon-carr/the-sketch-bercow-makes-a-play-for-the-big-chair-789345.html
  16. ^ http://bercowforspeaker.blogspot.com/
  17. ^ "John Bercow says he is ready for the Speaker's role". The Guardian. May 20, 2009. Retrieved May 20, 2009. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  18. ^ http://iwc2.labouronline.org/168348/a_week_in_westminster
  19. ^ http://news.parliament.uk/2009/06/election-of-the-speaker-latest/
  20. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3970871.stm

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom

Template:Incumbent succession box Template:Incumbent succession box

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