Margo MacDonald: Lukewarm welcome for Speaker says it all

Published on Wednesday 24 June 2009 10:22

WHETHER to suit the demands of sound-bite telly, or for more devious reasons, the MPs brave or brazen enough to comment on John Bercow's election as Speaker agreed that he was everything Michael Martin wasn't.

They said he would be a reformer, keeper of the Commons' conscience, and leaving aside the contempt in which he is held by his former colleagues on the Conservative benches, will enjoy support from the whole house in whatever he does to regain public admiration and confidence.

If you buy that you probably consider his election something of a political fairy tale and Hans Christian Anderson Europe's finest novelist.

The newly minted Speaker assured the Commons and couch-bound politics anoraks who watched his speech live on TV of his true allegiance to impartiality and fairness and his enormous pride in having been elected to serve parliament and people. There's no reason to doubt the sincerity of his words but he did not win because he represented a clean break from Michael Martin. His is not an example of greatness having been thrust upon him because he presented such a contrast to the man from Springburn.

John Bercow decided in 2005 that he wanted to be Speaker and asked a parliamentary journalist for advice. Whether he himself, or the journalist, or others, figured out the strategy or tactics to re-present himself as a much more middle-of-the-road kind of guy, his political and personal journey away from the harder-edged policies with which he had been associated, lost him friends in the section of Tory MPs with whom he had identified, and didn't attract new friends from amongst the more liberal types. There's nothing wrong with an MP changing his or her mind. Never to revise an opinion is never to have learnt. But neither was his political journey the reason for Labour's support.

Labour MPs, working on the well established political principle that teaches "my enemy's enemy is my friend," moved in to fill the void left by his Tory colleagues who resented his change of mind on many of what they saw as core Tory beliefs. The mixed fruits produced from the new Speaker's career plan were obvious from the Prime Minister's speech of congratulation. Gordon Brown gave the impression of having pulled out a plum from the election pie, and the rows of Tories looked as though they were sucking soor plooms. They just couldn't summon up the smiles, cheers and waving of Order Papers usual on such occasions.

The only MP who sounded as though he had no consideration other than to urge the new Speaker to clean up the Commons' act was the Lib Dem Leader Nick Clegg. He gave the best speech of congratulation and pledged support for modernisation of the Commons' procedure. David Cameron's speech was nicely crafted, well-delivered, very light on warmth or real content. There was no mention of any achievement as a back-bench MP for example and it reeked of the distrust it's rumoured he feels for Speaker Bercow.

Labour MPs might feel they've stuck one on the Tories in payment for the way some snobs treated Speaker Martin, but in doing so they've possibly robbed the Commons of the best Speaker it'll never have, Sir George Young. He was passed over when Michael Martin was elected, but he's too much of a gentleman ever to have complained or to let his disappointment show at having been the victim in the conspiracy amongst the party bosses to put the last Speaker in the chair.

History repeats itself, but usually as farce. As Sir George graciously acknowledged his rival's victory, I remembered that in politics, good guys don't always win and that in the not too far distant future, MPs who voted cynically, or dangerously might live to regret rejecting the toff in favour of someone they hope will be a people's Speaker.

The Scottish Parliament's Presiding Officer is a toff – that is, a farmer whose parents sent him to Eton, as Sir George Young's parents did. Presumably, they enjoyed privileged childhoods. Both men are amongst the most decent and considerate of others I've met in politics. Political activism is a great leveller and offers the chance to judge fellow party members and opponents on their merits. Comrades, in all parties, judge colleagues by what they believe and contribute, not by their blood-lines.

It's a cop-out for some Labour MPs to say they couldn't vote for Sir George Young, an Old Etonian – they were able to put up with a Fettes old boy, Tony Blair, leading their party. Public trust in the democratic process has to be regained, and the Speaker's part in it.

So let's hope the fairy-tale of the unloved MP who became Speaker is the story of the ugly duckling who became a swan, and lived happily ever after.