Former Commons Speaker John Bercow dismisses ‘total and utter rubbish’ claims he ‘brutalised’ parliamentary staff
FORMER Commons Speaker John Bercow has dismissed as “total and utter rubbish” claims that he “brutalised” parliamentary staff.
He said David Leakey, who served as Black Rod until 2018, did not know what his relations were like with his clerks, amid allegations of bullying.
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 told Sky News Mr Bercow “brutalised staff in the House of Commons and elsewhere, and I include myself in that”.
Mr Bercow said: “Total and utter rubbish — from start to finish. . . . he has absolutely no intelligence on those matters.”
"First point is that David Leakey didn't work for me, he wasn't employed by me, he wasn't an employee of the House of Commons. He worked in and was the protocol officer of the House of Lords.
"He is in absolutely no position whatsoever to comment on my relations with my parliamentary colleagues, of which he is completely and utterly ignorant.
"He doesn't know what my relations were with my clerks. He has absolutely no intelligence on those matters whatsoever.
"What we have got here is somebody who left the House, who is thrashing about, desperate to remain relevant, popping up at every turn, trying to make himself seem very important."
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