Speaker hopefuls trash Bercow as Commons disappears into K-hole | John Crace
You didn’t always know why MPs at the hustings wanted the job of Speaker – or who some of them even were
There are some things on which no Speaker can adjudicate. So the nine MPs who have nominated themselves to replace John Bercow on 4 November were relieved not to have to declare themselves for either Team Coleen or Team Rebekah. Harriet Harman could barely comprehend the pain she would feel if Chris Bryant leaked details of a fake Ocado account in which she had ordered non-Fairtrade bananas to the Sun, only for him to insist his own M&S account had been hacked. Wars had started over less.
The election of the Speaker will be conducted by a secret ballot of MPs. Meaning it will almost certainly be determined by a series of backroom deals and broken promises. Total votes cast generally equals 1,578 out of a possible 650. But before then the finest traditions of democracy and transparency prevailed and the nine candidates subjected themselves to a hustings for lobby journalists in Westminster Hall.