Bercows Speech, Can You Take This Odious Little Man Seriously?

[Bobbisox1]

People like Betty Boothroyde were to be respected ,this man was supposed to be neutral, he never was

[naomi24]

'We degrade this Parliament at our peril', says Bercow. Too late mate - but duplicitous words from a duplicitous man who's done his share of degrading an already degraded parliament. No surprise he's legging it!

[Bobbisox1]

"Little man syndrome " Naomi ,with ideas of grandeur

[naomi24]

I'm just pleased he said 'We'. At least he didn't distance himself from the disgrace that our parliament has become - although I don't think he realised that.

[Bobbisox1]

Clark you're not, like he had nothing to do with it even

[Bobbisox1]

* clearly*

[Bobbisox1]

Oh dear
*clearly not, like he had nothing to do with it*

[Jackdaw33]

He'll be gone sooner or later, along with the rest of the treacherous Tory rats, and a nice fat pension too. The Speaker gets paid more than the PM.

[jim360]

As he pointed out quite correctly, MPs are representatives -- charged with serving what they believe to be the best interests of their constituents, and to use their judgement, whatever that may be -- and *not* delegates, mere mouthpieces of the country, or the party, whose only role is to walk through the door they are told with no thought.

A polarising Speaker, I have no doubt -- but, in the end, his job was to help strengthen Parliament, and to allow it to express its will. In that regard he has been successful, and he is but a scapegoat for Brexit supporters -- after all, for good or ill, Parliament's will right now is to reject a No Deal Brexit, and has been to reject the Withdrawal Agreement.

Funnily enough, the Speaker came to the aid of Hard Brexit supporters in that regard, as he tried to block Theresa May from constantly bringing the same (or virtually the same) deal back time and again, as was her earlier plan.

[naomi24]

//MPs are representatives -- charged with serving what they believe to be the best interests of their constituents//

That's as far as I got on that particular effort. This is about Bercow - and he is charged with an undertaking to remain impartial - a word that is clearly stricken from his vocabulary.

[jim360]

Is it a badge of pride, that you feel obliged to show off at every opportunity, that you don't read my posts?

[jim360]

My full posts, at least -- which amounts to basically the same thing. But I don't see why you need to tell anyone.

[naomi24]

Pardon?

[Jackdaw33]

Jim is on Bercow's side. What a surprise!

[brainiac]

I don't think you should be accusing people of showing off, jim360, not having chosen that as your avatar!

[jim360]

What's my avatar got anything to do with it now. It's related to my former day job is all.

[jim360]

I didn't want to disappoint, JD :)

[vetuste_ennemi]

// Parliament's will right now is to reject a No Deal Brexit//

In which case they ought not to have voted for Article 50 which explicitly set an an unconditional exit date. Because that's not what honest people do.

Have they changed their minds since then, and, if so, why? Have they experienced a Damascene conversion? Or just an obscene one?

[naomi24]

//Because that's not what honest people do. //

And there you have it.

[andres]

Getting very heated in the House of Commons right now.

[jim360]

There nothing. Once you vote for a referendum then the only course of action is to vote for the consequence. That May's government then saw fit to exclude Parliament as much as possible from the process, and Johnson followed her in that approach, is regrettable. That Parliament pushed back at this is unsurprising. And that they have been so successful is down to May and Johnson's total failure to try and unite anyone about a common end.

As far as I can see, Parliament has been responding to the Government's abject refusal to work with them, and to May and Johnson's insistence in treating essentially everybody who has even the slightest concerns about Hard/No Deal/WA Brexit as an enemy. It would have been far more dishonest of Parliament to roll over and accept this -- and, besides, they were probably emboldened when the people rejected Theresa May's plea for a stronger mandate to force through her vision of Brexit.