Conservative MP Shailesh Vara has hit out at John Bercow, calling him a "playground bully" who has "tarnished the role of Speaking with his biasness."
Shailesh Vara is perhaps, the first Indian-origin Gujarati MP to standing for the position. He is the former Minister of State for Northern Ireland and currently the Conservative MP for North West Cambridgeshire. And Vara is now in the race to replace Bercow as the next speaker for House of Commons. Participating in a hustings event in Westminster, along with eight other MPs, he said,
"Speaker Bercow has not been impartial. And frankly speaking, I think he's tarnished the role of the Speaker with his biasness.
"I think what is required is that we need to re-write the rule book, and make it absolutely clear what the Speaker can and cannot do in difficult circumstances.
"And that is actually to protect the Speaker as much as protecting Parliament.
"Because no matter how well intentioned the Speaker may be, she or he may take a particular decision and those who are aggrieved by that decision are going to feel that it is not fair."
In the meantime he has also accused Bercow of insulting his colleagues and demeaning them. He continued,
"We have had a lot of debate about the standards of MPs in the Commons. And given that Speaker Bercow has at times behaved like a verbal playground bully in the way that he treats his colleagues - he insults them, demeans them - I think that he loses all authority to lecture to MPs as to how they should behave when his own behaviour is in question."
The other candidates for the speaker’s role are Henry Bellingham, Chris Bryant, Harriet Harman, Meg Hillier, Lindsay Hoyle, Eleanor Laing, Edward Leigh and Rosie Winterton. The election for the Speaker of the House is due on November 4.
