PM tweaks Bercow's tail |

Wednesday 24th November 2010 | 14:32

PM tweaks Bercow's tail

He was the first sitting Prime Minister in 31 years to address the Parliamentary Press Gallery lunch and today David Cameron didn't disappoint.

Under the beady eye of guest diner Rory Bremner, the PM used the opportunity to trial some of his own comic material and it was Speaker John Bercow who bore the brunt of it.

Mr Cameron quipped that he was sure that the Queen would find a seat at the Royal Wedding for the Speaker. "...And Mrs Bercow," he added pointedly.

He then joked that Mr Bercow may be tempted to stand up and intervene when Princess Catherine-to-be said "I do" in the Abbey. Doing a passable impression of the Speaker, he said: "Order! I want to hear what the Prince is saying!"

But the best Bercow anecdote regaled by Mr Cameron came from his account of what sounds like a classic encounter between the Executive and the Legislature.

Mr Cameron revealed that Health Minister Simon Burns had one day backed his ministerial car into the Speaker's own official limo in Speaker's Court. An irate Mr Bercow came down and told Burns: "I'm not happy!". "To which Burns replied: 'Well, which one [of the seven dwarves] are you?'"

Of course, Burns and the Speaker have previous. The minister famously refused to shake the Speaker's hand when MPs were being sworn in for this Parliament.

And who could forget that Burns had once muttered in the Chamber that Bercow was "a sanctimonious, stupid dwarf"? Soon after, the minister apologised to a group which represented people with genuine dwarfism. He did not, however, apologise to the Speaker.

Apart from having sport with the Bercows, the PM again underlined his capacity for expletives. Reading out Chris Bryant's execrable poetry, he interrupted himself with the line: "Is that enough.. or shall I read some more of this crap?"

Leave a comment...

Varus

17:27 |
24 Nov 2010
Recommended
6

Cameron comes across as really... mean from this. There's a fine line between gentle humour and disdainful mocking, pretty sure he's flown passed that line.

Jeremy Poynton

17:30 |
24 Nov 2010
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21

Oh you poor sensitive flower. Bercow has the hide of a rhino, and his wife, the hide of two.

Tom

17:43 |
24 Nov 2010
Recommended
4

The speaker doesn't have a official limo - its just a hire car. Indeed they must have the hide of a Rhino with all the flak they both take. Simon Burns seems to have quite a bit of sour grapes about the Speaker. Although he does seem to have wound up most of conservative homes readership as well. Keep forgetting that the Speaker is supposed to be impartial and not a closet Tory!

Grant Hanson

18:34 |
24 Nov 2010
Recommended
4

What an endearing bully and potty mouth our PM is - still glad to know Bercow has got under his skin - long may it continue.

S.

18:44 |
24 Nov 2010
Recommended
1

Is this the new politics. To think I used to come to your blog for some balance. So no, you don't think he disappointed.

LRF

20:18 |
03 Dec 2010
0

If Bercow gets away with the occasional spot of impartiality, you should be able to poke a bit of fun at him. I'd hate to imagine a world devoid of fun, humour and excitement. It would be like.. good lord a fabian society meeting.

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