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Insider Research

Insider Research

Understanding the heart of Westminster

Westminster cool on Bercow's survival

Revealed: Scepticism over the Speaker's prospects.

Nearly half of Westminster experts (45%) think John Bercow will no longer be Speaker by the end of this parliament. Some 60% of Conservatives thought Mr Bercow would not last the distance, although scepticism about his remaining in the role was shared across the parties, with 34% of Labour supporters and the same number of Liberal Democrats forseeing a Bercow exit before the next election.

 

Will John Bercow still be Speaker at the end of this parliament?

 

It's common knowledge that John Bercow is not flavour of the month among his own party - now our latest poll reveals just how unpopular he has become. Asked how Mr Bercow was doing as Speaker, just 1% of Tory supporters polled for our Politics Home Panel said Mr Bercow was "highly effective". This compares with 30% who said he was "not very effective" and 48% had him down as "poor". 

Perhaps Mr Bercow would benefit from switching parties - over a fifth of Labour supporters (22%) gave Mr Bercow top marks, while another 47% said he was "effective enough".

Judging by our poll, the root of Mr Bercow's problems with his own party may be his Labour-supporting wife, Sally. Asked how they viewed Mrs Bercow's behaviour in the light of her recent Evening Standard photo-shoot and controversial Twitter messages, a massive 83% of Tory supporters said they found her conduct "offensive and inappropriate", compared to a mere 275 of Labour voters and 38% of Liberal Democrats.

 

What is your view of Sally Bercow's recent Evening Standard photo shoot and her controversial tweets?

 

Leave a comment...

Postal Vote

It doesn't matter much to the Bercows: the silly, overgenerous speaker pension is already in the bag, whch also explains why Mrs Bercow did not refrain from that photoshoot and coninues what she has done since being a teenager, shamelessly trading on her looks.

Peter Grimes

What looks? She's got a sheep's jawbone!

Colin Cook

Boot the twit out. He has brought the office, one of the most important in the land, into disrepute by his failure to act over MPs expenses and to maintain the standards of behaviour and even dress that we should expect.

Chris

When you consider the dignity with which the likes of Betty Boothroyd brought to the job & then look at this disgrace it make you realize just how far our Parliament has been corrupted & degraded by its present occupants

H Tennison

Bercow has been an excellent champion for backbench MPs and has ensure Ministers are brought to the House much more often to make statements and answer urgent questions on important topical issues and events. That is much more important than the rest of the froth and nonsense the media pundits enjoy.

John

Tennison,  you really are fooled by your love for Labour, Bercow  is only interested in whats good for him

Pam Morgan

I hear she has just been dropped by the BBC.....as paper reviewer. I wish Sky would drop her. She is a liability....and I would think it won't be long before someone sues her. She has a big mouth and one day will go too far....if she hasn't already done so. Pam

Lochduart
  • 20:05 |
  • 20 Feb 2011
  • 0

+ 100%

Andrew

Sally B is obviously not a well person and needs help from those who love her.

Major Plonquer

The general concensus seems to be that Bercow is coming up short.

Geordie

She is Lucky Henry V111 is not around or Ollie Cromwell for that matter

Mizar

Stuffed shirts, the lot of you. And rude, insulting, juvenile twerts - and God you are bores!

Mizar
  • 21:28 |
  • 21 Feb 2011
  • 0

Sorry, H T above is not included in my rant!

Bill Baker

It's not the Speaker's job to curry favour with the Government of the day. Those with longer memories may recall that Thatcher tried to undermine Weatherill after his election in 1983, while Betty Boothroyd was hardly flavour of the month for some time after she was dragged to the Chair in 1992. Would it be wise for the Government to be seen to be using its majority to oust a sitting Speaker?

Patricia Ledger

When a woman of mature years, and the wife of a senior politician, chooses to pose for a magazine naked but for a sheet, in true centrefold style, she either wants to scupper her husband's career, is on drugs and doesn't know what she is doing, or more likely, she now inhabits the Westminster bubble, that all these people eventually get into, which they imagine shields them from the real world - and the consequences of their inflated view of themselves.

Cathy
  • 10:47 |
  • 12 Mar 2011
  • 0

They are a laughing stock but the shame of it is they are set up for life.