John Bercow has announced he will stand down as House of Commons speaker on Oct. 31, the day Britain is due to leave the European Union.
He will also stand down as a Conservative MP at the next general election. His statement on Monday came after his own party pledged to stand a candidate against him.
Bercow, who described himself as the “backbenchers’ backstop”, said he would stand down as speaker on Monday night only if MPs backed PM Boris Johnson’s motion for an early general election, but this is not expected to happen.
“I have concluded that the least disruptive and most democratic course of action would be for me to stand down at the close of business on Thursday, October 31st,” Bercow said to mutters and some applause from MPs.
“Least disruptive because that date will fall shortly after the votes on the Queen’s Speech expected on 21st and 22nd October. The week also after that may be quite lively and it would be best to have an experienced figure in the chair for that short period.”
In a thinly veiled swipe at the government front bench, he added: “This is a wonderful place filled overwhelmingly with people who are motivated by the national interest, by their perception of the public good, and by their duty — not as delegates, but as representatives to do what they believe is right for our country.
“We degrade this Parliament at our peril.”
While Commons speakers do stand in general elections, they are usually unopposed by the main parties. However, business secretary Andrea Leadsom said on Sunday that the Tories would put up a candidate against Bercow in his Buckinghamshire constituency at the next election in protest of him allowing “rebel alliance” MPs to take control of the Commons agenda last week.
Bercow has been Commons speaker since 2009, a year longer than he initially promised. To many MPs, he is seen as Parliament’s champion, giving backbenchers a bigger voice not least through the soaring number of urgent questions which allow MPs to summon ministers to the despatch box.
But there have been accusations from the Conservative benches that he is biased towards Labour and those who want the UK to stay in the European Union.
Last year, Bercow came under pressure to resign over allegations that he had bullied members of his staff, including his former private secretary Angus Sinclair, who claimed Bercow had shouted and sworn at him and once even smashed a mobile phone on his desk. Bercow categorically denies the allegations of bullying.
A wide-ranging inquiry by Dame Laura Cox, which did not investigate individual cases, later found there was a culture of bullying in Westminster that had been “tolerated and covered up”.
Bercow was first elected Conservative MP for Buckingham in 1997. He gave up his party affiliation when he became speaker.