Bercow entertains Commonwealth MPs

---

Parliamentarians from across the Commonwealth gathered in Parliament this week to hear from John Bercow about the role of the Speaker in Parliament.

Speaking at a Commonwealth Parliamentary Association session, Bercow said that he attached "critical importance" to the association, and his vice-presidency of it.

"I value the links that we have with other partners around the world and I want to build relationships within and beyond the Commonwealth," he said.

"I always think it is very important in any institution to keep the best and improve the rest."

Taking questions from the assembled Commonwealth parliamentarians, Bercow said that he did not have any "special magical solutions" to offer on how to keep order in a Parliament.

But he said that he was always looking to call on MPs from alternate political parties, as well as ensure a balance of opinions were heard on contentious issues, such as the Israel-Palestine dispute.

He said that shouting "order, order" was usually sufficient to quiet rumbustious MPs, but acknowledged he often had to remind them that the public did not approve of the 'yah-boo' behaviour that often characterises the chamber.

And he referred to the occasion during prime minister's questions last week when he admonished Tory MP Simon Burns for being "boring and boorish" in his heckling of the Labour benches.

Bercow refused to be drawn on the 'hot political potato' of whether he supported the abolition of the House of Lords in favour of an elected 'Senate'.

He said that while he was in favour of an elected upper House when a backbench MP, he could not advocate similar views as Speaker.

It has been reported that justice secretary Jack Straw will soon publish proposals to sweep away 700-plus peers and replace them with 300 elected senators, chosen by a form of proportional representation.

Bercow was also asked about the damage done to the British Parliament by the expenses scandal, and the role of his predecessor Michael Martin.

Bercow said Martin was a "decent man" who had "suffered as a result of events", and to a large degree "carried the can" for the crisis.

He said he did not feel the office of Speaker had been irreparably damaged by the affair, but it had done "huge damage" to Parliament as a whole.

Also speaking at the event was the Speaker of the Pakistani Parliament, Dr Fehmida Mirza. She told the audience, many of them speakers and deputy speakers of parliaments themselves, about the importance she attached to giving voice to minorities in her Parliament.

Mirza said she was "extra fair" to parliamentarians from minority groups who needed her protection and promotion.

"In every parliament there are representatives from the ethnic and religious minorities who do not always occupy the front benches."

"They need their chair's protection and promotion," she said. "This in turn means that the chair has to be extra fair to them by letting them have a louder and clearer say, not only on issues of their concern but on wider public matters."

Mirza is Pakistan's first female speaker, and the first woman to hold such a post in the Muslim world.

Answering questions, Bercow expressed his wish to remain Speaker in the face of any challenges to his re-election as both an MP and as Speaker - probably not a concern for Mirza, who holds her parliamentary seat with a majority of 70,000.

Please do find out more about the Westminster Seminar on Parliamentary Practice and Procedure.