Former Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow hit back at allegations that he bullied staff while he was in office. A formal complaint was lodged against him last month by the former Clerk of the House, Lord Lisvane and former Black Rod, David Leakey. They urged the Commons authorities to launch an investigation, while Mr Bercow has maintained his denial of all the allegations.

In his first interview since the complaint was lodged, Mr Bercow told Sky News that they were: “Total and utter rubbish, from start to finish.

“I notice how hesitant David Leakey was in developing his case as though he was choosing his words carefully.

“Total and utter rubbish.

“First point is that David Leakey didn’t work for me, he wasn’t employed by me, he wasn’t an employee of the House of Commons.”

The ex-MP continued: “He worked in, and was the protocol officer of, the House of Lords.

“He is in absolutely no position whatsoever to comment on my relations with my parliamentary colleagues, of which he is completely and utterly ignorant.

“He doesn’t know what my relations were with my clerks.

“He has absolutely no intelligence on those matters whatsoever.”

Mr Bercow added: “What we’ve got here is somebody who left the House who is thrashing around, desperate to remain relevant, popping up at every turn, trying to make himself seem very important, very centre stage, very at-the-heart-of-things in the way that I went about my work.

“None of those things is true.”

Mr Leakey also spoke to Sky News, claiming that the ex-Speaker “brutalised” staff in the House of Commons.

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The former Black Rod said: “I think ‘brutalised’ is a good word for what he did to Lord Lisvane, his former secretaries, David Natzler, the Clerk who took over from Lord Lisvane, John Benger, the Clerk who’s taken over from him as well.

“They have all told me in private moments some of their experiences at the hands of John Bercow. My view is that he brutalised people.

“It wasn’t just those top people, it was people much further down the pecking order.

“He tried to do it with others, politicians as well, who went into his office.”

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