John Bercow has announced that he will stand down as Speaker of the House and said he could resign on October 31 – the current Brexit deadline. Following the Speaker’s announcement in the Commons on Monday afternoon, MPs stood to applaud Mr Bercow, except those on the Government frontbench. Footage also shows frontbench MPs, including Michael Gove and Dominic Raab, refusing to applaud after the Speaker’s speech.

Speaking to the House, Mr Bercow said that if the Commons votes in favour of an early general election he will not contest his Buckinghamshire seat.

But if the MPs vote down the motion, the Speaker will stand down on October 31.

Mr Bercow said: “In 2017 I promised wife and children it’d be my last, this is a pledge that I intend to keep – if House votes for early election my tenure will end.

“If the House doesn’t I have concluded that least disruptive course of action would be for me to stand down for close of business on October 31.

“Least disruptive because that date will fall shortly after the votes on the queens speak on the 21st and 22nd of October.

“The week after that may be quite lively and it may be best to have an experienced figure in the chair for that short period.

“Most democratic because it will mean that a balance is held when all members have some knowledge of the candidates.

“This is far preferable fro a contest at the beginning of a Parliament when new MPs will not be similarly informed and may find themselves vulnerable to institutional influence.”

Mr Bercow added: “We would not want anyone to be whipped senseless, would we?

“Throughout my time as Speaker, I have sought to increase the relative authority of this legislature for which I will make absolutely no apology.”

The Speaker John Bercow added that he has “sought to be the backbenchers’ backstop”, and thanked his team in the Speaker’s House for their work behind the scenes.

Mr Bercow said: “I could not serve this House without a small but superb team in the Speaker’s House, my wife Sally and my three children Oliver, Freddie and Jemima.”

Originally Mr Bercow said he would stand down last summer but then refused in order to navigate Parliament through the Brexit crisis.

His wife Sally Bercow was spotted sitting in the public gallery just moments before he revealed his plans to resign, which prompted people to speculate that Mr Bercow was going to announce the news.

More to follow…

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