Patrick Christys: John Bercow's behaviour matched that of his stature – that of a toddler

A tyrannical leader who rules by fear and intimidation, mercilessly targeting his enemies in a never-ending campaign of terror. No, I’m not talking about Vladimir Putin, I am instead talking about little John Bercow.

The dumpy despot has now been stripped of his parliamentary pass after being found to be a serial bully and a liar by an independent inquiry.

21 out of 35 complaints against the stroppy Speaker were upheld, these included his fiery temper, swearing, throwing a phone towards a member of staff so hard that it smashed, he imitated a female member of staff and was disparaging about another member of staff’s background and upbringing.

It’s hardly puzzling that the inquiry came to the conclusions that they did as it notes:

"remarkably, in his interviews with the investigator... Bercow chose to imitate the complainant’s voice and words on at least 20 occasions."

John Bercow speaks to PA Media in Westminster, London, after The Independent Expert Panel report upheld a finding that he was a "serial bully".
Victoria Jones

I mean, for goodness sake.

His temper is now the stuff of legend – supposedly his face turns puce, spit starts to fly and he resembles a very angry overly ripe plumb.

Apparently his behaviour matched that of his stature – that of a toddler.

He tried to claim that he was stitched up by a kangaroo court and that the claims were either false or exaggerated. And then he wheeled out the classic defence – diversity. He tried to claim that this was revenge for his exceptional record of modernising and diversifying the house of commons.

It doesn’t seem to have modernised too much to me – if anything it’s a hark back to the bad old days where the chamber was full of overly-entitled, egotistical, self-serving liars.

Bercow of course defected to the Labour Party, his membership there may well be suspended. It will be interesting to see how many of his new comrades stand by him! But Bercow, in a way, was always a socialist, in the sense that he’s always had his hand out…

It may shock you to discover how much you the taxpayer have been paying to keep Bercow, and of course his devoted and dedicated wife, Sally, in the circumstances to which they became accustomed.

The Speaker was paid more than £150,000 a year - higher than the Prime Minister - while he walked away with a pension worth £1million after refusing to join Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Lord Chancellor Ken Clarke in waiving their entitlement. Why should he wave that money? He put in huge amounts of work trying to overturn the result of the democratic Brexit referendum.

We also paid £110 a month for his Sky Sports package and £158 for a 0.7-mile chauffeur ride as well as £70 for photos to send to 'fans'.

The only way I’d buy a photograph with Bercow’s face on it would be if my local pub needed a new dartboard…or some kindling.

We paid £45k to refurbish his flat, Bercow spent almost £13,000 over three months on entertaining and hospitality, including £3,599 on a three-night trip to Rome to attend a G8 Speakers' conference.

The list goes on. Taxpayers footed a £490 bill for a new washing machine to go in a flat belonging to Mr Bercow's nanny. Presumably his good, close friend Keith Vaz could have got him a much better deal than that.

Bercow has fallen a long way. He thought he was the most important person in every room, the fact is now he’s not allowed in those rooms anymore. He always thought he’d go down in history, just not as a serial bully and a disgraced liar.

Now Bercow has dismissed the investigation as a 'travesty of justice' and a 'vengeful vendetta' calling the inquiry into the complaints "amateurish" and based on "tittle-tattle". He has not yet apologised.

I’m loving the old tweets being dug out from people praising Bercow. David Lammy called him an intergalactic hero…well I suppose it takes one space cadet to recognise another.

And Gary Lineker called Bercow a principled man and a tough act to follow. Yet another example of a sports star getting involved in politics with disastrous effect.

When John Bercow sat in the Speakers chair he was a little man with a lot of power. Now, he’s just a little man.