“I’m not a speaker anymore, I don’t have to remain impartial, and if you ask me what I think honestly about Brexit, if it’s good for our international reputation, the honest answer is no.”
Former British House Speaker John Bercow said Wednesday that Brexit is the biggest mistake in British foreign policy since World War II and said it was impartial while in office.
“I’m not a speaker anymore, I don’t have to remain impartial, and if you ask me what I think honestly about Brexit, if it’s good for our international reputation, the honest answer is no. I consider Brexit the biggest foreign policy mistake since World War II, ”he said in London at a press conference organized by the association of foreign journalists.
In your reading, the world is made up of power blocks and trading blocks and the UK has to gain if it is in these blocks. Bercow added that the “prolonged uncertainty” caused by the delay in the European Union (EU) exit process is bad for investment and economic confidence.
However, he defended “the [British] Parliament’s right to ‘speak’ French because it is better to do well than to do it quickly,” adding: “Parliament has every right to continue debating the issue.”
According to Bercow, there are three ways to complete Brexit’s first phase: leaving the EU with a House-approved agreement, leaving the EU without agreement, but with an explicit decision by Parliament, which he considers “unlikely and very undesirable, but that would be and to extend Article 50 to continue the negotiations. “So far that’s what happened, let’s see if it’s going to happen again. No doubt the elections will be an important factor. If there is a conservative majority, there is probably no other extension, ”he said.
Bercow declined to have assisted MEPs in favor of the UK remaining in the EU to block the Brexit process, noting that he had always given the floor to the Eurosceptics for many years.
In that regard, he recalled that he even chose to amend David Cameron’s government legislative program in 2013 in favor of a referendum “because it had many signatures and was a legitimate proposal to put to the House of Commons.”
The proposal was then rejected by 277 votes against and 130 in favor after a six-hour debate. “Some say it was part of a sequence of events that forced David Cameron to change his mind and decide to hold a referendum,” he said, reiterating that he always tried to treat both sides of the discussion fairly. “I was impartial,” he said.
A Conservative MP since 1997 and a House of Commons president since 2009, John Bercow stepped down on Friday and was replaced by Labor member Lindsay Hoyle in an election held Monday among MPs.
John Bercow has become a world celebrity for his colorful ties, loud voice for ordering parliamentary debate and controversial decisions during the Brexit process.
Some MPs were sad to see him leave because he saw him as a defender of minorities and the modernization of Parliament, allowing MPs to confront the government more often on controversial matters.
However, another faction, mostly former conservative colleagues, criticized him for making anti-customary decisions that undermined the Brexit process, leading to several extensions from the initial date of March 29 to the current one of January 31. .
Bercow biographer Sebastian Whale described Bercow as “divisive, abrasive and controversial,” but even Prime Minister Boris Johnson acknowledged that he was “a great servant” of Parliament and the House of Commons.
The speaker is responsible for presiding over debates in the lower house of the British parliament, deciding who has the floor, selecting proposals for amending legislation, authorizing urgent plenary or certain ministers’ debate and casting a decisive vote in the event of a tie.
To guarantee party exemption, he is forced to resign from his political party, although he continues to represent his constituency.
