John Bercow confirms the ‘worst kept secret in politics’ and no one is surprised

Former Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow has shed his impartiality and spoken out against Brexit, calling it the ‘worst thing since the Second World War.

As speaker he was supposed to remain impartial while chairing parliamentary proceedings, but after stepping down from his role, he has made his opinion about Brexit crystal clear.

According to journalist Antonello Guerrera of La Repubblica he said: “I’m no longer the speaker, I don’t have to remain impartial now and if you asked me honestly do I think that Brexit is good for our global standing? The honest answer is, I don’t.”

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And then he made the following damning assessment:

I think that Brexit is the biggest foreign policy mistake in the post-war period, and that’s my honest view.

He added: “We are part of a world of power blocs and trade blocs and my view is that it is better to be part of that power bloc and of that trade bloc than not.

The former Speaker said that during his time in the Commons, he was “always fair in the chair.”

People are joking that Bercow being a Remainer is hardly surprising

Bercow's assessment of Brexit echoes what many others think

Others are saying that Bercow, who is an out remainer, will of course have this view of Brexit

And there are those that are enjoying the show

“Fair to the Brexiteers, to whom I granted urgent questions and emergency debates before the word ‘Brexiteer’ had even been invented,” he said, talking about his time as Speaker.

For years, Bill Cash, Bernard Jenkin, John Redwood, John Baron, all of them know that I selected an amendment to the Queen’s Speech in 2013 calling for a referendum on British membership of the EU. Why did I select that amendment? Because it was heavily signed and I thought it was a legitimate proposition which should be put to the House of Commons and the House of Commons rejected it.

Some people have said it was part of a sequence of events that caused David Cameron ultimately to change his mind and to decide to have a referendum. Well, that’s a matter for him, that’s not a matter for me.

But what I’m saying is I always treated the Brexiteers in a fair way and I’ve always treated the Remainers in a fair way.

And I will assert to anybody that will listen until my dying day that I have been impartial in the chair, pro-Parliament and impartial in the chair.