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Former speaker John Bercow has reported accusations he “brutalised” parliamentary personnel and politicians are “complete and utter rubbish”.
In an job interview with Sky News, the previous speaker of the Home of Commons referred to as previous Black Rod David Leakey, who produced the accusations in late January, “entirely and totally ignorant”.
He also called previous Leader of the Commons Andrea Leadsom “untrustworthy” and a “poor leader of the residence”.
Mr Leakey, who was Black Rod till February 2018, accused Mr Bercow of bullying him in excess of the many years and stated various very-ranked parliamentary staff members and politicians informed him privately they had been bullied by Mr Bercow.
In his initially broadcast job interview because the accusations were created, Mr Bercow, who resigned in November, advised Sky Information the statements ended up “total and utter garbage from start out to complete”.
He mentioned: “Initially stage is that David Leakey failed to work for me, he was not employed by me, he wasn’t used by the Residence of Commons.
“He labored in and was protocol officer of the Residence of Lords. He is in definitely no position in any way to comment on my relations with my parliamentary colleagues, of which he is entirely and completely ignorant.
“He would not know what my partnership was with my clerks. He has unquestionably no intelligence on those issues in any way.
“What we have in this article is a person who had remaining the house, is thrashing about, determined to continue being pertinent, popping up at every single transform, trying to make himself appear to be pretty important, centre stage, at the coronary heart of factors in the way I went about my do the job.”
Days before Mr Leakey accused the former speaker of bullying, Lord Lisvane, the former clerk of the Home of Commons, submitted a file of allegations versus Mr Bercow to the Parliamentary Requirements Authority.
Mr Bercow, who is marketing his new autobiography “Unspeakable”, explained he only saw Mr Leakey “three or 4 occasions a year around a period of yrs, primarily in relation to or planning for ceremonial gatherings.”
He mentioned the two guys are “quite diverse men and women from very different backgrounds with quite different mindsets” and admitted they had an argument in 2011 and 2012 but “obtained alongside flawlessly adequately right after 2012”.
The previous speaker included: “Absurdly, preposterously he’s turning up years later on, a few of a long time right after he still left the residence, commenting on occasions he are unable to probably know about due to the fact he’d currently remaining.
“He reported a thing about my relations with Andrea Leadsom in May possibly 2018, anything I allegedly mentioned to her and manufactured her cry – he would not know, he’d remaining a few months right before.
“The male is a know-nothing, he wouldn’t have the foggiest notion what he’s talking about.
“He was deeply hostile toward me. He is entitled to his views but on the matter of bullying he suffers from the disadvantage of currently being 100% mistaken. Amen.”
Sky News understands Mr Leakey is unwilling to comment on Mr Bercow’s reaction now a formal grievance has been submitted.
He previously referred to as for other complainants to arrive ahead as he warned Mr Bercow introduced just one former Chief of the Commons to tears.
When requested about his relationship with Mrs Leadsom, who was Leader of the Commons from 2017 to 2019, Mr Bercow said he was advised to convey witnesses to non-public conferences with her as she could not be trusted.
“There was no belief in between us and I was advised at a person point, by a senior particular person in authorities, that she was really hostile, that she was looking to ferment problems for me,” he explained to Sky News.
“There had been other interactions with colleagues where there was some distrust of her by men and women and perhaps by some others. I just considered the prudent detail to do was secure myself.
“In my watch, she was a lousy chief of the home, she was both equally driven and weak and it truly is quite a terrible mix.”
Mrs Leadsom replied with a curt: “Perfectly, you know, he is bought a reserve to provide and I never want to give him any additional air time. That is it.”