Today, Politics live blog – Thursday 4 November 2010 (See 12.58 pm), we find out that Berk(ow) was incensed by Liam Fox turning up 4 minutes late in the House of Commons chamber:
As Fox began his speech, John Bercow, the Speaker, interrupted him with the words: "The secretary of state can resume his seat. I thought it really a matter of straightforward courtesy when the secretary of state is manifestly late for the debate that he would begin his remarks with a fulsome [sic] apology to the house – and that's what he'll now do."
But Berk(ow) doesn't turn a hair when he's informed that the Chancellor of the Exchequer is proposing to spend some £20-25 billion unlawfully in Afghanistan in 2010-2015 and that HM Treasury deceived the House of Commons. See Speaker and Standards and Privileges Committee asked to investigate contempt of Parliament by George Osborne MP and HM Treasury, for some of the background.
And, in all likelihood, some MPs and their hangers-on will wonder why parts of the UK public hold the House of Commons in contempt and derision.
When the Speaker of the House of Commons behaves contemptibly, can they really be surprised?
