A Commons committee has a difficult decision over what to do with a portrait of former Speaker John Bercow after he was found by an independent panel to have bullied staff and been blameworthy of abuse of power and authority.
John Bercow has been banned from Parliament for life. However, the picture is still hanging in the ‘Corner Room’ of Speaker’s House.
The Mail On Sunday revealed that one possibility being considered by the Commons Works of Art Committee is to undo John Bercow’s approach when he commissioned the painting in 2010.
He’d agreed that Kate Emms, his private secretary and the first woman in the role, should be portrayed alongside him by painter Brendan Kelly. However, after Kate Emms resigned and made many allegations of bullying and harassment against John Bercow, the then Speaker allegedly insisted she was removed from the painting.
When the portrait was unveiled, at a cost to taxpayers of £37,000, Kate Emms had mysteriously disappeared from the canvas, and John Bercow is said to have demanded that she be painted over with her replacement, Peter Barratt.
It was claimed to a newspaper outlet that insiders had suggested there were many more acts aside from the upheld bullying claims and said they called John Bercow a psycho behind his back.
Another official claimed John Bercow had shouted at Black Rod, Lt Gen David Leakey: ‘Get out of my fing office, you fing little toff.’
Former coworkers told of his fist banging, spit flying rages that were made worse if people cried in front of him.
One said: ‘We used to call him ‘Psycho’ behind his back,’ while another added, ‘He’s a narcissist… in total denial.’
After the portrait was unveiled, the artist said he’d endeavoured to capture the day to day reality of the Speaker.
Other options for the committee, according to a source close to current Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle, include consigning the picture of the discredited ex-Speaker to a basement backroom, adding an illustrative trigger warning sign or slapping a badge of shame on the frame.
Another solution was to restore Emms to her original place, a relatively straightforward procedure since the top layer of an oil painting can be stripped back.
One MP said: ‘We should return Kate to the portrait. That would be the ultimate revenge.’
And that it was a difficult decision which will be reached this week.
John Bercow evidently has little man’s disease, an inferiority complex, spiteful mouth, and small of mind and stature, and he’s undoubtedly vertically challenged, and if anyone should be removed from the picture, it should be John Bercow himself because he’s an extremely hateful little man with narcissistic tendencies, and thank goodness he wasn’t clever enough to achieve some sort of power over foreign policy.
John Bercow should have been booted out ages ago because he’d definitely gone over his sell-by date and his role as Speaker was rotten and had gone rancid.
There were numerous people who knew he was a bully, so how did he manage to remain in his position for so long? And he might have been smug then, but he’s certainly not smug now!
Of course, he was a real legend, but only in his own mind, and how the mighty fall, and what goes around, comes around, and this man has what is called Napoleon Complex because he’s a bossy and belligerent man which he uses to overcompensate for being physically short, and I’m surprised he didn’t receive a smack in the face.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 