UK Parliament Speaker Bercow announces intention to step down
John Bercow, Speaker in Britain's House of Commons, announced on Monday that he would be standing down from the role. Bercow has helped bend parliamentary rules to give lawmakers opposed to a no-deal Brexit the chance to try to prevent Britain leaving the European Union without a deal on Oct. 31.
- World
- AP
- Published Date: 05:56 | 09 September 2019
- Modified Date: 05:56 | 09 September 2019
U.K. House of Commons Speaker John Bercow says he will step down by the end of next month after a decade in the job.
Bercow told lawmakers that if Parliament votes Monday in favor of an early election, he will quit before the campaign. If they don't he will quit Oct. 31 — the day Britain is due to leave the European Union.
He says he will quit both as speaker and as a member of Parliament.
Bercow has angered the Conservative government by repeatedly allowing lawmakers to seize control of Parliament's agenda to steer the course of Brexit. He says he is simply fulfilling his role of letting Parliament have its say.
The Conservatives had said they would run against Bercow in the next national election, breaking a convention that the speaker be elected unopposed.