Former UK speaker denounces Johnson and defects to Labor
The colorful former speaker of Britain's House of Commons John Bercow said he has left the conservatives to join the opposition labor party, saying the country is "fed up with lies" under prime minister Boris Johnson.
Within an interview with the Observer newspaper published on Sunday, the former MP said the conservative party under Johnson was "reactionary, populist, nationalistic or even xenophobic." Bercow, who stepped down as speaker in October 2019 after 10 years, said he joined the labor party a few weeks ago because he shared its values. "I am motivated by support for equality, social justice and internationalism. This is the labor brand," he told the Observer.
"The final outcome I have reached is that this government needs to be replaced. The truth is that the labor party may be the only vehicle that may achieve that objective. There is absolutely no other credible option." Within an interview with Sky News, Bercow insisted his decision was "not personal against Boris Johnson." But in scathing comments, he said Johnson had "only a nodding acquaintance with the truth in a leap year" and just how he treated parliament "with contempt" was "lamentable." Bercow also told The Observer the prime minister was "an effective campaigner but a lousy governor."
criticizing policies such as cutting the international aid budget.
"I don't think he has any vision of a far more equitable society, any thirst for social mobility or any passion to better the lot of folks less fortunate than he is. I think increasingly persons are fed up with lies, sick of empty slogans, fed up with a failure to provide," he told the Observer.
