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The Great Gatsby
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The Great Gatsby
Hamlet

John Bercow Quotes

It’s a cowardly form of politics to use my spouse to beat me.

– John Bercow

The prime minister’s job is to captain his team, his party and his government.

– John Bercow

I do strongly believe myself that members of the government who sit in the House of Lords should be accountable to the elected House because otherwise there is a democratic deficit, and that is wrong.

– John Bercow

One consistent thing in an otherwise inconsistent career is that I’ve always been passionate about parliament.

– John Bercow

I think the record shows that as Speaker, I have taken the lead in cleaning up politics.

– John Bercow

Even youngish men can acquire wisdom as time goes by.

– John Bercow

It is quite wrong for party conferences to be used as an excuse for the Commons not to sit. Conferences could be held at weekends.

– John Bercow

If someone is being very cheeky, it can be quite fun to deal with that situation.

– John Bercow

I pride myself on being courteous to people, and trying to fashion good relations.

– John Bercow

Fairness is not about statistical equality.

– John Bercow

The Conservatives must realise that being sceptical is different from being phobic in what is an interdependent world.

– John Bercow

Possibly the fact that I was physically quite feeble, a relatively short little fellow, attracted me to that idea of a very authoritative and aggressive version of Conservative politics.

– John Bercow

I’m not in the business of warning people.

– John Bercow

There are people who are just very, very sniffy and snobby and have always sort of looked down their noses at me.

– John Bercow

Lying to a committee is a very grave abuse, and there ought to be a clear punishment.

– John Bercow

I am seeking every day to restore faith in Parliament – to ensure we have a House of Commons which is representative, effective and reconnected to the people we serve.

– John Bercow

I’m supremely uninterested as to what is written in many of the newspapers.

– John Bercow

I was proud to be a Tory Member of Parliament for twelve years, proud to represent Buckingham as a Tory, proud to have voted with my party 99% of the time as the record shows.

– John Bercow

Sally is my wife, but not my chattel or my property.

– John Bercow

If you asked me if I’d rather be Speaker or a very senior minister, I’d say Speaker.

– John Bercow

I’m not psychic. I cannot know what is in the mind of particular public figures.

– John Bercow

I’ve never been much given to little social cliques.

– John Bercow

I think the state opening of Parliament is an incredibly important occasion, and broadly speaking, the way in which it’s done is an invaluable tradition.

– John Bercow

I don’t want to crawl over the entrails of past disputes.

– John Bercow

I said that if I hadn’t been a politician, I’d have liked to be a barrister, or an academic. My beloved wife said: ‘You’d be a very good barrister and a hopeless academic.’ I said ‘Why?’ She said: ‘Because you’re not an original thinker.’

– John Bercow

I don’t think that people are disinterested or uninterested in politics. I think very often they are disengaged from the formal political process. To some extent they are suspicious or even despairing of formal politics as a means to give expression and effect to what they want.

– John Bercow