Footage of John Bercow ripping into Boris Johnson has resurfaced on social media ahead of the ex-PM’s highly anticipated appearance in front of the Covid Inquiry today.
Bercow, once a former Tory MP who served as the Speaker of the Commons until November 2019, has developed a reputation for being outspoken in the years since he left his neutral role.
It’s not surprising that footage of him ranting to Sky News’ The Great Debate in February 2022 has re-emerged, just as Johnson is about to be scrutinised over his decision-making during the pandemic.
Speaking six months before Johnson was actually forced to resign, and when partygate was still a pressing concern, Bercow began: “Never has a prime minister wielded so much power, made so little effective use of it, and been and been seen to be in quite such indecent haste to blow his own trumpet.”
The former Speaker continued: ″I’ve been aware of 12 prime ministers in my lifetime, by a country mile, Boris Johnson is the worst.
“He’s a narcissist, he doesn’t do the detail, he’s ritually dishonest having had a nodding acquaintance with the truth at best, only in a leap year.
“He is responsible for a catalogue of failures. He’s the most inarticulate public speaker and prime minister I’ve ever known.
“He has no redeeming virtues. He’s stayed there far too long.
“It is time that he gave up office and beetled off into the distance, which would be an enormous relief, not just to this country and the European continent, but to the world.”
Although recorded at a very different time – shortly after several of Johnson’s aides resigned – the clip racked up more than 350,000 views in around 15 hours after it was posted on Tuesday evening.
Both Bercow and Johnson have since left parliament.
Bercow stepped down as an MP when he left his role as Commons Speaker in 2019, and defected to the Labour Party in 2021. A bullying inquiry then banned him from parliament, so he was administratively suspended from Labour.
Johnson resigned as PM in July 2022, and stepped down as an MP in June 2023. The move pre-empted a verdict from the Commons privileges committee, which ruled he had misled parliament over partygate.
The former PM is now facing a two-day grilling from the Covid Inquiry over his decision to lockdown, his management of No.10 during the national crisis, and the impact partygate had on the country.