John Bercow
Regular price
€25.99
Polarising, combative, unconventional: few embody the fraught nature of British politics today quite like John Bercow. A man who is revered by his one-time opponents and condemned by his former bedfellows, he has traversed the deep chasm between the Conservative right and the liberal left during a career that has never been short of controversy. Thanks to his eventful decade as Speaker of the House of Commons, he is seen by some as a great moderniser; by others, a constitutional arsonist.
In this revealing biography, political editor Sebastian Whale tracks Bercow’s journey from his childhood suffering at the hands of bullies, to his membership of the far-right Monday Club, through to his contentious Speakership, taking in bitter confrontations in the Commons, challenges to convention and attempted coups along the way.
With the UK’s exit from the EU secured and bullying allegations beginning to resurface, Bercow’s legacy is under fresh scrutiny. Based on exclusive interviews with those close to the heart of Parliament, including both allies and detractors, this is the unvarnished story of John Bercow, one of the most influential political figures of the Brexit age.
Sebastian Whale is the political editor of The House magazine. In February 2015, he started as a reporter for PoliticsHome and Total Politics after receiving an NCTJ diploma from the Press Association. He joined the political press lobby in June 2017. His interviews with leading politicians have received widespread pick-up across national publications. He has also been published in The Guardian, the New European and on the New Statesman’s website. Born in 1991, Sebastian went to school in Derbyshire and studied at King’s College London.