John Bercow Quotes

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

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

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

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

Fairness is not about statistical equality.

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

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

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

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

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

When I first started out in politics I was, what you might describe as, a hard right Conservative.

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.

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

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

A legislature cannot be effective while suffering from public scorn.

I never aspired to be Speaker simply so I could say, 'I am the Speaker of the House of Commons,' and tell my children that.

There's no point in worrying about things you can't influence.

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

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

I'm not in the business of warning people.

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

For far too long the House of Commons has been run as little more than a private club by and for gentleman amateurs.

Even youngish men can acquire wisdom as time goes by.

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