Tom Harris: Backing Uriah Heep Greaser for Speaker

The Micawberesque old soap boxer Tom Harris MP - hot from his Trotty anyone-but-Brown putsch schtick - is now pimping a Brown-tongued greaser for the role of Speaker.

Tom claims John Bercow is NOT the choice of the Labour masses simply to get up the Tory party's collective snotty nose. BUT Tom does not offer any argument in favour of JB. Just slags off Tory detractors, who cry foul and offer to tip Bercow out if the Harris cabal stick him in.

They may actually think as I do:

John Bercow is proclaimed - by those who know him best - to be an obsequious and theatrical and self-serving sycophant.

And his persistent maxxing of his allowances - even if every penny of this were "within the rules" - surely makes him an unsuitable champion for and monitor of change?

Although I realise what an outsider he is in the betting I think Parmjit Dhanda would be a breath of fresh air. There's something of the David Copperfield about him. We're particularly liking the idea of taking some debates out and about to Town Halls round the country. And the work-life balance.

Margaret Peggoty Beckett would be wise and sound. She actually has a track record going back to the days of nip-and-tuck rather than landslide parliaments.

It's all a bit Dickensian this Speaker of the House business isn't it? Why not have a rotating chair of the willing?