Bercow vows to stay on as Speaker in blow to Brexit hardliners

House of Commons Speaker John Bercow rejected suggestions he would leave his post in the summer, in a move bound to outrage hardline Eurosceptics keen on a no-deal Brexit.

The controversial figure, whom Brexiteers believe he is trying to thwart their project, said it was not “sensible to vacate the chair” while parliament faced its current crisis.

Reports quoting friends of Bercow seemed to indicate he would retire in July having completed 10 years in the job. However, after a speech in Washington he denied the suggestion.

“I’ve never said anything about going in July of this year. Secondly, I do feel that now is a time in which momentous events are taking place and there are great issues to be resolved...” he told the Guardian.

“If I had any intention to announce on that matter … I would do so to parliament first.”

As the field of candidates to replace Theresa May grew bigger by the day, Bercow also warned the hardliners among them he would not to force a no-deal Brexit before consulting parliament.

In his speech to the Brookings Institution, Bercow said it was “for the birds” to think that parliament could be sidelined in the debate over Brexit.

“The idea that parliament is going to ….. be evacuated from the centre-stage of the debate on Brexit is unimaginable. It is simply unimaginable.”

MPs voted against leaving the EU without a deal at the end of March, but at least three of the leadership candidates – Boris Johnson, Dominic Raab and Esther McVey – have said they would be prepared to leave the EU, deal or no deal, at the end of October.

The Tory hard right faction has been panicked by the defection of Conservative voters to the Brexit Party in last week's European elections and now, in a desperate attempt to save themselves, see a no-deal Brexit as politically attractive.

Bercow said his understanding of the current situation "is that legally, the default position in the absence of an agreement …… is Brexit on 31 October – that is to say in the absence of a deal and in the absence of a further extension. That is the legal position as I understand it”.

However, he added: “There is a difference between a legal default position and what the interplay of political forces in parliament will facilitate.”