Bullying is a problem Westminster would rather weaponise than solve

It is alleged that House Speaker John Bercow was so unpleasant towards a member of his staff, Kate Emms, that in 2010 she was signed off work sick and then transferred elsewhere

One of the more stubborn criticisms levelled at Westminster over the years is that sometimes MPs makes decisions on things that, in the normal world, are decided by others. Whether or not to give themselves a pay rise, for example.

Such criticisms may even be misplaced, but they will not have wholly been allayed by House of Commons Speaker John Bercow chairing a debate into allegations of bullying against House of Commons Speaker, John Bercow.

The recent allegations at John Bercow are that in 2010, his behaviour towards a member of his staff, Kate Emms, was so unpleasant that she was signed off work sick and then transferred elsewhere.

Bercow, who regularly reminds MPs that they are “auditioning to be a statesman”, is then understood to have had Emms quite literally painted out of an official portrait of himself, in which Emms had been seated at his side.

The longer-standing, by no means recent allegations against Speaker John Bercow, are that he is a quite unbearably pompous human being. On Monday afternoon, allegations both new and old came together in what the Harvester Restaurant dessert menu used to described as “A Magical Twist of the Two”.

As the Leader of the House Andrea Leadsom answered an urgent question on these exact bullying allegations, Speaker’s head rose and fell in a grandiose nodding motion imbued with all the studied subtlety of a fairground pirate ship ride.

In one moment Speaker was inclining his neck as if checking the rafters for pigeons. In the next, so hard was his chin pressed into his chest you could be forgiven for imagining he was playing his own jowls as an accordion.

Bercow has denied the allegations against him – the painting in particular, even if it is undeniable that Emms does not appear in it.

But what is also undeniable is that Bercow has enemies in this place. Such is the inevitable consequence of a political life that has drifted from the extreme right of the Conservative Party to becoming a moderate Labour member in all but name.

James Duddridge was quick to his feet to ask whether it was “appropriate” that Bercow be chairing this debate himself. Bercow briefly stopped nodding to allow Leadsom to say it was important that the “whole house” be seen to act.

What is also undeniable is that Westminster has a bullying problem, and it is a problem that will be far harder to solve for as long as it exists as a proxy through which to settle other scores.

Duddridge has been attacking Bercow for years. As have others. That he should be the first suddenly to care so much about bullying arguably speaks greater volumes about Duddridge than Bercow.

On Sunday night, the Labour Party announced its Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Debbie Abrahams had “stood aside” while it investigated a “workplace issue” concerning her. Neither they nor she has said what it is about.

Abrahams then announced she had not “stood aside” of her own volition, and instead said in statement: “My treatment by certain individuals in the Leader’s Office over the last 10 months has been aggressive, intimidating and wholly unprofessional.

“My treatment in the last week has shown a bullying culture of the worst kind.”

On both counts, we may know the truth in due course. We may not.

What appears undeniable in both cases is that somebody, somewhere, has been the victim of bullying and intimidation of one kind or another. But it is a problem that too many MPs appear to want to weaponise, instead of solve.