Theresa May says there is 'no place for bullying or harassment' in parliament, amid allegations against John Bercow

The speaker is under pressure following claims of bullying from a former member of his staff

Speaker John Bercow addressed press stories about him in the Commons (PA)

Theresa May has said there must be “no place for bullying or harassment” in parliament, amid allegations against Commons speaker John Bercow.

The prime minister’s spokesman highlighted that Mr Bercow has denied bullying allegations against him, but said they should be “properly investigated”.

Mr Bercow is facing calls to quit following fresh claims from a former private secretary, Angus Sinclair, who has said he was forced into early retirement with an £86,250 pay-off on condition he did not make any public complaints.

Asked how Ms May viewed the allegations, her spokesman said: “The prime minister has been very clear from the start that there is no place for bullying or harassment of any kind in the workplace, including parliament.

“It is a matter for parliament to decide how to proceed, but the latest allegations are concerning and should be properly investigated.

“It’s important to note that the speaker denies the claims which have been made against him.”

Mr Sinclair told BBC 2’s Newsnight that Mr Bercow undermined him by mimicking him, swearing and shouting, and once even smashed a mobile phone by throwing it on to the desk in front of him.

The speaker’s office issued a firm denial of the allegations, which come amid an independent judge-led inquiry into claims of bullying of staff in the Palace of Westminster.

Mr Sinclair was private secretary to Mr Bercow’s predecessor, Michael Martin, and retained the position when the new speaker took over in 2009.

He told Newsnight that Mr Bercow undermined him in front of other staff, shouted, swore and attempted to physically intimidate him.

The speaker was prone to “over-the-top anger”, he claimed, adding: “I’m not sure he was completely in control of it. The arms would wave around.”

And he said: “There was one afternoon I was working at my desk and he came in and was absolutely furious about something.

“There was a lot of bad language and suddenly his mobile phone, which he’d been holding, was flung on the desk in front of me and broke into a lot of bits.”

Following the 2010 general election, he said the speaker told him he was no longer needed.

He said he was given “compulsory early retirement”, with an £86,250 pay-off dependent on him signing a non-disclosure agreement barring him from making complaints about his treatment in the House.

There was a lot of bad language and suddenly his mobile phone, which he’d been holding, was flung on the desk in front of me and broke into a lot of bits

Ex private secretary to the speaker, Angus Sinclair

Newsnight has previously reported that his successor, Kate Emms, was allegedly bullied by the Speaker – a claim Mr Bercow denies.

Mr Sinclair said he felt that if he had not signed the non-disclosure agreement, but had instead put in a complaint, she might not have been put in that position.

“What I’d done was sign a cover-up and, in a cynical way, I’d been paid to do it, and that’s not a good feeling,” he said.

An investigation into the working culture at Westminster is being led by Dame Laura Cox following an earlier Newsnight report alleging that clerks and other officials were bullied by MPs including Mr Bercow.

But critics say it risks giving a “clean slate” to perpetrators, because it will examine the working culture in the Commons but will not investigate individual cases or reopen past complaints.

Tory MP Andrew Bridgen, a long-standing critic of the speaker, said Mr Bercow should “consider his position”.

The North West Leicestershire MP told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think, at a time when we are looking for culture change in the House of Commons with regard to bullying and harassment, I think that’s very difficult if the titular head of that organisation is mired in these allegations.”

But his comments were dismissed by Labour MP Barry Sheerman as “total nonsense”, who said Mr Bercow had been the “best reforming speaker for 100 years” but a “small group” of parliamentary officials “hated” his modernising efforts.

A spokesman for the speaker’s office said Mr Bercow ”strenuously denies” that there is any substance to any of the allegations and added that he had a “superb team of dedicated, effective and long-serving staff”.

It was later raised with the speaker himself in the Commons, leading him to say he had “nothing to add” to his previous public statement on the allegations.

He said: “Let me be clear – current and former staff are not constrained by any agreements from talking freely and confidentially to the independent inquiry into bullying and harassment being conducted by Dame Laura Cox QC and I hope they will do so.

“I also understand that the clerk of the House has this morning provided the right honourable lady with a note on the standard terms of compromise agreements – now called settlement agreements – between the House and staff leaving under individual arrangements, matters in which I should emphasise I am not myself involved and never have been.

“He, that is to say the clerk of the House, has explained these are not non-disclosure agreements in the sense generally used. They do not in any way seek to prevent disclosure of wrongdoing on public interest grounds i.e. whistleblowing.”

Asked about the latest claims about Mr Bercow’s behaviour, a senior Labour spokesman said: “Obviously we can’t comment on them; they are extremely serious allegations, but the details of them need to be investigated.

“We’ve made clear that there needs to be action against bullying and harassment of any kind in the workplace and that includes in the Houses of Parliament.

“That is why Labour has been so keen to set up a genuinely independent process in the Houses of Parliament to deal with these cases and to have trade union participation in that.”