Watch: Farage attacks Bercow in first Commons speech

To the House of Commons, where party leaders are making their first post-election speeches. And for the first time, Nigel Farage MP gets to join in too. The Reform leader and newly-elected member of parliament for Clacton addressed his colleagues this afternoon, dubbing his party’s five MPs ‘the new kids on the block’, admitting to chuckles that ‘we have no experience in parliament whatsoever, though many us have tried, many times over the years previously, to get here’.

But the laughter turned to groans after Farage praised current Speaker Lindsay Hoyle – and turned his speech into an attack on his predecessor…

We can’t judge you for working in this place, but we can judge you from the way the outside world sees you. I don’t just mean the United Kingdom, I mean the world – because Prime Minister’s Question is global, box office politics.

And it’s pretty clear to everybody that you act with neutrality, that you bring tremendous dignity to the role as Speaker. So we absolutely endorse you entirely for this job. And it is, I must say, a marked contrast to the little man that was there before you and besmirched the office so dreadfully in doing his best to overturn the biggest democratic result in the history of the country.

Ouch. Farage’s comments allude to Bercow’s anti-Brexit credentials. He caused outrage among Brexiteers when he allowed rebel Tory MPs to delay legislation for leaving the EU. The Remainer then defected to the Labour party two years later before being suspended in 2022 over bullying allegations. Mr S can imagine the former Speaker won’t take too kindly to Farage’s rather inflammatory remarks…

Watch the clip here: