David Cameron openly mocked the Speaker in front of Conservative MPs, it emerged today, as John Bercow faced further pressure over the appointment of a new Commons clerk.
The prime minister used a meeting of the 1922 committee of backbench Tories to poke fun at Mr Bercow.
The Speaker had written a letter to Downing Street recommending Carol Mills, an Australian, as the preferred candidate for the role after she was chosen by a six-man panel.
This week, however, he announced a “modest pause” in the process in the face of vehement opposition from MPs who believe that Ms Mills is unsuitable for the role.
At the 1922 meeting on Tuesday night, the prime minister is said to have joked that he was bemused by Mr Bercow’s actions. According to one MP present at the meeting, Mr Cameron said: “What am I supposed to do with this letter he’s given me? Give it to the Queen or stuff it down the back of the sofa?”
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Mr Bercow clashed once again with Conservative MPs today, telling them to “rise to the level of events.”
The Speaker prompted cries of “shame” and heckling as he tried to push forward with the day’s parliamentary business after three Tory MPs questioned him on the issue.
Speaking after prime minister’s questions, Simon Burns raised a point of order. The MP for Chelmsford asked Mr Bercow whether he would withdraw his letter recommending Ms Mills’ or whether it would “just float around Number 10 until some relevant point”.
Mr Bercow said he could not withdraw a recommendation made by the selection panel, but added he had made it “abundantly clear” to MPs on Monday that he would not press the recommendation of Ms Mills.
He said this point would be made to Mr Cameron with “crystal clarity”.
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Michael Fabricant, the MP for Litchfield who has frequently clashed with the Speaker, questioned why the recruitment consultants Saxton Bampfylde were prevented from telling the advisory panel that Ms Mills was under two investigations by the Australian Senate. She is head of the department of parliamentary services in Canberra, and has faced questions over allegations that CCTV was used to spy on parliamentarians.
Mr Bercow issued a barbed response, telling the MP: “Unfortunately, but fairly predictably, you are wrong. You are wrong on both counts.”
Mr Cameron has long had a prickly relationship with Mr Bercow, who was elected as a Tory MP but has become deeply unpopular among many of his former colleagues.
In 2010, Mr Cameron cracked a joke in which he likened the Speaker, who is about 5ft 6in, to one of the Seven Dwarves.
Tories believe that the Speaker offers far more rebukes to Mr Cameron during prime minister’s questions that he does to the leader of the opposition, Ed Miliband.