Nigel Farage, the leader of the UK Independence Party, yesterday broke with tradition by declaring that he will stand against the Speaker of the House of Commons in the next general election.
Mr Farage said that he will try to wrestle the Buckingham seat from John Bercow, who was elected Speaker in June, in protest at Westminster’s handling of the MPs’ expenses scandal. Convention dictates that the Speaker, who is supposed to stand above party politics, is not challenged in his constituency.
Mr Farage said: “This man represents all that is wrong with British politics today. He was embroiled in the expenses saga and presides over a Parliament doing virtually nothing.”
Under parliamentary rules, the Speaker renounces all affiliation with his former political party when taking office to preserve his non-partisan role but he remains an MP. Mr Bercow was elected as a Tory for the Buckingham seat in 1997, and in May 2005 was re-elected with an increased majority of 18,129. He angered many of his former Conservative colleagues during his campaign for the Speakership, which succeeded with the sizeable support of Labour backbenchers.
Although David Cameron refused to be drawn on whether he will observe the convention of the Speaker’s seat not being contested, a Conservative candidate in Buckingham is unlikely.
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Mr Farage added: “Bercow has a massive majority from constituents who thought they were voting for a Conservative but they weren’t, they were voting for him. Bercow has sold out on everything and taken everything new Labour stood for, especially over the question of Europe, where he has shown ardent support.”
UKIP, which wants Britain to withdraw from the European Union, said that Mr Farage would announce formally his intention to stand against Mr Bercow at the party’s annual conference today.
Mr Bercow was elected after the previous Speaker, Michael Martin, was forced out over his handling of the expenses affair, in which some MPs were shown to be claiming taxpayer-funded allowances on items including pornography and moat cleaning.
UKIP came second behind the Conservatives in the June election to the European Parliament, leaving Labour third. Mr Farage is an MEP for the region covering Buckingham, but if he were to become an MP he would have to resign the European seat.
A spokesman for the Conservative Party declined to comment.