Will Zelensky's intervention change the mood among MPs?

Coffee House Shots

The Spectator

News, Politics, Government, Daily News

4.4 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 8 March 2022

⏱️ 13 minutes

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Summary

Former Speaker of the House, John Bercow has been banned from the Commons after the publishing of a review that reveals the extent of his bullying behaviour towards members of his staff. How will Labour react to this after welcoming him in with open arms?

Also, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky will today address a number of UK MPs and is expected to ask for more aid on all fronts: sanctions, humanitarian and military. But just how much more can the UK offer without causing an escalation in Putin's brutality?

And finally, one look at the Spectator's Data Hub will show a shocking rise in the price of gas in the UK in reaction to the war in Ukraine, but has Boris Johnson prepared the public enough for this shocking rise in cost?

Sam Holmes talks with James Forsyth and Katy Balls.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This podcast is sponsored by Canacord Genuity Wealth Management, award-winning wealth managers who go above and beyond to support and guide you.
0:09.2	Visit can-dowealth.com to start building your wealth with confidence.
0:26.3	Hello and welcome to Coffee House Shots, the Spectator's Daily Politics Podcast. I'm Sam Holmes,
0:31.0	and I'm joined by James Forsyth and Katie Balls. We start today with the news that former Speaker of the House, John Burkow, has been banned seemingly permanently from the Parliament grounds. James,
0:36.5	what's causeless?
0:42.2	So this is an investigation into John Burko in the way that he treated his staff.
0:44.1	It has concluded that he was a serial bully and that the offences were so serious that if Burko was still an MP,
0:48.6	it would recommend that MPs voted on whether to expel them or not from the House of Commons.
0:52.9	And I think what it reveals is that those
0:56.0	staff who bravely spoke up against John Burko were right. And I think it should also raise questions of
1:01.5	the MP, some of whom said this fairly explicitly, who basically said, well, we should keep John Burko in
1:06.6	place despite these concerns about whether he bullies his staff or not because he's useful in
1:12.5	terms of giving Parliament more of a say of a Brexit. I think should be having a kind of a long,
1:17.7	hard think about the ethics of that decision making. Berko has come out attacking the judgment
1:24.0	saying it's wrong, there's no contrition on display from him. But I think it is
1:28.4	very hard to defend John Burko having read this report and its conclusions. Katie, has there been
1:34.2	any response from the Conservative Party or the Parliament at all about, because they've had some
1:39.0	certain bullying controversies in the past. Are they being quiet or are they cheering this decision?
1:44.2	Well, I think there's a little love lost between the current Tory party and John Burko.
1:49.0	So I think that if you look at various figures at the time, I think that many will just
1:54.0	accept this report's findings. I think what's interesting is John Burko has tried to get ahead of this.
1:59.2	So I think it was a few months ago now. There was a story in the Sunday Times saying, you know, this inquiry is going to be a stitch up
	...

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