Speaking Truth to the Untruthful

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After last night's well-deserved self-abasement, I'll move on. It was good to hear John Bercow talking on Radio Four's "Broadcasting House" this morning: he shed the kind of light on the current parliamentary situation that can only be done from an informed 'outsider's' perspective: and no-one can claim to be more informed on the subject than he.

His analysis, as always, is pungent and to the point; there is a rubicon which politicians - in particular a Prime Minister - should never cross: telling porkies to the House is a sackable offence, period. This, as he so rightly pointed out has been allowed to become something of a normalised activity there: not a great place for the seat of our democracy to be in.

He also allowed that the current Tory majority is so large that it effectively precludes most action against the current government: whilst not going so far as to point the finger directly and make specific accusations, his allusions were sufficiently loaded to be taken as such. All said and done, Bercow's allegiances are to the principles of parliamentary democracy, however flawed that institution may be: rules is rules and principles is principles: what we need though, is someone else with a pair to speak truth to power and stand up to the unprincipled bully currently holding our highest office.

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