Ex-speaker John Bercow breaks Brexit silence

The former Commons boss told foreign media that Britain is better off in EU

johnbercowstateopeningofparliament.jpg
John Bercow at the state opening of Parliament
(Image credit: Niklas Halle'n - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

John Bercow has broken his silence on Brexit just days after stepping down as speaker of the House of Commons, describing the decision to withdraw from the EU as Britain’s “biggest mistake” since the Second World War.

As The Guardian notes, Bercow was “persistently accused of bias by Brexit-backing MPs” while in the speaker’s chair, and yesterday outed himself as a Remainer in a speech in London to the Foreign Press Association.

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Joe Evans is the world news editor at TheWeek.co.uk. He joined the team in 2019 and held roles including deputy news editor and acting news editor before moving into his current position in early 2021. He is a regular panellist on The Week Unwrapped podcast, discussing politics and foreign affairs. 

Before joining The Week, he worked as a freelance journalist covering the UK and Ireland for German newspapers and magazines. A series of features on Brexit and the Irish border got him nominated for the Hostwriter Prize in 2019. Prior to settling down in London, he lived and worked in Cambodia, where he ran communications for a non-governmental organisation and worked as a journalist covering Southeast Asia. He has a master’s degree in journalism from City, University of London, and before that studied English Literature at the University of Manchester.