Former Commons Speaker will issue plea for that ‘personal courtesy should become guiding light in 2020’

This article is more than 9 months old

This article is more than 9 months old

John Bercow is to deliver this year’s Alternative Christmas Message on Channel 4, which he will use to issue a defence of parliamentary democracy and call for a return to “civility of discourse”.

The former Commons Speaker, who stepped down in November after more than 10 years in the role, will follow whistleblower Edward Snowden and Brendan Cox, the husband of murdered MP Jo Cox, in delivering the annual rival to the Queen’s speech, which has been broadcast by the channel since 1993.

Play Video 3:15 John Bercow: five memorable moments from a decade as Speaker – video

In the broadcast, which will be delivered from a classroom in his children’s state secondary school, Bercow, 56, will say: “I passionately support parliamentary democracy. For all the criticism and abuse lobbed at MPs, I’m still a cheerleader for them.”

He will call for the country to “take inspiration from young people” and “try to re-establish a civility of discourse … It would be good for parliament, for democracy and for our own mental health.

“This Christmas, I urge that political difference, personal courtesy should become our guiding lights in 2020, in the Commons, in our workplaces and in our homes.”

After being elected to the Speaker’s chair in June 2009, Bercow promised to serve “no more than nine years in total” before abandoning that vow ahead of the 2017 snap election.

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As well as accusations of anti-Brexit bias, Bercow faced calls to stand down following allegations of bullying by former members of his staff, which he denied. He has since been replaced by the former Labour MP, Sir Lindsay Hoyle.

Hoyle has called for his predecessor to be given a peerage, saying that Bercow had done some “great things” during his time in the Speaker’s chair and should be rewarded in the same way other speakers had after retiring.

“My view is every Speaker has been offered a peerage, so custom and practice says that’s what’s always happened – I wouldn’t break that custom and practice,” he told Pienaar’s Politics on BBC Radio 5.

“He has served the house, he served for 10 years, he did some great things – and that’s the difference.”

Media reports have suggested Downing Street was reluctant to bestow the honour of a seat in the House of Lords on Bercow after finding him obstructive in the bid to deliver Brexit.

Bercow’s conciliatory message follows his co-signing of a pledge by senior figures to use “moderate language”, after there was disquiet in the Commons when Boris Johnson dismissed the dangers of charged language as “humbug”.

Bercow, who was known to raise his voice as Speaker – not least in his calls for ‘Order!’, uses his Christmas message to argue that “democracy shouldn’t be about decibel levels”.

“An opinion is no more valid because it is expressed more loudly, repeatedly or abusively,” he will say. “There are people who cannot entertain the idea that anyone can honourably hold an opinion which differs from their own.”

Calling for the nation to learn from young people, he points to how members of the UK Youth Parliament “respected one another and behaved better than many political campaigners two, three and four times their age”.

The former Conservative MP also cautions that social media can “amplify hatred, racism, misogyny and abuse”.

The Alternative Christmas Message will air on 25 December at 2.25pm on Channel 4, just before the Queen’s Christmas Broadcast begins at 3pm on BBC One.