A Tory MP has tabled a motion of no confidence in John Bercow after the Speaker's controversial veto of a speech in Parliament by President Donald Trump.

Announcing his move on Sky News, James Duddridge, a former Government whip and junior Foreign Office minister, said Mr Bercow had "overstepped the mark".

Mr Duddridge tabled his motion minutes before the Commons rose for a half-term recess and has made the bold claim that Mr Bercow could be gone by the time MPs return to Westminster on 20 February.

But in a defiant response to Mr Duddridge, a spokeswoman for Mr Bercow told Sky News: "The Speaker has made his position clear in response to Points of Order earlier this week, stands by that position and has nothing further to add."

And although the Speaker's attempt to ban Mr Trump from speaking in Westminster Hall during his UK visit later this year incensed many Tory MPs, he has strong backing from opposition MPs and some Conservatives.


Speaker 'strongly' against Trump Parliament speech

On the final day before the 2015 election, a move engineered by then Commons Leader William Hague and chief whip Michael Gove to start the ousting of Mr Bercow suffered a humiliating rebuff.

A Tory rebellion saw that a Government motion to ensure there was a secret ballot to elect the Speaker in future was defeated by 228 to 202.

Mr Duddridge's motion, a so-called Early Day Motion for which no date for a debate has been scheduled, is headed "Vote of No Confidence" and simply states: "This House has no confidence in the Speaker."

Speaking to Sky News within minutes of tabling his motion, the Rochford and Southend East MP confirmed it was Mr Bercow's Trump veto on Monday that prompted his move.

"He has overstepped the mark, he has overstepped the mark a number of times but this most recent incident - where he used the Speaker's chair to pronounce his views on an international situation in some quite detailed and lengthy manner - is wholly inappropriate," he said.

Did Mr Bercow do the right thing?

"It means that he can no longer reasonably chair, as Speaker, any debate on those subjects."

Criticising Mr Bercow's conduct as a whole in the chair, he added: "This has been happening more and more often from this modernising Speaker. This is perhaps the straw that has broken the camel's back."

Mr Duddridge, who was the first MP to publicly criticise Mr Bercow on Monday when he spoke to Sky News, said he had been amazed at the number of MPs who had encouraged him to table his motion.

And he claimed: "He doesn't really understand the degree of the anger in the House of Commons, the distrust in his role as Speaker of the House of Commons.

"I expect over the recess - because Parliament now shuts down for one week - over that week the number of MPs speaking out either publicly or privately to journalists will increase and increase and it will be known his position is untenable, perhaps even to the point that he doesn't return on the Monday."

Mr Duddridge swiftly won support from another Conservative MP who is critical of Mr Bercow, Alec Shelbrooke.

"I will be supporting James Duddridge's early day motion when I get back after the recess," Mr Shelbrooke told Sky News.

"I believe John Bercow has politicised the office of Speaker and his position is untenable."

Trump's travel ban - what's true and what's not

After his onslaught on President Trump, Mr Bercow was forced to defend his comments after concerns were raised in the Commons by senior Conservative MP Sir Gerald Howarth and others.

Mr Bercow was also slapped down by the Speaker in the Lords, former Tory cabinet minister Norman Fowler, who told peers he had an "open mind" about a Trump speech and Mr Bercow had not consulted him.

Mr Duddridge tabled his motion 24 hours after writing to Theresa May requesting that Government ministers and Tory MPs are given a free vote in any potential vote designed to topple Mr Bercow. He has not yet received a reply.

Before the tabling of the motion, the Leader of the Commons David Lidington appeared to distance the Government from Mr Bercow's attack on President Trump.

"Members across the House, of course, are entitled to have strong opinions, not just on what happens in this country but on what happens anywhere else in the world," he said.

But he told MPs: "Whatever view any of us as individuals might have on any particular leader of another country, the reality is that governments have to deal with other governments in the world as they exist and particularly with elected governments who are able to claim a mandate from their own people."

And Mr Lidington said there was no challenge to the legitimacy of the US election, despite the "bitterness" of the presidential election campaign.

Protests against Trump take place across the UK

Mr Bercow sparked the row when he told MPs on Monday: "Before the imposition of the migrant ban I would myself have been strongly opposed to an address by President Trump in Westminster Hall.

"After the imposition of the migrant ban by President Trump I am even more strongly opposed to an address by President Trump in Westminster Hall."

Mr Bercow went on: "We value our relationship with the United States. If a state visit takes place that is way beyond and above the pay grade of the Speaker.

"However, as far as this place is concerned, I feel very strongly that our opposition to racism and to sexism and our support for equality before the law and an independent judiciary are hugely important considerations in the House of Commons."

After his statement, opposition MPs applauded and the veteran left-wing MP Dennis Skinner rose and told Mr Bercow: "Two words: well done!"