Former speaker John Bercow has said accusations he "brutalised" parliamentary staff and politicians are "total and utter rubbish".

In an interview with Sky News, the ex-speaker of the House of Commons called former Black Rod David Leakey, who made the accusations in late January, "completely and utterly ignorant".

He also called former Leader of the Commons Andrea Leadsom "untrustworthy" and a "poor leader of the House".

Image: David Leakey has filed a complaint against John Bercow

Mr Leakey, who was Black Rod until February 2018, accused Mr Bercow of bullying him over the years and said several highly-ranked parliamentary staff and politicians told him privately they were bullied by Mr Bercow.

In his first broadcast interview since the accusations were made, Mr Bercow, who resigned in November, told Sky News the claims were "total and utter rubbish from start to finish".


He said: "First point is that David Leakey didn't work for me, he wasn't employed by me, he wasn't employed by the House of Commons.

"He worked in and was protocol officer of the House of Lords. He is in absolutely no position whatsoever to comment on my relations with my parliamentary colleagues, of which he is completely and utterly ignorant.

"He doesn't know what my relationship was with my clerks. He has absolutely no intelligence on those matters whatsoever.

"What we have here is a person who had left the House, is thrashing about, desperate to remain relevant, popping up at every turn, trying to make himself seem very important, centre stage, at the heart of things in the way I went about my work."

Days before Mr Leakey accused the former speaker of bullying, Lord Lisvane, the former clerk of the House of Commons, submitted a dossier of allegations against Mr Bercow to the Parliamentary Standards Authority.

'He's got a book to sell, hasn't he?'

Mr Bercow, who is promoting his new autobiography Unspeakable, said he only saw Mr Leakey "three or four times a year over a period of years, mainly in relation to or preparation for ceremonial events".

He said the two men are "very different people from very different backgrounds with very different mindsets" and admitted they had an argument in 2011 and 2012 but "got along perfectly adequately after 2012".

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The former speaker added: "Absurdly, preposterously he's turning up years later, a couple of years after he left the house, commenting on events he can't possibly know about because he'd already left.

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"He said something about my relations with Andrea Leadsom in May 2018, something I allegedly said to her and made her cry - he wouldn't know, he'd left three months before.

"The guy is a know-nothing, he wouldn't have the foggiest idea what he's talking about.

"He was deeply hostile towards me. He's entitled to his views but on the matter of bullying he suffers from the disadvantage of being 100% wrong. Amen."

Sky News understands Mr Leakey is reluctant to comment on Mr Bercow's reaction now a formal complaint has been submitted.

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He previously called for other complainants to come forward as he warned Mr Bercow brought one former Leader of the Commons to tears.

When asked about his relationship with Mrs Leadsom, who was Leader of the Commons from 2017 to 2019, Mr Bercow said he was advised to bring witnesses to private meetings with her as she could not be trusted.

"There was no trust between us and I was advised at one point, by a senior person in government, that she was very hostile, that she was looking to ferment trouble for me," he told Sky News.

Image: Andrea Leadsom said she did not want to give John Bercow any more airtime after he called her untrustworthy

"There had been other relationships with colleagues where there was some distrust of her by people and possibly by others. I just thought the prudent thing to do was protect myself.

"In my view, she was a poor leader of the house, she was both driven and weak and it's quite a bad combination."

Mrs Leadsom replied with a curt: "Well, you know, he's got a book to sell and I don't want to give him any extra air time. That's it."