Some thoughts on John Bercow as Speaker

Wikipedia describe the role of the Speaker and add

"Conventionally, the Speaker remains non-partisan, and renounces all affiliation with his former political party when taking office."

Somehow I don't think that John Bercow will find it all difficult to renounce his affiliation with the Conservative party.

The same Wikipedia article also records that the convention of not opposing a sitting Speaker seems to be one that in recent times has been followed by Conservatives not Labour:

"In General Elections, it is customary for the Speaker to stand without party affiliation. Since parties began being listed on ballot papers, the Speaker's affiliation is shown as "Speaker seeking re-election". In the past few decades, the Conservatives have not stood against Speakers seeking re-election, regardless of their previous political affiliation. Labour and the Liberal Democrats have stood against ex-Conservative Speakers, but not against ex-Labour ones. Plaid Cymru also stood against the Speaker in 1979. Most recently, in 2001 and 2005, the only major party to oppose the ex-Labour Speaker Michael Martin was the Scottish National Party. In the House"

Once again conventions are there for Conservatives to follow and so be restricted and Labour to ignore and so be free. My message to the Conservative party is to stop playing the game by the rules and to realise that Labour fight dirty, and I am afraid, so must the Conservatives.