THE TTALK QUOTES 

On Global Trade & Investment
Published By:
The Global Business Dialogue, Inc.
Washington, DC  Tel: 202-463-5074
 
No. 70 of 2019
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 20219

Click HERE for Friday's U.S.-Japan quote from
Charles Freeman


A PARTING WORD TO THE SPEAKER

 "You have sat up there in your high chair, not just as an umpire ruthlessly adjudicating on the finer points of parliamentary procedure ... but above all as a player in your own right."

Boris Johnson
October 30, 2019
wCONTEXT
John Bercow has been the Speaker of the House of Commons for the past ten years. Last Thursday, October 31, was his last day in that position, and Hansard for October 31 is filled with MP after MP offering words of gratitude and praise for Mr. Bercow and his decade of service as speaker.

Today’s quote is from Hansard of the previous day, October 30, which saw the last Prime Minister’s question time with Mr. Bercow in the chair. It began with Prime Minister Boris Johnson’ s own tribute to the departing speaker. Today’s featured quote is taken from that appreciation. Without question, there is a barb in it, a not at all subtle reference to the feelings of some – primarily some on the leave side of the leave-remain schism in British politics – that Mr. Bercow’s rulings were not always even, that his support for the remain side of the debate was evident in some very important ones.

Yet Mr. Johnson’s remarks were not fighting words. Offered in the spirit of a roast – an occasion where differences are acknowledged with humor and soothed with laughter – they seemed to bring the House together for a moment. And they included words of clear praise, as when he said:

Although we may disagree about some of the legislative innovations you have favored, there is no doubt in my mind that you have been a great servant of this Parliament and this House of Commons.

But you can judge for yourself. Here is the Prime Minister’s statement of appreciation to Speaker John Bercow:

Mr Speaker, I know that the whole House will want to join me in recording that, after 10 tumultuous years, this is your last Prime Minister’s questions. As befits a distinguished former Wimbledon competitor, you have sat up there in your high chair not just as an umpire ruthlessly adjudicating on the finer points of parliamentary procedure with your trademark Tony Montana scowl, not just as a commentator offering your own opinions on the rallies you are watching—sometimes acerbic and sometimes kind—but above all as a player in your own right, peppering every part of the Chamber with your own thoughts and opinions like some uncontrollable tennis-ball machine delivering a series of literally unplayable and formally unreturnable volleys and smashes.

Although we may disagree about some of the legislative innovations you have favoured, there is no doubt in my mind that you have been a great servant of this Parliament and this House of Commons. You have modernised, you have widened access, you have cared for the needs of those with disabilities, and you have cared so deeply for the rights of Back Benchers that you have done more than anyone since Stephen Hawking to stretch time in this session. As we come to the end of what must be the longest retirement since Frank Sinatra’s, I am sure the whole House will join me in thanking you and hoping that you enjoy in your retirement the soothing medicament that you have so often prescribed to the rest of us.

We are not going to try to footnote all the references here. However, with respect to the tennis images, this sentence from the Wikipedia entry on John Bercow may help, “[He] had been a successful junior tennis player, but was too short to go professional.”
COMMENT
It has been a while since these pages have taken note of Brexit or UK politics. Certainly, there have been developments enough. At each turn, however, our thinking was, we’ll wait for the next one. Maybe then the path ahead will be clearer. It would be rather heroic to suggest that that is the case now. Yes, there is a deal on the table between the UK and the EU, and Britons are set to go to the polls on December 12. The result of all of those developments could be a better picture of the UK’s future (and the EU’s) than either has had for years, certainly since Britain’s 2016 referendum on its membership in the European Union. To repeat, such a picture is possible, but it is hardly assured. In any event, we are not in the business of guessing the results of elections, and we are well aware that added clarity is not always one of them. 

So, we’ll conclude this, not with speculation about what’s coming next, but with two very separate thoughts about the recent past.
A few weeks ago, we doubted Boris Johnson would be able to persuade his EU counterparts to reopen the withdrawal agreement they had negotiated with Mrs. May. Reflecting then on the new prime minister’s dilemma gave rise to this collaborative limerick:

There was a Prime Minister from UK,
Who found himself s…t out of luck.
They sent him to Brussels
Without any muscles,
And now in the EU he’s stuck.

You will find below a link to the October 30 edition of Hansard, which was our source for Mr. Johnson’s congratulatory farewell to Speaker Bercow. There is also a link to a YouTube clip of the same speech. Watch the clip. It is the richer version because it shows a moment of high humor and good feeling being enjoyed by the whole House. An American watches with envy.

As a general proposition, our view is that the British parliamentary system and the American presidential one are very different. Each has its own strengths, and there is more to lament than praise in the signs that each may be aping the patterns of the other. One could wish, for example, with a little less party discipline in the U.S. Congress, three-line whips as the Brits would say.  As for the UK’s still relatively new fixed-term election law, from our, admittedly distant perspective, it's a disaster.

But moments of shared appreciation, of laughter, and the ability see beyond the quarrel with a colleague to the wealth of his or her contribution, democracy needs those respites. And on this side of the pond, it’s been a while since we have had one. 
SOURCES & LINKS
A Congratulatory Message takes you to the text of Boris Johnson's congratulatory remarks to Speaker John Bercow at Prime Minister's Question Time on October 30. This was the source for today's featured quote.

The Video is a YouTube clip of the statement referenced above.

On John Bercow is the Wikipedia entry for this British politician and former Speaker of the House of Commons.

A Brexit Limerick is a joint composition, arising from a conversation between Joanne Thornton and R. K. ("Judge") Morris.
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