Former British Speaker of Parliament John Bercow turns his back on the Tories and joins the opposition Labor Party.
In an interview with the Observer, he criticized the Conservatives under the leadership of Prime Minister and Party Leader Boris Johnson as “reactionary, populist, nationalist and sometimes even xenophobic”.
Johnson's government must be overturned and only the Labor Party will be able to achieve that goal, said Bercow.
The longtime President of the House of Commons described Johnson as a "successful campaigner, but a miserable head of government".
The Prime Minister has no vision for a “fairer society”.
More and more people were tired of hearing "lies and empty slogans," said Bercow.
With his idiosyncratic style, Bercow had been at the center of the extremely emotional parliamentary debates around Brexit for more than three years.
His legendary "Order" calls, with which he exhorted MPs to remain calm, echoed more than 14,000 times through the London House of Commons.
Supporters of the British exit from the EU accuse Bercow of deliberately delaying the ratification of the exit agreement.
A 2018 report also accused him of leading a parliamentary culture in which "bullying, harassment and sexual harassment" could flourish.
Bercow denied the allegations.
Last August Johnson denied him a seat in the House of Lords.
The 58-year-old politician is the first "speaker" in more than two centuries who was not granted this honor.