JOHN Bercow has been snubbed in the New Year’s Honours list – after Boris Johnson vowed revenge for his Brexit-blocking bias.
The former Commons speaker is the first Speaker in 230 years not automatically offered a peerage after he finally stepped down last month.
Boris is understood to have ignored the custom after Bercow repeatedly tore up the Parliamentary rulebook to block his Brexit deal.
Staunch Remainer Bercow allowed backbenchers to take control and pass a law delaying Britain’s exit from the EU ahead of the General Election.
The decision to not elevate Bercow to the upper chamber after he resigned has been welcomed due to his “anti-Brexit bias”.
A Government source told the Mail Online: “No one in this Government will be rushing to give Bercow a peerage. He likes to think of himself as a reforming Speaker, yet he’s been dogged by scandals and given up any pretence he is impartial.
“With bullying claims, his Brexit bias and a willingness to ride roughshod over established procedures, this Speaker has undermined public faith in Parliament.”
But his successor Sir Lindsay Hoyle said Bercow deserved the honour after ten years of service.
He told Pienaar’s Politics on BBC Radio 5 Live the ex-Speaker had done “great things”.
Sir Hoyle added: “My view is every speaker has been offered a peerage, so custom and practice says that’s what’s always happened.
“I think it should be offered to him.”
Tory Brexiteers accused the ex-Speaker of using Parliamentary parlour tricks and bending the rules to allow rebel MPs like Dominic Grieve and Hilary Been to block us leaving the EU – including the Benn Act.
Speakers are supposed to be neutral but Bercow – who voted Remain in the 2016 referendum – recently called Brexit the “biggest foreign policy mistake in the post-war period”.
The outspoken Remainer also insisted he never tried to block Brexit, saying “it was parliament… not me”.
Former Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith has been included in the New Years Honours list by Boris.
Zac Goldsmith and Nicky Morgan were given lifelong peerages earlier this month, but it was not part of the Honours list, which hasn’t included any seats in the House of Lords since 2001.
Among those receiving a gong this year are Grease star Olivia Newton-John, who is being made a Dame for her services to charity, cancer research and entertainment.
James Bond director Sam Mendes, 54, is to be knighted for his contribution to drama, while Queen drummer Roger Taylor, 70 becomes an OBE.
Meanwhile, Sir Elton John, 72, will have his knighthood upgraded to a Companion of Honour — becoming one of only 65 living recipients of the award.
