On 9 September 2019, John Bercow announced that he would stand down as speaker of the House of Commons and as an MP on 31 October, or at the next general election, whichever came first.

Upon succeeding Michael Martin as speaker in 2009, Bercow vowed to serve 1- years in the role. His resignation statement, which fulfilled this pledge, came during a period of immense constitutional and political strain over the government’s Brexit strategy.

In the 2017-2019 hung parliament, Bercow had emerged as a central and controversial figure.

Bercow’s active and verbose speakership regularly placed him at odds with the government of the day. During his tenure in the chair, Bercow granted an unprecedented number of urgent questions (UQs) – much to the irritation of those ministers hauled to the commons.

Martin as speaker rarely granted urgent questions. Bercow’s procedural innovation has had a marked impact on the culture of the commons.

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Boris Johnson’s election as Conservative leader in July 2019 on a platform of delivering Brexit “do or die” set the scene for a series of clashes between the government and speaker.

Bercow, a self-styled champion of backbench interests, made rulings that empowered parliament at the expense of Johnson’s assertive executive branch.

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With parliament deeply divided, he allowed backbenchers to take control of the commons order paper – most notably for the passage of the so-called ‘Benn act’, which effectively blocked a ‘no deal’ Brexit. His ruling that led to the passage of the Benn act was made under Standing Order Number 24 – a procedure used to trigger emergency debates.

Such rulings made Bercow a pariah to the Johnson government and hardline eurosceptics. He was accused of abandoning the political impartiality in an attempt to frustrate Brexit. As a result, the government signalled it would stand a candidate against Bercow in his Buckingham constituency at the next election – a symbolic break with precedent.

He regularly clashed with Andrea Leadsom during her tenure as leader of the commons from 2017 to 2019. On 8 September, after the passage of the Benn act, Leadsom accused Bercow of committing “flagrant abuse” of parliamentary process.

Leadsom, who served as business secretary under Johnson, said the role of the speaker was to be “a politically impartial, independent umpire of proceedings” and to “protect the constitution and oversee the behaviour of the House”.

She added: “But last week, the current speaker failed us”.

Bercow’s resignation announcement was timed to ensure his successor would be elected by the current parliament – rather than by a new parliament which might have a large Conservative majority. It was seen as a final act of defiance against the government.

Indeed, in his resignation statement, Bercow said MPs in the next parliament could be “vulnerable to undue institutional influence”.

He added: “We would not want anyone to be whipped senseless, would we?”

Addressing MPs on 9 September, hours before the controversial (and ultimately unlawful) prorogation of parliament, Bercow said his tenure as speaker had been the “greatest privilege and honour of my professional life”.

He told the House: “At the 2017 election, I promised my wife and children that it would be my last. This is a pledge that I intend to keep… If the House does not [vote for a general election], I have concluded that the least disruptive and most democratic course of action would be for me to stand down at the close of business on Thursday 31 October.”

Prior to the passage of the Benn act, 31 October 2019 was the date the UK had been scheduled to leave the EU.

Bercow was utterly unapologetic about his role in empowering backbenchers to scrutinise legislation, and sometimes legislate themselves, describing himself as the “backbenchers’ backstop”.

He added: “Throughout my time as speaker I have sought to increase the relative authority of this legislature, for which I will make absolutely no apology to anyone, anywhere, at any time.”

He also issued a veiled warning to the government, with an indirect reference to its prorogation plans. “We degrade this parliament at our peril”, he told MPs.

Bercow’s statement was greeted with a standing ovation from the opposition benches. Among Conservative MPs, there was a smattering of applause.

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Tributes were paid to Bercow on 30 October, his final session prime minister’s questions in the chair, and on 31 October, his last day as speaker.

Speaking in the former session, which was dedicated to reflections on Bercow’s speakership, commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg praised the “backbencher’s champion”.

He said: “I cannot thank you enough for the help you gave me to ensure that we could get the drug Brineura for a constituent of mine: within about a week, you called me at oral questions, granted me an Adjournment debate and then gave me an urgent question, all of which helped to build pressure on the government to act, to the great advantage of a very ill and very young constituent of mine.”

Rees-Mogg and Bercow had clashed regularly as enemy combatants in the Brexit wars.

The commons leader said “that there will be a debate about your term of office, as there are debates about the terms of office of other speakers in our history.”

Angela Eagle, the shadow commons leader, called on Rees-Mogg to confirm Bercow would be appointed to the House of Lords – as is tradition for former speakers.

Rees-Mogg did not take the opportunity to do so.

Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative leader, said he “regularly used to curse” the speaker for granting urgent questions during his tenure as a cabinet minister.

He added: “However, having returned to the backbenches, I have to congratulate you on reinvigorating the UQ, turning it from being an unusual event to being a very standard one, and I hope I have taken advantage of that.”

Boris Johnson, speaking at prime minister’s questions, praised Bercow as a “great servant of this parliament”.

His tribute featured an extended metaphor about tennis.

Johnson said: “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.”

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Speaking to a separate subject on 31 October, Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen excoriated Bercow’s speakership.

A longtime nemesis of the speaker, Bridgen declared: “I will bring my remarks to a conclusion, but it is clear to me, and it will be clear to the public, that to the fag-end of your tenure in that chair, you are defending the indefensible”.

Bercow responded: “I am quite sure that the public will come to their own conclusions. Let me say to the honourable gentleman that he can try to smear me; he will get the square root of nowhere.”

Bercow’s controversial tenure as speaker extended to allegations of bullying. A report by parliamentary independent expert panel (IEP), published March 2022, described Bercow as a “serial bully” and found “his behaviour fell very far below that which the public has a right to expect”.

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Bercow’s resignation precipitated a speakership election, which ultimately returned Lindsay Hoyle, deputy speaker since 2010, to the chair. Hoyle bested rival candidates including Eleanor Laing, Harriet Harman, Edward Leigh and Chris Bryant.

Hoyle’s election was announced on 4 November after MPs had whittled down the crowded field of prospective speakers. The ex-Labour MP was re-elected to the position on 17 December following the 2019 general election.

In May 2021, Bercow told ITV’s Good Morning Britain programme that he no longer considered himself a Conservative, having been elected as a Tory MP in 1997.

He said: “I have gone from being a rabid rightist to being a soft leftist.”

In June, the former speaker announced he had joined the Labour Party, saying: “I am motivated by support for equality, social justice and internationalism. That is the Labour brand”.

As a result of the IEP report into his conduct as speaker, Bercow was suspended from Labour.

The former speaker never was appointed to the House of Lords.