UK speaker Bercow to step down

U.K. House of Commons Speaker John Bercow says he will step down by the end of next month after a decade in the job.

Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow gestures during a meeting at the G7 parliament’s summit, in Brest, western France on September 6, 2019. [Photo: AFP/David Vincent]

Bercow told lawmakers that if Parliament votes Monday in favor of an early election, he will quit before the campaign. If they don't he will quit Oct. 31 — the day Britain is due to leave the European Union.

He says he will quit both as speaker and as a member of Parliament.

Bercow has angered the Conservative government by repeatedly allowing lawmakers to seize control of Parliament's agenda to steer the course of Brexit. He says he is simply fulfilling his role of letting Parliament have its say.

The Conservatives had said they would run against Bercow in the next national election, breaking a convention that the speaker be elected unopposed.