Flexible conventions

Bercow sowing: "Haha fuck yeah!!! Yes!!"

Bercow reaping: "Well this fucking sucks. What the fuck."

You'd have to have a heart of stone not to laugh at this one. John Bercow, John actual Bercow, whinging that his non-elevation to the Lords breaks "a centuries old convention". It's hard to improve on the response of the No 10 spokesman:

Asked why Downing Street had ignored the convention that Speakers are elevated to the Lords after they step down, a No 10 source said: “The Speaker was not always a fan of convention.”

I'm on the Government's side on this one. The long-standing convention that ex-Speakers are ennobled is enough by itself to brush past the inconvenient fact that Bercow is a self-aggrandising malignant tit of the first water. It's also enough to get past the fact that he scandalously misused a position that has always (both by convention but more importantly be design) had impartiality as its raison d'etre to push one side of the most contentious political debate the UK has seen in decades. It isn't enough, however, to get past the fact that he has been repeatedly accused of bullying his staff, as well as observably bullying MPs in the Chamber itself.

Any question of elevation to the peerage not only can legitimately be put on hold, but actually should be on a moral basis until a proper investigation into all these allegations has been carried out. Personally, I'm looking forward to him being dragged before a Select Committee to answer questions on it without being able to hide behind his status as Speaker.