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If anything Farage helped to make sure Speaker Bercow was elected

A small point about the BBC and its infatuation with the right. One of the highlights of the campaign results is how badly the right has done. But its article on the relection of Speaker John Bercow is:

Election 2010: Speaker John Bercow beats Nigel Farage

But the main challenger to Bercow was the independent candidate John Stevens who was backed by the network of independent candidates and supported by Martin Bell. Stevens was also the candidate selected by Hang 'em as the one to vote for. Bercow got 22,000 votes, Stevens got 10,000 and Farage only 8,000. Had Farage not parachuted in but supported the local man, Bercow might even have been defeated, so if anything Farage helped re-elect him by splitting the vote.

Anthony Barnett

Anthony Barnett

Anthony is the honorary president of openDemocracy. He was its founding editor-in-chief (2001-7), the co-director of The Convention on Modern Liberty (2009) and the first director of Charter 88 (1988-95). His most recent books are ‘The Lure of Greatness: England's Brexit and America's Trump’ (2017) and ‘Taking Control!: Humanity and America after Trump and the Pandemic’ (2022). He is a trustee of openTrust. His collected articles can be found on Authory and he posts on X at @AnthonyBarnett

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