Speaker vows to remain impartial
Speaker John Bercow has insisted that his wife's decision to stand as a Labour candidate in next year's council elections would have no effect on his ability to chair the Commons in an "impartial and fair" way.
Mr Bercow, who sat on the Conservative benches before being elected Speaker in June, said there was nothing "embarrassing" for him about his wife Sally contesting a Tory-held ward on Westminster City Council for Labour.
But he acknowledged that he could expect the mother of his three children to be portrayed as "a cross between Jerry Hall, Lady Macbeth and Eva Peron" because of her decision to get involved in electoral politics.
In a pre-recorded interview to be broadcast on BBC1's Andrew Marr Show on Sunday, Mr Bercow said: "My wife isn't my chattel, she's my wife. She is a private citizen who has her own views and is an independent person. And it has long been known that my wife is a supporter of the Labour Party, so I don't think there's anything odd, embarrassing and certainly there's nothing underhand about it."
Mr Bercow said he rejected the "old-fashioned sexist view" that a politician's spouse should do what she is told by her husband to support his political career.
And he said that since their 2002 wedding he had become used to jibes over the fact that they are on opposite sides of the political divide. Some reports have suggested that her influence prompted his move from the right-wing of the Conservative Party to a more liberal, centrist position.
Meanwhile, it has been revealed that the grace-and-favour apartment of Mr Bercow has been refurbished at a cost of more than £45,000 to the taxpayer since he took up the post in June. The cost is more than double the £20,000 which Mr Bercow initially said he was spending to make his official residence suitable for a family with three young children.
Documents released under the Freedom of Information Act and obtained by the Daily Telegraph showed Mr Bercow's wife gave detailed instructions on the revamp of the historic apartment beneath Big Ben in the Palace of Westminster. Mrs Bercow asked Commons officials for a larger TV, a DVD player and wallpaper which would make the residence feel less like an office.
But email exchanges showed some concern among officials about the cost of the work, with one pointing out that Mr Bercow had said he only wanted to spend what were considered to be "reasonable" sums and noting that "the list is getting longer".
A source close to the Speaker said the £20,000 figure for renovations announced in August represented the additional cost to the taxpayer of the official residence being inhabited by a family with children - including window locks and other child-safety measures. Much of the remaining spending - classed as "routine maintenance" - was beyond Mr Bercow's control, he said.
