Thread by @asabenn

At #guardianlive, Owen Jones declares it is a "huge honour" to be here with John Bercow

Bercow says if his past young right-wing self was still around today, he would have despised modern Bercow - "and I would have despised him"
#guardianlive

Bercow: "Lots of people are good intellects, it doesn't necessarily mean they're right"
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Bercow embraces @OwenJones84's comparison of his past Monday Club era "extreme" views to the views of those advising Boris Johnson, adding the PM's aides are "generally at least a few months older than I was then"
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Bercow slags off Cameron's Tory modernisation as "more about the respray than the remake"
#guardianlive

Bercow reveals John McDonnell told him he supported him, leaving it up to him what to do with that: "I've always been very grateful to John and Jeremy"
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Bercow reveals Sir Menzies Campbell made a "very mild and light touch effort" to get him to defect to the Liberal Democrats, and @Ed_Miliband made a "more serious" attempt to get him to join Labour #guardianlive

Bercow says Labour has handled the anti-Semitism furore "very badly" but doesn't think Jeremy Corbyn has an "anti-Semitic bone in his body" #guardianlive

Bercow says Tories only accept people from ethnic minorities that are "conformists": "If they play by the rulebook dictated by those on high, they are accommodated, patted on the head & celebrated. If they are a bit awkward, they have to be frozen out, rubbished or destroyed"

Bercow finally asked by Owen Jones about bullying. Repeats his line "never bullied anyone, anywhere, anytime". Says he was "astonished" by allegations and has had to "put up with it being weaponized against me" and deplores a "campaign to assassinate my character"
#guardianlive

Bercow says the "great majority" of his working relationships have been "successful", which he says rebuts the "thesis" of the "snobs and bigot faction"
#guardianlive

Bercow says common factor between all of his detractors is they are "to a greater or lesser extent institutionalised, change-resistant and people very accustomed not just to having their say, but having their way" #guardianlive

Bercow recounts how one of his detractors who he adds pointedly will remain nameless "for now" used to call him "Mr Speaker" and when losing arguments "dear John"
#guardianlive

Wonder who Bercow was referring to? He then slags off former Black Rod David Leakey (doesn't name but obvious from context) as a "know little at best and a know nothing at worst" accusing him of "puffing himself up, traipsing around studios and scribbling articles" #guardianlive

Bercow proudly recalls telling @JulianSmithUK in row over Brexit amendments as he picked something by Dominic Grieve: "That may be the convention...but we live in unprecedented times"
Job of Speaker was "not to protect the Government from a lack of a majority" #guardianlive

Bercow disapproves of PM referring to WTO trade as an "Australian-style" Brexit, declaring: "Don't dress it up as something it isn't to beguile, hoodwink or mislead"
He bills it as an "early sign of people playing games. I don't find that game funny or clever."
#guardianlive

Bercow boasts of thrashing PM at tennis and promises to give him a point each game - prompting OJo to praise him for "huge generosity" #guardianlive

Bercoe says it is "very wrong to conflate criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism", but admits there have been people who have "blurred the line" #guardianlive

Bercow admits he does care about having the peerage denied: "I would prefer to go [to the Lords] rather than not. It tends to go with the role of Speaker. It's not a legal requirement but a strong expectation."
Adds: "This is obviously an arbitrary decision, directed against me"

Bercow adds that he deserves to go to the Lords because at 57: "I have a contribution to make"
Claims he is "not going to be consumed" by having his peerage withheld and argues if he doesn't get it, then precedent set for future Speakers not to offend Government
#guardianlive

Former Speaker Bercow sees "lots of minuses and no advantage" in @realDonaldTrump being re-elected, dismissing him as "simplistic...a thug"
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Bercow on ministers during last year's attempted prorogation of Parliament: "The Brexit bias was all-consuming" #guardianlive

Bercow says there is a "stronger chance now than there ever was" of a united Ireland.
Says Irish relations "will require nuance, subtletly, diplomacy and statecraft. Is this something that is going to be most satisfactorically tackled by a rhetorical belligerence?
#guardianlive

Bercow says Conservatives "presiding over a set of arrangements which are looking less stable" for the UK and warns "the threat of the constitution being ripped asunder is very real", urging "very fortified" Gov to "behave with care and responsibility" #guardianlive

Bercow on papers like DMail, Sun: "Some of that influence is pernicious but I don't think there is any way around it other than to use alternatives to get around it. They are the bigot faction, they peddle bigotry on a daily basis. There is no sense of fairness" #guardianlive

Bercow says he would "like to be remembered as the backbenchers' Speaker" but cannot guarantee this will be how history remembers him
#guardianlive

Bercow: "I've had my successes and my failures...there are battles I didn't win..I've made my fair share of mistakes because to err is human"
#guardianlive

Bercow says he would now, outside the House of Commons, like to "earn a living, have some fun and do some good"
Suggests he wants to do something on corporate social responsibility
#guardianlive

Bercow: "I'm not necessarily expecting to work every day...I hope I can do something useful and constructive"

A good few #guardianlive audience members stand up to give Bercow a standing ovation.
Former Speaker declares turnout "humbling" but urges applause for OJo as "one of the most talented journalists in Britain"