Ex-Speaker John Bercow whose anti-Brexit bias sparked fury across Britain joins list of controversial choices to deliver Channel 4’s Alternative Christmas Message
- John Bercow will deliver Channel 4’s Alternative Christmas Message this year
- Bercow’s 10-year reign as Speaker of the House concluded at the end of October
- Danny Dyer, Doreen and Neville Lawrence, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Edward Snowden, Khadeja and Marge Simpson were chosen to deliver the 3pm speech
Controversial ex-Speaker John Bercow, who faced repeated claims of pro-Remain bias, is to deliver Channel 4’s Alternative Christmas Message.
Bercow, 56, who was accused of using his position to pursue an anti-Brexit agenda, will give the high-profile address on Christmas Day.
The move will do little to quell suspicions by Conservatives that Channel 4 is pursuing an anti-Tory agenda. The relationship between the party and the broadcaster has been strained in recent months after a number of incidents.
Bercow, 56, who was accused of using his position to pursue an anti-Brexit agenda, will give the high-profile address on Christmas Day
Although Bercow was a Tory MP he was seen as a key player in thwarting Boris Johnson and Theresa May’s attempts to deliver Brexit.
Last week Conservatives complained to Ofcom about the broadcaster’s decision to ‘empty chair’ the party during a debate on climate change, although the media regulator subsequently cleared Channel 4 of breaking rules.
When Boris Johnson declined to appear on the debate it replaced him with a block of melting ice.
Bercow, who will give a four minute message, will not film the speech until after the election is concluded. He has already stood down as speaker and is not standing as a candidate in the election.
Channel 4 sources were keen to stress that the message would not be arguing the Remain cause, however it is likely to touch on Brexit. They added the talk would also not come from a party political stance.
2018: Danny Dyer delivered his cockney take on an alternative Christmas message last year
2013: NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden delivered his message saying his revelations on privacy invasion enable people to choose how their governments are run
One insider at the broadcaster said: ‘The themes he is looking to explore are around the role of politics and society, unity and class.’
He will follow in the footsteps of a varied list of names to have given the talk, including former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, The Simpsons, Edward Snowden and Neville and Doreen Lawrence. Last year the message was delivered by actor Danny Dyer.
A difficult relationship between the Conservative Party and Channel 4 News has existed in recent years.
2006: This woman, known only as Khadijah, spoke about the beliefs of Islam and her sadness at the sight of British soldiers dying in the Middle East
2008: Channel 4 opted to end the year on a controversial note by inviting the then president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to deliver a talk in Farsi with English subtitles
In 2017 there were claims that presenter Jon Snow had chanted ‘f*** the Tories’ at Glastonbury. Then earlier this year Channel 4’s head of news Dorothy Byrne delivered a speech in which she called Johnson a ‘known liar’.
Bercow’s ten-year reign as Speaker of the House concluded at the end of October. He has represented the Buckingham constituency for the Tories since 1997.
In a recent speech to the Foreign Press Association, after he had stopped being Speaker, he described Brexit as the ‘biggest mistake of this country after the war’ and added ‘Brexit doesn’t help us’. He said it was ‘better to be part of the [EU] power bloc’.