I FIRST became aware of John Bercow, the new Speaker of the House of Commons, when he made a speech on economic policy to the Tory Party conference in the Eighties.

He was a Young Conservative at the time and Norman Tebbit, Employment Secretary in Margaret Thatcher’s cabinet, said: “I look forward to hearing John Bercow’s first budget as Chancellor”. It hasn’t quite worked out like that, has it?

LD Wilson, Guisborough, East Cleveland.