MPs have raised fears that John Bercow could be handed a safe Commons seat after he announced he is joining Labour with a brutal swipe at Boris Johnson.
The former Speaker declared his allegiance as he accused the PM of having only a 'nodding acquaintance with the truth'.
He also branded the government 'reactionary, populist, nationalistic and sometimes even xenophobic', while flatly denying that he is motivated by the desire to get a peerage - something the Tories have blocked up to now.
Justice Secretary Robert Buckland shrugged off the barbs suggesting they 'diminished' Mr Bercow's 'authority'.
But there was immediate speculation that Mr Bercow is being lined up for a shock return to the Commons representing Labour. One senior MP said they suspected he would be parachuted into a constituency in London, where he has many allies.
Another warned that Mr Bercow would not be an 'asset' to Sir Keir as he desperately tries to win back Brexit-voting areas in the Red Wall.
Sources close to the leader insisted the idea that Mr Bercow would get a safe seat was 'utter rubbish'.
Mr Bercow - who was a Tory MP before becoming Commons chair in 2009 - caused fury on the Conservative benches for what they saw as bias in the handling of Brexit wrangling.
He finally quit the supposedly impartial post in November 2019.
Justice Secretary Robert Buckland (left) shrugged off the barbs as ex-Speaker John Bercow (right) stepped up his attack on the PM in a television interview
Westminster sources confirmed that John Bercow, accused as Speaker of repeated pro-Remain prejudice, has signed up to the party within the last four weeks, with his name recently appearing on a 'new joiners' list
Former leader Jeremy Corbyn, who is a Labour member but has been suspended from the parliamentary party over the anti-Semitism row, tweeted support for Mr Bercow
The move to Labour completes an extraordinary political journey for Mr Bercow, originally elected as a Tory MP, from self-confessed 'hard-Right' politics in his youth to Labour member.
It also marks a sharp break with the tradition that Commons Speakers, who give up party political affiliations on taking that post, stay impartial by retiring to the Lords as crossbench peers.
Mr Bercow told the Trevor Phillips programme on Sky News: 'It's not personal against Boris Johnson. I do think that he is someone who has only a nodding acquaintance with the truth in a leap year, and I think that the utter contempt with which he has treated Parliament is lamentable, and I think it has exacerbated the very strong feelings of resentment towards him, because I think a lot of people feel that's not the way to behave.
'Telling the truth in and to Parliament matters, circumventing Parliament is wrong, treating Parliament with disdain is objectionable, but no, I have over a long period evolved my political thinking.
'I wasn't a member of a party throughout my tenure as speaker, because it would have been quite wrong to be.
'I didn't take a view. I sought to facilitate the House of Commons to express its view and all individual members to put their points across because that's the responsibility of the speaker.
'Now I'm a private citizen, as Robert Buckland says, I'm entitled to take a political view. And my view is a left of centre view. I identify with Labour values, Labour principles, Labour policies.'
Mr Bercow dodged saying whether he would accept a peerage if Labour put him forward for one again.
The 58-year-old was last year denied elevation to the Lords amid claims - which he rejected – that he had bullied staff during his time overseeing Commons proceedings.
Tory critics pointed out last night that it was ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn who proposed him for the Lords, and suggested that joining the party now was a bid to revive his peerage hopes.
But Mr Bercow said: 'I've had absolutely no discussion whatsoever, either with Keir Starmer or any other member of the Labour leadership about that matter.
'There has been no barter, no trade, no deal whatsoever.
'It isn't in my mind, it's not part of the game plan, I
