(MENAFN- Gulf Times) John Bercow's decision to remain Speaker of the House of Commons was yesterday likened to the final days of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.
Bercow pledged to step down after nine years when first elected in 2009 a deadline that elapsed last Friday.
He has now announced his intention to stay on for another year to oversee the 'challenging Brexit process.
Former minister Greg Hands, who resigned to the backbenches last week in opposition to Heathrow expansion, tweeted: 'Every day now, the Commons discontent at Bercow grows. Like the last days of Nicolae Ceausescu.
Brutal Communist dictator Ceausescu and his wife Elena were executed on Christmas Day in 1989 when they were overthrown after 24 years in power.
Only a month earlier Ceausescu had been re-elected to serve a further five years in power despite huge civil unrest in Romania.
Earlier this week Hands took aim at the Commons Speaker with barbed remarks made during Prime Minister's Question time.
The Chelsea and Fulham MP said: 'We all need to keep our election pledges, whether we made those pledges one year ago or nine years ago. Bercow's wife Sally tweeted this week that the clock was effectively 'reset on her husband's position as Speaker at the 2017 general election.
However, Bercow has faced repeated calls to resign from Tory MPs and has been embroiled in allegations of bullying and sexism, all of which he vehemently denies.
Labour peer Lord Adonis rushed to his defence describing him as the greatest Speaker since William Lenthall, who in 1642 defended the sovereignty of Parliament against King Charles I when the monarch entered the chamber to try and arrest five MPs.
A spokeswoman for Bercow said he had no comment to make on Hands's tweet.
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