Speaker vote was "two-fingered salute" to public

LONDON (Reuters) - Hopes that a new Commons Speaker would start restoring public faith in politics after the damaging expenses scandal were dashed on Tuesday after a Conservative MP called John Bercow's election a "two-fingered salute" to the public.

Backbencher Nadine Dorries said only three Conservatives had voted for fellow-party member Bercow, whose accession to the Speaker's chair was greeted by sullen silence from Tory benches.

"It was a vindictive political act on behalf of the Labour Party towards what they see to be the future Conservative government and the British people," Dorries told BBC radio.

"It was almost a two-fingered salute to the British people from the Labour MPs, and to the Conservative party."

Bercow, who at 46 will be the youngest Commons speaker for 170 years, is disliked by his Conservative colleagues after moving from the far-right of the party to a position many thought was too close to Labour.

"A lot of Conservatives feel John positioned himself in order to woo Labour to get the speakership -- a lot of people are annoyed that it worked," Alan Duncan, Conservative shadow leader of the Commons, told BBC radio.

Bercow had told MPs ahead of the election he would implement an "agenda of reform, for renewal ... and for the reassertion of this great institution."

But Duncan said that, as Speaker, Bercow's role as a reformer would be limited and that MPs themselves would initiate most of the changes that party leaders have said are necessary to restore public trust in parliament.

Plans are already under way to transfer the Speaker's responsibility for the administration of parliamentary expenses to an independent body, Duncan noted.