John Bercow - Early Life and Career

Early Life and Career

Bercow was born to a British Jewish family in Edgware, Middlesex. His paternal grandparents were Jews who arrived in Britain from Romania a century ago. The son of a taxi driver, Bercow attended Frith Manor Primary School in Woodside Park, and Finchley Manorhill, a large comprehensive school in North Finchley. In his youth, Bercow had been ranked Britain's No.1 junior tennis player. However, a bout of glandular fever ended his chances of pursuing a career as a professional tennis player.

Bercow graduated with a First Class Honours degree in Government from the University of Essex in 1985. Professor Anthony King remembers: "When he was a student here, he was very right-wing, pretty stroppy, and very good. He was an outstanding student." As a young activist, Bercow was a member of the right-wing Conservative Monday Club, becoming Secretary of its Immigration and Repatriation Committee. However, at the age of 20 he left the club, citing the views of many of the club's members as his reason. In 1981 Bercow had stood as a candidate for the national executive of the Monday Club and called for a programme of "assisted repatriation" of immigrants.

After graduating from university, Bercow was elected as the last National Chairman of the Federation of Conservative Students (FCS) from 1986–87. The FCS was then broken up by the Chairman of the Conservative Party, Norman Tebbit, after one of its members had accused previous Tory PM Harold McMillan of war crimes in extraditing Cossacks to the Soviet Union. Bercow attracted the attention of the Conservative leadership, and in 1987 he was appointed by Tebbit as Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Collegiate Forum (the successor organisation of the FCS) to head the campaign for student support in the run-up to the 1987 general election.

After a spell in merchant banking, Bercow joined the lobbying firm Rowland Sallingbury Casey (part of Saatchi & Saatchi) in 1988, becoming a board director within five years.

With fellow Conservative Dr Julian Lewis, Bercow ran an Advanced Speaking and Campaigning course for over ten years, which trained over 600 Conservatives (including several current MPs) in campaigning and communication techniques. He has also lectured in the United States to students of the Leadership Institute.