JOHN Bercow was called “Psycho” by Commons staff we can reveal, as the full ferocity of his serial bullying emerged.
They told how the former Speaker, 59, reduced them to wrecks with his spit-flecked rages.
He shattered his private secretary’s confidence so badly she quit after ten months and had counselling.
He then got her erased from his official portrait in a pathetic display of spite.
A man on the end of one verbal lashing said: “I could have decked the c*** on several occasions.”
An official also said Bercow once yelled at Black Rod, Lt Gen David Leakey: “Get out of my f***ing office, you f***ing little toff.”
Victims and witnesses of his abuse said the 21 claims of bullying upheld by an investigation last week were just the tip of the iceberg.
Kate Emms, one of the main complainants, was warned against taking the job of Speaker’s secretary.
A senior official recalled: “I said something like, ‘Don’t do it. He’s a psycho’.”
But Ms Emms, who had 16 years’ Commons experience, accepted the role after being told she could modernise his office for the 21st century.
She began in June 2010 but by Christmas told pals it was “grim”.
A colleague said she “was flavour of the month at first”, with Bercow calling her “lovely Kate” before “that all changed — almost as quickly as one of his mood swings”.
Kate told pals she had to steel herself every morning before a fresh barrage of bullying.
A former colleague revealed: “She once admitted that she used to talk to herself in the mirror every day.”
Mr Bercow’s petulance was highlighted after he invited her to pose with him for an official portrait, which cost the taxpayer £37,000.
An insider said: “When she left the job with stress, he had her painted out and replaced by her successor. Some of us thought it extremely spiteful.”
Bercow, who has been banned for life from Parliament, is facing calls to have his £35,000-a-year pension docked.
A colleague said: “He doesn’t deserve any of the lavish rewards that went with his office. None of us could believe he treated Kate like this. She is a lovely woman.”
Tory MP Michael Fabricant pointed out that cops can lose their pension when convicted of a crime.
He went on: “The panel who investigated the complaints said in its report that if John Bercow was still a sitting MP, he could have been expelled.
“Many would argue the official censure he was given is much the same as being sentenced by a court for a serious offence. Accordingly, he should forfeit his pension.”
VOLCANIC TANTRUMS
Another female official told of being unprepared for his volcanic tantrums.
She said: “I was in a meeting with him and others, and asked a routine question. Before I knew it, he was screaming at me, spit was flying everywhere, and he was banging his fists on the table.
“Once he’d finished, he sat glaring at me, breathing heavily, and puce-faced with rage with his lower lip jutted out. Everyone either laughed awkwardly or looked at the floor.”
One staffer said he got angrier when women cried in front of him. They recalled: “This often led to an escalation of shouting, because tears would make him feel bad, and Mr Speaker could never be made to feel bad.”
Another insider said: “We used to call him ‘Psycho’ behind his back. I’m sure he is jolly charming to many people but I think he needs to unravel. He should take a long hard look at himself and his behaviour.”
Many are convinced Bercow, married to Sally, will never admit he was wrong.
One said: “He’s a narcissist. He chooses to remember himself as he wants to be. He’s still in total denial.”
A spokesman for Mr Bercow said he strongly rejects these accusations.
