Tribune – Comment, news and reviews from Britain's democratic left

The great Rennaissance Man Stephen Pound allowed his passions to run away with him at a recent outing for his favourite football team following the election. He increased his majority in Ealing North so he could be forgiven for giving vent to a modicum of elation or, as he put it himself, “running on fumes, like a car that’s run out of petrol”. The former seaman and bus conductor had to be quietened down by a steward at the home game against Arsenal after a disputed foul was not given as a penalty. There were, after all, children about. He apologised and sat through the rest of the game “with my mouth zipped”.

John Bercow’s predictable re-election in the face of a damp squib coup by Tory MPs saw him traditionally “dragged” into the Speaker’s chair. No such faux restraint from wife Sally who, after a crusading  campaign of support for her husband on Twitter, proclaimed: “Hurrah for Mr B! I’d better get a hat for the Queen’s Speech then!” Unfortunately, she lost her own attempt to win a seat on Westminster council for Labour. That would have made for an interesting coalition in the Speaker’s house.