U.K. House of Commons Speaker John Bercow on Sept. 9 announced his plan to resign, ending a 10-year tenure, including overseeing Parliament's lower chamber as it tried to chart the country's course on Brexit.
Bercow said he would step down as speaker and lawmaker by the end of the current Parliament if the House of Commons voted later Sept. 9 in favor of another government motion seeking an early general election.
If the government and lawmakers fail to trigger a snap election, Bercow said, he would quit Oct. 31, the U.K.'s current date of departure from the European Union.
Bercow said he had promised his family that the general election in 2017 would be his last.
Bercow's pending departure comes at a crucial time for the U.K., which has yet to ratify a Brexit deal with less than two months before its scheduled exit from the EU.
Last week, Bercow allowed lawmakers to seize the legislative agenda, leading to the approval of a bill that would stop Prime Minister Boris Johnson from pursuing a no-deal Brexit. The measure received royal assent Sept. 9, ahead of the Parliament's temporary suspension.
Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Andrea Leadsom said in London's Daily Mail that Bercow committed a "flagrant abuse" of the parliamentary process for his role in the no-deal Brexit legislation and called for the election of an "impartial" House of Commons speaker.
