John Bercow's wife loses bid for council seat

The wife of the Commons speaker and former Tory MP John Bercow lost her bid to win a council seat for Labour today.

Sally Bercow was standing in Westminster City Council but saw her ward fall to a clean sweep by Conservative candidates.

She polled 868 votes, around 1,000 lower than the winning tallies for the three Tory victors in St James's ward.

Mrs Bercow's fortunes contrasted with that of her husband, who earlier held his seat of Buckingham in the General Election, where he was standing in his capacity as Speaker.

His wife's decision to contest a council seat for Labour caused some disquiet among members of her husband's former party.