UK House of Commons Speaker Bercow pledges to stay on

John Bercow, the speaker of Britain's House of Commons, plans to stay on despite previous expectations he was about to leave, risking the fury of hardline Brexiteers who believe he wants to thwart a no-deal departure, the Guardian newspaper reported.

The speaker told the Guardian it was not "sensible to vacate the chair" while there were such major issues before parliament.

"I've never said anything about going in July of this year," Bercow told the Guardian.

"I do feel that now is a time in which momentous events are taking place and there are great issues to be resolved and in those circumstances, it doesn't seem to me sensible to vacate the chair," he said.

In a speech in Washington, Bercow said it was "for the birds" to think that parliament could be sidelined in the debate over Brexit.

"The idea that parliament is going to... be evacuated from the centre-stage of the debate on Brexit is unimaginable. It is simply unimaginable," he said.