Speaker’s wife Sally Bercow authorised £100,000 spending on Jo Malone candles, luxury Farrow & Ball paint and carpets and furniture at state school where she is governor
- John Bercow’s wife, 49, is a governor at a top secondary school in west London
- Spending at the school saw £6,200 spent on Jo Malone candles, report reveals
- £15,000 was also spent on Farrow & Ball paint and £80,300 on furnishings
Published: 06:22 EDT, 8 September 2019 | Updated: 20:56 EDT, 8 September 2019
The wife of speaker John Bercow allowed £100,000 to be spent on Jo Malone candles and luxury Farrow & Ball paint at the school where she is a governor.
Sally Bercow, 49, is a governor at her children’s high-performing secondary school in west London.
It was controversially named by her husband, 56, during a Brexit debate in the House of Commons as he tried to reprimand Cabinet minister Michael Gove for being too noisy.
Gove’s children attend the same school as the Bercows’, with Mr Bercow telling Mr Gove live on TV: ‘I say to the Chancellor of the Duchy [Mr Gove] that when he turns up at our children’s school as a parent he is a very well behaved fellow.
‘He wouldn’t dare behave like that in front of [headmaster’s name] and neither would I.’
Sally Bercow, 49, wife of Commons speaker John Bercow (pictured together at Wimbledon in 2017) is a governor at her children’s high-performing secondary school in west London
Records show Mrs Bercow and her fellow governors approved £6,200 to be spent on expensive Jo Malone candles, £15,000 on Farrow & Ball paint and £80,300 on carpet and furniture, reports The Sun.
Bercow’s full rant at Michael Gove
The Speaker interrupted discussion to say: ‘Order! Order! Very rude for members… order, order, order, order.
‘I say to the Chancellor of the Duchy [Mr Gove] that when he turns up at our children’s school as a parent he is a very well behaved fellow.
‘He wouldn’t dare behave like that in front of [headmaster’s name] and neither would I.
‘Don’t gesticulate, don’t rant. Spare us the theatrics. Behave yourself. Be a good boy young man. Be a good boy.’
He later added: ‘We know the theatrics he perfected at the Oxford Union. Not interested, not interested, be quiet!’
Jo Malone candles can cost up to £300 each and Farrow & Ball paint costs three times as much as High Street brand Dulux, which ranges from £15 to £30 a tin.
The school the Bercow children attend and where their mother is a governor is a high-achieving state school, often described as a ‘socialist Eton’.
All spending decisions are overseen by the board of governors, which includes Mrs Bercow.
The figures were revealed in an annual budget report.
MailOnline has contacted the school for comment. Previously the academy school’s bosses have claimed the candles and paint ‘last longer’.
Its spending was probed by the Department for Education last year, but no ‘breaches’ were found.
Mrs Bercow hit the headlines when she entered the Celebrity Big Brother house in 2011.
Records show Mrs Bercow’s fellow governors approved £6,200 to be spent on expensive Jo Malone candles (pictured), £15,000 on Farrow & Ball pant and £80,300 on carpet and furniture
Farrow & Ball paint costs three times as much as High Street brand Dulux, which ranges from £15 to £30 a tin. File image used
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