The Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, has unveiled a portrait of himself and a lovely new coat of arms … all for the bargain price of 37,000 taxpayer pounds.

The coat of arms was clearly designed by a team of lefty liberal PR consultants with a brief to produce a coat of arms so nauseatingly politically correct and “progressive” that even the Guardian couldn’t find anything to disapprove of and therefore ignored it.  It has a ladder to show how he’s climbed the social ladder from comprehensive-educated son of a taxi driver to MP and Speaker.  It has Lib Dem gold roundels to represent his love of tennis and his position as ex-officio head of the Boundary Commissions for England, Scotland, Wales and NI.  The main part of the shield is divided half and half Labour red and Tory blue.  The motto is “All are equal” with the words separated by pink triangles with the back of the scroll the motto is written on a gay pride rainbow pattern to show his commitment to championing the rights of gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender people.  It also includes two swords to represent the county of Essex where he went to university.  The use of Lib Dem gold, Labour red and Tory blue was deliberate to show his “impartiality”.

The portrait isn’t bad but it’s not worth the £22k of our money that was handed over for it.  For £22k I’d want a painting the size of my house and Vincent van Gough’s bloody signature in the corner!