COMMONS Speaker John Bercow delighted MPs on Monday in defending their right to vote in Parliament according to their principles without being demeaned in the media as “mutineers, traitors, malcontents or enemies of the people.”

The Speaker described death threats uttered against MPs as tantamount to a kind of fascism.

His forthright defence of the right of elected representatives to speak out without fear links well with Commons home affairs select committee chair Yvette Cooper’s criticism of social media companies for failing to tackle online abuse.