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An audience at the University of Reading watched a 'dress rehearsal' of House of Commons Speaker the Rt Hon John Bercow MP's comments on Donald Trump's proposed address to Parliament.

Three days before the Speaker expressed his opposition to the US President's planned appearance, he was outlining the same views to students and guests at a university event.

Reading University's Politics lecturer, Mark Shanahan:

"We actually had him for about five hours in the afternoon and evening and he was asked about his beliefs and how he had changed his own career.

"When he was young he was a very right wing Conservative and a member of the Monday club which held some pretty nasty racist views and he told my students that's one of the things he was least proud of in his life.

"Bercow brought up Trump himself and was quite happy to talk about his opposition to a Trump State Visit, he didn't go into detail as he did in Parliament but absolutely expressed the same views."