MPs should abandon lengthy party conferences and sit for longer in the House of Commons, John Bercow says If the political parties wanted to stage conferences at weekends, perhaps running from a non-sitting Friday until a Sunday afternoon, they could perfectly well do so and then it wouldn't intrude on our professional time. Most people have an annual holiday entitlement and unless they are taking annual holiday, they will ordinarily be at work in September. And I think a lot of our electorate think, given that the MPs finished in the latter part of July, why are they not back at their place of work undertaking their scrutiny, standing up for our interests, debating our concerns, in September. They should be. Mr Bercow also said he would "revisit" a controversial contract signed by Commons authorities to rent 12 fig trees in the MPs" offices in Portcullis House from a private company called Plant Care. He says: "I was horrified by it. I had no idea of the cost that the House had been incurring. Understandably it will cause people out there to think these people are living in another universe. The honest answer is I think the contract should absolutely be revisited. If we are going to have trees, they absolutely shouldn't be trees that cause us to fleece the taxpayer in this way, and that must change at the earliest opportunity. Mr Bercow disclosed he had had a "candid exchange of views on the merits" of his wife Sally appearing in the Channel Five television programme Celebrity Big Brother. He said: "I'm not going to be a hypocrite about it and say that I was in favour of her taking part. I felt that the programme was not a high quality programme. Describing himself as not "a very modest chap," he said that he was planning to apply for another term as Speaker at the end of this Parliament, expected in 2015. He said: "I'm not going to persuade any of you that I'm a humble person. But I'm not actually a particularly dogmatic person and I am conscious that I am here to serve the House, not to rule over it. Mr Bercow also confirmed that MPs were not going to abandon holding prayers before daily sittings of the Commons. He said: "Personally I would prefer to keep it as it is. Yes I'm a reformer, but just because you are a reformer, it doesn't mean you have to change everything. I believe in changing to make the House stronger. I don't myself believe that getting rid of prayers would make the House stronger.