Tory chaos over the last year has left Britain an international laughing stock, the Commons Speaker has said.
Sir Lindsay Hoyle warned that the country was "struggling to recover" from the divisions of Brexit - and said the recent political turmoil had been a "disaster".
He said the last few months - which saw Boris Johnson ousted and Liz Truss become Britain's shortest serving PM - had left people thinking "what is happening to our democracy".
His stinging comments come after a year of unrelenting turmoil, which saw three Prime Ministers and two Tory leadership contests as Boris Johnson and Liz Truss both felt the wrath of their own MPs.
Rishi Sunak has been battling to restore order after Ms Truss's 45-day stint in No10, which triggered market chaos and left Tory economic credibility in tatters.
Sir Lindsay said he had “never ever seen anything like it before” when reflecting on the year in Westminster.
He told PM on BBC Radio 4: “The whole thing has been the strangest of strangest of years."
Asked if he agreed that the political turbulence had made the UK a laughing stock, he said: "It did and I think it's the disappointment of what went on, the way it went along, you know, and people wondering what was happening to our democracy?"
He said Brexit had "divided the country, divided families, and people's respect for a democracy has struggled".
Sir Lindsay added: "Of course, we didn't help this year with what went on. Hopefully, you know, the one one thing is whatever happened around us, and it was a disaster, you know, the fact that who would have thought that you have a Prime Minister, and could have three ex-PMs behind them at the same time."
Asked if the last year had damaged democracy, he said: "Well, I think I think we're still struggling to recover, as I said, from Brexit.
"I think that's been part of our problem, when you look back, and it's always difficult, isn't it?
"You know, it divided families, and there was real division there. And we've been trying to heal that."
Sir Lindsay insisted that Parliament was a safe place to work, despite allegations of bullying and harassment.
He vowed to "hound out" anyone who broke the rules.
