Labour accused of pressuring Lindsay Hoyle on vote: 'We won't save you at next election'

Labour accused of pressuring Lindsay Hoyle on vote: 'We won't save you at next election'

Lindsay Hoyle in parliament

Parliament TV
Christopher Hope

By Christopher Hope


Published: 21/02/2024

- 17:10

Updated: 21/02/2024

- 17:27

Tory MPs have claimed Labour waded in on Hoyle

Labour has been accused of pressuring the Speaker of the House of Commons to push their own Gaza amendment.

Two Conservative MPs have told GB News that Labour made clear to Sir Lindsay Hoyle that its MPs would not support his candidacy for the speakership after the general election when he will have to stand again.


One said the party "made it plain to the Speaker that if they could not do them a favour on this occasion to save the Labour Party, they will not save him after the next election - or words to that effect".

Labour sources said the claims were "rubbish, completely untrue".

Lindsay Hoyle

Lindsay Hoyle has broken precedent with the Gaza vote

PARLIAMENT TV

The claims were also denied by sources close to Hoyle as "absolute nonsense".

The source said: "We are not going back to the Bercow days."

They added that the precedent which the Speaker had challenged was first established in 1979 when there were only two main parties in the Commons, rather than three as there are today.

Hoyle was also trying to defuse the debate over Gaza by allowing MPs to have their say and vote on a wider range of motions.

Hoyle was warned by House of Commons Clerk Tom Goldsmith about the unprecedented nature of his decision ahead of the clash with MPs, with the senior official saying he felt “compelled to point out that long-established conventions are not being followed in this case”.

During a stormy Commons session where MPs repeatedly interrupted the Speaker, Hoyle faced widespread heckling as he suggested the rules around Opposition-led debates “reflects an outdated approach” which restricted the “operations which can be put the House”.

Conservative former minister Sir Desmond Swayne responded by shouting “Bring back Bercow!”, referring to the former Commons speaker who was found to have bullied his staff following a parliamentary investigation.

Hoyle, who was elected as a Labour MP before giving up party affiliation on his election as Speaker, replied: “If you want to, do it.”

The Speaker sought to justify his decision, claiming it would give MPs the “widest possible range” of options in the Gaza ceasefire debate because of its importance.

He said: “This is a highly sensitive subject on which feelings are running high, in the House, in the nation, and throughout the world.

“I think it is important on this occasion that the House is able to consider the widest possible range of options.”

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