Stephen Flynn demanded Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle return to the House of Commons as fury grows about his decision to break with protocol and select a Labour amendment.
The SNP's Westminster Leader demanded he return to the Commons to explain his decisions ahead of a walkout by SNP and Tory MPs.
He asked on three occasions where Sir Lindsay Hoyle was, at one point saying: "I am afraid that I am going to have to try for a third time. Can you please advise me where the Speaker of the House of Commons is?
"What mechanisms are available to bring him to the House? And as we wait for a deliberation to be made in that regard, I move that this House… that you use the powers that I trust you have to suspend this House."
Stephen Flynn demanded Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle return to the House of Commons
PA
Deputy Speaker Dame Rosie Winterton replied: “I will not be suspending the House. We need to put these questions. Mr Speaker will be in his place tomorrow.”
But Flynn was followed by similar calls from Conservative MP Matthew Offord (Hendon), who asked: “Madame Deputy Speaker, where is the Speaker?”
SNP foreign affairs spokesman Brendan O’Hara said: “The House and its procedures have descended into absolute chaos and they have descended into chaos simply because of a decision taken by the Speaker earlier today. Is it too much to ask that the Speaker is asked to come to this House and explain exactly why he took those decisions, the consequences of those decisions, and how he intends to get this House out of the mess that it currently finds itself in?”
Shortly after, the Speaker returned to the Commons and apologised to MPs, saying it was never his “intent” for the Gaza debate to have descended into such mayhem
He said: "Clearly today has not shown the House at it’s best. I’ll reflect on my part. I do not want it to have ended like this.
"I’ll meet with all the key players of each party."
He added that he wanted to offer MPs "the widest range of propositions on which to express a view".
But Stephen Flynn, the party's Westminster leader, did not seem to accept the apology, saying: "I will take significant convincing that your position is not now intolerable."
He later added: “Every single member of Parliament knows that Lindsay Hoyle was meeting with Sir Keir Starmer and Alan Campbell, the Labour Chief Whip, before a decision was taken today.
"Indeed it was suggested to me that was a reason the Speaker was jumping in and out of the Speaker’s chair in advance of proceedings, which will obviously all be on camera for everyone to reflect upon."
The backlash began after Hoyle broke precedent by selecting a Labour amendment to an Opposition Day motion calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Protocol dictates that the Commons Speaker would only select one of the amendments, and it is highly unusual for an opposition amendment to be selected.
But Hoyle picked both the Government amendment and the Labour amendment to be debated earlier today.
The Labour motion was approved by the Commons this afternoon.
If the Labour amendment hadn't been selected, his MPs would have had to choose between voting for a Government amendment - which stops short of demanding a ceasefire - or rebelling to vote for the SNP motion.
