Hoyle warned he ‘cannot make another mistake’ as more than 60 MPs pull support
Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle has been warned he cannot make another “mistake” over parliamentary rules as he lost the confidence of more than 10 per cent of MPs.
While many MPs believe the Speaker is safe for the next couple of days, there are question marks over how long he can continue after Rishi Sunak said his handling of the Gaza vote was “very concerning” and the SNP, the third-largest party in parliament, officially pulled their support.
As of 7pm on Thursday, 67 Conservative, SNP and independent MPs had signed a no confidence motion in the Speaker.
Both the Prime Minister and Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt failed to fully back Hoyle but said they hoped he would “reflect” on his actions during Wednesday’s opposition day debate which descended into chaos.
Mr Sunak said Hoyle should not have changed parliamentary rules to allow a Labour amendment to the SNP motion on a ceasefire in Gaza because it was a “slippery slope” and risked giving into “extremists”.
The Speaker had broken convention to allow the Labour amendment after representations from Sir Keir Starmer that his MPs would face increasing threats and intimidation if they were not allowed to express their support for an “all sides” ceasefire – with harder language against Hamas than the original SNP motion.
On a second dramatic day in the Commons chamber, the SNP’s Westminster leader told the Speaker: “We do not, on these benches, believe that you can continue in your role as Speaker.” and called for a vote of confidence in him.
Hoyle repeated his apology for making the “wrong decision” and offered the SNP a fresh emergency debate on a ceasefire in Gaza, which would be expected next week, but this was not enough to reverse Flynn’s decision to pull his party’s support for the Speaker.
While 67 MPs have signed what is known as an early day motion, it is non-binding. There is pressure on the government to hold a substantive motion and vote in the Commons on the Speaker’s future.
In that event, Hoyle would likely enjoy the support of the vast majority of Labour MPs and many Conservatives, but he may feel under pressure to resign anyway if a substantial number of members lose confidence in him.
A Tory former minister told i: “Tories are very angry. A significant number are in genuine fear of losing their seats and huge Labour divisions yesterday would have given them some cheer. Lindsay can say what he likes but the reality is that he did Labour a massive favour yesterday.
“I don’t think we’re in forced resignation territory yet and Lindsay is saved because today is a more quiet day and then the weekend will allow some cooling of matters.
“But he can’t make any more mistakes, none at all, and certainly not do anything that could be interpreted as partisan.”
Asked if Hoyle’s position is unsafe, another former Tory minister said: “It shouldn’t be. There is a lot of noise being made but he has a lot of support on our benches. I suspect it will blow over.”
A shadow Cabinet minister said: “He’s safe. The Government is too weak to go after him just months before an election.”
A Labour source said: “I think everyone got what they wanted in the end because we passed the amendment, the SNP gets to be outraged and the Government can criticise Labour for everything.
“But ultimately the SNP chose to politicise this and set a trap for Labour and lost at their own game. I haven’t seen a night like this in the Commons since the days before Liz Truss resigned.”
