Latest news with #HouseOfCommons
CBC
2 hours ago
- Politics
- CBC
The riding of Battle River-Crowfoot, explained
Canada's next byelection is slated for Aug. 18 in the Alberta riding of Battle River-Crowfoot. Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre is running in a bid to return to the House of Commons but now finds himself in an increasingly crowded race.
Telegraph
6 hours ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
How the ‘jolly' Commons Speaker became one of Westminster's sharpest operators
Sir Lindsay Hoyle is the face of Parliament. For more than five years, he has run the House of Commons from the gothic splendour of the 13ft Speaker's chair. His public image is one of a bluff, convivial Lancastrian. Ministers and journalists are regularly hosted in his grace and favour house; hotpot tartlet is a party favourite. But his ever-present smile conceals a finely tuned political mind that makes him one of Westminster's sharpest operators. Recent weeks have demonstrated why that is so important. First there were reports of an exchange with Rachel Reeves that saw the Chancellor weep on camera. Then there was the super injunction over the Afghan data leak. Harriet Harman, Sir Lindsay's old rival for the Speakership, suggested he had failed in his duties by not pressuring ministers to tell MPs. 'In the Speaker's chair, all eyes are upon you,' says one Labour veteran. Having watched his two predecessors leave office in disgrace, Sir Lindsay is determined for the same thing not to happen to him. In the Reeves affair, he was trying to smooth things over after a previous altercation about protocol. In Harman's case, his office hit back firmly, pointing out that Sir Lindsay was bound by a super injunction. Publicly robust; privately conciliatory. It is that awareness of the unwritten rules of political discourse which explains Sir Lindsay's prominence in Parliament. His Speakership is the culmination of a lifetime's work. Sir Lindsay was quite literally born into the Labour party. His father, Doug, spent 21 years as an MP; Lindsay's first Labour conference was as a baby in 1957. Growing up, he learnt the political craft from his father. While Hoyle Sr made his name in Westminster, his son cut his teeth in Labour's north-west machine. 'The by-ways of Lancashire,' said one ex-MP in 2019, 'are littered with the bodies of those who've underestimated Lindsay.' Seventeen years on, Chorley borough council refined Sir Lindsay's talents. In 1997, his dad retired, and Hoyle Jr, aged 39, entered the Commons. The 2010 election, in which so many Labour hopes were dashed, proved to be Sir Lindsay's making. Encouraged by friends, he stood for the vacant Deputy Speakership and won. In the words of one colleague, 'The campaign for Speaker began that day.' For nine years, he served as the balm to John Bercow's poison, impressing MPs with his good humour and calm demeanour. The Speaker's decision to quit in September 2019 was a godsend for Sir Lindsay. For two decades, he had cultivated his colleagues; it was his friends, rather than the imminent Tory intake who would choose the new Speaker. 'It was decided by those leaving, rather than those joining,' reflects one former MP. Sir Lindsay was regarded as the runaway favourite and courted the electorate accordingly. To Tories, he sympathised about Bercow's politicking; for Labour it was a chance to have one of their own. Sir Lindsay ran as the candidate of experience, promising to protect MPs' security and restore Bercow's office to its former greatness. During Covid, he won plaudits across the House for his determination to keep the Commons running. His penchant for Urgent Questions made him popular among backbenchers, much to ministers' irritation. 'He runs a permanent campaign,' says one frontbencher. 'We get his regular newsletter and see his stuff online.' Sir Lindsay has a veritable menagerie of pets named after various politicians. His cat, Attlee, boasts its own Instagram account and line of goods in the House of Commons gift shop. He has known tragedy in his family life, too: Sir Lindsay has spoken movingly about the death of his daughter Natalie, aged just 28, in 2017. Sir Lindsay's worst moment as Speaker came in February 2024. As Labour tore itself apart on Gaza, Sir Lindsay was accused of favouritism by ignoring official advice. During an SNP motion calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, opponents charged that Sir Lindsay had bent parliamentary rules to let an alternative Labour amendment be debated instead. His response to the ensuing outrage showed his skills as a survivor. He apologised, quickly, on the floor of the Commons, offering to meet with parties 'to discuss the way forward'. That ability to admit mistakes and grasp 'the mood of the House' is partly why he has been able to survive the fractious era of post-Brexit politics. 'Lindsay likes to be liked,' says a friend. 'He understands people – how they work, what they think and where they want to be.' His attentiveness to MPs' needs has helped him win unlikely friends too. Within Reform there is praise for how the Speaker has welcomed their new MPs and given them suitable offices in Parliament. Nigel Farage has publicly declared his respect for Sir Lindsay. Where Bercow revelled in conflict, his successor largely eschews it. 'He's always down our end of the tea room,' remarks one Tory. For such an astute operator, the Speaker does have a blind spot. His taste for the trappings of office has provoked much comment in the press. A string of foreign trips in business or first class ran up a sum of £275,000 in two years; Bercow took 10 years to rack up the same bill for 'non-regular' foreign travel. His accommodation is invariably high-end: the St Regis in Doha, the Westin Grand in the Cayman Islands, and the Ritz-Carlton in Los Angeles. One long-standing colleague suggests that Sir Lindsay's choices are indicative of an Old Labour mindset, namely that 'nothing's too good for the workers'. There are gifts too, with Sir Lindsay keeping almost 300 presents since 2021 including dozens of bottles of alcohol, hampers, ties, cufflinks and chocolates. No rules have ever been broken, but there are echoes of the 'freebiegate' row that plagued this Government in its first months in office. Sir Lindsay's reputation as being 'pro-MP', means, in the words of one, 'none of us want to make much out of all that'. The Speaker is unapologetic, insisting that he is merely maintaining the prestige of the office. Aides argue that his post confers an ambassadorial role, requiring him to build links between his office and its equivalents around the world. 'Other Speakers have their own aircraft and travel around the world all the time without criticism,' declared Sir Lindsay earlier this year. He sees himself as an unabashed champion of parliament. Critics, though, question his mission of 'Speaker-led diplomacy'. They ask whether diplomacy ought not to remain the sole preserve of the elected government. A mis-sent email in January 2024 prompted a public row over whether Sir Lindsay had intended to fly the Palestinian flag from the grandly-named 'Speaker's Flagpoles'. Sir Lindsay denied this was ever his intention. Aiding the Speaker is an expanding team: the head count in the Speaker's office has doubled since he took over. Yet despite his wobbles, Sir Lindsay seems near-certain to serve out the remainder of his Speakership in this parliament. Already there have been murmurings, sotto voce, about likely contenders. The diary columnists have started tipping Meg Hillier, the Treasury Select Committee chair. Nus Ghani, the current Deputy Speaker, is another seen as 'on manoeuvres'. At 68, Sir Lindsay is yet to name an exit date. But would-be pretenders for his chair could do worse than study his rise to the Speakership and make their plans accordingly. After all, that is what Sir Lindsay would do.
Arab News
2 days ago
- Politics
- Arab News
UK must recognize Palestine: Senior Labour MP
LONDON: Former Shadow Attorney General Emily Thornberry has called on the UK government to recognize an independent Palestinian state. Thornberry told the BBC on Monday that there needs to be an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and a long-term political solution to the crisis. 'The only way through this is for there to be an Israeli state that's safe and secure, alongside a Palestinian state that's recognized,' she told BBC Radio 4's 'Today' program. Thornberry, who heads the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee, was speaking following the state visit of Emmanuel Macron to London. France's president, whose country will co-host an international conference on Palestine at the UN, told British MPs that a two-state solution is the 'only way' forward. The UK is expected to attend the conference. Thornberry said the UK and France 'are the two parties to that ancient treaty more than 100 years ago, the secret Sykes-Picot agreement that carved up the Middle East in the first place. 'I think there is some kind of political significance to those two countries coming together again.' She added: 'If we recognize a Palestinian state, I think we show ourselves to be a country that wants to be involved, that wants to be an honest broker, that wants to be a force for good, and we think a way forward is two states and we've always thought that.' The war in Gaza has been raging since October 2023, with health authorities in the Palestinian enclave saying around 60,000 people have died. Thornberry said: 'Too many people have been killed. There has to be peace. Peace can only be achieved through political conversation, through negotiations.' The UK Foreign Office has refused to be drawn on when or if the government will recognize a Palestinian state, but Thornberry said: 'It's just a question of when.' She added that the UK needs to use its relationship with the US to move the situation on Palestinian statehood forward, and clarify to Israel that continued settlement expansion in the West Bank is illegal, and individuals responsible would be sanctioned. 'We've been a force for good when it comes to Ukraine, but I do think we should also be saying to (US) President (Donald) Trump: 'We need you. You have the power of 100 presidents. You can do what all the other presidents couldn't do,'' Thornberry said. 'But the Israelis have to come onboard, and they can't continue just to say no and not have any credible alternative.'
Telegraph
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Zarah Sultana accuses Observer cartoon of ‘brownfacing'
Zarah Sultana has accused a cartoonist for The Observer of 'brownfacing'. The independent MP, who resigned from Labour earlier this month, attacked cartoonist Saffron Swire over her depiction of Ms Sultana on the front of a raisin box. She accused the artist, who is the daughter of Sir Hugo Swire, the former Tory MP, of nepotism and being a 'Right-wing hack'. For The Observer's cartoon of the week, Ms Swire produced a mock invite to Jeremy Corbyn's party, complete with the former Labour leader dressed in a bright red Soviet 70s jumpsuit. 'Let's paint the town red!' a speech bubble reads, while the RSVP address lists the House of Commons. Ms Sultana, who had the Labour whip suspended in July 2024 after voting to scrap the two child benefit cap, resigned from Labour this month to form a breakaway hard-Left political party. She announced that Mr Corbyn would co-lead the new party, which still has no name, though reports suggested the move had caught the Islington North MP off guard. Ms Swire's cartoon invitation also promises goodie bags 'for the many (not the few)', emblazoned with a hammer and sickle. The bags are shown to contain a box of 'Zarah Sultanas', modelled in the style of a Sun-Maid red raisin box, and a copy of Karl Marx's Das Kapital. Responding to the cartoon published on X, the MP for Coventry South wrote: 'Brownfacing a box of raisins and mocking my surname. Brownfacing a box of raisins and mocking my surname. Exactly what you'd expect from a right-wing hack who is the daughter of an aristocrat and ex-Tory MP. — Zarah Sultana MP (@zarahsultana) July 20, 2025 'Exactly what you'd expect from a Right-wing hack who is the daughter of an aristocrat and ex-Tory MP.' Sir Hugo, the former Minister for Northern Ireland Office under David Cameron, was appointed as a life peer in 2022, becoming Baron Swire of Down St Mary in County Devon. The former MP served as representative for East Devon from 2001 to 2019. His daughter, Saffron, has written or produced cartoons for Prospect, Tortoise, The Economist, Art UK and the New European, as well as The Spectator. Sun-Maid, founded in California in 1912, has become the world's most recognisable raisin brand. The woman wearing a red bonnet holding a pallet of grapes was based on a painting of model Lorraine Collett by artist Fanny Scafford. Ms Sultana was born in Birmingham to a family which had migrated from Kashmir. She set up her hitherto unnamed Left-wing party on July 3, vowing to lead a cohort of independent MPs and activists against Sir Keir Starmer's benefit cuts and against what she described as 'genocide' in Gaza. Leading Corbynites rule themselves out Leading Corbynites John McDonnell and Diane Abbott were swift to rule themselves out, while the former Labour leader took his time to offer lukewarm praise for Ms Sultana's bravery in breaking away but neglected to directly confirm his co-leadership. Last week, Ms Abbott was suspended again from the Labour party after she doubled down on her claim that Jews experience racism differently to black people. The hard-Left MP had been suspended in March 2023 for claiming that 'white people with points of difference' such as Jewish people, Travellers or Irish people are not 'all their lives subject to racism'. Last week, Ms Abbott said, in an interview with the BBC, that it was 'silly' to liken racism based on skin colour to racism faced by Jewish and Traveller communities. Responding to Ms Abbott's suspension, Ms Sultana said: 'I stand with Diane Abbott'. The Guardian, which sold The Observer to Tortoise in December 2024, was previously accused of racism for its cartoonist Martin Rowson's depiction of outgoing BBC boss Richard Sharp. The Left-wing newspaper was forced to apologise and remove the cartoonist's impression after it was widely condemned as antisemitic.
CTV News
4 days ago
- Politics
- CTV News
Thousands of Canadians are set to receive family sponsorship invitations. What's your experience with the program?
The Parents and Grandparents Program allows Canadians to apply to sponsor family members for permanent residency. (Pexels) The federal government will begin sending invitations for sponsoring parents and grandparents for permanent residency starting July 28, but some are calling for a 'fair' and 'transparent' family reunification process. A website was set up asking people with concerns about the Parents and Grandparents Program to urge the government to re-open the interest-to-sponsor form. A person with the handle 'A Dissapointed (sic) Canadian' wrote in a post Friday that a petition was submitted to the House of Commons, but it requires an MP to authorize it before it goes live. The petition comes as the 2025 intake is set to open soon for 17,860 potential sponsors who submitted an interest-to-sponsor form in 2020, according to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). However, IRCC said it won't be opening a new interest-to-sponsor form and will only send invitations to apply to potential sponsors from the 2020 pool of submissions. reached out to the email listed on the website for more information about who is behind the petition and website, but didn't immediately hear back. According to information posted on the website with the petition, the program is not 'fair and transparent.' 'For the fifth year in a row, IRCC will choose applicants from the same outdated pool created in 2020, shutting out thousands of Canadians who've become eligible since then,' according to information in the FAQ of the website. wants to hear from individuals in Canada about their experience with the Parents and Grandparents Program. Did you encounter difficulty sponsoring your parents or grandparents? If so, how long have you been waiting? Have you heard back from the government? Do you have any concerns about the federal program and any ideas on how it can be improved? How did your experience with the program affect your family? Did the process take an emotional toll? Share your story by emailing us at dotcom@ with your name, general location and phone number in case we want to follow up. Your comments may be used in a story.
