Latest news with #SirLindsayHoyle
Telegraph
6 days 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.
Telegraph
17-07-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Labour refuses to rule out gagging MPs and press again
Downing Street has refused to rule out seeking super-injunctions in the future despite anger over the Afghan data leak cover-up. As fresh details of the controversy emerged on Thursday, free speech campaigners said the use of the courts to prevent the public from knowing about the security breach, and subsequent secret asylum scheme, should never be repeated. Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons Speaker, has ordered an urgent review of the actions of successive governments in keeping him and MPs in the dark about the covert programme to bring up to 24,000 Afghans to the UK at a potential cost of £7bn. He is not expected to take any action until the Clerk of the Commons has completed the review, but has made clear in private that he feels 'let down' by the current and previous administrations. The High Court granted a super-injunction two years ago banning anyone, including MPs and the media, from revealing that the names of nearly 19,000 Afghans who had applied to come to the UK had been accidentally leaked by a Royal Marine. It also prevented the public from finding out that billions of pounds had been set aside for a scheme to bring some of the people affected to the UK. Speaker 'angry and let down' A source close to Sir Lindsay said: 'He was told about the super-injunction when it was first imposed, when it was to protect the identities of people involved in a data breach, but he was never updated on the terms of the injunction being changed in subsequent hearings, or that the intelligence and security committee (ISC) hadn't been informed. 'He wants quick answers on this because he feels angry and let down. He is annoyed at the way the details of what happened are being drip-fed to the public now.' However, when asked whether the Prime Minister would rule out ever seeking super-injunctions in the future, a Downing Street spokesman said: 'We're not going to comment on a hypothetical situation, but our broad principle is, of course, that government business should be carried out transparently and as transparently as possible.' Lord Beamish, the chairman of the ISC, took the unusual step of releasing a public statement making clear the committee's displeasure with the Government. He said it had demanded to be provided with defence intelligence reports relating to Operation Rubific – the codename for the Government's response to the data breach – as well as the legal advice given to ministers that kept the ISC in the dark. The committee, which oversees the work of the security services, is made up of MPs and peers who are security cleared to handle highly classified material. Meanwhile, Lord Young, the founder of the Free Speech Union (FSU), said he would like governments to be prevented from being granted super-injunctions, either by law or a convention in the courts. He said: 'There are some circumstances in which it is clearly right for governments to be able to keep things secret, but I would have thought those circumstances are all covered – and then some – by the Official Secrets Act. 'The problem with governments being able to silence the press via super-injunctions is that they'll inevitably make use of them to save themselves from political embarrassment, which was clearly a factor in this case.' Dr Bryn Harris, chief legal counsel of the FSU, added: 'Ministers and government departments are not private citizens – they belong indissociably to the public sphere, where their actions can be scrutinised and held to account. 'The use of super-injunctions to cosset ministers, as though they were embarrassed celebrities rather than servants of the Crown, is new, abhorrent and must never be repeated.' David Davis, the former Cabinet minister and free speech campaigner, said: 'A super-injunction for up to three months would have been justifiable to get Afghans out, but the ISC, and the defence select committee, should all know about it. 'Whitehall has a propensity for secrecy, particularly when it has screwed up.'
Times
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Times
Lisa Nandy: ‘Why has nobody at the BBC been fired over Gaza film errors?'
L isa Nandy, the culture secretary, was sitting a foot away from Rachel Reeves in the Commons on Wednesday when the chancellor suddenly broke down. Reeves had been having a brief altercation with Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker, over her conduct during Treasury questions the previous day. It was a relatively routine reprimand from the Speaker to a minister, the kind that most on the front bench have experienced. But Reeves started crying. 'Lindsay's not a nasty guy and Rachel is not going to break down because the Speaker has had a word with her about something,' Nandy says. 'As she said, it was a personal issue, completely outside the context, and you could see it. I was sitting about one foot away. There is absolutely no way that a conversation between Lindsay and Rachel is going to result in her being distressed.'
Telegraph
02-07-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Minute-by-minute: How Reeves's crisis in the Commons unfolded
Rachel Reeves cried after an 'altercation' with the Speaker during Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday amid extraordinary scenes in the House of Commons. Ms Reeves seemed emotional during PMQs and a spokesman for the Chancellor insisted she was upset because of a 'personal matter'. But it later emerged that the Chancellor had had a row with Sir Lindsay Hoyle prior to the weekly showdown between Sir Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch. The Telegraph takes a minute-by-minute look at how the Chancellor reacted during the session. Before Prime Minister's Questions As Sir Hilary Benn concluded Northern Ireland oral questions, Chris Ward, Sir Keir's parliamentary private secretary (PPS), could be seen tapping Ms Reeves on the shoulder. Surrounding MPs were also seen checking whether the Chancellor was okay. Minute 1: Reeves nods as Starmer talks up record Ms Reeves nodded along as Sir Keir talked up his Government's record, although her eyes appeared puffy and there were a few seconds between her nods. Minute 4: Reeves struggles to retain her composure Ms Reeves appeared to be struggling to retain her composure and could hardly manage a cheer as Sir Keir gave an answer to a question about his controversial welfare Bill. Minute 11: Badenoch swipes at Reeves After Ms Reeves pointed to Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, to protest her claims about Labour's economic records, Mrs Badenoch retorted: 'She's pointing at me. She looks absolutely miserable.' Amid a growing din in the chamber, Mrs Badenoch repeated 'she looks absolutely miserable' as Ms Reeves laughed and continued to point in response to her comments. Minute 11: Starmer refuses to guarantee Reeves's future The PMQs session then took an astonishing and unexpected turn as Sir Keir refused to guarantee his Chancellor's future. Mrs Badenoch said: 'In January he said that she would be in post until the next election. Will she really?' Rather than addressing whether Ms Reeves would remain in post or not, Sir Keir gestured towards the Tory leader and said: 'She certainly won't. 'I have to say I am always cheered up when she asks me questions or responds to a statement because she always makes a complete mess of it and shows just how unserious and irrelevant they are.' It was a stark contrast to January, when Downing Street confirmed Ms Reeves would be in place for the duration of the Parliament in response to criticism over borrowing costs. Minute 12: Badenoch taunts Mrs Badenoch told the Commons: 'How awful for the Chancellor that he couldn't confirm that she would stay in place.' There was a stony silence among MPs on both sides of the House as the significance of Sir Keir's refusal to back Ms Reeves began to dawn on them. Minute 14: Reeves wipes away tear As Sir Keir gave his final answer of the session, Ms Reeves could be seen wiping a tear away from her cheek. She continued to nod along to the Prime Minister's remarks as he recapped the Government's record to date. Sir Keir offered some warm words towards Ms Reeves towards the end of the session, insisting she was responsible for a lot of his administration's successes. But it was notable that he still did not take the chance to guarantee her future, leaving it for Downing Street to later insist through a spokesman she was 'not going anywhere'. The Treasury subsequently said the reason for the Chancellor's tears was a personal matter and not something that it would be drawn on. Minute 29: Reeves wipes away tear Ms Reeves could later be seen sobbing between wiping her tears away, as Sir Keir concluded and Sir Lindsay Hoyle wrapped up the session. Minute 36: Speaker announces end of PMQs The Speaker announced the end of Prime Minister's Questions and called for MPs to allow time for frontbenchers to leave. Sir Keir appeared to head straight towards Sir Lindsay as soon as he stood up following the session. It would soon emerge why the Prime Minister was so keen to talk to the Speaker. The Telegraph understands that Sir Lindsay spoke to Ms Reeves before PMQs about her conduct at Treasury questions in the Commons on Tuesday, where he asked her three times to be more brief in her answers. On the third time, he interrupted her and she replied: 'Oh, alright then.' The Speaker is understood to have told her that it did not reflect well on either of them to be seen to disagree on the floor of the chamber, and pointed towards a tweet by the political sketch writer Quentin Letts, who reported the altercation at the time. Sir Lindsay raised the issue with Ms Reeves today, which is understood to be the point at which she began crying. A spokeswoman for Sir Lindsay declined to comment. Ms Reeves' team has been contacted for comment. At the same time as Sir Keir left the Commons, Ms Reeves departed hand-in-hand with her sister Ellie Reeves, her sister and the chairman of the Labour Party.
Yahoo
02-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
'Wonderful and messy' run raises £21,000 for children's hospice
Hundreds of runners covered in colourful paint raised more than £21,000 for Derian House Children's Hospice. The first-ever Derian House Colour Run took place on Saturday, June 28, at the hospice in Astley Village, Chorley. Runners of all ages and abilities donned bright props and face paint to participate in the family fun run. Runners of all ages and abilities donned bright props and face paint (Image: Steve Salmon photography) The event began with a lively Zumba session led by instructor Sylvia Skinner and the hospice's mascot, Danni. Participants, all of whom received a free medal from John Harrison Sports Ltd, were painted with vibrant colours as they ran. Chorley MP Sir Lindsay Hoyle also made an appearance to show his support for the charity. Junior, 16, who visits the hospice, took part in the Colour Run with his younger sister Bella, 11, mum Belinda, and nan Tina. Mum Belinda, Junior, nan Tina, and sister Bella (Image: Steve Salmon photography) Junior said: "It was a wonderful and fantastic experience. "I had a super day and loved how messy I could get — my wheelchair still has some paint on it!" Kerry Salmon, community fundraiser at Derian House, said: "I want to say a massive thank you to all the runners, volunteers, businesses, sponsors and staff who helped make Derian's first ever Colour Run a success. READ MORE: Lancashire Premium Bonds winners revealed for July 2025 - did you win big? TV doctor highlights the importance of incoporating exercise in your daily life The Padiham barber offering a 'full MOT' finalist in competition She added: "It was such a vibrant and memorable day, and we can't wait to do it all over again next year." "Care is free to families at Derian House, but it will cost £6million to run the hospice this year. "We rely on our kind-hearted supporters to raise 70p in every £1 as we only receive a small amount of funding from the government."
