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Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker of the House of Commons, faced a growing outcry to resign on Thursday in the aftermath of chaotic scenes in the chamber during a fractious debate over calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
The president broke parliamentary convention on Wednesday to allow a Labor amendment to a Scottish National Party motion calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.
More than 50 members of the Conservative and Scottish National parties have signed an early motion calling on Hoyle – a former Labor MP – to step down as Speaker, a strictly neutral position that presides over debates in the House of Commons.
The Speaker apologized on Wednesday evening and said he had allowed the Labor amendment to the SNP motion, as well as a Government amendment, because he was concerned about threats to MPs’ safety.
Many Labor MPs who have not called for a ceasefire in Gaza have been subject to threats and intimidation from protesters.
But Hoyle’s decision, made after a meeting with Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer, went against the advice of his House of Commons clerk, who warned it was a “deviation from long-established convention”.
The move led to many SNP and Tory MPs leaving the chamber.
A cabinet member suggested on Thursday that it may be too late for Hoyle to save his position. They noted that former president Michael Martin resigned in 2009 on the same day that 23 MPs signed a motion of no confidence in him, fewer than those who signed the motion against Hoyle.
While the SNP called for a simple ceasefire in Gaza, the Labor amendment called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire with some caveats, including Hamas handing over Israeli hostages. Ultimately the Labor amendment was passed by the House of Commons without a vote.
Senior Conservative figures, including Sir Geoffrey Cox, a former government minister, criticized Hoyle’s explanation for his actions on Thursday.
Cox said Hoyle abandoned the long-running parliamentary convention to “assist his former party leader” or to protect some Labor MPs from intimidation if they voted against the SNP motion.
“Both reasons are unacceptable. In the first case, it is an abuse of his office,” he told X. “If in the second, it is an abject surrender to intolerance and tyranny; tamely presents the House of Commons as capable of being influenced by external threats.”
Jesse Norman, another former Tory minister, said there was widespread “bewilderment” over the seemingly arcane procedural points. “But they and a neutral spokesperson are the essence of our democracy,” he said.
In an emotional mea culpa on Wednesday evening, Hoyle admitted he was responsible for breaking down the debate and invited party leaders to meetings on Thursday.
Penny Mordaunt, leader of the Commons, told the House on Thursday that Hoyle was a “decent man” and accused the Labor Party of damaging his “reputation and honour”.
“I would never have done to him what the Labor Party did to him,” he told the House of Commons. He added that: “This Chamber will never bow to extremists, threats or intimidation, it hasn’t done it, it won’t do it, it shouldn’t”.
Mordaunt indicated that there may be another opportunity for further debate on Gaza in the House of Commons during government business.
Although Conservative ministers have not explicitly called for the president’s resignation, Health Minister Maria Caulfield refused to give him her support on Thursday morning.
He told Sky News that Hoyle’s position had become “difficult” after the House became a “circus” on Wednesday night. “It wasn’t the House of Commons that showed the best side of him. . . it dented my trust in Lindsay,” he told her.
Stephen Flynn, the SNP’s Westminster leader, also cast doubt on Hoyle’s future, saying it would “take a lot of convincing that your position is not now intolerable”.
The motion against Hoyle was made by William Wragg, chairman of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee.
Lucy Powell, Labour’s shadow leader of the House, said she believed Hoyle had done his “all” to do what was best for the House of Commons.
Criticism of MPs is legitimate, but the increasing intimidation is anti-democratic and represents an “unacceptable development”, he said, suggesting that the police should take “a much tougher approach to so-called protests taken out of the homes” of MPs.