Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Capturing the Mood of the Moment, Sir Lindsay Hoyle is duly elected as new Commons Speaker, the former Labour MP was the outstanding candidate in the Speaker’s election, and luckily MPs also thought so as well, time to draw a line under the Bercow years and move on for the sake of parliament
















Dear All

This new parliament will see either a re-new government or a change of government or a hung parliament. One thing for certain, is that John Bercow, the Speaker will be gone from the Chair after spending a decade in it. You could say his tenure was clouded by a running feud with certain members of the Conservative Party who wanted him removed. The feud I would argue would ‘colour’ his judgment in relation to his former party. In fact, the Conservatives in this election planned to stand someone against him in his constituency, something not traditionally done.

In the latter end of his career, post Cameron, things didn’t improve, and although he will be remained as Speaker, he might have a bit of a wait for a peerage which traditionally the Speaker would get for services rendered. The wait will I suspect be long due to his actions re Brexit, the Speaker must be neutral, without that de facto position, the arrangements in the House of Commons don’t work. Although a departing Speaker usually will get praise, John Bercow also had it re-enforced how much he was disliked.


Yes, it seems that there is an open wound between him and the Conservative Party which I doubt will be forgotten anytime soon, if at all. In most of his exchanges in the Commons, in the round, John Bercow did prove able in the position. But with the election of a new Speaker, a chapter must be closed in relation to the Speaker being ‘Partisan’ and appear biased towards one side of the House. Of the contenders for the position, the person to me who I would choose has been selected as the new Speaker.

Sir Lindsay Hoyle.

He in my mind was the obvious choice in the field; the newly elected Speaker of the House of Commons had been the deputy for nine years, he was the most suitable candidate and I am glad others saw fit to vote for him. He isn’t a man to take liberties with as his no-nonsense manner has led to clashes with some MPs. No doubt the SNP would have wish for someone else as he had to tell them off for their antics, such as, singing EU anthem Ode to Joy two years ago. His most famous dust up was with former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond during a Brexit debate in February 2017.

Alex Salmond accused the Deputy Speaker of cutting off SNP MP Joanna Cherry while she was speaking and the row escalated as Mr Hoyle shouted that Mr Salmond “should know better” and ordered him to “sit down”.


When Salmond raised a point of order saying:

"It is quite clear that the honourable member had not resumed her seat, Sir. Being in the chair accords you many privileges but you cannot reinterpret the wishes of an honourable member who is on her feet."
Mr Hoyle responded:

"As the chair I have the right to make decisions on this House. What I would say is quite rightly when I wanted to bring her in [Joanna Cherry MP], which I did ... I certainly don't expect advantages to be taken of the chair on the agreements that I make."

Alex Salmond lost that fight, not helped by SNP MP Joanna Cherry self of entitlement which blew up in her face as she was made to sit down, it seems her declaration of taking as long as she liked to speak; didn’t find favour. Alex Salmond was shot down in flames and his copilot shot down in flames alongside him.


You can tell by Alex Salmond’s anger, he doesn’t like rejection.

One can only hope that in Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the pledge he made to be a neutral Speaker is honoured during his tenure both in practice and in spirit. As new Speaker, he stated an aim to "tame the bear pit" of a "toxic Parliament" by cracking down on aggressive language. Presumably given the SNP’s tendency to faux outrage, he will have a busy workload ahead.


Finally, on the issue of a peerage for John Bercow, I would say if the new government is Conservative, they should honour tradition and draw a line under the Bercow matter. I don’t think that drawing this out serves any purpose whatsoever, especially when there are other pressing issues to get on with.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

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