Sir Lindsay Hoyle faces fresh pressure from the SNP to allow another Gaza ceasefire vote in a move critics say would bend parliamentary rules again.
The Commons Speaker is being urged to give MPs a “rerun” of last Wednesday’s chaotic debate on ending the Israel-Hamas conflict, by breaking with precedent as his predecessor, John Bercow, did in 2019.
However, Tory insiders said doing so would only weaken Hoyle’s position.
Ringleaders of the plot to oust the Speaker also said they were planning a war of attrition by creating “disorder” in the Commons and making his job harder.
In a fresh headache for Hoyle, the SNP want another vote in the coming week on a ceasefire in Gaza using an “emergency debate”.
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Hoyle has signalled he is open to allowing one but the terms of it are contentious. Motions proposed under the emergency debate process are normally neutral and “take note” of an issue.
Instead, the SNP want Hoyle to allow the motion to take a stance, and explicitly call on the UK government to actively pursue a ceasefire in Gaza.
There is a precedent for doing so, the SNP argued. In 2019 Bercow allowed an emergency debate to be held on a “substantive motion” that allowed opponents of a no-deal Brexit to take control of Commons business.
Last Wednesday Hoyle broke with parliamentary precedent by allowing Labour an extra vote on an amendment to an SNP motion.
The SNP motion called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and accused Israel of inflicting collective punishment on Palestinians for Hamas’s attack on October 7. Labour wanted a vote on its own amendment, which Hoyle allowed despite being advised by clerks that it was against precedent.
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It resulted in chaos breaking out in the chamber, with both the SNP and some senior Tories accusing Hoyle of breaking the Speaker’s requirement to be politically impartial by helping out his old party.
SNP sources said if Hoyle acquiesced to their demands, it would go some way to repairing relations with the third biggest party at Westminster.
“He’s shown how flexible he can be over the last week. It should not be beyond the wit of man to find a way, if he wants to make amends,” said one insider.
Wary of the criticism that has been levied at all political parties for last Wednesday’s vote, the SNP is keen to propose a binding motion that would compel the UK government to take tangible steps to push for a ceasefire.
Examples of what could be included in the motion are calling for the UK to back a ceasefire at the UN security council and ending the sale of arms to Israel, sources said.
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Stephen Flynn, the SNP’s Westminster leader, said: “The UK has a moral duty to act ― to save lives, prevent the collective punishment of the Palestinian people, secure the release of the hostages, and do everything we can to make a peaceful two-state solution a reality rather than an increasingly distant pipedream.”
Any moves by Hoyle to bend precedent again are likely to deepen anger among Tories and lead greater numbers to join more than 70 MPs who have called on him to step down.
Hoyle has attracted support from some senior Tories, such as Michael Gove, the levelling-up secretary, and the former defence secretary Ben Wallace.
On Sunday Oliver Dowden, the deputy prime minister, told Sky News that while he liked Hoyle personally, his actions on Wednesday were “a major misjudgment”. “I think he needs to account for himself,” Dowden added.
MPs plotting to remove Hoyle said if the government did not allow a confidence vote in the Speaker, they would escalate a campaign to make his job harder.
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Their plans include forcing a vote on allowing Hoyle a “leave of absence”, which is usually nodded through when the Speaker wants to spend time away from Westminster. Recent examples include for him to attend conferences for parliamentary speakers from around the world.
Other measures being considered include playing havoc with Commons business by calling regularly for the House to sit in private.
Some members of the procedure committee, which Hoyle asked to examine the processes of opposition day debates given Wednesday’s chaos, have also said they could resist the suggestion.
Some ministers are also privately lobbying No 10 to allow them to sign a motion calling for Hoyle to go. Downing Street has been keen not to publicly interfere, saying it is a matter of “House business”. However, parliamentary private secretaries ― who are unpaid aides to ministers and must maintain the front-bench position ― have signed the motion.
A report said that Hoyle had been told in no uncertain times that if he did not bend parliamentary procedure to give Labour a vote on its own motion then he would be toppled as Speaker after the next general election.
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Labour denied any undue pressure had been exerted on Hoyle when Sir Keir Starmer and his chief whip met the Speaker ahead of Wednesday’s vote.
Lisa Nandy, Labour’s shadow international development secretary, said: “Frankly, the idea that you would threaten the Speaker of the House of Commons is for the birds.”
Pressed on whether anyone in Labour had threatened Hoyle, she told the BBC: “I certainly didn’t, the chief whip didn’t, the leader of the Labour Party didn’t. No members of staff were involved, would ever be involved in doing something like that. And frankly if anyone ever had done something like that, from any political party, I think they would have had very short thrift [sic] from the Speaker.”
Senior Labour sources said the government was trying to create a “confected row” about Hoyle to distract from divisions among Conservative MPs about a ceasefire in Gaza.
