Politics

Speaker Lindsay Hoyle: Whatever happens, democracy carries on



Today, Lindsay Hoyle will preside over a historic moment, as 120 MPs take part in the first remote sitting of Parliament in its 700 years.

The Speaker of the House of Commons is expecting technical hitches, so when we couldn’t make FaceTime work yesterday it was good practice.

Eventually he pops up on my screen. He says that he’s told MPs to “think long and hard about what they want people to see in their backgrounds and what they wear”, and is leading by example, in a white shirt and red-and-yellow striped tie with nothing revealing in the background, just his dark wood-panelled office at Westminster and portraits of former speakers hanging on the walls keeping an eye on him.


Hoyle, 62, is relieved to be back at work. “We can’t just leave it to the media to hold the Government to account and therefore it is very important that Parliament comes back,” he says in his Chorley accent.

“Parliament sat through the Second World War — the Black Death was the only time it didn’t sit. We want the same spirit we had in the war, that Parliament mattered and its continuation was sending the right message across the country.

“This may be a different way of doing it but we are still ensuring that Parliament is doing its job of scrutinising government – there are difficult questions to be asked.”

The House of Commons fitted with its new television screens during a rehearal for its virtual sitting

To list just some of what’s expected to come up at PMQs today, there’s the ongoing shortage of personal protective equipment, the death toll in care homes, and questions over whether mask-wearing will play a part in ending lockdown.

On Sunday night he drove to London from Chorley in Lancashire — where he grew up and which he has represented as a Labour MP since 1997 — in a packed car with his wife Catherine, cat Dennis (named after Thatcher) and parrot Boris (named after the Prime Minister and who wakes him up with squawks of “order, order”).

He’s done two technical rehearsals for the hybrid Parliament with Jacob Rees-Mogg and Deputy Speaker Eleanor Laing and is quietly confident.

“The Leader of the House, Jacob Rees-Mogg, played the Secretary of State,” he says with a genial laugh. “That was funny in itself. He was loving it. I told him, ‘I can see your future being marked out before us.’”

The MPs taking part have been chosen by ballot and the rules are strict: no pink shorts are allowed (with apologies to Michael Fabricant, who had plans to sport some), although the requirement to wear a tie has been relaxed.

“We have to keep the same standards in place,” says Hoyle, sounding somewhat like a schoolteacher. “Of course the dog may run in, children may come through. I think we might have a problem or two with the mute button.”

Fifty MPs will be allowed to come to the Chamber, sitting two metres apart, and the press gallery will be open, but Hoyle is discouraging people from coming in unless they really need to, to protect parliamentary staff, to whom he is very grateful. The Lords also plans to sit remotely.

Members of Parliament sitting in the Chamber in the House of Commons

Hoyle sounds relieved at the prospect of no bobbing — when MPs stand up and sit down to attract the Speaker’s attention.

During Prime Minister’s Questions, which will be taken by Secretary of State Dominic Raab and will be Keir Starmer’s first as Labour leader, the MPs who are physically sitting in the Commons will have no preferential treatment.

“There will be no interventions, which in some circumstances makes life easier. There will be no random supplementary questions coming so I won’t have to make decisions about who asks them. The big part is it’s all very fair because the questions are drawn out of a ballot with no supplementary ones.”

Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle speaks in the House of Commons

He has said there may still be some farmyard noises though, as some MPs live on farms.

Could it set a precedent for more modernisation, so MPs can work more flexibly and vote while on maternity and paternity leave?

“This is the beginning. We will grow the digital system and get more people online and we have to make sure we get the security right on online voting. It is coming. Lots more can be done. In the longer term we ought to look again at who can vote and how.” He breaks off. “It’s all keeping me busy.”

At first he doubted it would be possible. Is it more difficult than usual — is he the hardest-working Speaker ever? “Yes,” he says smiling. “I know things will go wrong but we are trying to work it out in the best possible way.”

He hopes to continue the “friendly” tone he tried to foster when he took over from the bombastic John Bercow last year. “I was trying to believe I’d brought a bit more civilisation back to the House.”

When Boris Johnson phoned Hoyle to say he had Covid-19, “it was a big shock, we’d just been having a chat. Politicians from all sides united to send on their best. Whatever happens, government always keeps going.”

He doesn’t think Parliament should have closed earlier than it did, three days after lockdown on 26 March. “I totally agree with people who were concerned for their safety going in, but we were taking the experts’ advice and it was important to get plans ready for the rest of the country’s lockdown. There’s no use having Public Health England if you’re going to ignore them.”

One question he’d like answered is why Chorley Hospital, where he was born, has closed its A&E. It links to a wider point about NHS management. “I’ve never come across anything this bad. It shouldn’t have closed. The problem we have is the NHS trusts who manage the hospitals are very independent and if they don’t want to answer they are not answerable to the Secretary of State, so it’s much harder for MPs.

“I’ve been pushing the Secretary of State hard on this and he is pursuing the NHS trust. The poor Secretary of State is getting it in the neck at the moment but I’m sure he can take it.”

The sense of loss that so many will be experiencing right now is familiar to Hoyle. His younger daughter Natalie died in December 2017 aged 28.

An inquest said she had been in a “toxic” relationship and that she did not die in suspicious circumstances.

“Of course you think about it when you see the news,” he says. “It brings it home each day when you see the number of lives lost. No parent ever expects to lose their child. There’s a big hole in our lives that will never be replaced. She was such a bright light and I will never understand it no matter how much I think about it. There are pictures of her everywhere, on my phone, I speak to her mum, my ex-wife; my grandchildren lost their auntie.”

He is looking forward to seeing his grandson and granddaughter again. “I have Easter eggs waiting for them. It was a tough call not being there for my grandson’s eighth birthday. You don’t realise all the things you miss out on.” He pauses and smiles. “I feel sorry for them because their mum is a science teacher so it’s a very disciplined household — they asked if they’d get weekends off. Returning to school will be a relief.”

They’ve been keeping in touch on WhatsApp rather than Zoom: “My daughter sends so many photos, it’s as if she has nothing else to do.”

The first thing Hoyle did when he heard lockdown was imminent was order food for his menagerie of animals. In addition to the parrot and cat he has Maggie the tortoise and Gordon the dog. “I’m low in the pecking order in our house,” he says. “As long as they are fed I don’t matter.”

He’s not had a spare minute during lockdown. “I’ve sorted out cupboards I’ve been meaning to deal with for years. I found my wedding photographs and made the mistake of showing them to colleagues — they asked who the Mexican was, as I had a moustache.” He can take it — he had to be tough growing up with a girly name (he’s named after cricketer Lindsay Hassett).

After preparation for the hybrid Parliament  he is feeling “drained”. Is it time for a drink? “If only.”

After a debrief Hoyle will get in his car with his wife, parrot and cat and drive back to Chorley where the dog and tortoise will be waiting. Exciting as hybrid parliaments are, he hopes they are temporary. “I want to get back to routines,” he says. “I want people to be able to make points of order. I’m looking forward to the day we are all back in the Chamber because then I will know the country is in the right place as well.”



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