Nearly a quarter of a century has passed since a speaker of the Commons stood down from its high chair with dignity and to applause. Being appointed to the vital role of chief referee is supposed to be the greatest honour and heaviest responsibility that MPs can confer on one of their colleagues. Yet the last person to leave in good standing was Betty Boothroyd, the former Tiller Girl from Yorkshire, who was the first, and so far only, madam speaker to occupy the seat. Her successor, Michael Martin, was engulfed by the parliamentary expenses scandal in 2009 and forced out when MPs were desperately searching for a sacrificial offering to appease the wrath of voters disgusted by parliamentarians fleecing the taxpayer. His successor, John Bercow, was disdained by many of his colleagues as a showboater and loathed by Brexity Conservatives who thought him outrageously biased towards the Remainer cause. Pursued out of the chair by allegations of bullying, Mr Bercow was denied the peerage that is usually automatically conferred on former speakers.
The stars seemed to look more kindly on Sir Lindsay Hoyle, a Labour man, when he was “dragged” to the chair by his sponsors in the traditional fashion four years ago. He had done admired service as deputy speaker, he promised to be an impartial adjudicator of the parliamentary rules and a champion of MPs’ rights, and he was well liked among all parties. Now the position of speaker Hoyle, a warm, fair, decent and diligent character whose overall performance in the chair has been commendable, is suddenly under threat because of his central role in the high dramas and low politics that have gripped parliament over Gaza.
