Keir Starmer urged to come clean what he said to Speaker Lindsay Hoyle as pressure mounts

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has been urged to reveal precisely what he said to Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Speaker of the House of Commons, prior to last night’s chaotic scenes at Westminster which saw a walkout by SNP and Tory MPs.

Sir Vernon Bogdanor, Professor of Government at King’s College, London was speaking after a tumultuous day of wrangling over Sir Lindsay’s handling of a debate on the situation in Gaza.

The shambolic scenes stemmed from Sir Lindsay’s decision to defy parliamentary convention by selecting Labour’s bid to amend an SNP motion on the Israel-Hamas war. Labour’s amendment, calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, was subsequently approved unanimously.

As a result, both Tories and the SNP accused him of helping Sir Keir Starmer avoid another damaging revolt over the Middle East issue, with Penny Mordaunt, leader of the House of Commons Leader, accusing him of “hijacking” the debate and “undermining the confidence” of the House in its long-standing rules.

Sir Vernon told Express.co.uk: “Obviously the issue of Gaza is highly emotive and arouses strong opinions on both sides of the debate. In such situations, the best solution is to stick to precedent.

“Standing Orders provide that on an SNP day, the SNP motion should be debated together with the government amendment and then there should be a vote which presumably the government would win.

“It is rare for there to be an opposition amendment to an opposition motion.”

Before the vote, Sir Keir is understood to have met with Sir Lindsay, Sir Vernon pointed out.

He continued: “Whether that was wise or not is a matter of dispute.

“But Keir Starmer is under a duty to tell us precisely what was said to the Speaker.”

It was possible Sir Lindsay, who was himself a Tory MP before succeeding John Bercow in the important, non-party political role in 2019, may have therefore felt “under particular pressure” given a Labour government before the end of the year was “a distinct possibility”, Sir Vernon suggested.

He added: “Such an attempt to bend the procedural rules does not reflect well on Starmer, who as a public lawyer, should know better.

“The Speaker gave an advantage to Labour, damaged the SNP and as it turned out the Conservatives as well.”

Insiders have suggested Sir Keir told Sir Lindsay he was concerned his MPs were at risk of abuse from the public should they find themselves unable to vote on a Labour amendment.

Sir Vernon said: “That is a matter for the police, not the Speaker.

“In parting from precedent, the outcome has been that there was no vote on the SNP motion nor on the government amendment. This means that electors do not know how their MPs voted.

“It may be that the procedural rules take insufficient account of the fact of a multi-party parliament implying three votes one on the motion and two on amendments, rather than a two-party one.

“In that case, the rules should be changed.”

Nevertheless, for as long as they were in place, they should be observed, insisted Sir Vernon, who is also author of The New British Constitution.

He explained: “They are there for a reason.

“The Speaker, it is generally agreed, has two duties – to be fair to all parties and to take particular care that small parties are given due consideration.”

It had been anticipated that Sir Lindsay would pick just the Government’s amendment seeking an “immediate humanitarian pause” to the Israel-Hamas conflict, potentially paving the way for a more permanent stop in fighting.

However, he decided that the Commons would first vote on Labour’s calls for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” before moving on to further votes on the SNP’s original motion, and then the Government’s proposals if either of the first two were to fail to garner enough support.

Last night’s extraordinary scenes saw SNP MPs and some Conservatives walk out of the debate in protest.

After calls for him to return to the chamber to explain his move, Sir Lindsay apologised to MPs and promised to hold talks with senior party figures.

Amid shouts of “resign”, he said: “I thought I was doing the right thing and the best thing, and I regret it, and I apologise for how it’s ended up.”

He stressed that he took the decision to allow all sides to “express their views” and that he was “very, very concerned about the security” of MPs who have received personal threats over their stance on the Gaza conflict.

SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn responded by saying his party had been treated with “complete and utter contempt”.

So far, 33 MPs have already signed a parliamentary motion tabled by Tory MP William Wragg declaring no confidence in the Speaker.

Express.co.uk has contacted Sir Keir via the Labour Party for further comment on Sir Vernon’s remarks.