Speaker's failure to call Rosie Duffield looks suspicious
Is our Speaker being truly unpartisan? In February last year, Mr Speaker Hoyle did something unusual. He allowed the Labour (then) opposition to attach an amendment that softened a fiercely worded SNP motion criticising Israeli attacks on Gaza. It was the SNP's special opposition day debate and Speakers have never traditionally permitted other parties to interfere. But Sir Keir Starmer, worried that many of his party would support the hardline SNP wording, was desperate to give Labour MPs a chance to support something more conciliatory. To widespread surprise, Hoyle let Starmer get his way.
Some voiced a suspicion that hung in the air: that the Speaker, formerly a loyalist Labour MP, had helped his mate out of a tight corner. Others thought the accusation unworthy,
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