More are reportedly saying that they will back a no-confidence vote if Sir Lindsay Hoyle doesn’t indicate that he’s stepping down. It would be quite something if his manoeuvre to get Starmer out of a tough spot ended up inflicting fresh dissension on the Conservatives.
But Starmer failed to establish any kind of personal ascendancy over Sunak at PMQs.
Hannah White, of the Institute for Government, refers in passing to “the UK’s infamous ‘unwritten’ constitution”. What is “infamous” about it?
Hoyle is within his rights to disapprove of the media reporting Commons gossip about Rayner, but not to summon journalists.
Guilty of bullying and banned for life from Parliament; a grim denouement to an abysmal term in the Chair.
The Speaker recognises that formal attire serves an important purposes, for legislator and official alike. If only his predecessors had done so.
Furthermore, I will not attend the Conservative Party Conference if vaccine passports are required.
Which is what comes of the virtue-signalling practice of setting targets in law, rather than having MPs vote on expenditure.
Parliamentary ‘debates’ often devolve into collections of short, unconnected speeches that are basically being read into Hansard. That must change.
The disruption to Parliament from Covid-19 has obscured and delayed the important work of undoing the damage wrought by his Speakership.
There were moments when the PM made everyone from the Speaker down laugh, and most of his listeners were grateful for light relief from the crisis.
Johnson contradicts his message of national togetherness, and antagonises MPs, by appearing to regard criticism as disloyal.
The permanent crisis of the May years is not what holding the Government to account normally looks like.
Ministers’ efforts to get schools and businesses to re-open won’t be helped if MPs are visibly unwilling to return to Westminster.
Points of parliamentary procedure may seem arcane to journalists and the public, but their fair enforcement is vital to the proper functioning of our democracy.