‘Mob rule' if Speaker allowed amendment over security fears, warns MP

 ‘Mob rule' if Speaker allowed amendment over security fears, warns MP
Georgia Pearce

By Georgia Pearce


Published: 22/02/2024

- 08:30

Conservative MP Philip Davies has backed the Speaker and said he should remain in his post despite the scenes of chaos in the House of Commons.

But the MP for Shipley also said he thought Sir Lindsay Hoyle had ‘made an unjustifiable decision’ in trying to change the rules.

Speaking on GB News, Philip Davies said: “I don't think that Lindsay Hoyle should go as Speaker. I think he made a bad decision. I think he made an unjustifiable decision in that he decided to change the rules because he didn't think the rules were the right rules.

“It’s like a judge saying, I don't agree with this particular law so I'm not going to apply it. The Speaker's there to apply the rules as they are, whether he likes them or not. And today, he decided to change them.

“I've known the speaker for many, many years, I find him a decent, honourable person. He made a mistake here. If everybody who made a mistake in Parliament lost their job as a result of it, I'd probably gone 19 years ago, so I'm not going to be I'm not going to rush to pass judgment on people.

“I think he's made a mistake. He came to the house and apologised, which is very, very big of him to have done that. Not many people would have done that.

“I think Labour did try and put intolerable pressure on the Speaker one way or another. There was a rumour that a Labour shadow minister had said they told Lindsay Hoyle that if he didn't agree to their motion, they'd remove him as Speaker after the election.

“Now that's been denied by both the Labour Party and by the Speaker's office, so we've got to take that at face value.

“But I have heard from other Labour MPs in the division lobby that they were basically saying to the Speaker that if he didn't allow the motion that Labour MPs will be subject to abuse, intimidation, their security will be at risk.

“The Speaker has been very big on MP’s security and very concerned about it so how has that played a part in the decision? I genuinely don't know.

“I hope not because that's mob rule. If we end up having decisions made in Parliament or we have MPs voting in Parliament, not for what they believe in, but in order to appease the mob, then we haven't got a democracy left and that would be intolerable.

But whatever the reason was, he made a mistake. I think he now accepts he made a mistake and I think on that basis, we should move on.”

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