The “bizarre” turmoil which saw three Tory prime ministers in a matter of months made British democracy an international laughing stock, the Commons speaker has said.
Sir Lindsay Hoyle said the country is still “struggling to recover” from the damage done by the collapse of two governments in 2022.
The Commons speaker told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme that the “revolving door” of changing ministers made him feel like the only point of “continuity” in parliament.
Asked if the upheaval had made the UK a laughing stock, Sir Lindsay said: “It did,” before adding that it left people wondering “what was happening to our democracy”.
The Commons speaker added: “I think we’re still struggling to recover.”
Referring to Liz Truss’s arrival at No 10 in September, Sir Lindsay said: “A new prime minister comes in with what was meant to be new hope, a new vision, all fell apart … When it went wrong, it certainly went wrong.”
He added; “It was like a revolving door of ministers, you know. Some have accepted a job and then they resigned. I’ve never seen anything like it – it was bizarre. We never knew who was going to be at the dispatch box.”
“The only thing that was the continuity of parliament was myself. You know, we were running out of ministers,” the speaker said, adding: “Nobody has ever seen anything like it before.”
The Commons speaker refused to be drawn on Boris Johnson’s time as prime minister, but insisted that he would still face a vote on whether he misled parliament over Partygate at the end of the privileges committee investigation set to begin early next year.
Asked if there would be a vote, he said: “Absolutely. And I don’t want to predict that vote. And I certainly wouldn’t stand in the way of what the House has decided to do. It’s not what I decide. It’s what the House wants.”
Sir Lindsay admitted the Lords was “much too big”, but criticised Sir Keir Starmer’s plan to replace the scrap the unelected chamber. “Reform the House of Lords by all means, but not through a second elected chamber,” he said.
He also said Brexit had played a major role in “dividing families” as he repeated his plea for greater tolerance. Saying he wanted to “get people to respect democracy”, he called for less aggressive behaviour from MPs in parliament.
“Let’s treat each other, not just with tolerance but with respect,” the speaker said. “If you go in and bawl and shout at each other, don’t be shocked when the public might want to do the same to you.”
Sir Lindsay also told the PM programme that he believed that parliament was still a safe working environment for young men and women – despite a series of allegations of sexual assault and abuse made against MPs.
“I really do believe that and if not, we will hound out [MPs] and make sure that those people who are not playing are abiding by the rules,” he said.
The speaker stood by the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS), set up in 2018 to handle claims of bullying, harassment and sexual misconduct, despite criticism that the process is too slow.
“I would always say anything serious please go to the police – don’t even think of anything else would always be my advice,” he said. “And I always say to passholders of the House, my door’s open. If you’ve got issues … come and see me.”
Sir Lindsay also reflected on the popularity of his menagerie of animals, all of whom received Christmas presents, and revealed that his pet parrot Boris had not received much fan mail.
“Attlee [his cat] is wearing his Christmas scarf at the moment. Of course they got a present … We’ve got quite a lot of Christmas cards have been sent through and Attlee is very popular.
“Boris [his parrot] is a little bit jealous. The parrot’s getting very jealous. He doesn’t get any fan mail and he’s certainly feeling a bit out of it. But he’s going to get a special present just to cheer him up.”
