THE House of Commons has denied that the Speaker “personally intervened” to keep secret correspondence between him and Israeli politicians.
Lindsay Hoyle personally blocked emails between him Israeli Embassy, Labour Friends of Israel and members or officials of the Knesset from being made public according to response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request submitted by Declassified.
But the Speaker’s office has now insisted that characterisation is “completely incorrect”.
The original response to the FOI request confirmed that while the information sought did exist, it was being withheld “because the Speaker of the House of Commons [Hoyle], on advice from House officials, including Speaker's Counsel and Clerk of the Journals, has formed the reasonable opinion that disclosure of the information would be likely to prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs”.
A spokesperson for the House of Commons said: “It is completely incorrect to say that the Speaker ‘personally intervenes’ in FOI cases.
“The Speaker’s approval is required for the application of any exemption under Section 36. Such an exemption is agreed to following advice from senior officials, including legal advice.”
Hoyle went to Israel in November 2023, after Israel had been accused of committing war crimes including killing two Medecins Sans Frontieres workers, on a “solidarity visit”. He visited a kibbutz targeted by Hamas in the October 7 attacks as well as the Tzrifin military base.
“You can still smell in the air death.”@CommonsSpeaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle MP, describes the horrific scene at kibbutz Kfar Aza. pic.twitter.com/l0Nv4UPPuH
— Tzipi Hotovely (@TzipiHotovely) November 29, 2023
Speaking in a video recorded at the kibbutz, he said: “As I look around, you can see what happened, you can feel what happened. This should never happen.”
Hoyle last year faced the prospect of losing his job after nearly 100 MPs signed a motion of no confidence against him for ignoring parliamentary procedure to let Labour – his former party – avoid a potentially embarrassing backbench rebellion on a vote calling for a ceasefire.
Labour’s Chris Bryant, then a shadow minister, admitted he had disrupted the debate on the SNP’s ceasefire motion to buy Keir Starmer time to convince the Speaker to allow Labour to table an amendment, which is unconventional.
Hoyle has also found himself in hot water over the expenses he has racked up during his time as speaker.
A Daily Mail investigation earlier this year found he had charged the taxpayer nearly £5500 for private planes during a tour of the Caribbean.
