A motion of no confidence in Commons speaker Lindsay Hoyle has now been signed by more than 50 MPs, after he broke with convention to allow a vote on Labour’s Gaza ceasefire amendment.
The speaker apologised to the House of Commons after the chamber descended into chaos, with MPs walking out in protest at his handling of the debate.
It centred on his decision to select Labour’s bid to amend the SNP motion calling for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza and Israel, which was later passed without vote.
Commons leader Penny Mordaunt claimed Sir Lindsay had “hijacked” the debate and “undermined the confidence” of the House. As a result, she withdrew the government’s amendment, which sparked a walk-out of Tory and SNP MPs from the chamber.
Fifty MPs from the Conservatives and SNP have now signed a motion of no confidence in him, including five out of six officers of the powerful backbench 1922 Committee.
The death toll in the war across the devastated Palestinian strip rose to 29,313 on Wednesday, according to the Gaza health ministry, while hundreds seized from Israel are still held hostage.
