London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Jan 14, 2026

Sir Lindsay Hoyle elected Speaker of House of Commons

Sir Lindsay Hoyle elected Speaker of House of Commons

Labour MP and deputy Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle has been elected by MPs as the new Commons Speaker, after John Bercow stepped down.

After winning the final round of voting against Chris Bryant, Sir Lindsay was dragged to the chair by MPs, where he pledged to be a "neutral" Speaker.

He also paid tribute to his daughter, Natalie, who died in 2017, saying she would "always be missed".

The Speaker keeps order in Commons debates and calls MPs to speak.

Speakers must be politically impartial, which means Sir Lindsay will be required to resign from the Labour Party in order to carry out his role.

Mr Bercow stood down last week after an eventful and frequently controversial decade in the Speaker's chair. His resignation as MP for Buckingham was officially confirmed on Monday.

Seven candidates were originally in the running to succeed Mr Bercow, including former minister and deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman and former Labour minister Meg Hillier.

In the fourth and final round of voting, Sir Lindsay - who has been Mr Bercow's senior deputy for years - received 325 votes to Labour MP Chris Bryant's 213.

Sir Lindsay, who is the MP for his home constituency of Chorley, in Lancashire, told MPs that "this House will change, but it will change for the better" and he said he would be a "transparent" Speaker.

He also thanked his staff and family and paid tribute to his daughter, saying: "There is one person who is not here; my daughter Natalie. I wish she could have been here. She was everything to all of us."

Sir Lindsay's 28-year-old daughter Natalie Lewis-Hoyle was found dead at her home in Essex in December 2017.

Paying tribute to the new Speaker, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was sure Sir Lindsay would "stick up" for backbenchers and show his "signature kindness and reasonableness" in the chair.

"Mr Speaker, in congratulating you on your election I observe that you have prevailed over an extremely strong field and that every other candidate earlier on spoke forcibly and well," Mr Johnson said.

"And Mr Speaker, over the years I have observed that you have many good qualities, and I'm sure you will stick up for backbenchers in the way that you have proposed, and I'm sure that you will adhere to a strict Newtonian concept of time in PMQs."

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn told Sir Lindsay he would need eyes in the back of his head in his new role.

He said Sir Lindsay had taken the welfare of Commons staff and MPs "very, very seriously" and would continue to do so.

Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson said Sir Lindsay had "always taken great care" of MPs, and welcomed his pledge to take the welfare of Commons staff seriously.

She also said she hoped he would continue the modernisation of Parliament.

DUP Westminster leader Nigel Dodds also congratulated Sir Lindsay, saying the Commons was "looking for a breath of fresh air".


What is the Speaker's role?

The role of the Speaker has come under increasing scrutiny over the past few years - and Mr Bercow has been both praised for boosting the influence of backbench MPs and criticised for stretching parliamentary rules.

Some have also accused him of not being impartial when it comes to Brexit.

The Speaker is responsible for choosing which amendments can be voted on - a power that has proved particularly significant in the Brexit process.

He is also in charge of upholding parliamentary rules, and Mr Bercow twice angered some MPs by refusing to allow the government to hold another vote on an already rejected Brexit deal.

The Speaker can also permit MPs to ask urgent questions whereby government ministers are summoned to the House of Commons over a time-sensitive or important matter.

During his years in the role, Mr Bercow dramatically increased the number of urgent questions asked.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK Intensifies Arctic Security Engagement as Trump’s Greenland Rhetoric Fuels Allied Concern
Meghan Markle Could Return to the UK for the First Time in Nearly Four Years If Security Is Secured
Meghan Markle Likely to Return to UK Only if Harry Secures Official Security Cover
UAE Restricts Funding for Emiratis to Study in UK Amid Fears Over Muslim Brotherhood Influence
EU Seeks ‘Farage Clause’ in Brexit Reset Talks to Safeguard Long-Term Agreement Stability
Starmer’s Push to Rally Support for Action Against Elon Musk’s X Faces Setback as Canada Shuns Ban
UK Free School Meals Expansion Faces Political and Budgetary Delays
EU Seeks ‘Farage Clause’ in Brexit Reset Talks With Britain
Germany Hit by Major Airport Strikes Disrupting European Travel
Prince Harry Seeks King Charles’ Support to Open Invictus Games on UK Return
Washington Holds Back as Britain and France Signal Willingness to Deploy Troops in Postwar Ukraine
Elon Musk Accuses UK Government of Suppressing Free Speech as X Faces Potential Ban Over AI-Generated Content
Russia Deploys Hypersonic Missile in Strike on Ukraine
OpenAI and SoftBank Commit One Billion Dollars to Energy and Data Centre Supplier
UK Prime Minister Starmer Reaffirms Support for Danish Sovereignty Over Greenland Amid U.S. Pressure
UK Support Bolsters U.S. Seizure of Russian-Flagged Tanker Marinera in Atlantic Strike on Sanctions Evasion
The Claim That Maduro’s Capture and Trial Violate International Law Is Either Legally Illiterate—or Deliberately Deceptive
UK Data Watchdog Probes Elon Musk’s X Over AI-Generated Grok Images Amid Surge in Non-Consensual Outputs
Prince Harry to Return to UK for Court Hearing Without Plans to Meet King Charles III
UK Confirms Support for US Seizure of Russian-Flagged Oil Tanker in North Atlantic
Béla Tarr, Visionary Hungarian Filmmaker, Dies at Seventy After Long Illness
UK and France Pledge Military Hubs Across Ukraine in Post-Ceasefire Security Plan
Prince Harry Poised to Regain UK Security Cover, Clearing Way for Family Visits
UK Junk Food Advertising Ban Faces Major Loophole Allowing Brand-Only Promotions
Maduro’s Arrest Without The Hague Tests International Law—and Trump’s Willingness to Break It
German Intelligence Secretly Intercepted Obama’s Air Force One Communications
The U.S. State Department’s account in Persian: “President Trump is a man of action. If you didn’t know it until now, now you do—do not play games with President Trump.”
Fake Mainstream Media Double Standard: Elon Musk Versus Mamdani
HSBC Leads 2026 Mortgage Rate Cuts as UK Lending Costs Ease
US Joint Chiefs Chairman Outlines How Operation Absolute Resolve Was Carried Out in Venezuela
Starmer Welcomes End of Maduro Era While Stressing International Law and UK Non-Involvement
Korean Beauty Turns Viral Skincare Into a Global Export Engine
UK Confirms Non-Involvement in U.S. Military Action Against Venezuela
UK Terror Watchdog Calls for Australian-Style Social Media Ban to Protect Teenagers
Iranian Protests Intensify as Another Revolutionary Guard Member Is Killed and Khamenei Blames the West
Delta Force Identified as Unit Behind U.S. Operation That Captured Venezuela’s President
Europe’s Luxury Sanctions Punish Russian Consumers While a Sanctions-Circumvention Industry Thrives
Berkshire’s Buffett-to-Abel Transition Tests Whether a One-Man Trust Model Can Survive as a System
Fraud in European Central Bank: Lagarde’s Hidden Pay Premium Exposes a Transparency Crisis at the European Central Bank
Trump Announces U.S. Large-Scale Strike on Venezuela, Declares President Maduro and Wife Captured
Tesla Loses EV Crown to China’s BYD After Annual Deliveries Decline in 2025
UK Manufacturing Growth Reaches 15-Month Peak as Output and Orders Improve in December
Beijing Threatened to Scrap UK–China Trade Talks After British Minister’s Taiwan Visit
Newly Released Files Reveal Tony Blair Pressured Officials Over Iraq Death Case Involving UK Soldiers
Top Stocks and Themes to Watch in 2026 as Markets Enter New Year with Fresh Momentum
No UK Curfew Ordered as Deepfake TikTok Falsely Attributes Decree to Prime Minister Starmer
Europe’s Largest Defence Groups Set to Return Nearly Five Billion Dollars to Shareholders in Twenty Twenty-Five
Abu Dhabi ‘Capital of Capital’: How Abu Dhabi Rose as a Sovereign Wealth Power
Diamonds Are Powering a New Quantum Revolution
Trump Threatens Strikes Against Iran if Nuclear Programme Is Restarted
×