Since becoming the new Speaker of the Commons, the softly-spoken Lancastrian Lindsay Hoyle has sought to distance himself from the tenure of John Bercow. While the latter spent his days constructing long monologues and pontificating from the Speaker’s chair, Hoyle has instead focused on limiting his own contributions in the Chamber and attempting to be an impartial arbiter of Commons debates.
Despite this change in approach (and the fact that he ran for Speaker as the anti-Bercow candidate) Hoyle has generally avoided criticising his predecessor directly. Mr S wonders though if that now might be about to change.
This week, Hoyle was interviewed by chief executive of the rugby league team, the Warrington Wolves. The Speaker may be from Chorley, but he’s been a supporter of the club since childhood, and his father was a chairman of the team.
In a remarkably candid conversation, Hoyle discussed missing his own knighthood so he could chair PMQs, BBC presenter Nick Robinson’s desire to watch a rugby league game, and how his own job was similar to that of a super league referee.
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