Overview
Having served as Deputy Speaker to John Bercow from 2010-2019 and as the MP for Chorley in Lancashire since 1997, Sir Lindsay Hoyle now sits as the 158th Speaker of the House of Commons.
Hoyle was first elected to Parliament as a Labour MP and is one of just a few politicians yet to reveal how he voted in the 2016 Brexit referendum.
Having been elected Speaker comfortably in 2019, Hoyle is a seemingly much-loved figure on both sides of the Commons.
Sir Lindsay is the 158th Speaker of the House of Commons.
Speaker of the House of Commons
Sir Lindsay received 60.2% of the vote in the 2019 Speaker election, beating out Labour MP Chris Bryant in the final round.
Having become Speaker, Hoyle seemed to make it clear that he was diverging from the path of his predecessor: John Bercow.
‘I’ve come into this job as a referee’, Hoyle said upon his election, adding, ‘It shouldn’t be about me, it’s about the Chamber’.
Clearly a fan of sporting metaphors, Hoyle said on another occasion that, ‘People don’t want to a referee, they want to remember the game – and it’s all about making sure that game flows’.
Hoyle has said that the greatest achievement of his Speakership so far has been maintaining Parliament’s operations during a pandemic. ‘We have had 700 years of how we did business in this house‘, he told the Guardian in 2020,’and we turned it over in 24 hours’.
During an interview with Times Radio in September 2021, Sir Lindsay suggested that he would like his role to become more political saying, “The truth is I’d love to stop MPs lying”.
As Speaker, Sir Lindsay led parliament’s response following the murder of Conservative MP, Sir David Amess, whilst holding a constituency surgey in Southend in October 2021.
In December 2021, appeared to give his blessing to MPs who are new parents bring their into the chamber during debates, providing the infant did not disurb the . His intervention followed a decision by deputy, , involving the Stella Creasy.
Lindsay Hoyle Brexit
Hoyle is one of only 3 Labour MPs who have never revealed how they voted in the Brexit referendum. However, his Lancashire constituency backed Brexit by 57% to 43% of the vote.
Had he remained a Labour MP, Hoyle‘s seat might well have been in jeopardy in the 2019 General Election. However as it turned out, Hoyle was elected Commons speaker shortly before the Election, and as per the normal convention, his seat was then not contested by the other major parties.
Early Career
Before becoming an MP, Mr Hoyle ran a textile and screen-printing firm.
In the 1980 local elections, Hoyle became a Councillor for the Adlington ward on Chorley Borough Council. At only 22, Hoyle was the youngest ever Councillor to serve in Chorley. Hoyle remained in this position for 18 years, eventually becoming Mayor of Chorley from 1997 to 1998.
At the 1997 General Election, Hoyle stood as the Labour Party candidate for Chorley and unseated the Conservative incumbent. Hoyle was the first Labour MP to represent Chorley for 18 years.
Following his election, Hoyle served on the Trade and Industry Committee (later the Business Committee) from 1998-2010. In 2005, he became a member of the European Scrutiny Committee which he served on until 2010.
In 2010, Hoyle was elected as Deputy Speaker of the Commons, and then Speaker in 2019.
Hoyle was knighted for Parliamentary and political services in 2018.
How old is Lindsay Hoyle?
Sir Lindsay Harvey Hoyle was born on the 10th of June 1957.
Family
Speaker Hoyle‘s father, Doug Hoyle, was himself a former Labour MP for Warrington and a Government Whip (1997-1999). Doug Hoyle is now a member of the House of Lords.
Hoyle has been married twice and has two daughters. Hoyle lost a daughter, Natalie Lewis Hoyle, suddenly in 2018, a subsequent inquest finding that she had been involved in a ‘toxic relationship’. On the eve of his election in 2019, Hoyle said of his daughter’s death: ‘It’s still difficult. I still can’t come to terms with it’.
4 Things you may not know
His parrot has perfected the phrase ‘Order-Order’
Hoyle owns a parrot called Boris, named after the ‘loquacious Prime Minister‘. Boris (the parrot-not the politician) has apparently mastered his owner’s famous ‘Order, Order!’ cry. Hoyle is very proud of Boris.
He is a pet lover
Hoyle‘s love of pets hardly stops at ‘Boris’. Hoyle owns a diverse menagerie, who all share names with famous politicians.
Hoyle owns a Patterdale terrier called Betty (after former speaker Betty Boothroyd); a ‘clunking paw[ed]’ Rottweiler named Gordon (after Gordon Brown); a cat named Dennis (after Dennis Skinner); and a Tortoise named Maggie who is, we are informed, not for turning.
He would not want to live down South
After moving into the lush Speaker‘s residence inside the House of Parliament, Hoyle commented, ‘My weekends are not spent in some palace. They are spent in Chorley – and that matters to me’.
A northerner at heart, the Chorley MP continued: ‘There is no better experience to get your feet back on the ground than walking round Chorley market talking to real people about real things’.
He loves sport
Hoyle is a keen sports fan. As former Chairman of Chorley Rugby League Club, Hoyle loves rugby as this post on Twitter confirmed.
Hoyle is also a passionate fan of Bolton Wanderers football club.
Social Media
Twitter – @LindsayHoyle_MP
