Lindsay Hoyle

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Lindsay Hoyle

Lindsay Hoyle.Portrait.jpg

Name Lindsay Harvey Hoyle (born 10 June, 1957)
Politics
Party None, formerly Labour
Constituency Chorley (1997 - present)
Positions • Speaker of the House of Commons (November 2019-present)
• Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons (June 2010-November 2019)
Likes Princess Diana, Gibraltar, defence procurement, rugby league, cricket, gardening
Dislikes Tuition fees
Friends ?
Enemies ?
Relationships
Partners Catherine Hoyle, née Swindley (1994 - present)
Miriam Lewis (late 1980s)
Lynda Anne Fowler ( - 1982, divorced)
Children Emma (1979), Natalie (1990)
Personal Attributes
Nationality English
Religion Church of England
Sexuality Straight
Height 5' 10"
Eye Colour Grey
Handedness Right
Accent Strong Lancashire

I do not think that Lenin’s brain quite links with daylight hours in the UK.~ Lindsay Hoyle, in a graphic demonstration of the crap he has to put up with on a daily basis

The current Speaker of the House of Commons. After years of capable, unbiased chairing and good humour in the face of extreme trolling as John's Bercow's second-in-command, Lindsay Hoyle triumphed over Chris Bryant to become the new Speaker when Bercow stepped down in 2019.

Life and Career[edit | edit source]

Early Life and Pre-political Career[edit | edit source]

Most people who meet me expect a woman – you can see the shock on their faces. But my father was cricket-mad.~ Lindsay Hoyle

Lindsay was born in Chorley, the only child of Doug and Pauline Hoyle. His father named him after the famous cricketer Lindsay Hassett, leaving poor Lindsay to face a lifetime of awkward explanations about his gender. But perhaps Doug had other priorities than not getting his kid beat up on the playground. A sales engineer and marketing executive by profession, he spent most of Lindsay's childhood trying to become an MP.

In 1964 he stood as a paper candidate in Tory Clitheroe, and in 1970 he contested the more winnable Nelson & Colne and lost. In February 1974 he stood there again and won, but he lost the seat again in 1979. In 1981 he finally secured himself a safe seat in Parliament and a place in the history books by beating Roy Jenkins in the Warrington by-election at the height of the SDP's popularity. Doug remained Warrington's MP until he retired in 1997, the year his son was elected.

Meanwhile, Lindsay attended Anderton County Primary School in Chorley and the independent Lord's College in Bolton, and then Horwich Further Education College. He is one of the dwindling class of MPs who never went to university. Instead he ran his own textile printing business until he was elected to Parliament.

Early Political Career[edit | edit source]

As the son of an MP Lindsay was raised in a political family, but he had no ambitions of his own until 1980, when his parents persuaded him to stand for council against the Conservative chairman of the Housing Committee as the paper Labour candidate in a Tory ward. To everyone's surprise, 22-year-old Lindsay won the election, becoming the youngest candidate ever elected to Chorley Borough Council.

Lindsay in the bygone days of youth.

Lindsay became Chairman of the council's Economic Development Committee and began the redevelopment of a Royal Ordnance site, with a major housebuilding project, a business centre, and the re-opening of the railway station. In 1994 he became Deputy Leader of the council and in 1997 he became Mayor of Chorley until he stood down from the council in 1998.

On the strength of his record as a councillor Lindsay was selected as the PPC for Chorley for the 1997 election. He campaigned on local issues and won the marginal seat with a thumping 10,000 vote majority, becoming Chorley's first Labour MP for eighteen years.

Parliamentary Career[edit | edit source]

Lindsay spent most of his first thirteen years in Parliament nursing his marginal constituency, an investment that has been well rewarded at the ballot box: Lindsay has outperformed Labour's national swing in every general election he's stood in. In both 2010 and 2015 he was predicted to lose his seat and held on; in 2015 he even doubled his 2010 majority.

Lindsay and an elderly constituent unveil a new war memorial in Chorley.

He's locally famous for doing an annual Christmas Day broadcast and tour from Chorley Hospital, possibly to show off the thirty new beds and renal unit that he won for them. He campaigned to keep the local Territorial Army barracks open and successfully lobbied the last Labour government to back the Eurofighter programme that supports many of the manufacturing jobs in the area. And he joined the Trade and Industry Select Committee to represent the interests of the manufacturing base in his constituency.

On behalf of his committee, Lindsay once picked a fight with the Dark Lord himself. The select committee was generally peeved with the Secretary of State for Business and Enterprise because he kept sending his Commons stunt double Pat McFadden to appear before them instead of coming in person. When he did finally deign to grace them with his presence, Lindsay took advantage of the opportunity to give him a piece of his mind.

Mr Hoyle: In fairness, we are the Commons and quite rightly we do expect Secretaries of State [to appear before the committee]. In fairness, when you were in the Commons, Peter, quite rightly, I don't ever remember you jumping up and down and saying, "We ought to have a secretary of state in the Lords". In fact, we had no secretaries of state in the Lords. And I think the danger is, one was bad enough; two is becoming unacceptable. I just hope that there will be no more announcements that will allow for more secretaries of state in the Lords. As much as you say they are accountable, they are not accountable in the Chamber of the House of Commons on a day of questions.

Lord Mandelson: I will pass your views on to the Prime Minister.

Mr Hoyle: Marvellous! I thought that I would speak to the main one.[1]

After the 2010 election Lindsay's friends suggested that he stand for the chairmanship of the select committee, but he decided he'd rather be Chairman of Ways and Means instead. He was not super-popular with the Labour Whips' Office thanks to some past rebellions over Gibraltar and student tuition fees, but he was well-liked by his colleagues and he realised that under the new, post-expenses scandal system in which the Deputy Speakers were elected by secret ballot rather than appointed by the whips, he stood a chance. He secured the endorsements of all five Labour leadership candidates and won the most votes out of the five Opposition candidates for Deputy Speaker, making him Chairman of Ways and Means and Bercow's second-in-command.

Full List of Appointments
• Chairman of Ways and Means, Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons (8 June, 2010 - present)

Deputy Speaker[edit | edit source]

Once a year it's my day. I'm in charge and I look forward to it. It's a highlight, the biggest day of the parliamentary year.~ Lindsay Hoyle

Why Lindsay wanted to be a Deputy Speaker is less clear, since it mostly involves presiding over Filibuster Friday and other interminable parliamentary debates the Speaker can't be arsed to attend. As Chairman of Ways and Means he does get the privilege of chairing the showpiece Budget Debate and any Committee of the Whole House, and he seems to enjoy his fifteen minutes of fame. But he doesn't appear to take the obvious pleasure in parliamentary shenanigans that makes the tedious job tolerable for someone like Bercow.

Lindsay Hoyle.Chairing.png

Lindsay's manner is more that of a exasperated teacher towards the end of term, doggedly trying to get through the lesson and keep all the children from jumping on the desks or climbing out the windows. He rules with a kind but firm hand, decisively shutting down trolling and taking the worst offenders aside after class to warn them he has his eye on them.[2] His lack of grandstanding and his comparatively discreet rebukes (MPs hate being told off on camera, however much they deserve it) have made him far more popular with his colleagues than his abrasive boss, and he's in pole position to succeed Bercow as Speaker when he stands down.

Colleagues like the fact that Lindsay doesn't stand on his dignity.
Greatest Moments
Date Summary Video Transcript
20/3/2013 Highlights from the 2013 Budget Debate "It is not a competition of who can shout the loudest. Let us hear the Chancellor. If you don’t want to hear your own Chancellor, I am sure your constituents would understand if you were to leave the Chamber."

Debate in Hansard

Personal Life[edit | edit source]

Lindsay and his wife Cath

Lindsay's personal life is more exiting than his avuncular parliamentary image would suggest. After the end of his first marriage he had an affair with Miriam Lewis, a Tory councillor on the Chorley Council, and they had a love child, Natalie. At one point Miriam was pursuing him for child support. Awkwardly, the story came out in 1996, just after he was selected as the Labour candidate for Chorley.

His older daughter Emma works in his constituency office and went to school with the Tory MP Caroline Noakes.

Lindsay's second wife Cath is a local councillor in Chorley. She also works in Lindsay's constituency office. They have a Rottweiler named Gordon, which won third prize in the 2012 Westminster dog show. (Sources do not reveal whether this large, brown, potentially vicious dog is named after the former Prime Minister.)

Lindsay and his status dog.

Lindsay vs. Trolls[edit | edit source]

Here is but a small sample of the trolling Lindsay has had to endure in the course of his duties.

David Nuttall: Positive discrimination, affirmative action or discrimination generally means choosing someone solely on the grounds of their gender or racial group, or for any other factor, and not for their ability... Positive action in that regard will be used in cases in which an employer reasonably thinks that people with a protected characteristic are under-represented in the work force or suffer a disadvantage connected to that protected characteristic.

As my hon. Friend the Member for Shipley made clear, the problem is where we draw the line. Why not, for example, protect and give help to those who are particularly tall?

Jacob Rees-Mogg: What an excellent idea — there should be special benefits for everyone over 6 feet.

Mr Nuttall: I am pleased that my hon. Friend is interested in this matter. If someone, for the sake of argument, is 7 feet tall—there are people of that stature in society—an employer might secretly think that they had better not take on such an employee, because they might complain about the size of the company’s doorways and it would have to spend a fortune going round the building and enlarging all the doors. One can easily see how an argument could be made for heightist, stoutist or shortist legislation to be introduced—

Mr Deputy Speaker: Order. I am sure doors matter to people who are over 2 metres—usually it is 6 feet 6 inches—but I cannot see the connection between the Bill and where we are being led, so I am sure the hon. Gentleman would like to bring us back now to the Bill.

Mr Nuttall: I will indeed, Mr Deputy Speaker. The point I make is where do we draw the line? I will leave—

Mr Deputy Speaker: Order. To help the hon. Gentleman, I have drawn the line at doors.

Ideology[edit | edit source]

Lindsay inherited a mysterious family obsession with Gibraltar. His father was awarded the Gibraltar Medallion of Honour for championing the interests of the territory in Parliament, and Lindsay put himself in line for a medal of his own (and torpedoed any hopes he might have had of a ministerial career) by speaking out against Tony Blair's plans to cut a two-flags deal with Spain over Gibraltar. He won the day, and later became President of the All-Party British Gibraltar Group.

Portrayal[edit | edit source]

In the Media[edit | edit source]

A parliamentary superstar in pinstripes~ The Guardian

The media ignored Lindsay until the raucous 2013 Budget debate, when he told various misbehaving MPs to STFU in funny ways and they finally awakened to his longstanding awesomeness. They published a spate of articles extolling his virtues and then promptly forgot about his existence again. Although Lindsay enjoyed the attention while it lasted, obscurity has its advantages: he has escaped the intense scrutiny and the constant carping that plagues John Bercow.

In Fanon[edit | edit source]

Lindsay is well-regarded by the fandom, which enjoys his patient and occasionally sarcastic chairing of Filibuster Friday debates, probably far more than he does.

Meme[edit | edit source]

Lindsay tends to appear in fic alongside other members of the Speaker's Office, as the level-headed, down-to-earth counterpoint to irritable Dawn and anxious Nigel.

Shipping[edit | edit source]

Lindsay isn't shipped much but it is universally agreed that "Hoylarolo" is an awesome portmanteau.

RP[edit | edit source]

Lindsay exists in the RP, but he had the least prominent role of any member of the Speaker's Office in the werewolf arc, in part because he's harder to caricature than his colleagues and therefore less fun to play.

References[edit | edit source]