Editorial: We needed to know how MPs divided on Gaza yet Speaker Hoyle blocked that

​The Home Secretary James Cleverly has backed the House of Commons Speaker over the Gaza vote row.

It is significant James Cleverly is offering Tory support to Lindsay Hoyle.

Speaker Hoyle, while technically outside of party politics now, is a former Labour MP. He has been a popular and admired incumbent, unlike some of his predecessors such as John Bercow, who had many enemies, or Michael Martin, whose competence in the role was questioned.

But Speaker Hoyle’s decision to let a Labour amendment be voted on before a Scottish National Party motion calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza in effect set aside the opposition day debate that had been allocated to the SNP.

This newspaper rejects the SNP motion. An immediate ceasefire would be a surrender to Hamas. But that is not the main point in this. The main point is that the Labour Party is bitterly divided over Gaza. The party leader Sir Keir Starmer has been keen to emphasise his credentials as someone who will stamp out anti semitism yet faces growing demands to back immediate ceasefire.

Support for such a ceasefire has been growing around the world, in part because people have trusted fatality figures which are ultimately vetted by Hamas, not only one of the most brutal terrorist groups in modern history but one that has been shown to have ruthlessly lied to distort the situation in Gaza.

The situation is the strip is tragic and horrendous, not least because of the way Hamas has run it and stolen aid money. It is one thing to urge Israeli restraint, as President Biden for example has done, another thing to demand surrender.

But, as said, that is not the point. We needed an open debate in the Commons so we could see where all the politicians stood on this crucial matter but Speaker Hoyle blocked that.