Boris’s Behaviour “Unacceptable” Warns Speaker of the House of Commons

Sir Lindsay is fuming that Johnson held a press conference to announce four week extension of restrictions. Image: Twitter

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s behaviour is “unacceptable”, warns the Speaker of the House of Commons Sir Lindsay Hoyle.  

Sir Lindsay slammed Boris Johnson for holding a press conference to reveal that Covid restrictions will be extended for four more weeks instead of announcing the measures in Parliament where he would have faced questions from MPs. Instead, Johnson sent Health Secretary Matt Hancock to make a statement while Boris dined with his Australian counterpart after attending a NATO summit in Brussels.

Speaker Sir Lindsay said he had to harangue Downing Street into even sending Hancock to make a statement.

Speaking in the Commons on Monday afternoon, he said, “Can I just say, we weren’t going to get a statement until I got involved with Downing Street. The fact is this has been forced to actually get a statement today, it was going to be left to tomorrow, which would have been totally unacceptable.

“The fact is – I understand the Prime Minister at the moment is in NATO, there is a big conference going on, he isn’t here – that’s why I insisted that somebody came to make this statement. The timing of it is 8.30pm. I thought that was better than waiting for the Prime Minister to make a statement tomorrow,” he said.

“This House needs to know, it needs to know first. I find it totally unacceptable that once again, once again, that we see Downing Street running roughshod over members of Parliament. We’re not accepting it and I’m at the stage where I’m beginning to look for other avenues if they’re not going to treat this House seriously.

“But I will say I think it’s time for me to have a meeting with the Prime Minister to actually put on the record here now but with him that this House matters,” he added.


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Deirdre Tynan

Deirdre Tynan is an award-winning journalist who enjoys bringing the best in news reporting to Spain’s largest English-language newspaper, Euro Weekly News. She has previously worked at The Mirror, Ireland on Sunday and for news agencies, media outlets and international organisations in America, Europe and Asia. A huge fan of British politics and newspapers, Deirdre is equally fascinated by the political scene in Madrid and Sevilla. She moved to Spain in 2018 and is based in Jaen.

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