It would appear to be a common presumption that Labour will form the next UK Government. Perhaps that influenced the Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle.

The House tends to operate on a binary basis: His Majesty’s Government and the Loyal Opposition.

Think Gilbert and Sullivan – “either a little Liberal or else a little Conservative” – and update.

The Commons rules or conventions are not well fitted to a multi-party approach.

I believe Sir Lindsay when he says he was trying to accommodate a range of views in allowing Labour, in Opposition, to amend a Gaza motion tabled by the SNP.

But, with a government perspective also on the table, that ran counter to convention. It was wrong – as the Speaker has acknowledged. In effect, it cut out the SNP. And it got Labour off a sharp, rusty hook – as they were able to back their own modified wording.

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Was the Speaker intimidated? Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer says emphatically not. He had simply “urged” the Speaker to permit a range of options.

Others are less sanguine. The Leader of the House, Penny Mordaunt, castigated Labour. And I have seldom seen the SNP’s Stephen Flynn more angry than when he declared his party had no confidence in the Speaker.

Be clear about one thing. This controversy over Commons protocol will have precisely zero impact on Israel, Hamas and global opinion.

It is nevertheless right that the issue is discussed in the Commons. I hear Sir Lindsay when he says that, in essaying a broad debate, he was seeking to protect MPs from caustic........

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