House of Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle was at the centre of a fierce row this week over plans to fly the Palestinian flag over the Westminster Parliament.
The Commons Speaker was roundly blasted after a memo sent to MPs detailed Sir Lindsay’s plans to meet Husam Zomlot, the head of the Palestinian Mission to the UK. The memo also listed plans for the Parliament to fly the Palestine flag on Wednesday, January 10 as part of “Speaker-led diplomacy”.
The move was met with an outcry, prompting the Speaker’s Office to backtrack on the plans. A spokesman explained that a “routine internal planning email” had been “sent in error”.
The spokesman added: “We can confirm no meeting with the Palestinian ambassador is scheduled to take place.” However, the spokesman later added that Sir Lindsay still hopes to meet “the envoy,” and blamed “diary pressures” for the misunderstanding.
The memo, obtained by Policy Exchange, erroneously listed Husam Zomlot as “Palestine Ambassador”.
The memo stated: “As part of Speaker-led diplomacy, we will be flying the following flag next week – Wednesday Jan 10: Palestine flag in honour of Palestine Ambassador.” However, Britain does not recognise Palestine as a state and Mr Zomlot does not have ambassador status in the UK.
There is also only a Palestinian ‘mission’ in London rather than an embassy. Bob Blackman, the vice-chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on anti-Semitism, said: “There’s no such thing as a Palestinian state – it’s not recognised, and it’s not suitable to fly that flag.
“This does not send the right sort of signals to people when there are still more than 100 hostages in the hands of Hamas or its terrorist supporters.”
Iain Mansfield, the director of research at Policy Exchange, added: “This is baffling behaviour by the Speaker. The UK does not recognise the state of Palestine.
“Should the Speaker be committing the entire House of Commons to such a controversial position on the current conflict?
“Mr Speaker has serious questions to answer – not least from the many Parliamentarians who may not share his views.”
The Speaker visited Israel and the occupied West Bank in November in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war. to meet with diplomats and “promote the importance of working towards a peace settlement”.
