The speaker of the House of Commons has humiliatingly little influence

Editorial: Sir Lindsay Hoyle and those who supported his bid for the speaker’s chair may be wondering what has gone wrong

Sir Lindsay has found the behaviour of ministers exasperating (PA)

The speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, was elected by MPs to succeed John Bercow largely because he wasn’t John Bercow. So it has proved.

Sir Lindsay chose not to play an activist role in the Brexit debates, and restored the executive’s brief loss of control over the business of the House. MPs on all sides, but particularly Brexiteering Tories, found this Labour MP a refreshing change, less self indulgent, less personally withering to the more outre members of the legislative assembly, and less pompous. His Lancashire burr seemed to embody a new mood of quiet, confident chairmanship. So it did.

Now, though, both Sir Lindsay and those who supported his bid for the speaker’s chair may be wondering what has gone wrong. Once again, the Commons has landed itself in disrepute, and the speaker has humiliatingly little influence. A single case of wrongdoing by one MP has mushroomed into a national scandal that has overtaken every other political issue, and wiped away the Conservatives’ lead in the opinion polls.