COMMONS Speaker Lindsay Hoyle personally intervened to prevent the release of emails he sent to Israeli politicians, Declassified UK has revealed.

Sir Lindsay flew to Israel on a “solidarity visit” in November 2023, soon after Tel Aviv launched its full-scale invasion of Gaza.

During his visit, he was photographed in a bulletproof vest accompanied Israel’s ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely, who is an open advocate of a “Greater Israel.”

Declassified UK filed a freedom of information (FoI) request for correspondence between the Commons Speaker and the Israeli embassy, Labour Friends of Israel and members and/or officials of the Knesset.

In response, the government said that Sir Lindsay “has formed the reasonable opinion that disclosure of the information would be likely to prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs.”

“The public interest test does not apply,” it said.

In 2024, Mr Hoyle faced calls to resign after he broke parliamentary convention and prioritised a vote on a Labour amendment to an SNP ceasefire proposal, described by MP Diane Abbott as being full of “weasel words,” preventing a vote on the SNP’s original motion. 

Last month, Declassified UK revealed that Parliament’s standards commissioner had launched an investigation into two Labour MPs after they failed to declare an all-expenses-paid trip to Israel on time.

MP for Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket Peter Prinsley and Stourbridge MP Cat Eccles joined a “solidarity” trip courtesy of Labour Friends of Israel in May. 

Records revealed that two other MPs who took part in the same trip had declared it in their register of interests, noting its value at up to £2,600.