PMQs: Speaker fails to call Diane Abbott as MPs debate Conservative donor’s comments

House of Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle today refused to allow Diane Abbott to speak during prime minister’s questions.

PMQs was dominated by discussion of a Conservative donor’s comments about Abbott.

The former Labour MP had sought to ask a question throughout the 35-minute session, during which MPs debated the comments made about her by Frank Hester, the Conservatives’ biggest donor.

Abbott later posed on X/Twitter: “I don’t know whose interests the Speaker thinks he is serving. But it is not the interests of the Commons or democracy”.

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