Sir Lindsay Hoyle did not announce to the House of Commons that the Palestinian flag was to be flown outside Parliament

A Facebook post appears to claim that Speaker of the House of Commons Sir Lindsay Hoyle personally announced plans to fly the Palestinian flag for a visit from the Palestinian ambassador.

The post reads, in part: “Chaos as Speaker Hoyle announces plan to fly Palestinian flag for 'ambassador' visit - but immediately axes the meeting as furious critics in Westminster say the UK doesn't recognise it as a state!!!!!

“(By the way, the shouting was from BOTH sides of the room, the only corner NOT going mental, but looking shocked and bewildered at the reaction, was Scotland's SNP!)”

This isn’t what happened. Although an email stating that the Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, was to meet the “Palestine Ambassador” and that the Palestine flag would be flown outside the Houses of Parliament was sent by the Speaker’s office last week, Sir Lindsay made no such announcement to the House of Commons, and the email was confirmed to have been sent in error. 

The email showed a scheduled meeting between “Speaker Hoyle / Palestine Ambassador” on Wednesday 10 January, and also stated: 

“Generally, the Union Flag and House of Commons flag are flown from the Speaker’s flag poles in New Palace Yard. However as part of Speaker led diplomacy we will be flying the following flag next week:

Wednesday 10 January:

• Palestine flag in honour of Palestine Ambassador”

A spokesperson for the Speaker has since confirmed to the Daily Telegraph and other media publications that the email was “sent in error” and that there were no plans for Sir Lindsay to meet with the head of the Palestinian mission, Husam Zomlot.

They said: “We can confirm no meeting with the Palestinian ambassador is scheduled to take place.”

Sir Lindsay did not announce plans to fly the Palestinian flag to the House of Commons, as the post implies.

A spokeswoman for the Speaker’s Office told Full Fact: “A restricted internal planning email from the Speaker’s Office team was sent to staff only —not MPs—and on this occasion, it was sent out by mistake. 

“The Speaker did not know this email was going out—and as soon as his team realised it had been sent, a correction followed. 

“Disappointingly, not one journalist sought to clarify who the email was sent to – instead they relied on inaccurate social media commentary as fact – and repeated it. 

“So, much of the subsequent coverage of the story was built on a factually wrong premise. 

“The email did not come from the Speaker; it was restricted and sent to a small group of staff and it was not sent to— or meant for—Members.”

False or misleading claims about politicians online have the potential to harm the democratic process. Online claims can spread fast and far, and are difficult to contain and correct.

Image courtesy of Prioryman