Inside the Westminster chaos amid the SNP ceasefire vote

"It’s a fix!", cried Brendan O’Hara, the SNP’s foreign affairs spokesperson. Not the response one might have expected but by the time the vote – such as it was – was carried out, the issue of Israel and Palestine was vanishing from view.

At around 6pm, the House began its descent into chaos. The first Jenga piece was pulled earlier in the day when Speaker Lindsay Hoyle (below) controversially bent the Commons rules by picking Labour’s ceasefire amendment.

It did much the same as the SNP’s but was a bit more mealy-mouthed – and removed the reference to "collective punishment" of Palestinians.

Hoyle also said MPs should be given a vote on the Government’s amendment, leaving a very slim chance (in the end a big fat zero) of the SNP’s original motion being put to a vote.

READ MORE: Labour 'threatened to bring Speaker down' before rule change on Gaza motion

Rumours began swirling that the venerable chair had been leant on by his Labour colleagues (he must remain officially neutral), who tried their damnedest to hold up proceedings by calling bogus points of order.

At one point they put up the famously reticent Chris Bryant to unnaturally extend the lifespan of a debate on a 10 minute rule bill. Now there’s a man you can call upon if you need to stall for time.

The story went that he had been told in no uncertain terms he would not be keeping his job if he did not pick Labour’s amendment, which meant Keir Starmer would avoid another embarrassing rebellion.

Clearly, for a man whose position rests on the perception of his impartiality, this is less than ideal.

Shortly after Big Ben tolled for 6pm, Commons leader Penny Mordaunt (below) got to her feet to detail the Government’s distaste for what was happening.

She pulled the Government’s amendment, saying the Tories would play no part in the rest of the evening’s proceedings.

READ MORE: Top official's letter warning Speaker about rule change for Gaza motion

Most devastatingly for Hoyle, the Tory MP accused him of having “inserted” himself into what she described as an internal row within Labour and their fight against the SNP.

Then the real fireworks began. Stephen Flynn (above) rose to his feet, palpably furious.

With white hot rage, he bellowed: “Where on earth is the Speaker of the House of Commons and how can we bring him to this House?”

Winterton, like a call centre handler falling back on her training, replied meekly that the Speaker would be back in tomorrow and could we please all try and use our indoor voices.

Flynn was not for it and led his MPs in a walk out. The SNP could not have written a better sketch to say how they were up against a corrupt and arcane Westminster system rigged against them.

After a fruitless vote to have proceedings be held in private – which would have effectively ended the session for the night – the Speaker returned to his chair.

A visibly wobbly Hoyle attempted to explain to the SNP how he hadn’t really stitched them up, it was about the safety of members, you see.

Flynn was not for being kind. The Speaker, he said, had treated him and his party with “contempt”. His position? “Intolerable”.

Hoyle eventually retreated and Winterton (below) then fended off a few more verbal projectiles from both the SNP and the Tories before bringing things to a close.

In amongst all this, the Commons did actually vote for a ceasefire, because Winterton had declared the Labour amendment unopposed. It wasn’t, in reality, but she said it was.

It appeared the Deputy Speaker had decided there were too few accusations of rigging flying around and sought to add fuel to the fire. Labour’s amendment was carried, she said. And that was that.

What began as a genuine debate on the rights and wrongs of the Westminster parliament calling for a ceasefire, how this should be worded and so on ended with the Speaker’s career hanging in the balance, the SNP filled with renewed rage at the unfair system and peace in the Middle East not an inch closer.