The lavish spending habits of Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle have been laid bare—racking up hundreds of thousands of pounds on first-class flights, luxury hotels, and chauffeur-driven cars, all on the taxpayer’s dime.
Expense records reveal Hoyle has spent over £180,000 on flights in just two years. Not once has he flown economy, instead opting for first or business class, even for short trips to Dublin and Italy.
And that’s just the start.
Private jets and paradise resorts
During a visit to Montserrat, a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean, Hoyle chartered a private plane, adding even more to his already eye-watering travel expenses.
His hotel choices also raise eyebrows. He’s stayed in £900-a-night resorts, including:
- The St Regis in Doha (£800 subsistence bill)
- Westin Grand in the Cayman Islands (£6,400 total)
- Ritz-Carlton in Los Angeles (£3,000 spent on chauffeurs alone)
In Verona, Italy, he dined at the five-star Hotel Due Torri, racking up a £400 meal and drinks bill, while his G7 Speakers’ Conference stay cost £630 per night.
Chauffeurs, taxis, and a growing bill
Despite spending thousands on chauffeur-driven cars—£4,500 in Australia alone—Hoyle still managed to rack up a £270 bill on Lyft taxis in LA.
Since October 2022, he’s spent over £250,000 on international trips, making him the most well-travelled Speaker in history. His predecessor, John Bercow, took ten years to spend the same amount on non-regular foreign travel.
Critics have dubbed him “Long-haul Hoyle”, accusing him of “swanning around like he’s the Foreign Secretary”.
Luxury in the Caribbean and Canada
Hoyle’s five-day trip to the Cayman Islands cost taxpayers £22,785, including:
- £15,806 on British Airways business class flights (for him and two staff)
- £6,400 accommodation bill at the luxurious Westin Grand Cayman (£679 per night)
During a trip to Canada, he stayed at Ottawa’s Fairmont Chateau Laurier at £893 per night, with total accommodation costs reaching £8,656.65. Flights for the trip cost another £15,000.
In Canberra, he checked into the Hotel Realm, which markets itself as “Canberra’s finest five-star luxury hotel.”
“A life of luxury at the taxpayers’ expense”
John O’Connell from the TaxPayers’ Alliance slammed the spending:
“Sir Lindsay’s life of luxury is looking increasingly unsustainable, given the stratospheric credit card bills he’s tapping up taxpayers for… It’s possible to travel in comfort at a much lower cost than this.”
A spokesperson for the Speaker defended the trips, saying:
“The Speaker is an ambassador for the House of Commons and has a responsibility to explain and promote the work of the House, and to represent it at high-profile state events and inter-Parliamentary conferences.”
With costs piling up, many are questioning whether Hoyle’s jet-setting is truly in the nation’s interest—or just a luxury holiday on the public purse.
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