TRAIN passengers travelling between London and Lancashire need not be alarmed if they hear a call to "lock the doors", for it may be the Speaker of the House of Commons' parrot.

Sir Lindsay Hoyle's pet bird Boris has taken to squawking his owner's famous refrains while making the journey from Westminster to the Chorley constituency.

The Speaker's menagerie includes a tortoise called Maggie, Dennis the cat, Gordon the Rottweiler, and Betty the terrier - their names all inspired by politicians.

Along with Boris, named after the current Prime Minister, the animals travel with Sir Lindsay and his wife each week to spend the weekend at home in the North West.

They often go by car - Maggie, who enjoys London's warm weather, weighs a hefty three stone - but on occasion when the Speaker takes the train, squawks can be heard from the parrot's box.

Lancashire Telegraph:

Sir Lindsay said: "Even the pets go up and down with us - in fact, my wife's getting the car ready now.

"The tortoise will be going up, the parrot Boris is going up... and Patrick the cat is going up, but the dog's already at home.

"Betty's already waiting for us when we get back... so we move the whole kit up north with us."

He added: "The parrot Boris will be shouting away to us - his latest is 'point of order, point of order' so I'll have lots of 'points of order' going north. It'll be fun - the cat just ignores it all."

But he said that when they are not all travelling in the family estate car, he takes the train - with the cat and parrot in baskets.

"I'll put (the parrot) down and he'll start shouting 'lock the doors, lock the doors' and people on the train start looking around saying 'who's shouting lock the doors?'...

"They can see I'm not speaking, but... there's this parrot in my box going 'order, order' or 'lock the doors'."

Sir Lindsay said he believes Boris picked up the phrases because his wife "deliberately" places the parrot next to the television.

The Commons Speaker makes the call for doorkeepers to "lock the doors" to the division lobbies eight minutes after calling a vote in the chamber.

A "point of order" is raised by MPs asking for clarification or a ruling on a matter of procedure in the Commons. The Speaker then decides whether it is valid or not.