Isabel Hardman is assistant editor of The Spectator and author of Why We Get the Wrong Politicians. She also presents Radio 4’s Week in Westminster.
Sleaze scandals will crop up in politics from time to time, but what makes the latest round of allegations particularly damaging is that the government has had two opportunities to at least address faltering public mistrust in politicians, and hasn’t. Those pushing for the power to recall MPs and a register of lobbyists have had
Ed Balls has had plenty of warning about how politically dangerous this month’s spending review will be for him. James reported in April that George Osborne planned to use the settlement (when he eventually gets it) to prod the Labour party. But perhaps it’s also the party’s inability to make polling hay from the Tories
The Conservatives know that the best way of detracting from the binary In/Out? debate about Europe in the Westminster bubble is to jolly well get on with making the case for reform in Europe. It is vital that ministers give the impression that there are changes that other European leaders would quite happily sign up
In the past few weeks, the Tories have been so busy fighting each other that they appear to have forgotten about the Opposition party. But now, while things are quieter in the parliamentary recess, senior figures are starting to take the fight back to Labour. Michael Gove has written a barnstormer of an Op-Ed in
The Tories spend a lot of time and money scratching their heads about why women voters are deserting them. Today we were dropped a little clue as to why. Andy Coulson’s GQ article contains all sorts of helpful advice for the Prime Minister including this nugget: ‘There are few people in Number Ten with a
Is Universal Credit on the brink of disaster? It’s rather too early to tell whether this mammoth reform of the benefits system really is doomed, in spite of last week’s warning from the Major Projects Authority. But whether it sinks or swims will not be because of the current structure of the Whitehall machine. I’ve
If anyone pushing for reform of Britain’s relationship with Europe was hunting for an example of why there needs to be a renegotiation, they would have struggled to find a more perfect one than that served up by the European Commission. The Commission is taking the UK to the European Court of Justice, claiming its
‘The Republicans are the party that says government doesn’t work and then they get elected and prove it,’ wrote P.J. O’Rourke in 1991. He might well say the same thing about the Conservatives in 2013. The much-trumpeted reform of the benefit system, the Universal Credit scheme, had a warning sign slapped on it last week
Labour is apparently thrilled with the OECD’s assessment of the UK economy, released today. The think tank cut its growth forecasts from 0.9 per cent to 0.8 for 2013 and from 1.6 per cent to 1.5 per cent for 2014, while warning of ‘strong headwinds’ from the eurozone. So Chris Leslie, the Shadow Financial Secretary
Largely because of events, the febrile atmosphere in the Tory party has gone as damp as the weather after weeks of bickering. A combination of the Woolwich killing and recess have turned attention elsewhere, but that doesn’t mean things aren’t still bubbling away under the lid. As any MP will remind you, parliamentary recess isn’t
Boris Johnson is ‘absolutely increasingly confident’ that David Cameron will win in 2015. This was the Mayor’s attempt at responding to Andy Coulson’s suggestion that he’s desperate for the PM to fail so he can cycle in and save the party, a blond messiah. Attempt is perhaps the wrong word, as it suggests Boris made
Optimists might think that a wariness on the part of senior Tory ministers to push through the Communications Data Bill without the Lib Dems’ consent is at least a sign the parties are starting to appreciate the practical limits of Coalition. They clearly listened to the party when the row about an EU referendum bill
Should the UK arm the Syrian rebels? William Hague thinks so, but it turns out neither his MPs nor the public are convinced. YouGov polling earlier this month found on 17 per cent of voters supported sending arms, and 56 per cent opposed the measure. Tory MPs such as John Redwood, John Baron and Julian Lewis
George Osborne’s broadcast tour this morning served two purposes. The first was to reward those ministers who aren’t playing hard to get in the spending review negotiations by praising their readiness to settle. The second was to prod Labour a bit. Osborne’s love of ‘weaponising’ policy can irritate his colleagues at times, but the spending
Anyone reading Sam Coates’ interview with Ed Balls in today’s Times might be forgiven for chucking their newspaper on the floor with a chuckle, muttering about the hypocrisy of a Labour shadow Chancellor lecturing George Osborne on borrowing. Balls warns that the government’s plans to offer Royal Bank of Scotland shares to the public will
David Cameron warned in his Downing Street statement on the Woolwich killing against forming ‘knee-jerk responses’ to the atrocity. But it was inevitable that there would be many knees flying in the air over a piece of legislation that some say could either have prevented the killing, or made it easier to piece together the
That Universal Credit is one of the government projects at risk of failing is not a surprise, especially not if you’re a Spectator reader. We warned back in September 2012 that the Whitehall machine was already trying to put the brakes on the project. Officials did try their very best yesterday to avoid a big
Is there anyone left who thinks the Government’s Help to Buy scheme is a good idea? This week’s Spectator splashes on the risks of this property bubble wheeze. Merryn Somerset Webb warns that the scheme, which underwrites mortgages, will lead to rising house prices. She argues that ‘if anyone other than the government manipulated a
It goes without saying that when it comes to serious national tragedies, David Cameron is the right man to give a statement from Downing Street. His response today to the Woolwich killing underlined how good he is at producing sensitive and thoughtful speeches which, though written swiftly, avoid any knee-jerk reaction. He should be commended
It’s fashionable to say Downing Street isn’t very good at strategy. So fashionable, in fact, that sometimes journalists worry they’re being unfair to the Tory leadership. But today we saw yet another example of the Prime Minister leaving an open goal for not just the opposition party but also his own Coalition partners to score.
