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.
In his statement to the press this afternoon in which he confirmed that the Liberal Democrats were throwing the towel in over reform of the House of Lords, Nick Clegg tried to paint his party as the ‘mature one’. He said the coalition agreement was ‘a contract that keeps the coalition parties working together in
Nick Clegg will give a statement this afternoon on the House of Lords Reform Bill, and what will happen next. Number 10 was understandably cagey at this morning’s lobby briefing about stealing the Deputy Prime Minister’s thunder before he speaks, but the Prime Minister’s official spokesman gave some answers to questions about the boundary reforms
Louise Mensch’s local paper reports this morning that the Conservative MP will this morning announce that she is resigning her seat after struggling to balance family life with the demands of parliament. The Northamptonshire Telegraph reports Mensch saying: ‘I am completely devastated. It’s been unbelievably difficult to manage family life. We have been trying to
‘I am proud to be part of a UK government that has re-established our country’s financial credibility. And the credit rating agencies rate the UK as triple A. The low interest rates today of 1.8 per cent are a consequence of this.’ Those were the words of Danny Alexander, chief secretary to the Treasury, back
The conventional wisdom about the consequences of the failure of Lords reform is that the Liberal Democrats will wreak their revenge for the Conservatives’ ‘breach of contract’ by scuppering the boundary changes. Over the past few months, the party has taken great pains to link the two reforms, and now that it is clear that
Let’s forget for a minute about the Lib Dems and their dire threats of ‘consequences’ for the failure of the Lords Reform Bill and focus on the Conservative party. David Cameron has failed to convince his party to support the legislation. He said he needed the summer to try to win the rebels round before
When the coalition returns from the summer recess, don’t expect a relaxed, post-holiday spirit. David Cameron has failed to convince his backbenchers to support the House of Lords Reform Bill and The Telegraph reports that the Prime Minister will announce that these reforms are to be shelved in the coming days. This triggers that new
It’s a strange old world when a Prime Minister backing his own Chancellor is worth reporting. But this afternoon the Prime Minister was asked by Sky News whether he was going to reshuffle George Osborne. Naturally, he answered: ‘George Osborne is doing an excellent job in very difficult circumstances and he has my full support
Mario Draghi has just finished giving his press conference in Frankfurt about what the European Central Bank is going to do as part of its ‘whatever it takes’ crusade to save the euro. The ECB chief described the single currency as ‘irreversible’, and perhaps it is his seemingly incontrovertible belief in its capacity to survive
Today is the day when European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi’s big talk last week about doing ‘whatever it takes’ to save the single currency meets its test. The ECB is meeting to discuss what precisely that entails and will make an announcement at around 1.30 about its decision. After teasing the markets last week,
TfL have today stopped running those Boris Johnson announcements over the tannoys at Underground and national rail stations that were rather getting on commuters’ nerves. But their replacement seems to be trying to undo some of Boris’ good work in trying to scare people away from the centre of London. Last night, Westminster Underground Station
Oh dear: this morning Boris Johnson was being hailed as ‘unstoppable’ in his bid to be the next Conservative leader. But it turns out Westminster has been far too preoccupied with the boring details of how he can get re-elected in time to take over from David Cameron that we all failed to notice the
It’s been a few weeks at least since George Osborne’s last U-turn, so it must be time for another one, mustn’t it? Today’s launch of the Funding for Lending Scheme is being hailed as another change of course from the Chancellor as it signals the slow death of the National Loan Guarantee Scheme. The Sun’s
The average disposable income is at its lowest point since 2003, according to figures released this afternoon by the Office for National Statistics. The statistics for the first quarter of this year show that take home income was an average of £273 a week, while real incomes per head fell by 0.6 per cent to
By some quirk of planning, Channel 4 and BBC Two ended up showing two very similar programmes last night about the mess of the assessments that determine whether a sick or disabled person is able to work. The most haunting of the stories told last night was Panorama’s case study of a man who had
Abu Qatada has just lost his bid in the High Court to be released from prison immediately. He had tried to argue that it was a breach of his human rights to be held in prison ahead of the court hearing in October which will decide whether he should be deported to Jordan to face
There are more rumblings this morning on the shape of the next comprehensive spending review, this time at grassroots level within the Liberal Democrats. The Times reports threats from former Lib Dem MP Evan Harris that any attempt to sign up to a traditional spending review will trigger an emergency motion at the party’s autumn
London is quieter than usual this week in spite of the Olympics, with many commuters staying at home or fleeing the country while the Games take place. That’s a good thing for the transport system – clearly Justine Greening and Francis Maude’s ‘remoding’ advice had its desired effect – but retailers and tourist attractions are
Boris Johnson has had a fantastic few days. On Thursday he drove a crowd in Hyde Park wild with his Mitt Romney banter. On Saturday he charmed the public with his thoughts on the Olympic opening ceremony (‘People say it was all leftie stuff. That is nonsense. I’m a Conservative and I had hot tears
The papers today are full of empty seats at the Olympics. This morning, a Downing Street spokeswoman tried to take a glass-half-full approach, saying the empty seats were ‘disappointing’, but adding that the Prime Minister was ‘satisfied’ that Locog was working to resolve the issue. Locog carried out a review at the weekend which found