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.
12 min listen
The announcement of the Integrated Rail Plan has left many, including a number of Conservative MPs, disappointed due to the proposed new routes and notable omissions. This comes at a bad time for Boris Johnson who is already in the dog house over his handling of the Owen Paterson affair. ‘Boris Johnson is not in
Boris Johnson didn’t enjoy his two hours in front of the Liaison Committee this afternoon, and not just because he was asked repeatedly about his handling of the Tory sleaze row. He also struggled with questions about what his government was up to more generally, and appeared at times exasperated with the select committee chairs
11 min listen
Now entering its second week, the foray around members of parliament holding second jobs shows no sign of dying down. And, unfortunately, it seems whatever Boris Johnson tries to do to get himself out of this situation, he appears to just be digging himself and his party a deeper and deeper hole. ‘Boris Johnson hadn’t
Boris Johnson has just had a particularly bad Prime Minister’s Questions, underlining his poor grip not just on the second jobs row but on other aspects of his own job. Sir Keir Starmer has had a fair bit of bad luck since becoming Labour leader, having to self-isolate five times as a result of positive
Is there anyone left in the Conservative party who is happy with Boris Johnson? The Prime Minister has now managed to wind up pretty much every single Tory MP with his handling of the second jobs row, opening up still more fault lines in the past 24 hours. His letter to the Speaker yesterday saying
Number 10 will have been relieved that the weekend did not bring new stories about Conservative MPs raking in lots of money from second jobs. There were still sleaze angles in the Sunday papers, including regarding the Prime Minister’s own dealings, but the air seems to be going out of the story a little. The
15 min listen
COP26 is now over, but was it a flop? Even Alok Sharma, the President of COP26, apologised on the last day for ‘the way this process has unfolded’, as he teared up when announcing the final agreement to phase down, rather than phase out, coal. On this episode, Cindy Yu talks to Fraser Nelson and
19 min listen
Fraser Nelson talks to James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman about how MPs should clean up their act in the wake of Parliament’s latest lobbying scandal.
15 min listen
Owen Paterson has resigned as an MP after being embroiled in a lobbying row. Allies of the Prime Minister have blamed the Chief Whip, Mark Spencer, for the fiasco, while other Tory MPs are fuming at the Prime Minister’s miscalculation. How did Boris not realise the potential backlash? Katy Balls speaks to James Forsyth and
It’s been a dizzying 24 hours for Angela Richardson, who was last night sacked as a junior ministerial aide to Michael Gove, only to get the job back this morning. The reason for this whirlwind? Richardson broke the Tory whip last night by abstaining on the government’s plan to tear up the standards committee regime
12 min listen
The Owen Paterson story continues today with the government u-turning quicker than expected. This came after realising that allowing Tory MPs to mark their own homework by scrapping the standards committee might cause more outrage than they first thought. Leaving them now in a situation described by James Forsyth as, ‘an infinitely worse position for
Jeremy Hunt asked an entirely reasonable question of the Prime Minister today in the Commons — and got an entirely unreasonable answer. Hunt raised an amendment he is tabling which would require Health Education England to produce regular forecasts for the numbers of doctors and nurses that the UK needs to train. This is quite
13 min listen
With the fishing war between the UK and France not necessarily over but at least at a ceasefire, today’s Shots focuses on the Commons. Conservative MP Owen Paterson was found to have committed an ‘egregious’ breach of lobbying rules, but some in his party, including Jacob Rees-Mogg, have raised concerns about the investigation. On the
How can the government really promise to clear the NHS backlog when it isn’t investing in the necessary staff to carry out the treatments? That’s the question many in the health service are asking after this week’s Spending Review. Sure, the Chancellor announced a £5.9 billion commitment on capital spending, which will increase bed capacity,
11 min listen
The new year is fast approaching and if your resolution is to quit smoking, the taxpayer will now cover the cost for your new vape. Opinions differ on the podcast as to whether this is a good idea. Cindy Yu talks with Isabel Hardman and James Forsyth about this new scheme as well as looking
11 min listen
The Budget was revealed yesterday, but what do Rishi Sunak’s conservative colleagues make of it? To discuss this, another row with the French about fish, and the end of the Covid travel red list, Isabel Hardman is joined by James Forsyth and Katy Balls.
Given Rishi Sunak spent so much of his Budget pointing out how high spending was – and given he announced some very Labour-friendly measures, such as a surprisingly big cut in the taper rate of Universal Credit from 63 per cent to 55 per cent – whoever responded on behalf of the Opposition was going
Today’s pre-Budget Prime Minister’s Questions would probably have been unremarkable had it not been for a sudden change of cast. At the very last minute, it was announced that Sir Keir Starmer had tested positive for Covid and would be replaced in the chamber by a blast from his party’s past in the form of
Lindsay Hoyle is, to put it mildly, on the warpath. The Speaker is now giving almost daily statements in which he complains about the government’s habit of making announcements to the media rather than in parliament. Last week he was furious that Health Secretary Sajid Javid had held a Downing Street press briefing on Covid
14 min listen
Budget week rolls on. But today in the house the Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle voiced his displeasure at how much had been told to the press before tomorrow’s unveiling in the Commons. Katy Balls talks to James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman about this tension, the budget, and the sewage situation.