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 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
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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.
Why are Tory MPs having to take so much crap over a vote about sewage? The past few days have seen a tsunami of fury against the Conservative party for voting in favour of water companies dumping sewage in rivers and the sea. Most Conservative MPs weren’t even aware of what the offending vote was,
The Speaker was annoyed again today when the government only offered the Commons a Covid update after the Health Secretary’s press briefing yesterday. Labour hauled vaccines minister Maggie Throup to the chamber for an urgent question. Before she had a chance to answer, Lindsay Hoyle scolded her superiors. ‘This is not acceptable and, as I
Why has the political debate following Sir David Amess’s killing moved so swiftly to focus on civility in politics? It’s a reasonable question that a lot of people – including my colleague Sam Leith – have been asking. The police are treating Amess’s death as a terrorist attack, and yet other MPs have been talking
41 min listen
Aftershock is an occasional podcast series by award-winning journalist Isabel Hardman. In every episode she asks how we can fix the damage caused by the pandemic to a different part of British society. In this episode, Isabel looks at how schoolchildren have been affected by 18 months of lockdowns and remote schooling. Some have been
11 min listen
With COP26 fast approaching, the Heat and Buildings Strategy has been published today along with the Net Zero Strategy. But what do these papers mean for the environment, you, and your boiler? Isabel Hardman is joined by James Forsyth and Katy Balls to dissect these plans as well as looking at why the NHS is
Boris Johnson announced this afternoon that Southend will receive city status as a tribute to the campaigning work of Sir David Amess, who was killed. Sir David’s best known Commons contributing was Inserting Southend’s bid to become a city into any question, no matter how tenuous, and it seemed an inevitable way of the government marking his
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Parliament meets today to pay tribute to David Amess MP who was stabbed to death at his constituency surgery last week. But what have we learnt about the suspect currently still in police custody? And going forward what can be done to keep our representatives safe? Katy Balls is joined by Isabel Hardman and James
Sir David Amess was killed in the line of duty. He was doing one of the most important – and vulnerable – parts of an MP’s job, and he was killed while doing it. Most of the week, MPs go to work in a palace under armed guard. They live in houses with CCTV, panic
12 min listen
David Amess, the MP for Southend West, has died after being stabbed at his constituency surgery. Essex Police say that a 25-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder. Amess had been an MP since 1983, and represented Southend West since 1997. Fraser Nelson speaks James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman.
14 min listen
With the R-number being higher than 1.0 for some days now, could we be seeing some of the least invasive covid restrictions being put back into place as winter approaches? Isabel Hardman is joined by Fraser Nelson and James Forsyth to discuss the figures, as well as the continuing labour shortages.