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.
Keir Starmer is a keen amateur footballer. It’s one of the few facts anyone knows about the Labour leader. He enjoys a game on his spare time, and on the campaign trail too. One person who played with him recently told me: ‘You can tell he plays a lot and takes it very seriously.’ What
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First gas, now petrol. The strange thing is there is no actual lack of petrol just a dearth of drivers to bring it to the stations. There are differing thoughts as to the reason for this, some say Brexit, others that this is a wider issue. Katy Balls, Isabel Hardman and James Forsyth discuss this
Keir Starmer’s long-awaited and lengthy essay on what he thinks the Labour party should be doing and saying has finally landed. It’s part of the Labour leader’s attempt to define himself this conference season, and sits alongside the noisy fight he’s picked with the left of the party and some of the trade unions over
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With Boris Johnson still on his American trip, it was up to the deputies to cross swords in PMQs today. Dominic Raab, the newly-minted deputy prime minister went up against Labour’s Angela Rayner, but who came out on top? Also on the podcast, Katy Balls, James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman discuss the Boris and Biden
Angela Rayner had an enjoyable six rounds against Dominic Raab as their pair deputised for their respective party leaders at Prime Minister’s Questions today. She didn’t lack material, for one thing: the energy crisis, the universal credit cut and of course the deputy Prime Minister’s luxury holiday in Crete all gave Rayner plenty to pummel
Sir Keir Starmer is holding talks with the Labour-affiliated trade unions today as he tries to change the way his party elects its leaders. He’s hoping that he will get the backing of Unison, Usdaw and the GMB, which party sources say will then unlock the support of his deputy Angela Rayner. Starmer didn’t share
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The Prime Minister is in America to meet Joe Biden and discuss COP26 and the new Aukus security pact. But what do the two leaders hope to achieve? Also, the Labour party conference is this weekend. can Keir Starmer get the left of his party to heel or will his leadership be brought even more
Why can’t you swim in reservoirs? They look so cool and inviting and are often the only open bodies of water available in certain parts of the country. And yet swimming is prohibited in the majority of them. The answer usually offered is that they are dangerous, cold, deep, that there are underwater structures and
Tory MPs will not get the chance to force the government into a U-turn on scrapping the £20-a-week Universal Credit uplift this afternoon after the Speaker didn’t select their rebel amendment. Sir Iain Duncan Smith and Damian Green had tabled the motion refusing to give a second reading to the bill on the basis that the
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As Boris Johnson today chairs the first meeting of his new cabinet, he’s focused on delivering on his levelling up agenda. What’s the plan? To discuss this, the ongoing junior ministerial appointments and the Liberal Democrat conference this weekend, Katy Balls speaks to James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman.
After a rather quiet day, the reshuffle is back on, and Boris Johnson is proving to be even more brutal with the more junior ministerial jobs than he was in his clear out of the cabinet. So far, the following have left government: Jesse Norman Caroline Dinenage Luke Hall Graham Stuart James Duddridge Matt Warman
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With the Commons still reeling from the reshuffle, the UK, US, and Australia have formed a new security alliance, the Aukus pact. Many have seen this as early preparation for a more aggressive China, as the US nuclear submarines being gifted to Australia will be able to reach territories like Taiwan without refuelling. To discuss the pact,
Tory MPs were not happy when Sajid Javid unveiled the Covid winter plan in the Commons this afternoon. They’re dissatisfied with the government holding so many powers – such as vaccine passports, further lockdowns and other restrictions – in reserve as part of its Plan B, which will be activated this winter if cases breach what the
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Health Secretary Sajid Javid today laid out his two plans for dealing with Covid this winter. The first, Plan A, proposes a booster shot for everyone over 50, combined with the flu jab. This would also see contact tracing continue, along with self-isolation for the infected and financial support for those isolating. Plan B proposes
As expected, this evening the Commons approved the 1.25 per cent increase in National Insurance, with 319 votes in favour and 248 against. The Tory rebellion was tiny – far smaller even than the predictions earlier today of 20 or so voting against. Just five MPs opposed the motion: John Redwood, Esther McVey, Christopher Chope,
Any Tory rebellion on social care is unlikely to be very big this evening when the Commons votes on a resolution introducing it. There are a number of reasons for this, not least that voting against a money resolution, particularly one on an issue that is as big as a budget, is a much bigger
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In the first session of PMQ’s completely Covid restriction free, Keir Starmer proved that the Prime Minster wouldn’t commit to definitely getting rid of the NHS waiting list within three years or the risk of people having to sell their homes to pay for care. But Boris Johnson seemed pretty bullet proof with not a
One of the most dubious and meaningless parts of today’s health and social care plan is the pledge that the new tax will be a ‘legally hypothecated levy’ – ring-fenced so that the money raised can only go to health and social care services. It’s dubious in the same way that the Tory manifesto pledge
The new £5.4 billion cash boost for NHS England is the easy bit of a very tricky situation for the health service and the politicians trying to work out how to deal with it. As Health Secretary Sajid Javid made clear on Monday, while the money will help deal with the backlog in treatment caused
Boris Johnson took a strangely upbeat tone when he updated MPs on Afghanistan this afternoon. He argued that British planning for the US withdrawal had been months in the making and that the evacuation effort had exceeded expectations with twice the number of people getting out than had been expected. He even made some big
