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.
Steve Baker’s warning to his colleagues about the way they respond to footballers taking the knee has shaken like a snow globe the debate about the Conservative party and racism. Sir Keir Starmer chose to focus on the matter at Prime Minister’s Questions, mentioning Baker’s message to fellow Tory MPs. That message said: ‘Much as we
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Boris Johnson and his government won the vote today to cut foreign aid spending, but there were rebels and some very prominent ones, including former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt and former Prime Minister Theresa May. What should the government learn from this in order to win potentially even more contentious votes down the line? To
Effective cabinet ministers are ones who work out what they want to do in a department on arrival, and then stick to that very small set of priorities whatever the political winds and storms. Michael Gove had this approach in the Education department, setting himself three priorities and then focusing on getting them delivered. Not
The government has won its vote on cutting international development spending from 0.7 per cent to 0.5 per cent of GDP. 333 MPs voted for the motion, with 290 MPs voting against. The debate on the cut featured a number of politely furious arguments from Tory rebels, from Andrew Mitchell, who spoke of ‘the Chancellor’s
Theresa May has just announced that she is going to, ‘with regret’, vote against the government today on aid spending. It will be the first time she has voted against a three-line whip (previously she has abstained on crunch votes). The former Prime Minister recalled with some force her own dealings with Conservative rebels when
Things are looking tight this morning for the government’s vote on aid spending. Ministers were hoping that springing the vote on rebels at the last minute might help to peel away some softer MPs, and there’s a list doing the rounds this morning of 14 backbenchers who’ve said they are supporting a compromise which would
How different will life be after 19 July? Not very, if the Prime Minister’s press conference this evening was anything to go by. As with Sajid Javid’s statement in the Commons earlier confirming the final step of the road map, Boris Johnson’s emphasis seemed muted. He said he expected people to continue wearing masks, working from home
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The new Health Secretary Sajid Javid addresses the Commons this afternoon ahead of Boris Johnson’s 5pm remarks about the lifting of restrictions on July 19. And in what was an already painful night for England it was made even grimmer by the horrific, racist abuse that Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka received online
Is the government having a wobble over ‘Freedom Day’ on 19 July? Well, for one thing you won’t hear ministers talking about ‘Freedom Day’ over the next week. Instead, they are preferring to focus on the need for people to be very cautious, given the soaring numbers of cases and hospitalisations. When he appeared on
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James Forsyth talks to award winning journalist Isabel Hardman about her brand new Spectator podcast Building Back. In it first episode, out now, she looks at current state of the NHS and its ever expanding waiting list. James and Isabel discuss what the political fallout could be from not tackling this issue competently. Listen to
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State pensions may rise by 8pc this year due to the Conservative policy of the pensions triple lock. But can the government keep to it, given the extraordinary economic circumstances we are in? Cindy Yu talks to James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman.
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Tory MPs today re-elected Graham Brady as chair of the 1922 Committee – the group that represents backbench Conservatives to the government. Brady, who has voted against the government’s coronavirus laws, was standing against Heather Wheeler, who was seen as a candidate more aligned to No. 10. Despite having an 80-seat majority, Boris has been
We will shortly find out who has been elected as the leader of the Conservative backbench 1922 Committee after incumbent Sir Graham Brady faced a challenge from Heather Wheeler. I’m told that turnout in the election for the chair was over 90 per cent and that counting has just begun. Rather than emitting white smoke,
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Sajid Javid today said there could be 100,000 Covid cases a day in summer. He said the government would be focusing on hospitalisation and death figures, but added Britain was in ‘uncharted territory for any country in the world’. Many thought of the new health secretary as a lockdown sceptic, so why is he urging
Labour is unhappy with the government’s plan for unlocking, with leader Sir Keir Starmer calling it ‘reckless’. In the Commons this afternoon, shadow health secretary Jon Ashworth and then shadow education secretary Kate Green complained about the statements from their ministerial counterparts. Ashworth treated fellow MPs to the slightly bizarre spectacle of him waving a
Sajid Javid’s parallel statement in the Commons to Boris Johnson’s press conference on the government’s plan for unlocking drew the same criticisms about failing to protect the vulnerable and bowing to Tory backbench pressure. He did get a ‘hallelujah’ from one such backbencher as he spoke of the end of social distancing. But the health
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Aftershock is a limited 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 talks to those working front line in the NHS and the politicians in Westminster who decide its future. Featuring:
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Boris Johnson will announce details of the 19 July reopening later today. According to reports over the weekend, masks will be ditched, social distancing will be scrapped, indoor venues will open to full capacity and mass events will be allowed. Katy Balls speaks to James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman about the plans. The government has
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In an extremely close race Labour candidate and sister to the late Jo Cox Kim Leadbeater has won her by-election with a majority of just 323. What will the opposition do with this narrow but note worthy win? And is it time to for the tories to admit they aren’t as invincible as they first
Sajid Javid has his first Commons outing as Health Secretary today, not even 48 hours after he took over from Matt Hancock. As Katy outlines here, the focus will be on how he differs from his predecessor on the pace of easing Covid restrictions. But Javid will also quickly face questions on whether he plans to
