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.
MPs who aren’t in the process of defecting to the Liberal Democrats are using their conference recess to phone around their colleagues canvassing for the next Commons Speaker. Lindsay Hoyle is, according to YouGov, the favourite to win, but Harriet Harman and Chris Bryant are also running strong campaigns, along with Meg Hillier. Then there
Boris Johnson’s opponents love to accuse him of using the ‘Trump playbook’. Some on the left have become so obsessed with this comparison that they’ve even demanded that the Prime Minister be impeached. But over the past few weeks, Johnson’s behaviour has borne a far closer resemblance to a man he claims to look down
Why has Tom Watson given a speech about what his party leadership should do on Brexit? The party’s deputy leader has urged Labour to ‘unambiguously and unequivocally back Remain’ and to campaign for a referendum ahead of an election. This is contrary to the current frontbench position that a referendum should contain a ‘credible Leave
Amber Rudd’s resignation has clearly been a blow to the government, but it wasn’t a huge surprise that she went after a week in which many of her closest political allies were booted out of the Tory party. What is more of a surprise is that she accepted a cabinet job with Boris Johnson in
The rebel MPs kicked out of the Tory party held a phone conference last night to plot their next move, I understand. The group, now numbering 22 after Amber Rudd’s resignation, is keen to work across the Commons to get a deal past MPs that the European Union would accept, and it wouldn’t be a
As an illustration of how chaotic things are in Parliament right now, the Commons has just accidentally revived Theresa May’s Brexit deal. An administrative problem meant the amendment tabled by Stephen Kinnock and others to bring the deal back to the Commons, in order to prevent a no-deal exit, went through. The Tories didn’t put
Rebel ex-Tory MPs are complaining of ‘unconstitutional’ treatment by their party and are planning to stand at the next election as Conservatives, I have learned. The MPs who lost the whip last night when they backed a motion to take control of the Order Paper were this morning told all their constituency data had been
The government’s majority this evening fell just a little more, as Caroline Spelman joined the rebels to vote in favour of legislation forcing an extension to the Brexit deadline. This latest defeat, 329 in favour of the bill and 300 against, was not a surprise in itself. But it is interesting that Spelman, who backed
Does Boris Johnson want an election or does he not want an election? He managed to make both claims this afternoon at Prime Minister’s Questions, accusing Jeremy Corbyn of being a ‘chlorinated chicken’ for not wanting an election, while also continuing to insist that he didn’t want one either. He then – apparently accidentally –
The Tory rebels on tonight’s motion are in the process of losing the party whip. There were many more than the whips had expected, but this may well be seen by those around Boris Johnson as being a way of getting rid of the sort of MPs who would always be a thorn in the
Phillip Lee, a Tory MP, has just left the party in the most dramatic way possible. He crossed the floor of the House of Commons while Boris Johnson was speaking. For a few seconds the House didn’t realise what was happening, then, as Lee took his new seat next to Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson,
There will be a general election on 14 October if MPs defeat the government tomorrow on no-deal Brexit legislation. Number 10 will publish a motion tomorrow which says that if MPs do take control of the Order Paper and pass legislation for an extension to the Brexit deadline, there will be a general election. Senior
There’s an assumption in Westminster that the Labour Party would have to back a snap general election if Boris Johnson called one this week. Jeremy Corbyn has said that ‘an election is the democratic way forward’, while his Shadow Brexit minister Jenny Chapman said Labour would vote against one that came after 31 October, adding
Things are moving fast in Westminster this afternoon, with speculation mounting that Boris Johnson might be about to call an election. The Cabinet is meeting this afternoon, and there will be a reception of Tory MPs in Downing Street this evening, too. Those involved are definitely discussing an early general election as one possibility. The reason
Is Boris Johnson playing a game of chicken with anti-no-deal Tory MPs? The two sides are locked in a furious standoff over the threat from the Prime Minister that MPs will lose the Tory whip and be prevented from standing for the party at the next election if they back this week’s rebel legislation blocking
What is going to happen next week in parliament? Most anti-no-deal rebels see it as their last opportunity to block Britain leaving the European Union without a deal, but what they haven’t yet agreed on is how best to do it. There are a number of likely scenarios, some of which intertwine with one another,
We know that the Conservatives are gearing up for an election in the next few months. Their official line is that they don’t want one, largely because it will appear better if they are apparently pushed into a poll, but that doesn’t mean that preparations aren’t well underway. One of the main benefits of proroguing
There are many books about what it’s like to live with mental illness and the aftermath of child sexual abuse. Most of them, though, fall into that deeply off-putting category of ‘misery memoir’: greyscale covers and cloying titles such as ‘The Child Who Everyone Hurt’ and ‘When the Darkness Never Lifts’. You’re unlikely to want
So what now for the opponents of no deal? Boris Johnson has dramatically called their bluff, and as Mr Steerpike reports, not all of them are taking this particularly well. Both proponents and opponents of Britain leaving without a deal are engaged in a political wrestling match, with all the theatrics that entails. Both are
Downing Street has just confirmed that the Prime Minister will be asking the Queen to prorogue parliament ahead of a new Queen’s Speech on 14 October. In a letter sent to MPs this morning, Boris Johnson claims that this is a move designed to put a fresh domestic programme before Parliament, writing: ‘I therefore intend