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.
One of the reasons this seems to be the happiest Labour Party conference in a long time is that there is very little conflict between the two very different factions in the party. Before the snap election, it seemed as though Labour was going to split – or at least that what was left of
Oh, how wonderfully hilarious: Labour conference has a safe space. It’s exactly what you’d expect from a Party now led by eccentric former rebel backbenchers who’d probably still rather be making jam in peace in Islington, isn’t it? I ventured into the room marked ‘safe space’ in the Brighton Centre this week, half expecting to
If you wanted a clue to how much the Labour Party has changed over the past few years, you wouldn’t have had to sit through much more than the first few lines of John McDonnell’s conference speech. He started it with the words ‘I’d like to thank Ken Loach for that wonderful film’. Loach hasn’t
The Labour Party is starting this conference season in its most confident mood for years – even though it still isn’t in government. It’s not just the confidence of the party’s leader as he makes demands on public spending which would previously have been dismissed, but also what MPs and activists are now calling for
One of the daily rituals in British politics at the moment is each of the main parties sending out press releases about how ‘hopelessly divided’ the other is on Brexit. There are so many facets on which politicians can bicker that this ritual won’t end with the negotiations, or the transition period (however long that
Have you heard the one about the new Labour MP who refuses to be friends with Tories? When Laura Pidcock dropped into an interview with a left-wing website that she has ‘absolutely no intention of being friends with’ any Tories, she was surprised by the fuss that followed. It might have seemed odd to her,
Have you heard the one about the new Labour MP who refuses to be friends with Tories? When Laura Pidcock dropped into an interview with a left-wing website that she has ‘absolutely no intention of being friends with’ any Tories, she was surprised by the fuss that followed. It might have seemed odd to her,
This week marks two years since Jeremy Corbyn was announced as the Labour leader. When he took over, he promised to shake up the way Prime Minister’s Questions was done, to make it more about the voters and less about the political point-scoring. But interestingly, he has now settled into a rather effective political routine.
One of the most noticeable things about MPs as they amble around Westminster today is how tired so many of them look. They’ve been kept up late the past two nights by unusually long sittings of the House of Commons, with the final three-line whipped votes not taking place before 10pm on both days. On
How are ministers going to deal with the social care crisis? This could be a weekly question on Coffee House for the next few years, along with what is Labour’s policy on Brexit and when will Theresa May decide to stand down. As I wrote last week, the different parties are all claiming they want
We live in a society with a tendency towards liberal intolerance, in which the fury of the mob turns on anyone who dares hold a different belief to the mainstream particularly if they are from an unpopular group such as conservative Christians. But we also live in a society where some people who hold non-mainstream
The Tories are starting their series of U-turns on the public sector pay cap, but after so much see-sawing over whether they would drop the cap or not, the party will get very little political credit for doing so. It now looks as though ministers are yielding to pressure from Labour and Conservative backbenchers, rather
Tonight’s series of votes on the second reading of the EU withdrawal bill are unlikely to be the most spectacular part of its passage through the Commons. MPs have decided in the main to focus on the Committee stage which follows, as this allows Brexit-sceptics to try to force changes to the legislation without being
What a surprise: a government trying to make it easier to get legislation through the House of Commons. Today’s Huffington Post story that Leader of the House Andrea Leadsom is trying to ensure that there is a Tory majority on every committee scrutinising legislation is just the latest example of Theresa May’s government making every
The EU withdrawal bill debate is winding on, with MPs criticising the ‘power grab’ planned by ministers. There won’t be any votes until Monday, and unless something changes, it looks as though the legislation will pass its second reading. Assuming that this is the case, it is much more useful to look at who is
Jeremy Corbyn’s interest in veganism has excited far more interest than is necessary, given most people probably assumed the Labour leader was already a follower of this plant-based diet (in between the odd pleasurable shortbread). It has gone down particularly well with the ‘clean eating’ lobby, who hope that the endorsement of a Labour leader who
What can politicians with socially conservative beliefs expect from public life? Is there now a faith glass ceiling under which lurks would-be party leaders whose views on abortion and homosexuality are just too unpalatable for voters? If there is one, Jacob Rees-Mogg might have a good chance of telling us where it is located. The
The most memorable line from David Davis’s statement on the Brexit negotiations to the Commons was his claim that ‘nobody pretended this would be simple or easy’. MPs who disagree with the Brexit Secretary loved this because quite a few people have made claims to that effect, including Davis and his colleague the International Trade
While the Tory whips are reasonably relaxed about the prospects for the second reading of the EU withdrawal bill, they are already preparing for the row in Committee stage over Henry VIII clauses. The Cabinet discussed the importance of getting the legislation through Parliament when it met this morning, and ministers are aware that these
Tory MPs are very pleased that Number 10 is once again dropping hints that the public sector pay cap will be lifted in the autumn budget. A number of them had spent the summer being chided by nurses and police officers in their constituencies about the discrepancy between MPs’ pay and the eight-year freeze on