Isabel Hardman

Isabel Hardman

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.

Labour MPs advised on personal safety after pro-Corbyn demo

From our UK edition

The demonstration in support of Jeremy Corbyn is starting to dissipate, but Labour MPs have this evening been contacted by their whips to advise them on their personal safety as they leave Parliament after the late votes. They have been advised on what entrances are being kept open for their safety, and told that anyone who is worried should contact the Serjeant at Arms. Labourites are particularly annoyed that their party's whips have had to send this message to them given they confronted Jeremy Corbyn at the parliamentary Labour party meeting this evening over the behaviour of the grassroots group Momentum. Ian Murray received a big cheer for telling him to 'call off the dogs', and Jess Phillips also accused Momentum of stirring up anti-Zionist sentiment.

Labour makes a mess of holding the Government to account as Parliament returns

From our UK edition

Even when Britain has just voted to leave the European Union, Commons business must go on. And so this afternoon the first item on the agenda in the Chamber was not the statement from the Prime Minister on Brexit and his own resignation, but Defence questions.   This should have been awkward for the Government, which is in chaos at the moment. But instead it was awkward for Labour, whose newly-appointed Shadow Defence Secretary Clive Lewis was unable to get back to Westminster from the Glastonbury Festival in time. Despite kind offers to help from supportive friends of Jeremy Corbyn, Emily Thornberry stepped into the breach instead, telling the Chamber that this was her last questions before moving on.

Jeremy Corbyn is going to fight to the bitter end

From our UK edition

Despite the rolling programme of frontbench resignations in the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn is clearly planning to fight to the bitter end. Labour sources are repeatedly insisting that he will definitely be on the ballot paper in a new contest, and referring to the mandate he has already been handed by members. A Corbynite source said: 'We are not going to betray that trust by dumping the democracy of the Labour party if there is a leadership challenge. 'The only way that the leadership of the party will change will be if the members decide that.' The reason Corbyn is staying put is because he still believes that the membership is behind him and that a coup by MPs will enrage those members.

New Tory leader in place by 2 September

From our UK edition

Senior Tories have decided that their new party leader will be confirmed by 2 September, which means that the timetable for the leadership contest will be very short indeed. The decision was taken for a short, sharp battle so that there was as little uncertainty about the government as possible. This means that nominations for the race will close at noon on Thursday, which gives the candidates very little time to get their bids together. Votes will take place every Tuesday and Thursday until the party produces the two candidates that will be taken to the party membership, which means that Conservatives will be voting on who their new Prime Minister is from their yachts in the Mediterranean.

Oliver Letwin to lead government Brexit unit

From our UK edition

Funnily enough, today’s Cabinet meeting was rather dominated by a discussion on the result of the EU referendum. The majority of the ‘serious’ 90 minute meeting was taken up by that small matter, though ministers were also briefed by the head of MI5 and by Oliver Letwin on implementing other manifesto promises, such as the seven-day NHS and building more homes. The main announcement from the meeting is the creation of a new unit in the Cabinet Office that will work on the ground work for Brexit.

Jexit: running tally of Labour frontbench resignations

From our UK edition

Jeremy Corbyn has insisted he is staying put, despite a vote of no confidence from Labour MPs passing by a big majority. Frontbenchers have now been resigning one after since Sunday 26th June to show that they want Corbyn out. And moments after the party leader issued a statement to say he was staying put, the latest round of resignations were announced. Here's our full tally of who has stepped down from the shadow cabinet: Monday 4th July: Fabian Hamilton, the shadow Europe minister has stepped down from the Labour frontbench. Thursday 30th June: 3.30pm Rob Marris quits during a bill committee. The shadow Treasury secretary said he wanted to raise a point of order during which he announced his decision to quit.

Jeremy Corbyn vows to fight on after day of resignations

From our UK edition

Jeremy Corbyn's enemies in the Labour party had hoped that the leader would do the 'decent thing' and stand down after the day-long programme of frontbench resignations had made it clear that he will not be able to run an effective opposition. But this evening he has made it clear that he doesn't agree with this assessment of the state of his frontbench, releasing a statement that says he will carry out a reshuffle tomorrow, and fight on. You can read the full statement below. What it means is that the coup against the Labour leader will have to be brutal and will likely involve a motion of no confidence being passed by the Parliamentary Labour Party. What happens next depends on who you listen to.

Tom Watson breaks silence over Labour turmoil 

From our UK edition

Freshly returned from Glastonbury, Tom Watson has spoken out about today's turmoil in the Labour Party. The Deputy Leader has said he was 'extremely disappointed' to see Hilary Benn sacked and 'equally saddened' by the departure of so many colleagues from the Shadow Cabinet. He added, ominously, that tomorrow he will meet Jeremy Corbyn to discuss the 'way forward'. Watson does not give any indication of whether he believes that the way forward involves Corbyn as leader, though his sentiments about his colleagues leaving the front bench suggest that he isn't going to join the Corbyn camp in vowing to fight on as things are.

Senior Tories push for longer leadership contest

From our UK edition

The Tory leadership contest is looking decidedly sedate compared with the ructions in the Labour party this morning. But tomorrow the 1922 Committee Executive will meet to discuss the timetable and rules for the battle to replace David Cameron as Tory leader and Prime Minister. As I report in the Observer today, senior Tories are concerned that the timetable that Cameron sketched out in his resignation statement on Friday morning is actually rather tight, and are pushing for the contest to take longer. Liam Fox echoed this on the Sunday Politics, telling Andrew Neil that he favoured the contest going on until November.

‘He’s a good and decent man, but he is not a leader’: the Labour coup is on

From our UK edition

With the sacking of Hilary Benn from the Shadow Cabinet, we have reached open hostilities in the Labour party. The former Shadow Foreign Secretary has just told the Andrew Marr Show that there is ‘never an ideal time’ and that Jeremy Corbyn is a ‘good and decent man, but he is not a leader’. The Corbyn camp are hunkering down, merely thanking those who have left the Shadow Cabinet. But Labour MPs who have been preparing for this for months are now ready to go over the top. They believe that their membership has shifted and that even signed-up Corbynistas are now disappointed and horrified that Britain has voted to leave the European Union and that their party was unable to stop that.

Will Jeremy Corbyn step down as Labour leader?

From our UK edition

Jeremy Corbyn is giving a speech this morning about Labour’s response to the EU referendum. Rumours have been sweeping the party overnight that the Labour leader will use the event to step down and hand over the reins to John McDonnell, who has been on manoeuvres for months. But aides deny that this will happen today. Nevertheless, there must be recognition in the Corbyn team that the situation is pretty precarious. The lengthy Shadow Cabinet meeting yesterday wasn’t as furious as some other parts of the parliamentary Labour party might have hoped, but some members are discussing resigning en masse to trigger a change at the top of the party.

Labour MPs table no confidence motion in Jeremy Corbyn

From our UK edition

In the past few minutes, two Labour MPs - Margaret Hodge and Ann Coffey - have submitted a motion of no confidence in Jeremy Corbyn. This is not a surprise given how angry the parliamentary party was after last night’s referendum results in its heartlands, but it now depends on whether their parliamentary colleagues have enough confidence to speak in its favour at a discussion at the parliamentary Labour party meeting on Monday, and then to back it in a secret ballot of the parliamentary party the following day. It is not yet clear whether the rebels, who have been preparing for this for a while, yet have the numbers. And even if they do, Corbyn's side believe he would automatically make the ballot paper in a new leadership contest. UPDATE, 12.

Leaked: Labour’s script responding to its terrible referendum result

From our UK edition

As Katy reported earlier, Labour has prepared a script that attempts to exonerate Jeremy Corbyn for the party’s terrible night in its heartlands in this referendum. I have now been leaked that script, which MPs are expected to use from 6am, and it makes rather entertaining reading. The best line is the following: ‘Jeremy Corbyn has showed that he is far closer to the centre of gravity of the British public than other politicians. He is now the only politician who can unite a divided country, as he can speak to both sides.’ It also says that ‘Jeremy is uniquely placed as a critical remainer. He understands why people voted to leave, he understood people’s criticisms of Europe - and is the only leader of a major party in Britain to whom that applies’.

Expenses watchdog speeds up extra security for MPs after outcry

From our UK edition

As reported yesterday on Coffee House, MPs have been incredibly frustrated by the response of parliamentary spending watchdog Ipsa to their requests for extra security measures following the murder of Jo Cox. This afternoon Ipsa's chair Ruth Evans has written to MPs saying the regulator will 'review and accelerate' the process of approving applications for security funding, acknowledging that there have been complaints about how it is working at the moment. If Ipsa is able to speed up its approvals process, this will come as a huge relief to those MPs who are understandably nervous about their own vulnerability to copy cat attacks following Cox's death.

What next for Ukip after the EU referendum?

From our UK edition

For someone who has spent his whole life building up to the referendum, Nigel Farage has had a rather patchy campaign. On the one hand, he has performed reasonably well in his TV question time slot, exceeding the expectations of those in the Leave camp who were dismayed that ITV had signed up the Ukip leader to its referendum programme. But on the other, he has unveiled a poster that bears striking similarities to ones used by the Nazis and has been shunned by the official Leave campaign. Today, the Ukip leader gave his final speech of a campaign that he has spent his political life pushing for. At one point, as he brandished a passport, he said ‘this is the last time in this campaign I’m going to do this’. He has finally got here. https://soundcloud.

Worried MPs call for expenses watchdog to be stripped of security role

From our UK edition

Exasperated MPs have called for their security to be taken out of the hands of their expenses watchdog Ipsa after struggling to install additional protection at their homes and constituency offices following the death of Jo Cox. Coffee House is aware of a number of battles between MPs of all parties and Ipsa over approval for the installation of additional locks and intruder alarms. Some MPs are particularly frustrated to have been told that it will take two weeks for the regulator to approve their spending applications, when they are worried about an imminent threat now. None wanted to speak on the record. One MP said: ‘My constituency office is currently completely unprotected.

David Cameron uses Downing Street to say ‘Brits don’t quit’

From our UK edition

David Cameron has just given a rather bizarre statement in Downing Street pleading with voters to back Remain on Thursday. It was rather bizarre firstly because it didn’t contain anything new at all, and was just a restatement of the case for staying in the bloc, and secondly because it was in Downing Street, which is government property. The guidance from the Cabinet Office states that: ‘Government property should not be used for campaigning. Requests from campaigning groups to use government buildings for campaign purposes must be declined.’ Number 10 sources say that the clear guidance from officials was that this statement was within the rules. And Vote Leave sources say that ‘the Prime Minister said nothing new. There’s nothing to respond to’.

Pumped-up Cameron takes pummelling on immigration 

From our UK edition

David Cameron put in a confident, passionate performance tonight in his Question Time grilling. At one point the Prime Minister broke into a forceful rant about Winston Churchill deciding to carry on fighting the war, arguing that Britain shouldn't quit now, either. It was clearly planned, in fact Cameron rather have the impression that someone in a remote control tower had flicked a switch and turned him into Passionate Orator Mode, a mode so unstoppable that he kept talking over David Dimbleby until he had finished his little speech. It was like a more pumped-up version of the 'that's what pumps me up' speech of the General Election. This might have been satisfying for the Prime Minister to deliver, and for his confirmed supporters to watch.

Why MPs will keep holding surgeries, even if they’re in danger

From our UK edition

‘If you’ve got water coming in through the roof then they should be doing something about that,’ says Stephen Timms mildly to one of his constituents. The East Ham MP is sitting in the middle of a long row of tables in the Town Hall, flanked by two caseworkers, each seeing a member of the public who has a problem they hope their MP can solve. Timms had kindly invited me to sit in on one of his surgeries months ago. I’m currently criss-crossing the country watching politicians of all political persuasions carry out their regular constituency work for a book that I’m writing on what MPs really do - and whether they’re the right sort of politicians.