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.
When Justin Welby spoke to the Parliamentary press gallery today, he took great care to emphasise a number of points. One was about the influence the Church of England has in public debate, and the other was about the church’s influence in local communities and the strength of its connections in those communities. He didn’t
It’s been a while since David Cameron had to give such a difficult feedback statement to the House of Commons after a European summit. Even his last tricky address, on his failure to block Jean-Claude Juncker as president of the European Commission, could at least be spun as the Prime Minister valiantly standing up for
Kelly Tolhurst has won the open primary to be Conservative candidate for Rochester and Strood, I understand. The result is not due to be announced until this evening, but I hear that Tolhurst won by fewer than 50 votes on a turnout of 4,000. The turnout is the key in this as it will give
One of the bits of their Parliamentary party meeting this week that cheered Conservative MPs the most was a speech by Tracey Crouch on why the Tories could win the Rochester and Strood by-election. Many of her colleagues who like to spend their spare time staring at spreadsheets are sincerely worried that the party could
One of the few things that brought real joy at the Lib Dem conference last week was the party passing a football policy that included a lament about the sport’s focus on winning and the danger of an influx of overseas investment into the hugely successful Premier League. But the Labour party clearly thought that
This week has gone much better for Labour than many of its MPs thought it would. They started the week in very poor form indeed, grumpy after a bad conference, bruised after the narrow Heywood and Middleton result, and braced for good jobs figures to be published shortly before a very challenging PMQs. But the
Is Number 10 really preparing for a U-turn on the European Arrest Warrant? After Coffee House reported some odd manoeuvres by chief whip Michael Gove involving him suggesting to Tory MPs that it might be better for the government not to opt back into the EAW, the topic came up at this afternoon’s lobby briefing.
Is David Cameron about to announce emergency controls on European jobseekers or a points-based system on EU migration? The Times and the Sun both splashed on these ideas today (after Coffee House first revealed Cameron had promised a ‘big bang’ policy to Tory MPs, then led some of them to believe that he could introduce
Tory chief whip Michael Gove has been calling round MPs to suggest that it might be better if Britain does not opt back into the European Arrest Warrant, Coffee House has learned. Gove is aware that there will be a significant rebellion on the opt-in, with some estimating that around 50 Tory MPs already plan
Whatever David Cameron’s promised ‘big bang’ announcement on immigration in the EU is, it has certainly excited Conservative backbenchers. A group of them confronted him this afternoon to ask whether Britain would be moving to a points-based system for EU migration along the lines of Australia (something Ukip advocates), and they say that he did
Lord Freud has apologised for suggesting that disabled people were not ‘worth’ the minimum wage. He said: ‘I would like to offer a full and unreserved apology. I was foolish to accept the premise of the question. To be clear, all disabled people should be paid at least the minimum wage, without exception, and I
Labour clearly scent blood with Lord Freud’s comments about disabled people not being ‘worth’ the full minimum wage. They knew their first PMQs back would be difficult after their own poor conference, but when Freud made his comments, they must have been thrilled that they could bank something for this session. And it worked. You
Jeremy Browne, the Lib Dem former Home Office minister, has just announced that he is to stand down as an MP at the general election: https://twitter.com/JeremyBrowneMP/status/522358307751985152 This may be because Taunton Deane would have been difficult to hold, though I understand the MP’s own private polling had told him that he was on course to
Being excluded from the TV debates has been the best thing that could possibly happen to the Greens, it seems. Already over 100,000 people have signed a petition calling for the party to be included, and their membership in England reached 21,000 this week. Natalie Bennett and Caroline Lucas have enjoyed more media exposure than
The Tories will announce a big new policy on freedom of movement in the European Union, David Cameron told his MPs tonight. At a meeting of the Parliamentary party, the Tory leader promised what one Eurosceptic attendee described as a ‘big bang’ announcement on freedom of movement. Apparently this pleased those there no end, even
As the Commons debate on devolution gets underway, the three parties have set out their positions on English votes for English laws. The Tories are adamant that this principle needs to be solved, but have accepted that they cannot link it to greater devolution to Scotland. The Lib Dems agree that parliament must address the
Alex Salmond was on Today this morning, muttering darkly about a new betrayal of Scottish voters from Westminster leaders. He was looking ahead to this afternoon’s debate on Scotland, where MPs will among other things, discuss the new plans for further devolution promised by leaders in their ‘vow’. Chances are though that the debate will
The Tories may have watched Douglas Carswell’s re-entry into the House of Commons in silence, but he seems to be getting a reasonably warm reception from his old colleagues behind the scenes. He has already exchanged jokes and arranged to dine and drink with a number of them. For a few weeks this will send
Douglas Carswell has just re-entered the House of Commons as a Ukip MP. Nigel Farage was in the peers’ gallery to watch his first elected MP take his seat. So were many Tory MPs, who watched Carswell walk through the Chamber in deadly silence. If Mark Reckless does win the Rochester by-election, how to receive
The broadcasters’ proposals for the TV debates have not gone down particularly well in many quarters of Westminster. David Cameron, who has been trying to avoid the issue for as long as possible, claimed today that he has ‘always been in favour of TV debates’, even though he’s not really in favour of any debates