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.
In Glasgow, it’s difficult not to conclude that the ‘Yes’ camp has the momentum in these final few days. There are ‘No’ badges, posters and flags around the city, but they’re drowned out by the number of ‘Yes’ posters, and the excitement that ‘Yes’ events are creating. Last night I visited a perfectly jolly ‘Yes’
I’ve just watched a passionate, informed debate about politics taking place on a street corner between three ordinary people. I’ve never seen that before. I should be thrilled, but instead I’m not. Why? That debate followed the first bad language and bad feeling I’ve personally witnessed while following campaigners from both sides of the Scottish
I’ve just spent a couple of hours on the Burnhill estate in Rutherglen watching a group of Labour ‘No’ campaigners knock on the doors of voters to find out how they’ll be voting on Thursday. Burnhill is a tidy estate of mostly social housing and a Labour council ward. The local Labour MP Tom Greatrex
Here’s a clever poster from the ‘Yes’ campaign. It was handed to me by an activist outside Glasgow Central Station who was asking people if they wanted ‘more information for the referendum’. She wasn’t wearing any Yes badges, and the outside of the leaflet doesn’t give the game away either: And inside there is still
The Lib Dems have just launched the final leg of their campaign against Scottish independence, which is a poster van with Charles Kennedy’s head emblazoned across it and three of the United Kingdom’s greatest achievements: the NHS, the pound and the BBC. It’s part of their ‘sunshine strategy’ to talk up the benefits of the
The three Westminster leaders have made their promise. On the front page of the Daily Record, they all sign up to a vow that includes new powers for the Scottish Parliament, the continuation of the Barnett formula, and a promise that the Scottish Parliament will have the last word on health spending, and on keeping
David Cameron has just delivered one of the best speeches of his career in Aberdeen. It was emotional, sincere, clear. The Prime Minister pleaded with Scots to stay in the United Kingdom. It ranged from warnings that this would be a permanent separation – ‘when people vote on Thursday they are not just voting for
Why, in the final few days of campaigning, are both sides in the Scottish independence referendum becoming obsessed with bullying and media bias? Shouldn’t they use their valuable airtime making the case for the Union, or for independence, or rebutting claims by the other side about the NHS? Today Alistair Darling said that ‘Scotland will
Just a few days now until it’s all over, and those against Scottish independence are trying every option. David Beckham has written of the ‘common bond’ between English and Scottish sportsmen, the Queen has offered as much of an intervention as is possible when she is remaining officially neutral, while David Cameron is going from
Who will be relieved and reassured when they read this weekend’s polls on how Thursday’s independence referendum will go? Well, it looks like neither camp has much to celebrate as the polls are all over the place – which means that anything could happen in just a few days’ time. So here’s what we know
Unsurprisingly, Uxbridge and South Ruislip Conservatives picked Boris Johnson last night as their parliamentary candidate for the 2015 election. Boris has a 11,216 majority to defend, but that’s only the start of the work he needs to do. His supporters are well aware that before the Mayor can ever throw his hat into that leadership
Anyone who thinks that the latest YouGov poll on Scottish independence, which shows the ‘No’ camp with a six-point lead over ‘Yes’ at 52 per cent to 48 per cent (once don’t-knows are excluded) is getting a little ahead of themselves. It is significant that this is the same pollster who sent Westminster into panic
Even when it is at peace, the Conservative party deals in hypotheticals all of which involve David Cameron being ousted in one way or another. That’s why backbenchers have been wargaming what will happen to David Cameron if Scotland votes ‘Yes’ next week. It’s why 1922 Committee executive members have been calling fellow MPs, or
Alex Salmond gave a very good speech earlier today about why Scots should vote for independence. It was full of the sort of emotion and rhetoric that the ‘No’ campaign is only now beginning to summon in the final few days of campaigning. He said: ‘A ‘Yes’ vote is about building something better. It is
It is very difficult to see how David Cameron would survive a ‘Yes’ vote in the Scottish referendum. There are certainly Conservatives who are making detailed plans to oust the Prime Minister if Scotland does vote to leave. But it is also worth noting that a ‘No’ vote would not ensure an easy ride for
A little later today, MPs will move from discussing ‘Ukraine, Middle East, North Africa and Security’, a debate title that shows how dreadful the international scene is at the moment, to discussing the governance of the House of Commons. This, for those who had been distracted from the issue by other less important matters, is
While Westminster sent its own plea to Scottish voters, David Cameron and Ed Miliband were both making fine, impassioned speeches that both tried to scotch the SNP line that a ‘Yes’ vote was the only way to achieve a fairer Scotland. David Cameron had to address to specific – and quite beguiling – argument that
PMQs was an odd affair today, and not just because there was no PM. It was more that William Hague and Harriet Harman, left in charge while their respective leaders try to save the Union, didn’t really do a question time at all. Their entire exchange was one speech pleading with the Scots to stay,
Jean-Claude Juncker clearly appreciated that high-five David Cameron gave him in Brussels recently: he’s appointed Lord Hill to a sizeable economic portfolio as the UK’s European Commissioner. The full list of jobs, published here, is being billed as a ‘strong and experienced team standing for change’, and Hill, who Juncker reportedly had to google, takes the
There’s nothing wrong with a bit of last minute pressure to concentrate the mind, if it produces the right sort of results. The problem is that the pressure of the last few days of the Scottish independence referendum seems to be getting to a lot of the coolest Westminster politicians. Alistair Darling sounded genuinely unsettled