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.

Wednesday

Isabel Hardman

Where could Boris stand?

This week's Spectator charts Boris Johnson's return to Parliament - and examines the network of MPs already helping him get there. You'll have to wait till tomorrow to read Harry Mount's piece, but here's a preview, examining where the Mayor could stand as an MP. Boris Johnson has spent an impressively long time dodging questions about whether he is going to stand as an MP in 2015, and where. He manages to do this by pulling a special bewildered face, as if he’s just an innocent chap who finds himself inexplicably in a spot of bother, rather than someone who has been leading everyone on about his political ambitions for far too long. But in the next few weeks, his secret parliamentary campaign team (and there is one) expects him to pick his constituency.

Isabel Hardman

Breaking: Boris Johnson says ‘I will try to stand’ as an MP in 2015

Boris Johnson has just told journalists that he will in 'all probability' stand as an MP in 2015. After his speech on Europe, he was asked whether he would stand, and finally the Mayor chose to drop what he called the 'weasel' method of wriggling about whenever he's asked whether he will go for Parliament or not. He said: 'I might as well be absolutely clear that in all probability I will try to find somewhere to stand in 2015. It is highly likely that I will be unsuccessful in that venture, by the way. You should never underestimate the possibility of things going badly wrong, but I will try that but one thing is absolutely clear, I will serve out my mandate here in London.

Isabel Hardman

Labour and the ‘Tory lie machine’

Sajid Javid is giving a speech today that doesn't seem to have a great deal to do with his brief as Culture Secretary. He's also a pretty good Tory attack dog, and his address to the Centre for Policy Studies will focus on Labour's 'basic instinct' to spend and a warning that this instinct would leave Britain £500bn worse off. It's not so much the speech itself from the Culture Secretary that's interesting, but the reaction from the Labour Party. Chris Leslie has said: 'These numbers have been totally made up. Labour has not set out any plans for extra capital spending after the election, so this is just another example of the Tory lie machine in action.' Leslie then criticises the Coalition's ability to stick to its own fiscal rules, and repeats Labour's own commitments.

Tuesday

Isabel Hardman

Tory minister: Govt ‘failure’ on Gaza is sowing seeds of General Election defeat

[audioplayer src="http://traffic.libsyn.com/spectator/TheViewFrom22_07_August_2014_v4.mp3" title="Douglas Murray and Tim Stanley discuss Baroness Warsi's resignation" startat=462] Listen [/audioplayer]One of the risks of Sayeeda Warsi's resignation was that it would encourage other ministers uneasy about the government's response to the situation in Gaza to break ranks. She is certainly trying to encourage that by alleging that other Foreign Office ministers have been uneasy with the decisions being taken recently. But I've just spoken to another Tory minister who is unhappy, and worried particularly about the effects that this will have on the Conservatives' chances next year.

Isabel Hardman

Baroness Warsi’s resignation letter: the key points

[audioplayer src="http://traffic.libsyn.com/spectator/TheViewFrom22_07_August_2014_v4.mp3" title="Douglas Murray and Tim Stanley discuss Baroness Warsi's resignation" startat=462] Listen [/audioplayer]Now that Baroness Warsi has revealed her letter to the Prime Minister in which she resigns over Gaza, here are the key criticisms that she levels at the government. They are notably not just about Operation Protective Edge and the British government's response to it. She doesn't resign until the penultimate paragraph, after a long letter that is clearly designed to cause maximum damage. 1. British policy in the Middle East generally is 'morally indefensible'.

Isabel Hardman

Baroness Warsi resigns

[audioplayer src="http://traffic.libsyn.com/spectator/TheViewFrom22_07_August_2014_v4.mp3" title="Douglas Murray and Tim Stanley discuss Baroness Warsi's resignation" startat=462] Listen [/audioplayer]After disagreeing with the Prime Minister on a great deal for a great while, Baroness Warsi has this morning resigned from the government, citing its position on Gaza. She tweeted a few minutes ago: With deep regret I have this morning written to the Prime Minister & tendered my resignation. I can no longer support Govt policy on #Gaza — Sayeeda Warsi (@SayeedaWarsi) August 5, 2014 There had been a concerted campaign in the Conservative party from senior figures with a great deal of influence to get Warsi moved.

Isabel Hardman

Osborne’s choice: important projects or welfare

George Osborne can't quite help himself. Today he's continuing his Northern charm offensive, which has been impressively choreographed. He gave a speech back in June in which he said he wanted to create a 'Northern powerhouse', involving cities working together. Just a few weeks later, a group of councils in the North pops up with a plan to improve transport links across the region. Ta da! But the Chancellor couldn't quite resist, when he was asked about the merits of this plan on the Today programme, making another strategic, political move, and linking welfare spending to the debate about regenerating the North.

Monday

Isabel Hardman

Why the Miliband wreath row is unfair and unseemly

So Ed Miliband is in trouble with some angry people over whether or not he took enough trouble over signing a remembrance wreath. Here is the offending wreath, on the right besides the Prime Minister's which bears a personal message. Messages on the wreaths laid by David Cameron and Ed Miliband. #WW1Centenary #c4news pic.twitter.com/gDNMxvc2tQ — Ciaran Jenkins (@C4Ciaran) August 4, 2014   Mark Ferguson at LabourList reports Labour sources saying they were just handed the wreath at the very last minute, and had no chance to add a personal message. Nick Clegg's wreath was similarly bland.

Isabel Hardman

Is David Cameron still afraid of Brexit?

Boris Johnson's speech this week is one of the few domestic issues really animating Westminster. He will argue that the UK should not be 'frightened' of leaving the EU, supposedly in contrast to David Cameron, who has always made clear that he wants to remain in the bloc. But it's worth remembering that Cameron himself has started to shift recently on how he'd vote in the 2017 referendum. When he returned to the Commons after losing his fight against Jean-Claude Juncker's bid to become President of the European Commission, Cameron changed his language on that vote.

Monday

Isabel Hardman

Stephen Dorrell: The NHS still has plenty to learn

If anyone thought Stephen Dorrell would take a break from talking about health after standing down as chairman of the House of Commons health select committee, they were quite wrong. The Spectator finds him in his Portcullis House office preparing to give a speech to the think tank Reform — his first since quitting the post — on how to make the health system better at delivering social care. He has no intention of leaving the NHS alone, even though he’s no longer leading the group of MPs whose job it is to scrutinise health policy. But, strangely, he stumbles when asked if he’s proud of the NHS. ‘Pride is a funny thing,’ he says carefully.

Friday

Isabel Hardman

Exclusive: Senior Tory backbenchers to push Cameron further on Europe

Key eurosceptic MPs are planning to push David Cameron further on his plans for European reform next week, Coffee House has learned. Leading members of a powerful group of right-wing Conservative MPs, who meet regularly to discuss strategy, will call on the Prime Minister to set out more detail on giving power back to Parliament and his plans for reform. 'The ECHR isn't enough,' says one source. 'We need to hear more detail from the Prime Minister and we will ask for that as soon as next week.

Thursday

Isabel Hardman

Reshuffle 2014: where is the radicalism?

One of the more dispiriting things about this reshuffle has been the way in which important policy areas appear to have been downgraded. This week's leading article in The Spectator lambasts the decision to move Michael Gove from Education, arguing that it means his reforms will slow and future politicians will still be able to criticise the number of Old Etonians in the Cabinet: The Prime Minister and his coterie embody the problem. Gove was out to fix it, fighting a battle on behalf of the state school pupils -a battle that even Thatcher shied away from. Cameron has now decided that he’d rather this battle was not fought. His decision to abandon this battle and move Gove to become Chief Whip puts party before pupils.

Isabel Hardman

Tories to keep Gove on tight leash

Why is Michael Gove a minister for the Today programme when he was removed as Education Secretary because of his poor poll ratings? This paradox has amused some in Westminster, but it's not quite as confusing as it seems. I hear that the new chief whip and enhanced Conservative campaigner will not be given quite such a free rein as it might seem. Indeed, those at the centre of the party are acutely aware of the dangers of sending out a man who already likes to have his say on many things that had nothing to do with education. They think that by bringing him into the centre, they can better control his outbursts.

Isabel Hardman

Andrew Lansley’s international role in public service remains a mystery

Coffee House apologises unreservedly for keeping readers in suspense for two days about Andrew Lansley's mysterious international role in public service. Yesterday, Number 10 did tell us that discussions were 'ongoing', which could suggest advisers are still discussing what on earth they could give to the ex-minister. His valedictory letter may have been the first that Downing Street had heard about this international role in public service. But today William Hague gave us a further glimmer of hope when he paid tribute to his predecessor as Leader of the House. He said: 'I would also like to thank my predecessor as leader of the House, my right honourable friend the member for South Cambridgeshire… I wish him well for the future and a continuing major contribution to public life.

Wednesday

Isabel Hardman

Reshuffle 2014: the fallout

New ministers are marching through the corridors of power today with the special 'I mean business' walk that denotes an MP who finally has a job they consider important. Meanwhile in Portcullis House, old ministers are trundling about with the sort of gait that denotes a newly sacked, bewildered MP hoping that at the very least they'll get a decent office with a good view of the Thames as compensation. As the dust settles from this reshuffle, all sorts of rumours are flying around about who is angry and humiliated after losing their job (e.g. Andrew Lansley and Owen Paterson) or after not being offered the plum promotion they'd wanted (Liam Fox).

Isabel Hardman

Tories vs Labour tax row continues

Labour has now reviewed the Harriet Harman interview on LBC in which she said 'I think people on middle incomes should contribute more through their taxes' and concluded that she wasn't calling for the squeezed middle to pay more in tax than it currently is. Very few people can honestly say they are able to make crystal clear assertions in every broadcast appearance they make, but Harman, had she had any idea that CCHQ was listening to her interview, hoping for something juicy, could have clarified what she meant by adding 'than those on low incomes' to 'I think people on middle incomes should contribute more through their taxes' so that the Tories couldn't suggest that she meant 'than they currently do at the moment'.

Isabel Hardman

Reshuffle 2014: How will Labour attack?

How will Ed Miliband deploy the reshuffle at Prime Minister's Questions today? The Labour leader may not use it as his main theme, but he has plenty of elements from yesterday's surprisingly big shake-up to work with. He could probe on just how good a reshuffle this has been for equality. Most of the focus is on gender equality, but some appointments yesterday were about more than just the ladies in waiting for a Cabinet post. Stephen Crabb, for instance, was raised by a single parent in a council house, although there seems to be more interest in his minority status as a bearded Cabinet minister.

Tuesday

Isabel Hardman

Andrew Lansley, international man of mystery

Earlier today, Andrew Lansley was just very cross. He wasn't Leader of the House anymore, and he wasn't the UK's nomination for European Commissioner. But in a few hours, the former Health Secretary has gone from just being grumpy to being an international man of mystery. Read his exchange of letters with David Cameron on his departure from the government - and the end of his parliamentary career. I have emphasised a particular point of interest in each. FROM ANDREW LANSLEY: Dear Prime Minister, For nearly nine years, I have been a member of your Shadow Cabinet and Cabinet. This has been a great privilege and I am grateful to you for this.

Isabel Hardman

David Cameron’s cosmetic exercise bemuses the Tories

Today's reshuffle has been largely about cosmetic improvements to the Conservative party — not just through the promotion of female MPs, but also by neutralising certain policy areas such as education and planning reform that had antagonised some groups. But an important element in any changing of the guard is party management, and not just managing cross sacked ministers. So how has the Conservative party reacted to today's events? Naturally, all Tory MPs are as startled as everyone else by Michael Gove's departure. But it does make sense to them.