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

Leaked memo suggests ministers could accept Raab deportation call

From our UK edition

Though the PM and whips have been in a tizz about Nigel Mills' amendment to the Immigration Bill, it's Dominic Raab's call to narrow the grounds for appeal in the deportation of foreign criminals that could cause real problems in tomorrow afternoon's debate. There is a chance that it could pass, while the Mills amendment can just be notched up as an embarrassing rebellion. But do ministers really need to reject the amendment at all? In March, Theresa May told the Prime Minister that the same clause, originally tacked to the Crime and Courts Bill, 'would be incompatible with the ECHR and counter-productive' because the European Court of Human Rights would 'most probably issue a rule 39 injunction' that prevented deportation until the issue was resolved by the Court.

Tuesday

Isabel Hardman

Govt deal means UK will accept Syrian refugees

From our UK edition

As expected, the government has changed its stance on Syrian refugees this evening ahead of what had looked to be a difficult vote in the House of Commons tomorrow. Nick Clegg has just announced that the UK will now offer refuge to vulnerable Syrians such as women and girls who have experienced or are at risk of sexual violence, the elderly, survivors of torture and disabled people. This will only likely equate to a few hundred, but there will be no quota for the number of refugees the UK takes. Clegg said this evening: 'The Coalition Government wants to play our part in helping to alleviate the immense suffering in Syria. The £600m we have provided makes us the second largest bilateral donor of humanitarian aid in the world.

Isabel Hardman

Exclusive: David Cameron holds crisis talks with MPs over Immigration Bill

From our UK edition

David Cameron has been summoning Tory backbenchers to Number 10 today to personally persuade them not to back an amendment to the Immigration Bill that would reintroduce controls on Bulgarian and Romanian migrants. I have learned that a number of possible waverers who could be persuaded to change their mind and drop their support for Nigel Mills' amendment have been called to Downing Street as part of a serious whipping operation by the government. The whips and party leadership have also been trying out a number of unusual tactics to minimise Thursday's rebellion: 1.

Isabel Hardman

Tories demand immigration investigation into Labour campaign guru

From our UK edition

Gurus are dangerous beasts in politics mainly because they tend to say awkward things (something Ed Miliband, who has Lord Glasman as his on-off guru, can attest to more than others). But the row over Arnie Graf's immigration status, sparked by the Sun's front page today, shows that gurus are dangerous in many, many ways. Like the Church of England discovering it was investing in Wonga while also crusading against it, it's surprising that the Labour party didn't think to make sure all was tickety-boo on the immigration status front before launching a tougher strategy in this area. Still, it has given the Conservative attack machine something to do, with Priti Patel writing to the UK Border Agency to demand an investigation into whether Graf is working here illegally.

Isabel Hardman

George Osborne: Labour is ‘anti-the British people’

From our UK edition

Quite naturally, there were rather more Conservative than Labour MPs in the House of Commons for Treasury Questions this morning. And quite naturally, George Osborne and colleagues on the Treasury front bench spent most of the session goading their Labour opponents about this morning's growth figures. Deputy Chief Whip Greg Hands and Ed Balls had a wonderful extended session of heckling one another across the Chamber as the exchanges went on, with Hands mocking Balls' flatlining gesture. Other MPs, though, were kept waiting rather longer to do what they'd turned up to do: jeer the Shadow Chancellor when he eventually stood up. But when he eventually stood up, 50 minutes into the session, the Conservative benches went wild with roars.

Isabel Hardman

Today’s GDP figures are useful ammunition for the Conservatives

From our UK edition

That the UK economy grew by 0.7 per cent in the final three months of 2013, leading to the fastest growth annually since the financial crisis, is obviously very good news for the Coalition. The quarter-by-quarter figures have zig-zagged, but the overall growth for 2013 is 1.9 per cent over the year, which is the most important figure. These GDP figures from the ONS, published this morning, enable David Cameron to say that this is further evidence of the Coalition's 'long-term economic plan' succeeding, and use the new Tory buzzword,‘security’. And though the economy is still 1.

Isabel Hardman

Strong sympathy for Tory rebel deportation call

From our UK edition

How will the row over the Immigration Bill pan out? Number 10 was trying to be as emollient as possible yesterday, saying it would look at all amendments, while I understand that Dominic Raab's deportation amendment has strong private support at Cabinet level. Ministers do, though, understand that Theresa May is starting to worry that she won't get her Bill through the House of Commons and House of Lords in time for it to become an Act, and so are leaving her be on the deportation side of things, but there could still be a scenario where PPSs demand to be able to support it, as they did last time. It is difficult to find anyone in the Conservative party who doesn't support it (although Ken Clarke is keeping quiet).

Monday

Isabel Hardman

May promises response on Syrian refugees in next couple of days

From our UK edition

Yvette Cooper chose to focus her attack at Home Office questions on the government's position on Syrian refugees. She continually pushed Theresa May on whether the the Home office would change its position and sign up to the UN's refugee programme. May replied that the United Kingdom has a 'fine record' when it comes to the amount of money it is providing in aid, and has accepted several thousand asylum seekers from Syria. But added that 'I am indeed working with the Foreign Secretary to look at what further support can be provided by this government and further announcements will be made on that in due course.' Cooper pressed further, telling her that a minority of refugees did need extra help.

Isabel Hardman

Former ministers, 1922 chair and Labour grandees back rebel deportation call

From our UK edition

The list of MPs supporting Dominic Raab's amendment on deportation to the Immigration Bill has now been published, and as predicted, it contains some very big names indeed. Andrew Mitchell has signed, along with 1922 Committee chairman Graham Brady, former policing minister Nick Herbert, former justice minister Crispin Blunt, and Labour grandees such as David Blunkett and Hazel Blears. There are currently 104 MPs signed up to support the amendment: the majority of them Conservative. It calls for foreign criminals to only avoid deportation if they risk being killed or tortured on their return. The last time this amendment was due to be debated as part of the Crime and Courts Bill, PPSs demanded to be able to support it without getting into trouble.

Isabel Hardman

PM optimistic about Immigration Bill as rebels stay stubborn

From our UK edition

David Cameron was very upbeat for a Monday morning when he popped up on the Today programme a few minutes ago. Perhaps it was partly down to a not-particularly aggressive interview, or perhaps it was because the Prime Minister wants to continue the theme of his New Year's message and be upbeat about the prospects for the economy and living standards where Labour continues to be pessimistic (that optimism, of course, is easier to find when you decide to release figures showing take home pay improving that do not take into account the effect of benefit cuts or tax rises, but there we go). He repeatedly said he was an optimist, particularly when confronted with Nicky Morgan's comments about the Conservative message.

Sunday

Isabel Hardman

Taking offence and freedom of speech

From our UK edition

The row about Lib Dem candidate Maajid Nawaz continues, with some confusion over whether or not one of his critics has a meeting with the party leadership to discuss the matter. While that unravels a little more, it's worth thinking very briefly about the implications of this row. The protagonists want Nawaz removed as a candidate for Hampstead and Kilburn because he has done something that offends other members of his religion. In doing so, they are arguing that freedom of speech comes with responsibility. Yet oddly, those who make these arguments for curbs on freedom of speech so that no-one gets upset never do so when it comes to their own beliefs. All religious groups benefit from freedom of speech, because their beliefs have the power to offend others.

Isabel Hardman

Ed Balls: Labour’s public spending was not a problem before the crisis

From our UK edition

Ed Balls and Ed Miliband have a funny old approach to convincing voters that they should be handed back the keys to the car. They pen pieces about how tough Labour is on welfare spending and make careful (and carefully-worded) references at every opportunity to their promise not to borrow more for day-to-day spending. The Shadow Chancellor prevaricates over HS2 to give the impression that he's fiscally responsible. He did that again today when he appeared on the Andrew Marr Show, but he also said this: 'But do I think the level of public spending going into the crisis was a problem for Britain? No, I don’t, nor our deficit, nor our national debt – what happened was a global financial crisis which pushed up the deficit. The question then was ‘who can get the deficit down?

Saturday

Isabel Hardman

Immigration Bill set for two serious rows

From our UK edition

The row over the past few weeks over the Immigration Bill has been rather ironic given it was introduced in part to calm Tory backbench nerves. Those nerves were over two issues: Bulgarian and Romanian migrants, and deportation, and while the Mills amendment which addresses the former remains on the order paper, albeit with some rival amendments aimed at siphoning off support, there is another big revolt on the way on the latter. Dominic Raab has tabled another amendment which has the support of more than 100 MPs on deportation. It is essentially a repeat of the amendment he tabled to the Crime and Courts Bill, and means that foreign criminals can only avoid deportation if they risk being killed or tortured on their return.

Isabel Hardman

Ed Balls commits to return of 50p rate

From our UK edition

The overnight briefing of Ed Balls' speech to the Fabian Society's annual conference was that the Shadow Chancellor would make a binding fiscal commitment to balance the books, deliver a surplus on the current budget and get the national debt falling in the next Parliament. Which sounded like a mighty eleventh-hour repentance until you looked at the detail. Ed Miliband has spent the past few months trying to sound like a dry old bean counter by saying Labour wouldn't borrow more for day-to-day spending, which really means Labour won't borrow any more for revenue spending but can splurge all it likes on capital expenditure. And so Ed Balls has done the same today: the 'surplus on the current budget' is the same as 'day-to-day spending': it's the revenue, not the capital budget.

Friday

Isabel Hardman

Parliament itself shouldn’t drag MPs down

From our UK edition

The conventional image of Parliament is of a grand, imposing building packed with ancient traditions. The reality for those who work in it isn't quite so glamorous: mouse-infested offices, administrative chaos, and weeks of camping in committee rooms when you first arrive as an MP. Even though Parliament has been around for much longer than modern companies, it still has the internal feel of a start-up that just accidentally spiralled into something much bigger, with MPs fending for themselves when it comes to employing and managing their staff, for instance. I write about the way that this chaos makes the job of an MP just that bit less attractive to continue doing in my Telegraph column today.

Isabel Hardman

The Tories’ economic tightrope

From our UK edition

When things were going pretty badly for the Conservatives, ministers reassured one another that soon they'd be able to start hitting back at Labour with statistics. They're doing that now - and are hitting as often as possible, even when it's Labour's turn to say something. Today the party has released figures to back up David Cameron's claim at PMQs this week that people are better off, and they show that most people's earnings are increasing by more than inflation. Now, Labour is quibbling the stats themselves, pointing out that they don't involve benefit cuts and tax rises. But while Labour is overall losing in the battle of stats, there is one attack that its ministers have been making this morning that is more dangerous than a stat attack.

Thursday

Isabel Hardman

Iain Duncan Smith was defending welfare reform from his own colleagues as well as the Left

From our UK edition

Compassionate Conservatism has taken a bit of a kicking in the past few months: from leftwing critics who want to claim it is dead (but who always disagreed with its central premise anyway) and from certain Conservatives such as George Osborne who prefer a nice political dividing line. But today, as previewed in the Spectator last week, Iain Duncan Smith restated the need for this key strand of Tory thinking, and he set it firmly within the Conservative reforming tradition, saying: 'As Conservatives, that is part of our Party’s historic mission – just look at Wilberforce and Shaftesbury – to put hope back where it has gone, to give people from chaotic lives security through hard work… helping families to improve the quality of their own lives.

Isabel Hardman

Tory rebels table more troublemaking changes to Immigration Bill

From our UK edition

Andrew Lansley will shortly announce the return of the Immigration Bill to the Commons. I hear from impeccable sources that its report stage will be next Thursday. As I wrote yesterday, the whips have failed to persuade Nigel Mills to withdraw his amendment on reintroducing transitional controls for Bulgarian and Romanian migrants. He has already re-tabled it, simply with some tweaks to keep it up to date. But another crop of amendments from Tory backbenchers has just gone down as well. Tabled by Stephen Phillips, one of the signatories to the Mills amendment, the new clauses call for the Home Secretary to take action to limit EU migration if the Migration Advisory Committee finds it is having a damaging effect on the UK economy.

Wednesday

Isabel Hardman

Mike Hancock suspended from Lib Dems

From our UK edition

Mike Hancock has been suspended this afternoon as a Liberal Democrat councillor following the leak of the report into his conduct. The report, which was published in a redacted form, does not make comfortable reading at all, with some very unpleasant allegations from the constituent about his behaviour towards her, including that he forcibly kissed her, 'asked for a wank or a quick suck' and that he asked to be 'the first one to road test drive' her after a hysterectomy operation. You can read the report, sections of which have been redacted, here. Its author, Nigel Pascoe QC, has already expressed his concern about the redaction: 'I have now seen for the first time the redacted version of my report, Public and Private Conduct, concerning Mr Michael Hancock MP.

Isabel Hardman

Immigration Bill ‘to return to Commons’

From our UK edition

After those crisis talks in Downing Street that I reported yesterday, I hear that the government plans to bring the Immigration bill back to the Commons with amendments. Number 10 is insisting that nothing has yet been confirmed but suggestions that it could return on Tuesday may be incorrect. Doubtless those government amendments are designed to calm backbenchers down sufficiently for them to withdraw their amendment. But I've just spoken to Nigel Mills, who tabled the amendment, and he is going to press it. He says: The government amendments are not unhelpful but don't tackle the already existing issues of immigration from the EU being too high and leaving us a long way from the tens of thousands promise.