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.

Thursday

Isabel Hardman

Tory agitators choose their stalking horses carefully

From our UK edition

Labour is enjoying some success with its narrative that the government is running scared of all sorts of awkward votes and campaigns at the moment, from plain packaging to payday loans. Yesterday Miliband's spinners were briefing that this included the Immigration Bill amendment tabled by Nigel Mills and supported by influential backbenchers such as 1922 Committee chairman Graham Brady. It now has 49 signatures. It's worth noting that Mills' amendment is the latest example of how Tory Eurosceptics now work together to get what they want from the Prime Minister. I explained this unity between the factions in a recent Telegraph column: 'Now all these factions have united into a motley coalition that meets regularly to discuss strategy.

Wednesday

Isabel Hardman

David Cameron: The tide of ideas and opinion is going in my direction on EU reform

From our UK edition

David Cameron's restrictions on welfare for new migrants have pleased Tory backbenchers - but not enough for them to drop their Commons campaign for the transitional immigration controls to be extended. There are now 46 Conservative MPs signed up to support it, and I've just spoken to Nigel Mills, who tabled the amendment, who said: 'The Prime Minister's announcements are welcome steps in the right direction. However the issues with our current levels of unemployment and pressures on other public services would not be tackled so I still believe we need to keep the restrictions in place, and so I will still proceed with my amendment.' Labour is briefing that it was the growing support Mills's amendment that pushed Downing Street into announcing all these new restrictions today.

Isabel Hardman

Miliband attacks PM for ‘intellectual collapse’ at tepid PMQs

From our UK edition

Commentators sometimes like to describe a particular session of Prime Minister's Questions as 'vintage'. If 'vintage' is the correct description for the good weeks, this one was more of a serving of tepid Blue Nun. David Cameron was in a very odd mood indeed. He was clearly pleased with an early quip referencing Miliband's Desert Island Discs appearance. He joked that Miliband 'isn't loving Marx, he's loving Engels instead'. The joke was so dreadful that the entire Chamber convulsed as though winded by a fast-moving cricket ball. Miliband attacked the Prime Minister on his inconsistency over payday loan caps and climate change policy. This was a good theme, and gave the Labour leader the killer line that what had happened this week was 'an intellectual collapse of their position'.

Isabel Hardman

Is László Andor spinning for the Tory party?

From our UK edition

Tory MPs are in a funny state of mind this morning. They're pleased that the Prime Minister has started to give some meaty details of what he wants from an EU renegotiation. But they're also confused that there seems to be no media operation to 'soak up' this new line. There aren't any ministers hogging the microphone in broadcast studios, beyond an exclusive interview that the Prime Minister has given to the BBC. The whole operation could do with a bit more punch. This might change in just under ten minutes' time when PMQs kicks off, followed by an urgent question on the policy. But before then, here's another theory.

Isabel Hardman

Cameron, Osborne and Crosby grilled by backbenchers: exclusive details

From our UK edition

Last night David Cameron, George Osborne and Lynton Crosby held a meeting with the Conservative parliamentary party. Coffee House has exclusive details of what took place. There was a presentation on how well the party was doing from the Prime Minister (without any new information), and one from Lynton Crosby in which the strategist asked Tory MP James Morris to stand up and take a round of applause for passing on the 'nightmare' email from the Ed Miliband's office to the Mail on Sunday. Sir George Young brought less exciting news that MPs will have to pull their weight a great deal more by serving on more statutory instrument committees. But backbenchers also had a chance to quiz their leaders on some of their big worries.

Isabel Hardman

Immigration announcement aims to take stings out of a number of tails

From our UK edition

David Cameron knows that the only criticism from other parties of his plans to restrict welfare access for new migrants will be that he isn't being tough enough. Such is the fear on all sides of being accused of repeating what the Prime Minister describes in his FT article as the 'monumental mistake' of the last Labour government that the only option on the table for Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg will be to support the move. It will be interesting to see how Miliband fares at Prime Minister's Questions today. Given Labour has put forward its own 'tough' proposals and given Yvette Cooper went to such lengths to complain that the Immigration Bill wasn't harsh enough, the Labour leader may choose to argue that Cameron isn't going as far as Labour has now proposed.

Tuesday

Isabel Hardman

Andrew Mitchell vows to continue Plebgate fight

From our UK edition

So Andrew Mitchell is going to pursue his fight with the police over the 'plebgate' row, even though the Crown Prosecution Service said there was insufficient evidence to suggest the officer who claimed Andrew Mitchell called him a pleb was lying. The former Conservative chief whip told a press conference this afternoon that not only is he pursuing his libel action against The Sun newspaper, but that he will use this opportunity in court to force PC Toby Rowland, the officer who wrote the account of the altercation that involved the word 'pleb', to give his story under oath. Rowland is not one of the five police officers facing disciplinary action.

Isabel Hardman

Influential 1922 Committee chair backs rebel immigration call

From our UK edition

The swell of support continues for Nigel Mills' amendment to the Immigration Bill which would most likely land the British government in court by trying to extend transitional controls on Bulgarian and Romanian migrants to 2018. I have learned that Graham Brady, influential chair of the 1922 Committee, has now signed the amendment too, and the rebels organising behind it tell me they now have more than 40 backers. The list now includes a number of 1922 Committee executive members, including Nick de Bois, John Whittingdale, Charles Walker and Jason McCartney.

Isabel Hardman

Crap and courage of convictions: the political problem with Osborne’s payday loan plan

From our UK edition

There is still a great deal of heat and rather a little less light over George Osborne's decision to 'step in where government needs to step in' and cap the cost of payday loans. Does this mean he's actually a lefty? What is he up to? Writing for the Telegraph, David Skelton, founder of the very thoughtful Renewal campaign to broaden the Conservative party's appeal, argues that this is 'the right thing to do and it sends a powerful signal that the party will tackle rip-off companies and help the vulnerable'.

Isabel Hardman

Number 10 defends policies as excess winter deaths soar by 29%

From our UK edition

The Health department says there is a perfectly good explanation for a 29% rise in the number of excess winter deaths to 31,100 in 2012/13. It is pointing to research by Public Health England which linked the rise to a longer flu season and continuing cold weather late into the winter and early spring. But as Fraser argued in his Telegraph column earlier this year, there is still not nearly enough that is being done to combat excess winter deaths, whether or not this year's 29% rise is a one-off. The Prime Minister's official spokesman didn't seem particularly keen to suggest that there was anything else, beyond NHS planning and public health spending, that should be done, when he responded to the figures today.

Isabel Hardman

A funny argument for independence

From our UK edition

Is today's Scottish independence White Paper really an argument for independence? I ask only because the section on currency and monetary policy is essentially arguing for the union. It says: 'The Commission's analysis shows that it will not only be in Scotland's interests to retain Sterling but that - post independence - this will also benefit the rest of the UK. 'Under such an arrangement, monetary policy will be set according to economic conditions across the Sterling Area with ownership and governance of the Bank of England undertaken on a shareholder basis.

Isabel Hardman

Detail vs emotion in the Scottish independence debate

From our UK edition

The Scottish government will unveil its case for independence at 10am today. Already the Treasury is warning that voting 'yes' next autumn would cost the average basic rate tax payer an additional £1,000 in tax increases. Danny Alexander is also trying to undermine the SNP's claim that fiscal problems initially experienced by a newly independent Scotland would be overcome through increased growth. In a letter to Alex Salmond, Alexander writes: 'I was surprised to hear that the very next day the Scottish government proposed cuts to tax rates in the event of independence. Your Finance Secretary explained that an independent Scotland's fiscal problems would be fixed through additional growth.

Monday

Isabel Hardman

William Hague: We will need to reassure Saudi Arabia and Israel about Iran deal

From our UK edition

The Commons was in congratulatory mode this afternoon when William Hague gave his statement on the deal with Iran. Baroness Ashton, not familiar with heaps of praise falling on her, came in for congratulations from across the House, particularly from Hague and Douglas Alexander. Both men also agreed that this deal is the first step towards what Alexander called 'that more difficult and complex agreement' that will secure long-term stability in the region.

Isabel Hardman

List of MPs pushing PM on Bulgarian and Romanian migrants grows

From our UK edition

There are now 33 MPs backing Nigel Mills's amendment to the Immigration Bill which calls for transitional controls on Romanian and Bulgarian migrants to be extended until 2018. You can read the full list of names below - the amendment will be debated at the report stage of the bill, which is expected to take place in the next few weeks.

Isabel Hardman

George Osborne adopts Labour’s language on markets

From our UK edition

Stella Creasy sees today's announcement that the government does want to cap the cost of payday loan credit as a recognition that Labour was right to campaign on this issue and that consumers are suffering as a result of the current arrangements. But listen again to George Osborne's Today interview and you'll note another recognition: that Ed Miliband and colleagues are enjoying some success when they talk about markets not working for consumers.

Friday

Isabel Hardman

Friday fury in the lobbies

From our UK edition

MPs have just voted on the first set of amendments to James Wharton's #LetBritainDecide bill. There is still a great deal more debate to be had in the Chamber, but based on this morning's offering, it's not worth clearing your diary for this report stage, unless you enjoy filibustering and mischievous use of obscure parliamentary procedure to delay a bill. This morning we had a geography lesson from Mike Gapes about the populations of each of the overseas territories, an account of the 'grilling, gruelling' debate that Martin Horwood enjoyed at a school in his constituency, and a debate about what it is that the people of Gibraltar take joy in.

Isabel Hardman

How Tory Euroscepticism has changed

From our UK edition

In just over half an hour, MPs will flock to the Chamber to watch the report stage and third reading of the Wharton Bill. I explained yesterday that there will be a chunk of Tories  who find themselves forced to support Adam Afriyie's call for an early referendum because it is a UKIP 'red line', but there is little good feeling about it. One MP, who was going to back the amendment for those reasons, told me this morning that he'd decided to abstain because the amendment does not help the eurosceptic cause at all. Before #LetBritainDecide reaches fever pitch in the Commons, though, it's worth considering how that eurosceptic cause has changed recently.

Thursday

Isabel Hardman

Tory MPs flee dreaded ‘Europhile’ tag to Adam Afriyie referendum bill bid

From our UK edition

In case you've been wondering what that strange feeling of tension in the air across the country is, the #LetBritainDecide bill returns to the Commons tomorrow for its report stage and third reading. There is, actually, rather a lot of valid tension - in as much as a backbench bill that will never become law can create valid tension - over the legislation this time around. The first reason is that Labour's Mike Gapes has tabled a fantastic series of amendments to try to wreck the bill, which join his fantastic series of amendments that he tabled at committee stage. The second is that there are many more Tories planning to vote for Adam Afriyie's beleaguered amendment than the whips had initially assumed.

Wednesday

Isabel Hardman

Why Cameron’s NHS lines didn’t quite work at PMQs today

From our UK edition

Though the NHS made a welcome change from endless bickering about energy bills at today's PMQs, the exchanges were just as unedifying. There is very little gain in the sort of fact war that David Cameron and Ed Miliband tried to indulge in, as there is no killer fact that can silence an opponent on the NHS. Instead, the exchanges descended very quickly into 'let me give the right honourable gentleman the facts about the NHS under this government', 'we have a Prime Minister too clueless to know the facts' and 'once again, the right honourable gentleman is just wrong on the facts'. Each man used his own 'simple facts' that he claimed either showed the NHS was safe in the Tories' hands or that it was being killed by the Tories.

Isabel Hardman

Pritchard row refreshes second jobs debate

From our UK edition

Mark Pritchard is vigorously denying the Telegraph splash this morning, which alleges that he boasted of being able to use his political contacts to set up meetings. He says he is consulting his lawyers. But aside from the eventual outcome of this row, it has allowed Labour to reignite the debate about whether MPs should have second jobs anyway, with a Labour party spokesman saying last night that 'every passing scandal and further investigation only goes to reinforce why Ed Miliband was right earlier this year to call for new rules and new limits on MPs' outside earnings'. Miliband made that call in the middle of the Falkirk row as a way of turning the debate about influence on to the Tories, who were very much enjoying attacking the Labour party at the time.