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.
From our UK edition
That senior Tories are urging David Cameron to break up the Coalition early so the Conservatives can fight the election unencumbered by those pesky Lib Dems is hardly going to dent the Prime Minister’s chillaxing this summer: his party is in a good shape and the timing of Graham Brady and Bernard Jenkin’s intervention in
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One of the many problems that Andy Burnham has encountered this week is that he has had to spend more time defending his record in the last Labour government than scrutinising the current government’s changes to the health service. He has performed the first task in a rather emotional manner, and the Conservatives may well
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When the government first launched its Green Deal, it was part of its ‘greenest government ever’ pledge, which ministers seem to have forgotten about entirely now. The programme of energy efficiency improvements is looking rather green, but in a peaky sense, rather than because it is successfully greening this country’s homes. The latest figures show
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George Osborne is taking the ‘global race’ to a new level today. The Chancellor is not just allowing Britain to enter the fracking revolution by unveiling a shale gas allowance, he’s also offering the most generous tax breaks in the world for the exploitation. The allowance will mean shale production income will be taxed at
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As a rule, public bill committees aren’t really the kind of thing even the most insular Westminster bubble inhabitant buys popcorn to watch. But last night, James Wharton’s private member’s bill found itself the subject of midnight drama in the committee room. Labour MPs decided to filibuster on a series of troublemaking amendments, with the
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It’s difficult to find a Tory MP who doesn’t think Lynton Crosby is making their party more aggressive and impressive. The Wizard of Oz has been a good thing. Most MPs think his tough-talking vision for how the party can fight Ukip and Labour rather than fighting one another has made a huge difference. Crosby
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If you’ve felt your heart beating a little faster than usual, and a strange sense of excitement creeping all over you, it’s because #letbritaindecide fever is back in Parliament. Yes, folks, the fun returns, and this time for the committee stage of the bill, from 2pm today. I’ve already reported Mike Gapes’ amusing amendments to
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David Cameron has decided to delay his mini-reshuffle until the autumn. He had been planning to have it this week, and as we reported last week, rumours were circulating about who was vulnerable. But it is sensible to delay. The party is in a serene mood currently. Sacking good ministers and failing to promote equally
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Alan Johnson and Stephen Dorrell have just conducted an impressively reasoned debate on the NHS on Radio 4. This was all the more impressive given both their parties have boxed themselves into corners on NHS care scandals, from which they will continue to lash out today at the last PMQs of the summer. Whether or
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There is a lot of rage in Westminster today (beyond the everyday anger exhibited by some of its inhabitants that Parliament contains other people who disagree with them) about the 13,000 deaths figure that has been bandied around ahead of the publication of the Keogh review. It’s worth noting firstly that Jeremy Hunt did not
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Jeremy Hunt’s statement on the Keogh review marked one of the uglier Commons sessions in this parliament. Amid shouting, muttering and angry pointing from the Opposition benches, the Health Secretary announced that 11 of the 14 hospitals in the review would be put into ‘special measures’, while making clear that he blamed the culture the
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Labour and the Tories played the first half of NHS political football this morning at health questions. The scrap began with Opposition MPs asking what influence Lynton Crosby had over the decision to drop plain packaging for cigarettes. It is their equivalent of the Tory attack on union influence, and as such has a fair
From our UK edition
listen to ‘Andy Burnham defends Labour’s record on Health’ on Audioboo Andy Burnham was in a furious mood this morning when he toured the broadcast studios. It was hardly surprising: most people would grow rather ratty if CCHQ wasn’t just coming after you but briefing that it is coming after you. He angrily told listeners
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Justice and Home Affairs ministers have spent a muggy afternoon in the Commons slogging through several hours of tetchy questions from backbenchers about the government’s plan to opt out of European Union justice and home affairs measures, before opting back in to the ones the government has decided it likes. It’s at times like this
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If you’re looking for the big Westminster row this week, chances are you’ve missed where the real action is. On Wednesday afternoon, MPs and peers will vote again in the elections for chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Human Trafficking. Normally APPG elections are so tame that few MPs outside their own membership even
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The Trident Alternatives Review hasn’t even been published and already the Conservatives are attacking any proposals the Liberal Democrats might have cooked up to water down the nuclear deterrent. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman told the morning lobby briefing that the Prime Minister has ‘seen no evidence that there is a way of providing an
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Liam Byrne’s attack on the workless benefit cap this morning is interesting, because he’s trying to position himself as tougher than the Conservatives on out-of-work benefits. Labour’s shadow work and pensions secretary said: ‘The benefit cap is a good idea in principle but it’s already fallen apart in practice. Ministers have bodged the rules so
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The government’s £26,000 benefit cap is one of the most popular policies pollsters have ever come across. No wonder, then, that CCHQ is putting this infographic about to underline the political power of this emblematic policy as it is rolled out nationwide today. Of course, it’s not entirely true that Labour supports limitless benefits, as
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Sarah Wollaston is angry. Again. This time it’s about plain packaging on cigarettes. She told the World at One that the decision to stall introducing plain packaging was ‘pandering to election strategists’ and that this was a ‘very sad day for public health’. You can listen to the full interview below:- Now, this is obviously
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There’s just a week left of the Parliamentary term to go before MPs go back to their constituencies to mull that awkward pay rise over the summer. But one thing that’s keeping Tory MPs from relaxing is the possibility of a ministerial reshuffle next week. The word from reliable sources is that it will take