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.

Friday

Isabel Hardman

Sarah Wollaston: Tories are ‘pandering to election strategists’ on plain packaging

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 deeply annoying for the Tory leadership as it hardly helps them tackle the narrative that they're always caving into their friends in big business. Even more annoying, perhaps, for Anna Soubry, who unlike Wollaston had to back the decision in the Commons this morning even though she personally supports plain packaging.

Isabel Hardman

Reshuffle gossip points to ‘innocents’ and women

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 place next Thursday with a sign-off meeting this Monday. This is a minister-of-state-level reshuffle. The names of supposedly vulnerable ministers are circulating. They include housing minister Mark Prisk, energy minister Greg Barker, universities minister David Willetts, and employment minister Mark Hoban. They're known as the 'innocents': ministers who are all thought to be doing a good job and who have not messed up but who are not considered likely to move up into the cabinet.

Thursday

Isabel Hardman

Why Universal Credit delay is a good thing, not a political failure

'Iain Duncan Smith must now ask himself if he is fit for purpose.' That's what Liam Byrne thinks of the Work and Pensions Secretary's admission that the roll-out of Universal Credit is being delayed. The original plan was for all new claims for out-of-work support to go into the universal credit rather than the current benefits system from October 2013. But a written ministerial statement yesterday said the pilots of the new benefit will be extended to six hub JobCentres instead. Labour says the 'we have final confirmation that the welfare revolution we were promised has collapsed'. If deep down you don't want universal credit to succeed, then you must be quite chuffed with the slowing of the timetable. But its supporters should be happy, too. Why?

Wednesday

Isabel Hardman

Jeremy Hunt turns on Labour over union policy influence

One of David Cameron's better lines at Prime Minister's Questions was that the trade unions 'buy the candidates, they buy the policies and they buy the leader'. In his final response to Ed Miliband, he said: 'What is Labour's policy on Royal Mail? It is determined by the Communication Workers Union. What is its policy on health? It is determined by Unison. What is its policy on party funding? It is determined by Unite.' To underline that point, Jeremy Hunt has sent a letter to Andy Burnham this afternoon asking for 'clarification about union influence over Labour health policy'. The letter, which you can read in full here, says Burnham altered Government policy 'in response to union demands'.

Isabel Hardman

Labour MP makes amusing attempt to wreck Tory EU referendum bill

The Conservatives are a happy bunch at the moment. But for how much longer? They might be riding on the crest of a wave after the second reading of James Wharton's Private Member's Bill for an EU referendum. But already forces are at work to disrupt the happy harmony. Labour MP Mike Gapes has this week tabled a rather amusing series of amendments to the legislation which are almost certainly an attempt to sow division in the Tory ranks. They call for: - A referendum on the terms of Britain's membership of the EU rather than just on whether Britain should be a member. - A referendum on a date to be determined. - A referendum on a date to be decided by a Royal Commission on the future of the UK in Europe. - A referendum on 22 May 2014. - A referendum on 6 May 2015.

Isabel Hardman

Politicians are finally being grown-up about government

One of the promises from the last round of 'new politics' pledges when the Tories were in opposition was a cut in the number of special advisers in a government, on the grounds that SpAds are evil beasts who cost a lot of money. Like many 'new politics' pledges, though, this sounded superbly pious in opposition and turned out to be a real pain in the backside in government. It turns out that SpAds are actually really useful if you want to get things done as a minister, if you want to know what other ministers are trying to do to stop you getting things done, and if you want to have a hope of the public reading about you getting things done in the newspapers.

Isabel Hardman

Miliband’s challenge is an opportunity for the Tories to reach out to union members

The warm reception to Ed Miliband's speech yesterday was so eerily positive that it could never have lasted. Today we get the first taste of the real battle to come, with the GMB warning that they'd be 'lucky if 10% of our current affiliation levels say yes, they want to be members of the Labour party' and that as a result the union could disaffiliate from the party. This is a challenge for Ed Miliband to show that he is determined to force these changes, even if it means calling a party-wide ballot to overrule the union bosses But this is also an opportunity for the Conservatives. If the unions accept that few of their members would choose to join Labour too, then there is a reasonable argument to make for giving members an option to join the Tory party too.

Tuesday

Isabel Hardman

What do the Tories think about zero hours contracts? They don’t seem very keen to tell us…

MPs held a debate in Westminster Hall today about zero hours contracts. Actually, to be specific, Labour MPs held a Westminster Hall debate today, which Jo Swinson replied to as the employment minister. Adjournment debates aren't often that newsworthy, but what made this debate noteworthy was that it marks another example of the Conservatives failing to respond to a social phenomenon, instead leaving a vacuum for Labour to stamp their own argument on it. What do the Conservatives think about these contracts, under which workers are not guaranteed a set number of hours per week? You could probably guess that MPs on the right would say there is a compelling argument for labour market flexibility in a country with a comparatively generous welfare safety net.

Isabel Hardman

Wot, no bad news? The bigger problem for Labour

Journalists in the Westminster bubble like to point out on Big Speech Days like this that the public couldn't care a jot about whether Ed Miliband is having a Clause IV moment. They're right, but that doesn't stop everyone in the bubble getting rather overexcited about a speech in a sweaty room off Fleet Street as they did today. Miliband might be wiping his brow with relief this afternoon given his unions speech has gone down rather well with a surprising range of grandees, but he'll know only too well that the more awkward news has nothing to do with Len McCluskey. The International Monetary Fund announced this afternoon that, as expected, it was raising the UK's 2013 growth forecast from 0.7 per cent to 0.9 per cent.

Isabel Hardman

Ed Miliband is back on the front foot, for now at least

There was a point in Ed Miliband's speech on a 'better politics' where it became clear that for the rest of our lives we're all going to be trapped in an endless cycle of opposition politicians announcing that they are going to forge a 'new politics', as though some other chap hadn't said the same thing only a few years before. There really is nothing new under the sun. But it would be unfair to dismiss the Labour leader's speech as meaningless simply for saying what others have said before him: perhaps he was hoping that the goldfish bowl of the Westminster Village would turn out to contain a bunch of people with goldfish memories, too. His speech was in many ways impressive politically.

Isabel Hardman

Who owns Labour? Unite turns on the Right

Ed Miliband's speech today isn't an attempt to close down the row over Falkirk, but to get back on top of the issue, rather than appearing to be bounced along by events. What it will do is open a huge row with the union bosses: one the Labour leader needs to be seen to have won at the end of it all. Here is a briefing on what to expect from Miliband. The Tories are pleased this morning that Len McCluskey has written in this morning's Guardian that 'switching to an "opt-in" for the political levy wouldn't work… would debilitate unions' ability to speak for our members and would further undermine unions' status as voluntary, and self-governing, organisations'.

Monday

Isabel Hardman

Ed Miliband’s ‘Clause IV moment’: what you need to know

Ed Miliband is giving a speech tomorrow morning on 'the biggest Labour party reforms for a generation' to shake up the party's relationship with the unions. It's a 'One Nation Politics' speech, which shows the Labour leader thinks his 'One Nation' tag can even be applied to cleaning up a mess in your own party, and will contain what spinners are briefing is a 'radical' shake-up of the party. He will say that 'One Nation is a country where everyone plays their part and a politics in which they can'. This politics is the 'opposite of the politics we saw in Falkirk. Here's your guide to what he'll say tomorrow, and what appears to have been left out: 1. Opt-in arrangements for union members to choose whether or not to join Labour.

Isabel Hardman

The long-term political benefit for both Coalition parties of Abu Qatada’s deportation

If you had the misfortune to miss Theresa May's statement on the deportation of Abu Qatada this afternoon, it would hardly stretch your imagination to work out how the occasion went. It involved MPs cheering May, May making it clear that the government has done very well and then pointing out (again) that she does want reform (which the Lib Dems disagree with). MPs took care to praise the Home Secretary, mindful of all the chatter about Qatada's departure being good for her own leadership ambitions. Even if you're not on the TM4PM bandwagon, you might as well ingratiate yourself with her in case something unexpected happens. All pretty formulaic stuff.

Isabel Hardman

Exclusive: How the Tories plan to attack Ukip

Last week Lynton Crosby and David Cameron briefed Conservative MPs on the threat posed by Ukip. Their timing was impeccable: today's YouGov poll showing 19 per cent of Conservative members would seriously consider voting for Nigel Farage's party could have sent Tory MPs into orbit, but instead they have been reassured that the party has a proper plan to deal with the enemies to the right, rather than the messy 'fruitcake' strategy of the past few years. I am told by a number of MPs who were present that Crosby talked generally about what attracts people to Ukip, rather than the specific problem of next year's European elections. This was based on polling the party has been carrying out.

Isabel Hardman

Mayor of London’s quiet attack on the creaking government machine

It is interesting enough that Boris Johnson has attacked high-speed rail in today's Telegraph: the Mayor is undermining the priorities of the current government (while attacking Labour a little too), and reminding them that they are dithering on aviation policy. He warns that the project's costs will balloon to well over £70 billion. But the Mayor makes one very important comment about the government machine that should not go unnoticed. He writes: Talk to the big construction firms, and they will tell you the problem is not the cost of actually digging and tunnelling and putting in cables and tracks. Those are apparently roughly the same wherever you are in the world.

Isabel Hardman

New curriculum offers political points to Tories

The funny thing about the new National Curriculum, published today, is that after all the fuss of the past few months, particularly over the history curriculum, it's probably the last ever national plan from the government. As more and more schools convert to academy status, and more free schools pop up to compete with poorly-performing schools, there will be fewer and fewer who must conform to this: the rest have been given freedom to teach what they judge is best for their pupils. Michael Gove's critics like to argue that he is a great centraliser, dictating the curriculum from Westminster while claiming to give schools freedom. But he only remains a centraliser where schools remain subject to centralisation and local authority control.

Sunday

Isabel Hardman

Ed Miliband prepares for his most testing week yet

While the Tories bask in the glory of Abu Qatada's deportation, the progress of James Wharton's Private Member's Bill, and the general good atmosphere in the party, Labour is trying to work out what the best response to its terrible week is, and how to get to a situation where it is on top of the story, rather than jogging after it. The Independent on Sunday quotes one senior figure today as saying that Ed Miliband only has two weeks in which to resolve the Falkirk row, and his acolytes were out in force today to underline that the fightback is already under way. Michael Dugher has just appeared on Pienaar's Politics to say that the 'process of change, if anything, has got to accelerate and I think that's what you will see in the days and weeks coming after this'.

Friday

Isabel Hardman

Ed Miliband and Len McCluskey’s acrimonious rally

Wham! Len McCluskey and Ed Miliband have spent this afternoon hitting criticisms back and forth over the Falkirk row. Earlier, the Labour leader sent a challenge shooting over the net to the Unite boss, telling McCluskey he 'should be facing up to his responsibilities'. Then the Labour party said it was referring the matter to the police. McCluskey slammed back on Sky News, saying Unite had 'done nothing wrong'. He said: 'I'm afraid the way it has been handled by the Labour party headquarters is nothing short of disgraceful.' And he warned Ed off having a confrontation with the unions: 'It's depressing that Labour leaders seem to want to have a Clause 4 moment, they have got to have a situation where they front up union leaders. Well, Ed doesn't need to front up me. I'm his friend.

Isabel Hardman

MPs back EU referendum bill 304 votes to 0

James Wharton's Private Member's Bill has passed its second reading in the House of Commons by 304 votes to 0. The Labour Party's decision to abstain on the vote, and Conservative backbenchers' insistence that a vote be held does make the chamber look rather North Korean this afternoon. But what have we learned from just under five hours of debate? Tory HQ's answer would be five neat points, all entitled 'Only the Tories will Let Britain Decide'. In reality, the result of the debate wasn't very interesting (aside from which Labour MPs backed the bill, on which more shortly), but there are still some useful lessons from the debate itself that are worth considering. 1.

Isabel Hardman

‘Len McCluskey should be facing up to his responsibilities’: Ed Miliband stands up to Unite

Ed Miliband's supporters have been arguing that he needs to show muscle on the Unite row before his opponents successfully argue that he is a weak leader in thrall to the union puppet masters. While Conservative MPs joked abut Tom Watson's 'Buddha' comments in the Chamber this morning, the Labour leader did speak out about Len McCluskey and the Falkirk row. To his credit, he has shown that muscle. He is referring the Falkirk allegations to the police this afternoon, and this morning, he said: We will act without fear or favour. Instead of defending what happened in Falkirk, Len McCluskey should be facing up to his responsibilities. He should not be defending the machine politics involving bad practice and malpractice that went on there, he should be facing up to it.