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

Bold Boles’ planning push is a key example of ‘spreading privilege’

Nick Boles has just put in a fierce performance on Newsnight over his controversial remarks on planning. Amusingly, the minister's remarks aren't a million miles away from Nick Clegg's slightly less well-reported speech on housing last week, but Boles has a knack of going where other ministers fear to tread when he speaks about difficult issues. He was extremely impressive on why making development a priority does not mean England is going to turn into an enormous concrete jungle, saying: 'Under 10% of Britain, currently, 10% of England, is covered by urban development in any way. A very small amount. Over 85%, 88%, would still be rural, undeveloped countryside, and we would have completely solved our housing need for the next 20 years.

Isabel Hardman

University applications fall 8%. But is that bad news?

University admissions service UCAS published figures today showing the number of students applying early for university has fallen by 8 per cent on last year, following a drop of just under 13 per cent the year before. 'Oh dear,' tweeted Times Higher Education's news editor Simon Baker, adding that these figures are 'worrying' while NUS president Liam Burns said the data meant the government 'should now finally admit that its higher education policies are having a significant impact on application behaviour'. Universities themselves might be worried about the effect on their business models of a decline in the number of students, particularly for undersubscribed courses. But are these figures really an unsettling indication of the effects of the government's higher education reforms?

Isabel Hardman

Grayling defends stand-off with ECHR on prisoner votes

Chris Grayling today defended the Government's decision to square up to the European Court of Human Rights on prisoner votes. The Justice Secretary seemed to enjoy his hour and a half before the Justice Select Committee, and used it to make a number of typically forthright assertions about the criminal justice system. Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn attacked the minister for the government's decision to refuse to give prisoners the vote, saying: 'What message does this give to other countries if you are inviting the British parliament and judiciary to pick and choose which ECHR judgements it enacts or doesn't enact? In any event, you could easily agree with the ECHR by a very minimal level of prisoner voting.

Isabel Hardman

Lib Dems seek alternative Leveson statement slot

As teams in secure rooms in Downing Street pore over the half dozen copies of the Leveson report, which arrived this morning, the Liberal Democrats are already starting to work out what they'll need to do if David Cameron and Nick Clegg find they cannot agree on the government's response. The Lib Dems have approached the Speaker to find out whether there is a possibility that Nick Clegg could give his own separate statement following Cameron's own response in the Commons tomorrow afternoon. Sources say they hope that this is an unlikely scenario, but add that 'he would like to be able to make his position clear in Parliament' if he does take a different stance.

Isabel Hardman

Cameron to receive Leveson report as Tory party splits on press regulation

David Cameron will receive his copy of the Leveson report later today, and will meet twice with Nick Clegg to discuss its contents: once this evening, and again as part of a coalition committee tomorrow. There will be a Commons statement tomorrow at about 2.30 from the Prime Minister, but Nick Robinson reports this morning that the Deputy Prime Minister is considering speaking after his colleague if the pair fail to agree on the government's response to the Leveson report. Those won't be the only tensions over the recommendations from the Inquiry, though. Scores of Tories are among the 86 MPs,who have signed a letter which today pleads with the government to not introduce state-backed regulation of newspapers.

Tuesday

Isabel Hardman

Work programme figures disappoint

Today's headline figures on the Work Programme are not good news for the government: in its first 12 months, only 2.3 per cent of participants actually landed sustainable employment against the department's target of 5.5 per cent. This sounds even worse when you contrast it with the government's own figures suggesting that 5 per cent of people who have been unemployed for a long time can find sustainable jobs without any intervention at all, suggesting the programme is actually worse than doing nothing. At Coffee House, we are keen to see the Work Programme succeed, not just because it will vindicate the ministers co-ordinating it, but also because a successful programme would bring those furthest from the labour market back into employment.

Isabel Hardman

Sir Mervyn defends George Osborne’s QE trick

Sir Mervyn King told MPs, slightly wearily, at the end of today's Treasury Select Committee hearing, that this was his 100th appearance before a parliamentary committee since he joined the Bank of England. It was as rigorous a session as any of the 99 others that the Governor has sat through in his time, with the committee members choosing in particular to attack the decision to transfer £37 billion from debt interest in the Asset Purchase Facility from the Bank's QE budget back to the Treasury. As Jonathan blogged on Monday, the Institute for Fiscal Studies warned George Osborne against using that transfer to meet his debt target, and MPs were unimpressed, not just with the substance of the decision, but also the way in which it was announced.

Isabel Hardman

How David Cameron could defuse the threat of UKIP defections

Is a group of MPs preparing to leave the Tory party's benches and defect to UKIP? Christopher Hope has a good scoop in today's Telegraph that UKIP's Treasurer Stuart Wheeler has had secret talks with eight MPs about a possible defection. Wheeler told the paper that he had held 'completely confidential' meetings with MPs. Apparently unaware of the irony of spilling the beans to a journalist about these 'completely confidential' meetings, even if he doesn't name any of those involved, the Treasurer said: 'I have had lunch secretly if you like, in a completely confidential way, with eight different Tory MPs.' He added: 'Each was promised by me that I would not tell any of the others, or anybody else except Nigel.

Isabel Hardman

How will Michael Gove respond to Ofsted’s attack on councils?

Ofsted's annual report, due out later today, will launch a scathing attack on those responsible for underperforming schools. But rather than taking aim at the teachers or the schools, it's the local authorities that the watchdog has got set in its sights. The report will say that there is too wide a gap in standards between different councils.

Monday

Isabel Hardman

Cameron at pains to show Britain was not isolated in EU Budget talks

David Cameron took great pains in his statement to the Commons on the EU budget summit to emphasise the alliances that Britain had formed in trying to keep the budget down. He started by telling MPs that Britain had worked 'together with like-minded allies from a number of countries', and repeatedly used words such as 'together' and references to 'we - and others'. This was important as one of the key lines of attack that Labour has tried to make since last year's veto is that Britain is standing isolated in Europe. Labour struggled to make an impact, both in Miliband's response to Cameron's statement and during the ensuing debate.

Isabel Hardman

How do you solve a problem like Nadine Dorries?

Nadine Dorries has returned to the UK today, with a meeting between the first evictee of I'm a Celebrity: Get me Out of Here! and the chief whip due soon. Will she remain suspended from the Tory party? Dorries has already rehearsed some of the arguments she presumably plans to present to Sir George Young on her Twitter feed and in an interview with Fraser at the weekend, arguing that she only missed three days when Parliament was actually sitting, and listing other MPs who have taken more time away. She expects to have the Conservative whip restored to her now she has returned. The whips face a huge challenge in ensuring that their response to Dorries' absence is proportionate and cannot be misinterpreted.

Isabel Hardman

Grant Shapps tells Coffee House: there’ll never be a Tory/UKIP pact

I've just spoken to Grant Shapps, who was pretty unequivocal about the chances of the Tories and UKIP teaming up in 2015. 'No,' he told me. 'There will be no pact with UKIP.' Michael Fabricant might have thought he was being helpful when he suggested the Tories engineer a pact with UKIP, but his discussion paper (which you can read in full here), has now been rejected by both parties. Meanwhile, Nigel Farage and his deputy Paul Nuttall have been doing the rounds on the airwaves, and have rather upped their price for any co-operation between the two parties. Nuttall told BBC News: 'It would be difficult for UKIP to talk to the Conservative party whilst David Cameron is still their leader.

Isabel Hardman

Make people with lifestyle-related illnesses pay for their drugs, says Tory MP

Tory MP and GP Phillip Lee made a striking call this morning for patients suffering from lifestyle-related diseases such as type 2 diabetes to pay for their prescriptions as part of a larger shake-up of the NHS. He was speaking as part of a series of presentations from members of the Free Enterprise Group ahead of next week's Autumn Statement on their proposals for spending cuts which would allow George Osborne to meet his target of having debt as a proportion of GDP falling by 2015/16. Lee said that to ensure that people could continue to access care when they needed it, the NHS needed a fundamental reform.

Isabel Hardman

Michael Fabricant calls for Tory pact with UKIP

Boris Johnson's surprise rejection of an In/Out referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union last night may have been an attempt to help David Cameron as he prepares to set out his own position on the EU, but the Prime Minister will find he's not in for an easy ride from his own parliamentary party. As helpful as the Mayor might have been, his intervention has been rather overshadowed by a discussion paper from the Tory party vice chairman, Michael Fabricant, in which the former whip calls for a pact with UKIP. Fabricant's plan follows the offer to the Tories which Nigel Farage set out in the pages of the Spectatorin May for joint UKIP/Conservative candidates.

Sunday

Isabel Hardman

Boris Johnson rejects In/Out referendum call

As on many issues, Boris Johnson has made great efforts to position himself on the side of the Tory grassroots on key issues where the parliamentary leadership takes a different position, particularly when it comes to the European Union. The Mayor signed the People's Pledge for an In/Out EU referendum in March of this year, but this evening, he appears to have backtracked rather. This is his exchange with John Pienaar on 5Live from a few minutes ago: Pienaar: Would you still want an In/Out referendum? Johnson: Well, I've always said… I think we've been now, what is it?

Saturday

Isabel Hardman

118 Tory MPs publicly reject gay marriage plans

David Cameron is planning to fast-track legislation for gay civil marriage through parliament, but today's Daily Mail underlines that his own MPs are dragging their feet over the legislation. The paper reports that at least 118 Tory MPs have expressed their opposition to the plans in letters to constituents or interviews with journalists, and they're not just the usual suspects that Nick Clegg might accidentally label 'bigots'. They include openly gay Conor Burns, who told his local newspaper that 'I marvel at why we're bringing this forward. There is no clamour for this at all within the gay community'.

Monday

Isabel Hardman

Grill the minister: Mark Prisk

Mark Prisk took over as housing minister in September's reshuffle, and has quite a task on his hands to get housebuilding figures looking healthy again. The Conservative MP was previously in the Business department as Construction Minister, so he knows all about the challenges of getting Britain building. He has bravely put himself up for a grilling by Coffee House readers, and will be answering a selection of your questions posted in the comments below. Please post your questions below by 5pm Friday 16 November, and we will post Prisk's answers next week.

Friday

Isabel Hardman

‘Cameron will not turn back’: EU budget summit under threat

Will David Cameron be denied his veto moment after all? Brussels sources appear to think the European Union budget summit on 22 and 23 November could still be cancelled. A report from Italian wire service ANSA quotes one source saying 'everything indicates that it will be impossible to overcome the British veto' and that cancelling the summit remains an option. This follows reports recently that Angela Merkel was threatening to cancel the summit as it was pointless if Britain was going to veto any increase above one in line with inflation. The German Chancellor had a lengthy dinner with Cameron to discuss the summit on Wednesday night, but their talks haven't stopped the European rumour mill.

Isabel Hardman

Rob Wilson attacks Tom Watson on child abuse claims

After Lord McAlpine's statement this morning about the allegations and rumours of child abuse surrounding the Tory peer and other figures, Tory MP Rob Wilson has gone on the warpath and written a stern letter to Tom Watson, who first raised the possibility of a paedophile ring linked to Number 10. Wilson doesn't hold back in the letter, which you can read in full here: 'MPs can and do play a vital role in bringing such matters to public attention. However, as a result of your repeated and sensationalist public claims of the involvement in abuse of a 'senior aide of a former Prime Minister', 'a former cabinet minister', and alleged abuse taking place in 'Downing Street', several people who vigorously protest their innocence have been widely named on the internet as paedophiles.

Isabel Hardman

How will Tory whips respond to Ed Balls’ audacious petrol vote?

Ed Balls has secured a debate for next week calling for the government to postpone for a second time the 3p rise in fuel duty that is due this January. It's a pretty shameless move by the Shadow Chancellor, given these rises are ones that Labour instituted in 2009 and 2010. But he clearly believes that it is worth a little bit of political positioning similar to his chutzpah on the EU budget. In an article for PoliticsHome, Balls tries to address the rather awkward point about his own party's policy on fuel duty rises, writing: 'Of course difficult decisions are needed to get the deficit down. That's why Labour put up fuel duty in the past. But we often delayed or cancelled planned duty rises based on the circumstances at the time - including at the height of the global financial crisis.