Isabel Hardman, Author at The Spectator

Wednesday

November 7, 2012

Obama keeps that hopey-changey thing going in victory speech

From our UK edition

Even though Obama's victory speech in Chicago was far less hopey-changey than his rockstar delivery four years ago, the re-elected president did still manage to sound a little as though he was delivering an address at a wedding, smoothing over the ugly bits and telling America that 'the best is yet to come'. Both he and Mitt Romney made calls for co-operation between Republicans and Democrats, with Obama saying: 'Tonight, you voted for action, not politics as usual. You elected us to focus on your jobs, not ours, and in the coming weeks and months I am looking forward to reaching out and working with leaders of both parties to solve problems we can only solve together.' He said he wanted to speak to Romney about where the Republican candidate might be able to work with him.

Tuesday

November 6, 2012

Isabel Hardman

Nadine Dorries suspended from Tory party

From our UK edition

Tory sources have confirmed that Nadine Dorries has had the whip withdrawn until she returns to Westminster to explain to the chief whip why she has gone on 'I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!' Her constituency association was shocked by the revelation, which appeared in this morning's papers, and a number of Conservative MPs have been suggesting she should resign as an MP. Dorries' justification is that the programme reaches a far wider audience than Parliament usually does, but this is the latest in a long string of what teachers might call 'challenging behaviour' from the Tory MP.

Isabel Hardman

Calls grow for a wider public inquiry on child protection

From our UK edition

The government is moving at a swift pace over the allegations of child abuse at North Wales children's homes: yesterday it announced an review of the Waterhouse inquiry, today Theresa May announced National Crime Agency head Keith Bristow will lead a new investigation into the allegations of child abuse, and the Prime Minister's official spokesman has just announced that the honourable Mrs Justice Julia Wendy Macur will lead the review of the Waterhouse Inquiry. But these inquiries announced in the past 36 hours are examining specific allegations, and MPs from across the house are starting to call for an over-arching inquiry which will incorporate those investigations into the BBC, the NHS, and the abuse in Rotherham and Rochdale.

Isabel Hardman

Sacked ministers make trouble at Treasury questions

From our UK edition

Treasury Questions was a little quieter than usual today: George Osborne is away and so Ed Balls left the questions to his colleague Chris Leslie. The Shadow Chancellor didn't say entirely quiet, though, gradually turning a warm shade of pink as he barracked away while perched on the opposition front bench. Labour landed very few blows today: Rachel Reeves continued the attack on the EU budget, Leslie tried rather ineffectually to talk about borrowing, and backbenchers made a few grumbles. The two really interesting questions came from the coalition benches: and more specifically, from two sacked ministers.

Isabel Hardman

David Cameron’s tricky tour of the Gulf

From our UK edition

David Cameron is on a tricky tour of the Gulf states this week. It's not so much that he's trying to sell arms to the countries he visits: 300,000 British jobs do depend on the defence industry, with 65,000 relying specifically on arms sales. But he is having to tread very carefully on the subject of human rights. Arab countries are uneasy with the way Britain has embraced the Arab Spring, while Britain remains uneasy about those countries' record on how they treat their subjects. This morning, in an interview with the BBC's Frank Gardner, the Prime Minister sought to reassure critics that he will raise rights records with the leaders he meets, but that there was nothing wrong with trying to sell Typhoon jets to Dubai and Saudi Arabia.

Monday

November 5, 2012

Isabel Hardman

Cameron and Clegg locked in staring contest on boundary reforms

From our UK edition

Nick Clegg and David Cameron still can't agree over the future of the boundary review, and their continuing stalemate led to legislation on individual voter registration being shelved indefinitely in the House of Lords. An amendment to the Electoral Registration and Administration Bill tabled by Labour's Lord Hart and backed by Lib Dem Lord Rennard would have delayed the changes until 2018 - in line with Nick Clegg's pledge of revenge this summer that the review be delayed until after the 2015 election. The problem is that Cameron didn't know about the amendment until his staff read about it on Paul Waugh's blog, and he apparently lost his rag with Clegg as a result.

Isabel Hardman

Headmistress Hodge grills HMRC on tax avoidance

From our UK edition

Ever since Margaret Hodge took over the chairmanship of the Public Accounts Committee, its evidence sessions have become rather lively: more like a fearsome grilling from the headmistress than a slow-moving chinwag with a group of MPs hoping for the next division bell. Hodge was on terrifying form today as senior officials from HMRC sat down to take evidence. She directed her teacherly wrath in particular at Lin Homer, chief executive and permanent secretary of HMRC, who gave the bulk of the evidence on the department's work in tackling tax avoidance. Homer appeared rather shell-shocked by the onslaught, like a pupil trying to explain why she wasn't wearing a tie and had rolled her skirt.

Isabel Hardman

The real Mitt Romney and why the American right can take heart

From our UK edition

Iain Duncan Smith last night threw his weight behind Mitt Romney in a manner his colleagues have been reluctant to do. He told Pienaar's Politics that he was unimpressed with the 'appalling' way the British media was covering the presidential race, saying: 'I think the American election has been appallingly reported really over here in the UK, I think it's misrepresented the whole nature of it. The reality is that either candidate has a real job to do. The idea - the demonisation of Mitt Romney over here has been appalling really. I've met many of his people, you know, they may have faults, all politicians have faults, this is a guy that actually ran a state very well, he got the debt and deficit down, he's turned around businesses.

Isabel Hardman

Ed Miliband talks a good game on the Living Wage

From our UK edition

Ed Miliband's One Nation circus moves on to tackle low pay this week, with the Labour leader calling for more companies to pay their staff the Living Wage of at least £7.20 an hour. One of his most striking proposals comes from the Resolution Foundation's Commission on Living Standards, which is to force top companies to publish details of what proportion of their staff are paid below the living wage. Though Miliband isn't hinting at raising the statutory minimum wage to meet the living wage - clearly acknowledging the adverse impact that this hike could have on job creation when the economy remains so fragile - he still wants to name and shame organisations which fail to sign up to a voluntary scheme.

Sunday

November 4, 2012

Isabel Hardman

Iain Duncan Smith: the UK should ‘have it all’

From our UK edition

Iain Duncan Smith was strangely vague this morning when Andrew Marr asked him whether he thought Britain could survive outside the European Union. He said: 'I'm an optimist about the UK. I've always been involved with our trade with our European partners which we will always be doing whatever this relationship is, and the Prime minister will talk about that in the future… We're a member of the European Union, that gives us benefits but we have to figure out where that's going. But in the world we are a global trader already, we're more of a global trader than any other country in Europe. So I hate this argument that says, you know little Britain outside, or… We can both be within our trading relationships within Europe, we can also be a fantastic global trader.

Friday

November 2, 2012

Isabel Hardman

Denis MacShane’s defiant resignation statement

From our UK edition

After being told he faced a year's suspension from the House of Commons and immediate suspension from the Labour party, Denis MacShane has announced that he is stepping down as an MP. He released this statement this afternoon: 'In the light of the Parliamentary Commissioner’s decision supported by the Committee of Standards and Privileges to uphold the BNP complaint about expenses claimed in connection with my parliamentary work in Europe and in combating anti-semitism I have decided for the sake of my wonderful constituency of Rotherham and my beloved Labour Party to resign as an MP by applying for the Chiltern Hundreds or as guided by the House authorities.

Isabel Hardman

How teachers felt forced to ‘cheat’ on GCSE English marking

From our UK edition

Ofqual's final report, published today, on the GCSE English marking row, underlines why the qualifications need an overhaul and makes extremely awkward reading for the teachers who were so upset by their pupils' results this summer. It concludes that the redesigned English GCSE was 'flawed', and that teachers felt under pressure to over-mark coursework to a higher grade than it deserved. The report suggests there was a culture of over-marking which led to other teachers doing the same: 'While no school that we interviewed considered that it was doing anything untoward in teaching and administering these GCSEs, many expressed concerns that other nearby schools were overstepping the boundaries of acceptable practice.

Isabel Hardman

Ken ‘clarity’ Clarke says EU budget veto would be ‘absurd’

From our UK edition

Wise gamblers could do worse than to place a hefty bet every time Ken Clarke expresses an opinion that he'll have to clarify it shortly afterwards. The minister without portfolio said at a Policy Exchange event this morning that it would be 'absurd' for Britain to go to Brussels intending to veto the EU budget. He said: 'It's absolutely ludicrous to go there intending to veto. It's just absurd. 'Every one of the 27 member states has a veto. What they've got to do is reach a negotiated situation. Of course people have a veto. Any government will veto if it goes too far in one direction or the other.' And a little later, he duly clarified his remarks: 'The clear meaning of what I said was that we cannot go intending to exercise a veto before we actually arrive.

Isabel Hardman

Denis MacShane’s career with Labour is over as he faces suspension over expenses claims

From our UK edition

The Committee on Standards and Privileges has recommended this morning that Denis MacShane be suspended as an MP for 12 months after he submitted 19 false expenses invoices worth £12,900 over four financial years. The committee's report, which you can read in full here, concluded: 'We accept that Mr MacShane is widely acknowledged for his interest in European affairs, and the funds he claimed could be said to have been used in supporting that interest. Those activities may have contributed to his Parliamentary work, albeit indirectly. He has expressed his regret, and repaid the money wrongly claimed.

Isabel Hardman

The fiscal nimbyism that still terrifies the Tories

From our UK edition

If you're the tax personality of the year, as David Gauke is, the pressure's on when you give an interview to be as lively as possible. Gauke's interview with the House magazine today doesn't disappoint, with the Exchequer Secretary accusing those who oppose the child benefit cuts of 'fiscal nimbyism'. He says: 'I think there’s a lot of people who are in favour of reducing the deficit but then when it’s something that affects them there can be a degree of fiscal nimbyism. The reality is that every section of society is having to make a contribution. 'We can’t pretend that there can be sections of society which we can completely protect from deficit reduction.

Isabel Hardman

Sir Howard Davies makes himself at home in the long grass

From our UK edition

The chair of the government's airports commission was refreshingly honest about the purpose of his review when he appeared on the Today programme this morning. Sir Howard Davies said: 'I have reflected quite hard on the criticisms about long grass that the Mayor of London and Michael Heseltine say, that this is booted into the long grass. So how can you make best use of your time in the long grass? What I think we can do is do a lot of the preparatory work. I think we can do that so that when a new government comes into office in 2015 when they make a decision it will have a flying start. I aim to to be a really expert piece of work looking at how you think about airport capacity which I hope internationally will be leading edge.

Thursday

November 1, 2012

Isabel Hardman

The hardcore Tory rebels and their new friends

From our UK edition

There is now a hardcore of rebels in the Conservative party who have defied the government on three key votes. The 37 MPs below have rebelled on the EU referendum vote, the House of Lords Reform Bill, and the EU budget. The question for the whips and the Prime Minister now is do they write these MPs off their Christmas card lists as forever-rebels, or do they launch a charm offensive that could melt even the steely heart of Peter Bone? I blogged yesterday about some of the problems that the Conservative leadership is creating for itself in terms of party loyalty, and while Bill Cash is hardly going to become chief whip, there may be others in this group who aren't beyond rescue.

Isabel Hardman

Clegg enrages eurosceptics with ‘false promise’ attack on plan to return powers from Brussels

From our UK edition

One of the key challenges for David Cameron this autumn is to address his policy on Europe. A big speech is expected before European leaders meet in December, with some in the Conservative party hoping it will come as soon as next week in order to boost Tory chances in the Corby by-election. But because the Prime Minister is offering definition for his own party on the EU, the other party leaders must do the same. Nick Clegg's speech today set out where he stands, and he didn't mince his words.

Isabel Hardman

Ministers ward off Tory revolt on crime compensation

From our UK edition

The government has just managed to ward off another possible revolt in the House of Commons from Tory MPs. It failed earlier this autumn to get a revision of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme through a delegated legislation committee when four Conservative MPs present refused to support it. The revised scheme will see half of all those seriously injured following a violent crime receiving no compensation at all and nearly 90 per cent of victims receiving less money. So John Redwood, Angie Bray, Jonathan Evans and Bob Blackman threatened to rebel, leading to Justice Minister Helen Grant withdrawing the legislation from the committee. Grant brought the legislation before committee again this morning, but this time there were different MPs considering the plans.

Isabel Hardman

What next for the gutter press?

From our UK edition

Lord Leveson will be publishing his recommendations for the future of press regulation very soon, and those on both sides of the debate are getting nervous. The Hacked Off campaign has a letter in today's Financial Times opposing plans for continued self-regulation of the industry that is signed by 26 professors in journalism, law and politics. The letter attacks proposals by Lord Hunt and Lord Black for self-regulation which would be underpinned by contracts between the regulator and the publisher which would be enforceable through civil law. It says: 'We do not believe these proposals to be in the best interests of journalists and journalism.