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

PM mulls speech on EU to calm backbenchers

David Cameron looks set to address backbench concerns about Britain's relationship with the European Union over the next few weeks. Nick Robinson reports today that though the Prime Minister will not use his party conference speech to talk about Europe, he is considering making a 'major speech about Britain's future relationship with Europe' before EU leaders meet in December. As Robinson points out, Cameron will come under pressure from backbenchers this autumn with votes in the Commons on the European Banking Union.

Isabel Hardman

Cameron ramps up the rhetoric on Syria

William Hague has a rather awkward meeting in his diary today with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. The pair were due to discuss Syria, and now they can also discuss David Cameron's provocative comments at the United Nations last night. The Prime Minister told the UN General Assembly that the ongoing atrocities in the country were a 'terrible stain' on the hands of the UN. He said: 'The blood of these young children is a terrible stain on the reputation of this United Nations. And in particular, a stain on those who have failed to stand up to these atrocities and in some cases aided and abetted Assad's reign of terror. 'If the United Nations Charter is to have any value in the 21st century, we must now join together to support a rapid political transition.

Wednesday

Isabel Hardman

Key lessons from the Liberal Democrat conference

Now the Lib Dems have finally reached the end of their autumn conference in Brighton, here's a summary of the most important points from the week: 1. The Lib Dems will struggle to work with Ed Balls in the event of a possible Lib-Lab pact in 2015. Nick Clegg made this clear in his speech this afternoon, repeatedly attacking the shadow chancellor by name. 2. Nick Clegg wants to pull his party with him into demonstrating that coalition works.

Isabel Hardman

Nick Clegg’s 2015 slogan: you can’t trust Ed Balls with your money

Like the whole of this Liberal Democrat conference, Nick Clegg's speech to delegates did the job, but didn't exactly lift the roof from the Brighton Centre. Those watching were happy: they applauded warmly and laughed at all the jokes (which hasn't always been the case this week in Brighton), and they were utterly overjoyed when the Deputy Prime Minister announced that Paddy Ashdown will chair the party's 2015 general election team. He told members to 'go for it', and raised two laughs when he quoted Jo Grimond, saying that he could 'see generations of Liberal marching towards the sound of gunfire. And yes, I see them going back to their constituencies to prepare for government.

Isabel Hardman

Nick Clegg: ‘Vote Labour if you like protest politics’

Nick Clegg's speech this afternoon will include a big push for his party to accept that they are a party of government, not of protest and that coalition is a good thing. He made some choice comments to that effect in an interview with regional journalists, which the Birmingham Post has covered. Clegg said: 'There are a group of people - they are perfectly free to do this in a free democratic society - who like to throw stones from the sidelines, who like to be associated with causes where there’s never a difficult decision needs to be made, who don’t actually like parties being in government. And who always scream ‘betrayal’ when any party goes into government. In other words, people who like protest but not the reality of power.

Isabel Hardman

Partying like a Lib Dem

Danny Alexander was the star guest at Policy Exchange's party on Sunday night. He was clearly so excited that he arrived before anyone else, and found himself standing at the bar looking a little bit forlorn. Still, when it came to the speeches, he found there was plenty of thoughtful advice in the offing. Tim Hames, director of policy at BVCA, said a few words before the chief secretary to the Treasury strode up, advising Alexander to avenge Harriet Harman's 'ginger rodent' comments from a while back by calling her a 'cow'. Danny pointed out that he'd be seeing her this week on Question Time, and that he might decline that advice.

Tuesday

Isabel Hardman

Lib Dem conference: Nick Clegg’s Proalition speech

Nick Clegg will round off this week's Liberal Democrat conference with an announcement that neatly illustrates the 'proalition' phase that the government is in at present. In his speech this afternoon, he will tell delegates that every year seven child who does not meet required standards in English and Maths will qualify for catch-up tuition. For every child falling behind, a school will receive £500, which they can do what they wish with. Around 110,000 pupils are expected to benefit from this premium. I understand that the money was a specific request that the Liberal Democrats made as part of the negotiations over the English Baccalaureate.

Isabel Hardman

Lib Dem conference: leadership defeated on Justice and Security Bill

As predicted earlier, the Lib Dem leadership has just suffered an embarrassing defeat on the conference floor this afternoon on a grassroots motion on the Justice and Security Bill. The wrecking amendment which removed the call for parliamentarians to defeat the legislation received just a smattering of votes, and the overall motion was carried unamended. During the course of the debate, the amendment received support on stage from Julian Huppert, Alistair Carmichael and Tom Brake. That MPs were turning up to oppose the party's grassroots is not a good sign: remember that the pause in the Health and Social Care Bill came about because of a groundswell of anger within the Lib Dem membership that those in Parliament did not pick up on until much later.

Isabel Hardman

Lib Dem conference: rebellion brewing on ‘secret courts’

The Liberal Democrats do love a good policy motion, and the tradition at most party conferences is for the attending media circus to stay well away from the debates and votes on the conference floor as they are rarely game changers. But this afternoon, the party's leadership could face its first defeat on the conference floor when delegates debate a motion on the Justice and Security Bill from 5pm. The motion itself says the proposals for closed court hearings 'did not form part of either the Liberal Democrat or Conservative manifestos in 2010, nor the Coalition Agreement', and calls on Lib Dem MPs and peers to press the government to withdraw part II of the Justice and Security Bill, or to vote against it in parliament.

Isabel Hardman

Lib Dem conference: Oakeshott calls for Cameron to take one for the team on universal benefits

Nick Clegg's attack on universal benefits such as the winter fuel payment and free bus passes this afternoon was a nice little morsel of red meat to his party, as he said it would be 'difficult to explain' a failure to reform these payments when other benefits are being slashed. He told the World at One: 'My own view is for the future that it would be very difficult to explain - and it would be quite interesting if you could ask the Labour party for this, because they appear to be saying that at a time when people's housing benefit is being cut, we should protect Alan Sugar's free bus pass.' But I've just had a chat with Lord Oakeshott, who is impatient that the Lib Dems should be looking at this sort of thing while they are in government rather than discussing their next manifesto.

Isabel Hardman

Leaked Lib Dem briefing: ‘We have no evidence our tactics are working’

Lib Dem internal documents leaked to the Spectator warn that the party has no branding strategy, staff 'lack research literacy' and campaigns are based on 'received wisdom' rather than any evidence that current tactics are working. I've been passed a presentation seen by aides close to Nick Clegg, staff at Lib Dem HQ, MPs and SpAds over the past few months which is damning about the party's preparations for 2015.

Monday

Isabel Hardman

Lib Dem conference: Tim Farron on Labour

Tim Farron, the Lib Dem president, underlined his popularity with grassroots as he jogged up to the stage at the Independent's fringe event to the fervent cheers of activists. They were eating out of his hand as he answered questions for an hour with Steve Richards. Farron threw his weight behind Nick Clegg as leader, praising the Deputy Prime Minister's ability to remain a warm and engaging man in spite of the trials of his job. But he blew pretty cold on his leader's tuition fee apology, emphasising that it was a 'totemic' issue, and arguing that Lib Dems would be wrong to expect this to be a 'turnaround' for the party's fortunes as reneging on the pledge had damaged their standing for a 'generation'.

Isabel Hardman

Lib Dem conference: Senior figures attack ‘potty’ eurosceptics

One of the areas Conservatives and Lib Dems are more than happy to distinguish themselves on is Europe, although the issue always gets far less attention at Lib Dem conference than it does at Conservative gatherings. A Conservative might find this odd: surely a party so wholeheartedly in favour of Britain remaining within the European Union would want to make the case for why Europe is so wonderful. Instead, senior figures today attacked Conservatives who want Britain to leave the European Union as 'potty'. In a fringe this lunchtime, Lord Oakeshott told the audience that a referendum on Britain's membership of the EU was not necessary as the electorate could express its view through the ballot box at general elections.

Isabel Hardman

Lib Dem conference: Vince Cable attacks the “headbangers”

Never a man to avoid confrontation, Vince Cable decided to tackle gossip about his conversations with Labour head on when he appeared on stage at the Lib Dem conference this lunchtime. He has 'excellent communications with politicians across the spectrum', he joked, then reached into his pocket for his phone, joking that he had a message from Ed. He followed the same pattern as Tim Farron in criticising Labour's record in government, just to make clear that the Lib Dems are fervently independent, rather than hankering after partnership with one party or another. But it was interesting that the majority of mentions for other parties in the Business Secretary's speech were limited to criticism of Conservative 'head bangers'.

Isabel Hardman

Confirmed: Boris Johnson is a jellyfish

I've long believed that Boris is a particularly powerful blond jellyfish, swimming along under the radar, looking quite harmless, before delivering a series of painful stings to an unsuspecting victim. Normally the poor recipient of these verbal stings is David Cameron, whose face now forms a classic mask of horror whenever the Mayor approaches, knowing that not only will he be upstaged as Prime Minister by the Mayor, but also stung in the process by a sugary yet deeply patronising reference to 'Dave'. But today it's Nick Clegg, treading water at the Liberal Democrat conference, who gets stung. Boris' column this morning in the Telegraph is full of praise and flattery, while managing to undermine the Deputy Prime Minister rather spectacularly.

Sunday

Isabel Hardman

Lib Dem conference: Danny Alexander and Oliver Letwin get cosy

The big joke at the Social Market Foundation and TUC fringe this evening was that two of the panelists could have delivered one another's speeches. Those panelists were Oliver Letwin and Danny Alexander, who were both speaking about the government's economic plan, its infrastructure policy and how to achieve growth. When Danny came to speak, he told the audience that he agreed with and could have delivered all of Letwin's speech, and that the only thing the pair disagreed on was Europe. Alexander being so wonderfully cosy with Letwin might be a good thing for the coalition - and Letwin is know for being a Lib Dem-ish Tory. But it's a strange thing for the chief secretary to the Treasury to admit at his own party conference.

Isabel Hardman

Lib Dem conference: Lib-Lab fringe praises pluralism

Day one of the Lib Dem conference, and the Tory jokes have started. At a lunchtime fringe event, of Labour and Lib Dems, the lights suddenly faded out and the room was plunged into darkness. 'This must be the Tory cuts!' said Ming Campbell, and the panel discussion continued by the gloomy light of the fire escape signs. It was a fairly jovial affair, but the mixture of names – Sir Ming, Jon Cruddas, Jo Swinson and Andrew Adonis – raised the deadly serious proposition of a Labour-Lib Dem coalition after the next election.

Isabel Hardman

Lib Dem conference: Tim Farron keeps it muted

Tim Farron's speech to this year's autumn conference was rather muted compared to his effort in Birmingham last year. The Liberal Democrat president did take the opportunity to attack both Labour and the Tories, of course, because that is his job, but he did not talk about Conservatives speaking 'drivel', or about divorces. He described Labour's record in government as '13 years of a Labour government: what a mandate, what a disappointment', and delivered the obligatory Liberal Democrat attack on the banks.

Isabel Hardman

Coffee House Interview: David Hall-Matthews calls for Clegg to ‘get smarter’ at coalition

David Hall-Matthews is the chair of the left-leaning grassroots grouping within the Liberal Democrats, the Social Liberal Forum. He explains his qualms about the way Nick Clegg is currently handling the coalition relationship to Coffee House readers, and calls on ministers to be bolder in calling for 'adjustments' to the government's economic policy.   As the coalition agreement was hammered out between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives in May 2010, the grassroots machinery in the party was swiftly cranking to life. Four leading members of the Social Liberal Forum, then just a small group within the party comprising over a hundred members, raced to London to discuss their strategy as their party joined forces with an old enemy.