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

Ex-health minister attacks health policy

From our UK edition

Sometimes, when a minister is sacked, he or she goes to ground for a little while, licking their wounds and avoiding journalists keen for a comforting chat about their new backbench life. Not so Paul Burstow, who can barely have cleared his desk in the Health Department before launching an attack in the Evening Standard on that same department's policy. Burstow has embarrassed colleagues by spending the past year campaigning against the closure of the accident and emergency and maternity units at St Helier Hospital in his constituency while working as a health minister. He tells the newspaper today that the plans are 'dangerous' and fundamentally flawed.

Isabel Hardman

Lib Dems prepare for fight on welfare and taxes

From our UK edition

Nothing is certain at a Liberal Democrat conference other than plenty of discussion of benefits and taxes. The left-leaning wing of the party - the Social Liberal Forum - has released a series of potential amendments and emergency motions for the party's autumn conference. The list is an interesting indication of what the grassroots (the SLF likes to describe itself as the 'soul' of the Lib Dems) are most worried about. There's an amendment from the irrepressible Lord Oakeshott, which adds a line to a motion due for debate on the Tuesday of the conference, called 'Tackling Inequality at its Roots'. The peer's addition is, surprisingly, calling for a full mansion tax.

Isabel Hardman

Govt to support Barwell’s mental health bill

From our UK edition

'This isn't staged, I promise,' Gavin Barwell joked as an MP bounded up to our table in the Portcullis House atrium to demand why the Croydon Central MP hadn't been given a job in the reshuffle. Had he turned something down, his colleague asked, throwing his hands up in the air in despair. Rather like Robert Halfon, though, it's not a bad thing Barwell remains on the backbenches as at least his campaigning zeal is undented by the appearance of red boxes on his desk. Instead, the Tory MP's desk has a private members' bill sitting on it which has its second reading next Friday. It's the Mental Health (Discrimination) (No.2) Bill, which calls for three changes to the law around what people suffering from a whole range of mental health issues can and can't do.

Isabel Hardman

Osborne pushes upbeat message on economy

From our UK edition

George Osborne gave a speech to a CBI dinner in Glasgow last night. It wasn't the ideal day to do it: the OECD did downgrade its growth forecasts for Britain to minus 0.7 per cent, having previously predicted a 0.5 per cent rise. But the Chancellor remained upbeat, saying: 'The economic outlook remains uncertain but there are some positive sings. Our economy is healing - jobs are being created, manufacturing and exports have grown as a share of out economy, our trade with the emerging world is soaring, inflation is down, much of the necessary deleveraging in our banking system has been achieved, and the world is once again investing in Britain.

Thursday

Isabel Hardman

Draghi makes good on his promise: but will it save the euro?

From our UK edition

David Cameron and François Hollande met this evening. As you would expect, they discussed the situation in the eurozone, which is currently looking a little more cheery than usual after Mario Draghi announced those long-awaited 'whatever it takes' measures which he believes will save the eurozone. In summary, this Outright Monetary Transactions scheme involves the European Central Bank buying up short-term debt from struggling economies. To stop this cash from the ECB becoming a substitute for economic reforms, a country wanting to apply for the OMT must have signed up to certain conditions with the European Financial Stability Facility or the European Stability Mechanism.

Isabel Hardman

Reshuffle gongs peeve MPs

From our UK edition

David Cameron swore the sacked ministers he was conferring honours on to secrecy  before announcing the accolades last night at a dinner with the parliamentary party. If it was supposed to create some fanfare and fuss around the departing ministers, it backfired: senior Conservative MPs were unsettled and annoyed by the decision and its timing. Announcing honours outside the normal twice-annual cycle for the New Year and the Queen's birthday would have been strange anyway, but this comes just weeks after the Public Administration Select Committee criticised the way politicians automatically receive the accolades, regardless of how well they have performed. Lib Dems are unhappy, too.

Isabel Hardman

‘Muscular’ Pickles pleases MPs on green belt

From our UK edition

Eric Pickles delivered his statement on housebuilding with the adoring gaze of new planning minister Nick Boles fixed on him throughout. Boles was leaning forward eagerly, drinking in every word the Communities Secretary had to say about today's announcement. Sitting next to him on the front bench, Don Foster, who also joined the department this week as an impressively-like-for-like replacement of Andrew Stunell, barely looked up at all from his Blackberry. MPs raised a little cheer when Pickles responded to questions from Labour about the future of the green belt. 'I can confirm that we will protect the green belt in line with that commitment in the coalition agreement,' he said.

Isabel Hardman

Tensions over housebuilding plans

From our UK edition

This morning's big housebuilding announcement was aimed at unblocking obstacles in the planning system to get development of new homes and extensions going. But it hasn't unblocked tensions within the government. The main controversy is over whether to relax the quotas for affordable housing within each new development, and The Times reports that Nick Clegg and Eric Pickles were at loggerheads with George Osborne over the idea. This morning, Downing Street announced that developers can bypass a council's affordable housing requirements if they feel they make a site commercially unviable. The claim is that this will release 75,000 new homes currently stuck behind this barrier.

Wednesday

Isabel Hardman

‘Where’s my letter?’ MP demands Cameron reply to Europe demands

From our UK edition

One issue that the reshuffle makes no difference to at all is the Conservative party's Europe problem. If the Prime Minister managed to forget about the pressure from his own party for an EU referendum over the summer, he's about to be reminded of it. In late June, Tory MP John Baron handed a letter to David Cameron signed by over 100 of his backbench colleagues calling for the government to introduce legislation now for a referendum on European Union membership in the next parliament. He has still not received a response, even though the Prime Minister said he would write back. Last week, Baron pestered Cameron's office, and this week, he has tabled a parliamentary question which must receive a response within five days.

Isabel Hardman

Boris refuses to rule out fighting by-election over Heathrow

From our UK edition

As James remarked earlier, the Cameron vs Boris subtext of the row over expanding Heathrow is going to run and run. Boris managed to fulfil that prediction almost immediately by announcing on the World at One that he will lead a campaign against a third runway. 'You bet, you bet I will, yes,' he said. As well as using a new Borisism, 'fudgerama', to describe the way the Prime Minister was handling the issue, Boris did not rule out the possibility that he might resign to trigger a by-election if the government U-turned. Shaun Ley asked: 'If the opportunity arose, would you be prepared to fight a parliamentary by-election on that?' Boris replied, rather hesitantly: 'My job is to follow the interests of the people of London.

Isabel Hardman

The exciting new sub-committee on the block

From our UK edition

Downing Street is very keen to emphasise that the key theme of this reshuffle is 'implementation'. It's an exciting word, I know, but the excitement has just ratcheted up a notch with the creation of a new sub-committee called the Growth Implementation Committee. The GIC will sit under the economic affairs committee and will be chaired by the Chancellor (who also chairs the economic affairs committee). His deputy chair will be Vince Cable, which the Business Secretary will probably not appreciate, except when the Chancellor is away and he is able to take over. It will also include some of the faces of the reshuffle: David Laws will be a member, as will Ken Clarke in his new roving economic brief in the Cabinet Office.

Isabel Hardman

How oil companies could be inflating petrol prices

From our UK edition

Conservative backbencher (and thank goodness he remains on the backbench, where he seems to wield an impressive level of influence) Robert Halfon has continued digging away at fuel prices over the summer, and this morning he has another victory to report. The Office of Fair Trading has agreed to examine whether it should investigate oil companies for price-fixing and market manipulation. Halfon has spent the summer compiling a hefty dossier which he says shows how oil companies are charging motorists more than they should.

Isabel Hardman

Reshuffle row on Heathrow takes off

From our UK edition

Though the reshuffle, which continues today, saw very little movement at the top of the government, fans of the changes believe the Prime Minister still managed to remove one large obstacle to growth by taking the two women - Justine Greening and Theresa Villiers - opposed to a third runway at Heathrow out of the Transport department. Tory MPs I spoke to yesterday know that this will be one of the big rows of the autumn, as the commission examining aviation capacity gets to work. Some believe the government should get on with the decision, upset a few MPs whose constituencies are affected (including Vince Cable, who will be more than simply upset if there is a move towards a third runway), but reap the long term benefits of more capacity.

Isabel Hardman

Reshuffle: the full list of jobs

From our UK edition

Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury and Minister for the Civil Service Rt Hon David Cameron MP Deputy Prime Minister, Lord President of the Council (with special responsibility for political and constitutional reform) Rt Hon Nick Clegg MP Foreign and Commonwealth Office First Secretary of State, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs – Rt Hon William Hague MP Senior Minister of State – Rt Hon Baroness Warsi (jointly with the Department for Communities and Local Government) Minister of State – Rt Hon David Lidington MP Minister of State – Rt Hon Hugo Swire MP Minister of State (Trade and Investment) – Lord Green of Hurstpierpoint (jointly with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills)* Parliamentary Under Secretary of Stat.

Tuesday

Isabel Hardman

Boris seizes the reshuffle day

From our UK edition

Reshuffles always leave a pile of bruised, vulnerable ex-ministers waiting for someone to come along, pick them up and make them feel loved again. This year, that person is Boris Johnson, who can make good use of those leaving the government as allies within Parliament. This is why he popped up so quickly today to attack the decision to move Justine Greening. He said: 'There can be only one reason to move her - and that is to expand Heathrow Airport. It is simply mad to build a new runway in the middle of west London. Nearly a third of the victims of aircraft noise in the whole of Europe live in the vicinity of Heathrow. 'Now it is clear that the Government wants to ditch its promises and send yet more planes over central London.

Isabel Hardman

Rebel MP: Reshuffle is Cameron’s ‘last chance’ to stand up to Clegg

From our UK edition

Party discipline is one of the key themes of David Cameron's reshuffle today. It is essential to bring Tory MPs, who have started to run riot of late, back into check, which is why Andrew Mitchell is now the chief whip. But I've spoken to MPs today who have argued that there is a far wider problem than the lack of an aggressive whipping operation. The strongest criticism comes from Angie Bray, who was sacked as a PPS when she voted against the government at the second reading of the House of Lords Reform Bill.

Isabel Hardman

Two groups to keep an eye on in the reshuffle

From our UK edition

The reshuffle is now under way. We already know that Andrew Mitchell is taking over as the chief whip, Baroness Warsi has just announced her departure via Twitter and the word now is that Ken Clarke is likely to move from Justice Secretary to Leader of the House. There will be live updates on Coffee House throughout the day as MPs start filing in and out of Downing Street, but before the shuffling begins properly, here are some names worth keeping an eye out for. These are the coalition casualties: MPs who served on the Conservative front bench when the party was in opposition but were not offered ministerial posts when the coalition formed. Some, like Stewart Jackson, have already become hardened rebels, but for others, this is their last shot at getting into government before 2015.

Monday

Isabel Hardman

George Osborne booed at Paralympics

From our UK edition

George Osborne was booed by a hefty contingent of the 80,000-strong crowd in the Olympic stadium this evening. He was handing out medals for the Paralympic T38 400m, and as his name was read out over the tannoy, the crowd let out a loud volley of boos. I was fortunate enough to be sitting in the stadium this evening watching the athletics, and the boo that echoed around the stands did not come from one part in particular. It was a deep, pantomime-villain boo. 'Why does nobody like that man?' the girl behind me asked her mother. 'He's - well, it's complicated - but he's the head of the economy, and no-one likes him,' her mother replied. It was hardly a surprise - least of all to the man himself - that Osborne is unpopular.

Isabel Hardman

Harman tries to play ball with Clegg on boundaries

From our UK edition

Nick Clegg didn't mention the boundary reforms once in the statement he gave to the House of Commons on the death of the House of Lords Reform Bill. The Deputy Prime Minister knew he wouldn't need to wait long for an opportunity to talk about it, though, and he was right: Harriet Harman raised the changes to constituencies as soon as she stood up to respond. Seizing on the Liberal Democrats' decision to oppose the changes as revenge for the failure of their attempts to reform the upper chamber, Harman told Clegg that Labour thought the work of the Boundary Commission should stop immediately, given the cost of it continuing with work which will be voted down in the House of Commons. 'The ball is in his court,' she told the chamber.

Isabel Hardman

Gove bites back in exams row

From our UK edition

'It's a pity that a party that once led on education reform is now clambering on a bandwagon.' Michael Gove bit back at Labour MPs calling for a remark of the GCSE English paper this afternoon when he answered questions on his department's work. The Education Secretary was at pains to point out that he, like his predecessor Ed Balls, did not want to 'second guess' the actions of the exams regulator Ofqual. He added that Labour seemed to be suggesting 'having ministers marking papers', which would undermine the reason Ofqual was set up. He also used the session to confirm to Parliament that the coalition (and he placed a particular emphasis on the word 'coalition') would shortly announce its plans for reform of GCSEs.