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.
One of my first jobs as a junior reporter was covering the inquest of a man who had committed suicide at the end of a legal battle against a rise in his rent. His council house had been transferred to a housing association, and the rents were set to rise by £5 a week. Like
Last night a group of Liberal Democrat and Conservative MPs met to discuss Lords reform. Public outbursts from the Conservative backbench have so far focused on opposition to the bill and the programme motion that the whips are trying to impose on the legislation, but the group of pro-reform MPs, who have informally dubbed themselves
This is the memo from Bob Diamond, released yesterday, on which many of this afternoon’s questions at the Treasury Select Committee will hinge. It records a conversation with Bank of England Deputy Governor Paul Tucker, and is worth reproducing in full here: Further to our last call, Mr Tucker reiterated that he had received calls
This afternoon’s rather lengthy Treasury Select Committee hearing with Bob Diamond suggests that Ed Miliband might be on to something with his calls for a judge-led inquiry. We were two hours into the session when John Thurso remarked: ‘If you were an English cricketer, I suspect your name would be Geoffrey Boycott… You’ve been occupying
Yesterday the Prime Minister made a point of showing his backbench how very willing he was to listen to their concerns about the European Union. Today, as he gave evidence to the Liaison Committee, David Cameron made a point of suggesting his Liberal Democrat coalition partners are a little less willing when it comes to
Bob Diamond’s resignation with immediate effect as chief executive of Barclays gives plenty of people in Westminster the scalp they were looking for. Labour had called for Diamond to go after the Libor scandal surfaced. The Lib Dems had called for Diamond to resign, with Vince Cable threatening to use as a last resort his
Nick Clegg gave a rather sombre speech to the CentreForum summer reception last night. Addressing the guests from a pulpit in the vaulted cloisters of Westminster Abbey, as the rain poured down outside, the Deputy Prime Minister admitted he felt ‘lobotomised’ in government. It was actually a clumsy attempt to praise the work of the Lib Dem-aligned
Pressure has been building all weekend for the Prime Minister to give some form of concession to his eurosceptic backbenchers in his statement on the outcome of the Brussels summit. James blogged shortly before David Cameron stood up in the Commons that Tory MPs were being reassured that they were going to like what they
It’s hard to believe that executives at Barclays had much confidence that the resignation of Marcus Agius as the bank’s chair would place a stopper on the Libor scandal. Ed Miliband drove those doubts home this morning when, appearing on Daybreak, the Labour leader reiterated calls for Bob Diamond to resign. He said: ‘I don’t
David Cameron’s attempt to placate backbenchers clamouring for an EU referendum by writing a piece in yesterday’s Sunday Telegraph has not gone down particularly well. Backbenchers are more than mildly irked that the Prime Minister focused mainly on the problems with an in/out referendum, when the letter co-ordinated by John Baron (which you can read
Tory MPs are plotting to oust Speaker Bercow, the Sun on Sunday reports today. They are apparently furious that Bercow allowed Chris Bryant to brand Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt a ‘liar’ in his party’s opposition day debate calling for a full investigation into Hunt’s conduct. The Speaker refused to censure Bryant because he argued the
This all feels rather miserably familiar. Eurozone leaders come to a dawn agreement about resolving the crisis. Markets react positively. The leaders appear on podiums to congratulate one another and themselves on reaching said dawn agreement. By lunchtime, something rather awkward has happened. Angela Merkel, perhaps inspired by George Osborne, had done a U-turn in
It took them 13 hours, but eurozone leaders have finally agreed to use bailout funds to recapitalise banks directly. The deal, which was reached at 4am (David Cameron had gone to bed at 1am because this is a eurozone, not EU matter), involved Germany giving in to the demands of Italy and Spain. You can
Just when the whips were sighing with relief that Europe has been pushed down the agenda by Lords reform, a rather awkward letter from over 100 Tory MPs flops on to the Prime Minister’s doormat. ConHome has the scoop this morning that John Baron has brought together a large group of MPs who are calling
On Monday, David Cameron reiterated his opposition to scrapping the winter fuel payment as a universal benefit. During his speech on welfare, the Prime Minister said: ‘There is also a debate about some of the extra benefits that pensioners can receive – and whether they should be means-tested. On this I want to be very
Ed Miliband is going to have to start paying Nadine Dorries a salary if the Conservative MP provides him with any more quotes to fling across the chamber at Prime Minister’s Questions. Today the Labour leader was able to draw from the deep well of Dorries’ twitter feed when he faced David Cameron. Earlier in
George Osborne’s U-turn today on fuel duty seems both canny and confusing. It comes just 48 hours after a denial from Transport Secretary Justine Greening that the Government would scrap the 3p rise in August, but appears to be warding off the threat of a backbench rebellion in the Commons next week on a motion
The concessions that David Cameron has reportedly offered the Conservative backbench on Lords reform are really not sufficient to keep them out of the no lobbies. Switching from a salary to a daily attendance allowance, which would keep peers’ earnings below £60,000 in most cases, is hardly going to set the benches alight. The reason
This morning’s borrowing figures from the Office for National Statistics are a blow for George Osborne, showing public sector borrowing up £2.7bn on the same time last year. The stats show the government borrowed £17.9bn in May, while the 2011-12 deficit is now £127.6bn, up £3.2bn. Labour have seized on the figures, saying it’s the
This morning at our Schools Revolution conference, Michael Gove came under sustained attack from academies architect Lord Adonis and Neil O’Brien from Policy Exchange, who pointed to a slowing-down in the number of primary sponsored academies being set up. O’Brien pointed out that the majority – around 80% – of academies set up under Gove
