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.

Monday

Isabel Hardman

Tucker’s down on his luck

'This doesn't look good, Mr Tucker.' Andrew Tyrie made this observation towards the end of his Treasury Select Committee's evidence session with Bank of England Deputy Governor Paul Tucker. He was talking about the minutes of a meeting in 2007 which suggested Tucker was aware of the lowballing of Libor, but he might as well have been summing up the witness's hopes of taking the reins as the Bank's next Governor. Tucker insisted he was not aware that lowballing was taking place, but the minutes themselves said: 'Several group members thought that Libor fixings had been lower than actual traded interbank rates through the period of stress.' John Mann leapt on this, saying the minutes quite clearly referred to 'people submitting returns below what in fact were the traded rates'.

Friday

Isabel Hardman

Lib Dems push the boundaries

That the Liberal Democrats might try to scupper the boundary reforms if they don't get their way on Lords reform has been the talk of the tearooms in Westminster for months. But today the threat comes to the fore as Nick Clegg's departing head of strategy Richard Reeves warns the Independent that there will be 'consequences' if Tory MPs try to block reform of the upper chamber by voting down the Government's programme motion for debating the legislation. This is what he told the newspaper: 'There would be broader consequences for the Government's programme, particularly around political and parliamentary reform. The idea that a failure to deliver a government commitment on Lords reform would be consequence-free is for the birds.

Isabel Hardman

‘David Cameron stands for being Prime Minister’

'What do you think David Cameron stands for?' a Tory MP asked me recently. Unsure of his point, I burbled something about 'responsibility' and couple of other random abstract nouns. The MP shook his head grimly. 'No,' he said. 'I'll tell you what David Cameron stands for.' I leant forward, intrigued. 'David Cameron stands for being Prime Minister.' It turns out that this MP isn't the only one who thinks this way about Cameron's motives. A survey of ConHome readers, published today, found that 50% believed he was only interested in being Prime Minister and did not have a strong vision for the country. The list of questions the site asked its readers has produced some fascinating results, and it is well worth reading it in full here.

Thursday

Isabel Hardman

The battle to be the party of the armed forces

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond has the unenviable task today of announcing a cull of army units as the force is cut from 102,000 to 82,000. The Army 2020 review, the launch of which was delayed beyond Armed Forces Day last weekend, also doubles the number of reservists to 30,000. This leaves it half the size it was during the Cold War era, and the smallest since the Boer War. This is obviously deeply unpleasant for those troops whose units are being abolished. It is also uncomfortable for the Tories, who have long enjoyed the reputation of being the party of the armed forces. Tim Montgomerie tweeted this morning: 'Biggest tax burden since WWII. Smallest army since Victorian times. This isn't Conservatism.

Isabel Hardman

‘Welfare suicides’ are awful, but they’re still a red herring

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 all inquests, it was a grisly affair. It took evidence from a sobbing young relative, and included the details of how he killed himself. This case was a terribly sad mess, and there doubtless should have been more support at hand for a man frightened about falling into arrears with his rent. But his death did not stop the housing association putting up its rents, and nor should it have done, as the rise was to fund work on the homes to bring them up to a decent standard.

Wednesday

Isabel Hardman

The Tory fight for Lords reform

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 the Democratic Majority, are optimistic that the legislation will make a successful passage through the House of Commons. There are 27 Conservatives on board at the moment along all the Lib Dems, standing up the list of 100 MPs that the rebel leaders claim to have among their number.

Isabel Hardman

Bob and Bollinger banking

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 from a number of senior figures within Whitehall to question why Barclays was always towards the top end of the Libor pricing. His response was 'you have to pay what you pay'. I asked if he could relay the reality, that not all banks were providing quotes at the levels that represented real transactions, his response was 'oh that would be worse.

Isabel Hardman

Bob’s long afternoon at the crease

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 the crease for two-and-a-half hours and I'm not sure we're a great deal further forward.' If Boycott were watching, he'd remark that his mother could have batted away the majority of the questions thrown to Diamond with a stick of rhubarb. This committee meeting provided the former Barclays chief executive with a pretty flat pitch.

Tuesday

Isabel Hardman

Cameron hints at Coalition split on EU review

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 reviewing the EU's powers.  Asked when he would launch the balance of competencies review, which will examine the impact of EU law on Britain, the Prime Minister said: 'I hope that we will be able to start the process before the summer, but we need to seek full agreement before we launch it.'  He added: 'Some preliminary work has been done but there does need to be proper coalition agreement before full work goes ahead.

Isabel Hardman

Diamond does not last forever

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 powers to disqualify directors. In fact the Lib Dems have been so focused on getting Diamond out that I understand they have been intentionally avoiding the brewing row between Labour and Tories about the parliamentary inquiry, headed by Treasury Select Committee chair Andrew Tyrie. Diamond's resignation statement to the stock exchange was not exactly dripping with apology and remorse.

Isabel Hardman

Clegg: I feel lobotomised in government

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 think tank in helping the party retain its brain by dreaming up new policies when the constraints of Coalition might otherwise prevent it, but it did not go down well with those listening. Andrew Neil tweeted that Lord Steel, who he was standing next to at the event, had rolled his eyes at Clegg's turn of phrase. Clegg also used some of his speech to attack the eurosceptic beast that his Coalition partners are currently feeding.

Monday

Isabel Hardman

A fresh deal and a fresh settlement

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 would hear him, which a pro-European MP suspected would be 'feeding a beast with an insatiable appetite'. This is the meat the Prime Minister threw to the eurosceptics: 'Far from ruling out a referendum for the future, as a fresh deal in Europe becomes clear, we should consider how best to get the fresh consent of the British people.

Isabel Hardman

More remorse and apology from Diamond?

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 think that he can carry Barclays forward, Bob Diamond, because he was there, he was actually in charge of the part of Barclays where some of these scandals took place years back and we will obviously hear what he has to say at the Select Committee on Wednesday but I really don't believe that the leadership and restoring trust in Britain's banking can be done by Bob Diamond.

Isabel Hardman

Ministerial aides push Cameron on EU

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 here) did not call for that. They are also disappointed that the Prime Minister suggested that the time for a referendum was not now, as their demand had been for legislation in this Parliament which would provide for a referendum in the next. One MP told me the response was a 'smokescreen'.

Sunday

Isabel Hardman

Be careful what you wish for, Bercow plotters

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 unparliamentary language mirrored the wording of Labour's motion for the debate. This attempted coup is another sign of the fierce loyalty that backbenchers feel for the Culture Secretary. You insult Hunt, and you insult the party: the Lib Dems learned that after they allowed their MPs to abstain on that motion and lost any goodwill from the Tory backbench on Lords reform.

Friday

Isabel Hardman

Angela’s anguish on ESM vote

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 agreeing to use eurozone bailout funds to support Italy and Spain, but did she have the authority to do so?

Isabel Hardman

Italy and Spain put Merkel in the corner

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 read the statement from the euro area leaders here, but essentially what it says is that the refinancing will not take place until a single banking supervisor is set up, to be run by the European Central Bank. This was originally going to be a long-term project, but leaders have now set a deadline of the end of this year for everything to be up and running.

Thursday

Isabel Hardman

The EU campaign that won’t go away

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 for legislation to be written that ensures there will be a referendum in the next Parliament on the issue. When I spoke to Baron earlier, he told me that four more have joined, although he has agreed with colleagues that the full list of names will be known only to him and the Prime Minister.

Wednesday

Isabel Hardman

Davey takes aim at the winter fuel payment

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 clear: two years ago I made a promise to the elderly of this country and I am keeping it.' Even though means-testing winter fuel payments might be off the table, I understand that work is still going on within Whitehall to alter the benefit. This time it's not in the Work and Pensions department, which has overall responsibility for administering the benefit, but in the Energy and Climate Change department.

Isabel Hardman

Dealing with Nadine Dorries

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 the day, she had sent these three tweets: 'I was at a dinner last night so didn't see Newsnight, however, if Osborne sent Chloe on re scrapping 3p he is a coward as well as arrogant.' 'Newsnight last night would have been a tough gig for a Minister with years of experience - Chloe is a good egg and didn't deserve that.' 'The submarine Chancellor sacrifices yet another Minister whilst he slips under the surface… again.