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.
From our UK edition
10 min listen
With the energy crisis showing no signs of improving, many industries warned over the weekend that they may have to shut down some manufacturing points due to the rising costs. This has lead to tensions between the Treasury and the Business Secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng about how to proceed. Isabel Hardman is joined by Katy Balls and James Forsyth to discuss.
From our UK edition
17 min listen
Marking the end of the conference, Boris Johnson gave what James Forsyth describes as ‘the most Boris speech possible’. The Prime Minister set out his ambition for ‘radical and optimistic conservativism' and won over the crowd with his characteristic jokes. The Conservatives are in a strong position, but was the speech enough to retain support across the country amid a fuel crisis and labour shortages? And was the lack of concrete policies a problem? Isabel Hardman speaks to Katy Balls and James Forsyth.
From our UK edition
Last week, Keir Starmer derided Boris Johnson as a 'trivial man' in his Labour conference speech. Today in his own address to his party in Manchester, the Prime Minister decided to lean into that description. He didn't bother to give a serious speech He didn't bother to give a serious speech groaning under the weight of meaty policies. There was just one announcement in the whole 45-minute offering: a £3,000 'levelling up premium' to send maths and science teachers to schools in deprived areas.
From our UK edition
10 min listen
It is day three at the Conservative party conference and, as Isabel says on the podcast, Boris Johnson started the day a ‘little tetchy’ on his morning media round-up. After being told by Nick Robinson to ‘stop talking’ on Radio 4, the Prime Minister clashed with the host when asked about rising wages and inflation. Where the Tories stand on working from home has also been up for debate during the conference. With some ministers eager to get Britons back to their desks, there are whispers that backbenchers don't agree. Katy Balls speaks to Isabel Hardman and James Forsyth.
From our UK edition
The theme of Priti Patel's party conference speech this afternoon was very much 'large and in charge'. She devoted much of her address to talking about the immigration system, as you'd expect, promising stronger crackdowns on people being smuggled across the Channel in boats. Patel focused on the Vote Leave favourite: taking back control Whereas Boris Johnson and Michael Gove have talked about Britain 'voting for change' in 2016, Patel focused on the Vote Leave favourite: taking back control. She told the conference hall this was the key theme of her reforms to immigration, saying: 'My new plan for immigration is already making its way through parliament. At the heart of this plan is a simple principle. Control. That is not unreasonable.
From our UK edition
Why have ministers become so obsessed with where people are doing their work? The war on working from home has become one of the key themes of this Conservative party conference. Senior figures and backbenchers alike have launched attacks on those who are continuing to work remotely rather than returning to the traditional office set-up. At the start of the conference, former minister Jake Berry joked that ‘We have to end the Civil Service "woke-ing" from home — sorry, I mean working from home — but, let’s be honest, it often is "woke-ing".' This morning, Boris Johnson warned younger people that their colleagues would ‘gossip’ about them and they would miss out on opportunities if they stayed away from the workplace.
From our UK edition
Tory conference is so stage-managed these days that the main hall has long felt like a bit of a sideshow compared to the lively debate on the fringes and the packed bars. That’s been true so far this week, and not just because the ‘main hall’ is just a small area of the convention centre, so small you can hear the chatter of delegates buying clothes and jam at neighbouring stalls while ministers are trying to speak.This hasn’t gone down all that well with some ministers, who’ve been able to hear raucous applause from fringe meetings as they’ve been giving their own speeches to a less-than-packed hall.
From our UK edition
54 min listen
Katy Balls, James Forsyth, Isabel Hardman and Fraser Nelson are joined by special guest, the American pollster Frank Luntz, in this episode of Coffee House Shots, recorded in front of a live audience at Conservative Party Conference. They discuss what it means to be a Conservative these days, whether 'levelling up' means anything and who should be the next Tory party leader.
From our UK edition
Rishi Sunak is well-known for being a fan of swanky fitness company Peloton, so perhaps it was fitting that the introductory video for the Chancellor's speech at the Tory conference felt rather like a spinning class. Parts of his address to the packed (albeit small) hall bore more than a passing resemblance to the spinning classes too, with Sunak opening by saying he'd do 'whatever it takes' to protect people's livelihoods, and later telling the class, sorry, hall, that 'just at the moment when it feels like we've done enough, that we've gotten through, that we can take a rest, we must not stop'.
From our UK edition
What is levelling up? One of the problems with this nebulous term is that anyone in government who has understood what it means has decided to keep this a glorious secret, rather than sharing it with others. Now that there is an entire department for Levelling Up, it's a bit harder to take this approach. Michael Gove is the new Secretary of State for the policy and spoke last night at a ConservativeHome fringe event at the Conservative party conference. He was keen not just to offer a picture of what levelling up will look like, but also to respond to critics within his own party who think this is somehow a left-wing agenda.
From our UK edition
Labour's Harriet Harman has called for Cressida Dick to resign as chief of the Metropolitan Police after Wayne Couzens was sentenced to a whole-life order for the murder, rape and kidnapping of Sarah Everard. He is the first police officer to receive such a sentence. In a letter to the Commissioner, Harman writes that 'women's confidence in the police will have been shattered' by the case and that it is 'not possible for you [Dick] to lead' the changes necessary in the force following this case. It is significant that Harman has called for Dick to go. She is not a bandwagon politician and does not tend to call for scalps, even in high-profile cases such as this.
From our UK edition
15 min listen
After a rocky few days, Sir Keir Starmer has delivered his first in person speech as Labour leader to conclude the 2021 Labour Party Conference. The 90-minute speech featured hecklers, multiple references to ‘tools’ and 17 standing ovations. But was it enough to win over the country or even his party? Katy Balls speaks to Isabel Hardman and James Forsyth.
From our UK edition
Keir Starmer gave a very long speech on the final day of Labour conference. It lasted an hour and a half, and had 17 standing ovations. But it will largely be remembered as the speech in which the Labour leader was repeatedly heckled by the hard left. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s3sTVv6cNA These heckles worked hugely in his favour and made the speech all the better. Those shouting from the conference floor largely chose to do so at very inappropriate moments, including when he was talking about his mother being seriously ill in intensive care. The heckles worked hugely in his favour and made the speech all the better Many other delegates turned on the woman who repeatedly shouted about the need for a £15-an-hour minimum wage, shouting ‘shhh!
From our UK edition
What does Keir Starmer have planned for his conference speech, due to begin shortly? Not so much the words in his script, but what he plans to say if – when – he's heckled. Starmer has been taking quite a Neil Kinnock stance over the past few days, antagonising the hard left with his rule changes for leadership elections and refusal to back a £15-an-hour minimum wage. And you can't channel Kinnock without expecting a few heckles in your conference speech. Those around the leader see this conference as being the last hurrah of the left LabourList's Sienna Rodgers reports that Momentum has instructed its delegates to heckle about the wage pledge, rather than sing 'ohhh Jeremy Corbyn'.
From our UK edition
Keir Starmer is giving his big speech at noon today, the first one he’s been able to give to a packed conference hall since becoming leader. He seems to think that this means he needs to reintroduce himself to his own party and the electorate, and to that end we’ve been promised more detail on his backstory. But the Labour leader's problem is not so much that people don’t know who he is as that they don’t really know what he stands for. Starmer is expected to take Labour away from the Corbyn era To that end, Starmer does plan to make a sweep of policy announcements, only a handful of which have been trailed. We know to expect an emphasis on wellbeing and mental health.
From our UK edition
12 min listen
With petrol and gas supply issues still continuing Labour doesn't seem to be focusing on this important issue gripping the nation. Instead, though Starmer had a victory in pushing through his changes in regards to Labour leadership voting, his parade was rained on by the resignation of Andy McDonald over disputes about the minimum wage.Isabel Hardman and Katy Balls join us from the conference in Brighton along with James Forsyth in London.
From our UK edition
One of the most contested grounds in politics at the moment is law and order. It’s not just the high-profile cases of Sabina Nessa and Sarah Everard, but a growing sentiment among all voters that they don’t feel as safe as they once did. The Tories know this, which is why they’ve brought forward their controversial Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill. Labour opposes that legislation largely on the basis that it includes an illiberal crackdown on the right to protest, though I understand that the shadow home affairs team were concerned that the party’s opposition to the Bill would undermine Labour’s claims to be tough on crime.
From our UK edition
Labour's party conference slogan is 'stronger future together'. It's sufficiently anodyne that despite it being emblazoned all over a massive set in the hall, no one mentions it at all. Instead, the slogan the party's senior figures seem to have adopted is 'why didn't the government have a plan for this?' Call for parliament to be recalled: something the government would struggle to do, thereby making Boris Johnson look weak It's the refrain you hear over and over again on everything, from Covid cases to school exams to the current fuel crisis. In fact, on that last one, it's really the only thing you will have heard at all from Labour's frontbench, who seem only mildly aware of what's going on in the world outside the conference bubble.
From our UK edition
Andy McDonald has resigned from Labour's shadow cabinet after Keir Starmer refused to back raising the Minimum Wage to £15 an hour. In his resignation letter, he writes: 'Yesterday, your office instructed me to go into a meeting to argue against a National Minimum Wage of £15 an hour and against Statutory Sick Pay at the Living Wage. This is something I could not do.' More damagingly, he adds: Starmer has set great store by trying to keep the Labour party together. 'I joined your frontbench team on the basis of the pledges that you made in the leadership campaign to bring about unity within the party and maintainability our commitment to socialist policies.
From our UK edition
-7 min listen
With images of long queues at the petrol station dominating social media this weekend, not due to lack of petrol but lack of drivers, the Labour party conference continues in Brighton. Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves made more of an impact with her speech than some others, but Labour's real problem at this conference seems to be finding a distinct message to rally the party loyal. Katy Balls speaks to James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman.