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
This afternoon’s urgent question on allegations of Tory sleaze could have been a rather explosive affair. Instead, it was used by members of all parties to produce a series of rather rubbish slogans for the local and devolved assembly elections next month. The Conservatives wanted to deflect attention from their problems by complaining about a
From our UK edition
Bluebell season is beginning. In the next few weeks, woodland floors will have a fine blue mist hovering above them. This flowering season is so sensuous: there’s the sound of bees buzzing in and out of the flowers, the smell of their blooms, the cool spring breeze in the woods where they grow, and that
From our UK edition
How could the subpostmaster scandal, in which hundreds of small business owners had their lives ruined after being wrongly accused of taking money from the Post Office, have gone on for so long? The subpostmasters were sucked into a nightmare when the Post Office installed a new accounting system called Horizon to replace old manual
From our UK edition
Downing Street has hit back in its war with Dominic Cummings, after the former aide published an explosive blog post about leaks and ‘possibly illegal’ plans to renovate the Prime Minister’s flat using donations. A No. 10 spokesperson this evening said: ‘This government is entirely focused on fighting coronavirus, delivering vaccines and building back better.’
From our UK edition
Michael Gove’s trip to Israel to study the country’s ‘green pass’ system isn’t diminishing the impression among Conservative MPs that the UK government has already made up its mind on vaccine passports. A number who I have spoken to are taking the lack of communication from their party whips as a sign that the policy
From our UK edition
10 min listen
Boris Johnson’s trip to India was today cancelled as the country battles a new coronavirus variant. The PM was expecting to push Modi to release AstraZeneca vaccines to Britain, but that now looks unlikely. What does this mean for the UK’s roadmap? Katy Balls speaks to James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman.
From our UK edition
9 min listen
The UK and EU are holding talks over how to fix the Northern Ireland Protocol and stop the continuing violence on the island. Cindy Yu speaks to Katy Balls and Isabel Hardman about whether there’s a way forward.
From our UK edition
When David Cameron started contemplating life after Downing Street, he settled quite quickly on a model of what it should look like. He would stay on the backbenches, providing advice and wisdom to whoever came after him, earn a little bit of extra money while still working as an MP, and continue in public service
From our UK edition
10 min listen
Boris Johnson today said that the fall in coronavirus hospitalisations and deaths ‘has not been achieved by the vaccination programme’. After pubs, restaurants and shops reopened yesterday, why is the PM talking down vaccines? Cindy Yu speaks to Katy Balls and Isabel Hardman.
From our UK edition
The NHS vaccination programme has reached its latest big milestone of offering a jab to everyone in the top nine priority groups three days ahead of schedule. Everyone in government and the health service is celebrating. Boris Johnson has been busy thanking ‘everyone involved in the vaccine rollout which has already saved many thousands of
From our UK edition
11 min listen
David Cameron finally issued a statement over the weekend on the ongoing Greensill scandal. Gordon Brown also waded in this morning, telling the Today programme that there should be a five-year cooling-off period before former PMs can lobby. Will this but the issue to bed? Katy Balls speaks to Isabel Hardman.
From our UK edition
Keir Starmer obviously regrets visiting Jesus House last week because of the furore it has caused in his own party. But he will likely come to regret his reaction even more. The Labour leader posted a full apology for the Pentecostal church visit, saying: ‘I completely disagree with Jesus House’s beliefs on LGBT+ rights, which
From our UK edition
Has the pandemic really been good for the way the NHS treats mental health? That’s the rather startling claim I report on today in my i paper column. Ministers have started to talk — equally surprisingly, it has to be said — about the possibility that they are close to reaching parity of esteem between the
From our UK edition
11 min listen
A report on the Met Police’s handling of Sarah Everard’s vigil has concluded that the force ‘acted appropriately’. Was the conclusion a surprise, and has the new Policing Bill given them too much power? Isabel Hardman speaks to James Forsyth and Katy Balls.
From our UK edition
There is little to celebrate in today’s first anniversary since Britain went into lockdown, but Boris Johnson did try his best to mark it with a positive message about what was to come. The Prime Minister held a press conference in Downing Street this evening where he told the public that he wanted to ‘to
From our UK edition
Is ‘levelling up’ actually going to amount to anything? It’s been well over a year since Boris Johnson talked about it on the steps of Downing Street following his election victory, but of course quite a lot has happened in the intervening few months. It would be perfectly easy for this agenda to end up
From our UK edition
The Fire Safety Bill comes back to the Commons this afternoon for MPs to consider the changes made by peers — and there’s an amendment in there that Labour hopes is going to cause a bit of a fuss. It’s the reiteration of what’s become known as the ‘McPartland-Smith amendment’ after the two Conservative MPs —
From our UK edition
There is no finer sight in spring than a blossom tree. Planting one is, to my mind, a public service, as it will cheer generations of people plodding down your street, both with the blooms that appear on its branches, and with the confetti of petals thrown along the pavement. In the next few weeks,
From our UK edition
Matt Hancock was tremendously smiley when he led Wednesday’s coronavirus press briefing. In between beaming, he managed to tell us about the ‘fantastic news’ that the vaccination programme has now reached more than 25 million people having had their first dose. He was very keen to sing the praises of this programme — and indeed
From our UK edition
Prime Minister’s Questions is usually a session where the PM defends his handling of one issue or another, under attack from the leader of the Opposition. But today’s session involved an attempt by Sir Keir Starmer to defend his approach to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill. Labour knows it has an exposed flank