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.
If you wanted an illustration of the different emotional states of the two main parties, you could do a lot worse than to watch the humble address speeches just given by two Tory backbenchers in the Commons following the Queen’s Speech. While Tracey Crouch and Eddie Hughes cracked jokes and had their colleagues in stitches
There wasn’t much pomp around today’s Queen’s Speech, despite the fact that this second speech of the autumn is the one that will actually get delivered. With a majority, Boris Johnson is able to say confidently that his government is going to introduce all the policies listed in the Speech and that they will pass
Despite being beaten by an Old Etonian with ‘de Pfeffel’ as his middle name, the Labour Party has descended into a rather predictable round of the Four Yorkshiremen, with competing factions arguing variously that voters in former ‘red wall’ seats will only return to Labour if it is led by a northerner, a woman and
Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn have just faced one another in the Commons for the first time in this new Parliament, though it is highly unlikely to be the last. The pair were responding to the election of the new Speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, and both chose to use their statements to make a few remarks
We won’t see the full scope of what Boris Johnson plans to do for life after Brexit until the new year. There will be a few appointments this afternoon to replace gaps in the government, and then the Queen’s Speech will introduce the legislative agenda on Thursday. But the full launch of the new government
It’s the first proper day in the Commons for newly-elected MPs, though many of them took part in induction sessions organised by the House yesterday. This evening, Conservative MPs will have a drinks reception with Boris Johnson, where the new Prime Minister will reiterate his commitment to spending this week getting Brexit done. The first
Parliament returns tomorrow – without 47 of the people who were MPs just a few weeks ago. Some, like those standing as independents, had a pretty good hunch that they’d be booted out by the electorate on Thursday. Others had less notice, and realised only as the campaign wore on that their constituencies, many of
Labour’s defeat is so terrible that it provides the kind of creative destruction that could save the party. It will be extremely difficult for the Corbynites to argue with much authority that one more push or slightly nicer newspapers would have got them over the line when the party hasn’t had a result this bad
Boris Johnson’s victory speech in Downing Street was aimed at the voters unsure about his government, whether they be the voters who backed his party for the first time, or Remainers who didn’t vote Tory. In an acknowledgement of how difficult it will have been for many traditionally Labour voters to turn away from their
Boris Johnson has just given a fully-charged victory speech at a rally in London, telling joyful activists that today marks ‘a new dawn and a new government’. The event was emblazoned with a new logo, ‘The People’s Government’ as the Tories claim victory for representing all parts of the country. Johnson echoed this in his
What’s the point of political leaflets, anyway? Many voters in target seats will be asking that very question on an almost daily basis, as they shovel the latest snowdrifts of election literature into their recycling bin. We have social media, party election broadcasts and phone banks to reach voters. Who needs leaflets? There is a
John McDonnell was insisting this morning that Labour was going to win a majority, but just in case, insiders are suggesting that the Shadow Chancellor is planning to take over as interim leader if Jeremy Corbyn resigns after a general election defeat. McDonnell has long championed Rebecca Long-Bailey as a future leader, and there is
Is Boris Johnson a robot? I ask this advisedly, given the connotations of that word in the political arena, but the way the Prime Minister responded to questions from a journalist this afternoon does suggest he might be turning into one. He was asked by ITV’s Joe Pike for a response to the photo of
Believe it or not, there was yet another televised election debate tonight, this time on Channel 4, called the ‘Everything But Brexit’ debate. The Tories had refused to take part, and while their decision will have been partly down to their ongoing battle with the broadcaster, which they have accused of being biased, they will
Jo Swinson had a terrible session on Question Time earlier in the election campaign, but tonight in her interview with Andrew Neil, she showed that it is possible for a leader who believes what they are saying to survive a very tough grilling with their dignity intact. She faced difficult questions on her party’s Brexit
With just over a week to go till polling day, tis the season for endorsements from publications and public figures. We’ve published our leader in tomorrow’s Spectator setting out why this election is too important to not take sides. There’s been plenty of debate about the New Statesman’s unusual refusal to endorse Labour, arguing that
Tonight’s ITV election debate had a slightly different cast to the seven-way BBC programme on Friday night, but its spokespeople offered pretty much the same soundbites throughout the show. It started with the parties arguing about the lessons from the London Bridge attack, with Conservative Rishi Sunak and Labour’s Richard Burgon repeating the lines their
For a seven-way debate which didn’t even feature the two main party leaders, tonight’s BBC election programme was remarkably good. It felt as though it started with a jolt, with all the senior politicians present looking dazed as they struggled to find the words to respond to this afternoon’s terror attack at London Bridge. It
Why did Boris Johnson refuse to attend tonight’s Channel 4 leaders’ debate on the climate? His party has gone to war with the broadcaster, writing to Ofcom before the programme even started to complain about the way the prime Minister had been ’empty-chaired’, a slowly-melting ice sculpture replacing him (and another for Nigel Farage). According
Jeremy Corbyn’s interview with Andrew Neil was one of the most uncomfortable half hours of the Labour leader’s tenure. In contrast to the ITV debate, where he appeared confident and quick-witted, Corbyn struggled to answer questions on a number of different issues, complaining all the while that Neil wouldn’t let him finish. By the end,
