Isabel Hardman

City of Westminster

Assistant Editor @spectator, 📻 R4 Week in Westminster, Times Radio 📚 Fighting for Life,The Natural Health Service, Why We Get the Wrong Politicians

Articles

Local elections: who had it worse?

1 week ago | spectator.co.uk | Isabel Hardman

In normal political times, local election and by-election results would show a bad night for the government and a good night for the official opposition. Not so with this set of results in English councils and the Runcorn and Helsby by-election, where both Labour and the Conservatives have been given bloody noses and Nigel Farage is celebrating the best set of results for Reform in both its history and that of its predecessor party, Ukip.
Nigel Farage is now openly mocking Kemi Badenoch

1 week ago | inews.co.uk | Isabel Hardman

“Please stay. I mean, please don’t resign, we want you to stay on as leader.” That was the plea not from one of Tory leader Kemi Badenoch’s backbench MPs, but from Nigel Farage, who is already doing a victory lap after a very good early set of by-election and local election results for Reform UK. He also said: “You’re witnessing the end of a party that’s been around since 1832. They are disappearing.”The Reform leader isn’t just good at speaking to the very deep fears of voters.
The rise of Robert 'Generic' proves how badly the Tories are doing

2 weeks ago | inews.co.uk | Isabel Hardman

Robert Jenrick used to be nicknamed “Robert Generic”: a rather boring, safe pair of hands who would happily do ministerial drudgery on behalf of a prime minister. It was one of the reasons he lost the Tory leadership contest against Kemi Badenoch: she had fire in her belly, whereas he appeared to be an AI generation of the archetypal politician. How things have changed.
Keir Starmer can’t explain his changing views on gender

3 weeks ago | spectator.com.au | Isabel Hardman

Keir Starmer was well aware that Kemi Badenoch would probably use Prime Minister’s Questions today to run a victory lap following the Supreme Court judgement on the definition of a woman. She has long been clear about the need to make biological sex the basis of such a definition, while Starmer has been on a journey over the matter.
Keir Starmer can’t explain his changing views on gender

3 weeks ago | spectator.co.uk | Isabel Hardman

Keir Starmer was well aware that Kemi Badenoch would probably use Prime Minister’s Questions today to run a victory lap following the Supreme Court judgement on the definition of a woman. She has long been clear about the need to make biological sex the basis of such a definition, while Starmer has been on a journey over the matter. The Prime Minster came armed with plenty of defences and deflections, but still struggled.
speak globally, think locally

1 month ago | msn.com | Isabel Hardman

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Ed Davey has a cunning plan to win over the protest voters: speak globally, think locally

1 month ago | theguardian.com | Isabel Hardman

The most newsworthy thing Ed Davey could have done last week would have been to turn up to his local election campaign launch in a boring suit and stand in front of a load of party placards to give a speech about voting for change in your community. Given the Lib Dem leader’s proclivity for election campaign stunts, it would have been a man-bites-dog level of surprise that he was no longer prepared to charge around in fancy dress while trying to get attention for his party’s message.
The failure at the root of crumbling British dentistry

1 month ago | inews.co.uk | Isabel Hardman

What is politics really about: the art of getting things done, or merely of making plans to get things done? It too often seems to be the latter, with even quite senior figures seeming to think that they’ve solved a problem by announcing a plan, without waiting around to see if that plan comes to fruition. Take dentistry, one of the areas most throbbingly in need of a plan.
Starmer and Badenoch played a childish blame game at PMQs

1 month ago | spectator.com.au | Isabel Hardman

Keir Starmer had a special point to make at the very outset of Prime Minister’s Questions about the threat of tariffs from the US. He told the Commons that ‘a trade war is in nobody’s interest and the country deserves, and we will take, a calm, pragmatic approach’. He added that the government ‘will rule nothing out’.
Starmer and Badenoch played a childish blame game at PMQs

1 month ago | spectator.co.uk | Isabel Hardman

Keir Starmer had a special point to make at the very outset of Prime Minister’s Questions about the threat of tariffs from the US. He told the Commons that ‘a trade war is in nobody’s interest and the country deserves, and we will take, a calm, pragmatic approach’. He added that the government ‘will rule nothing out’. He is, though, largely in automated response mode at PMQs these days.