Robert Hardman

2 weeks ago | dailymail.co.uk | Robert Hardman

On the afternoon of April 11, 1930, the celebrated British big-game hunter Jim Corbett nearly met his maker. He was painstakingly following a trail through the Agar forest in northern India in pursuit of a tigress which had already consumed 64 people. The terrified locals were pinning their hopes on Corbett. At that very moment, he should have become Number 65. That he did not is down to a great British institution which has been celebrating a big anniversary this month.

2 weeks ago | dailymail.co.uk | Robert Hardman

When Charles III came to the throne in September 2022, some commentators warned he would seek to ‘meddle’ and ‘cross constitutional red lines’. These critics had failed to realise that after 73 years of preparation, he had a far sharper grasp of the new constraints on him as sovereign. As a result we have had barely a batsqueak of complaint on that score. But now a different constitutional challenge looms, one we have not really seen since the 1980s.

4 weeks ago | dailymail.co.uk | Robert Hardman

All this week, the spotlight had been fixed firmly on the events of May 1945 and Victory in Europe. Last night, the King concluded Britain’s 80th anniversary commemorations by swinging that beam through 180 degrees and directing it forward to the future, urging today’s world leaders to ‘rededicate’ themselves to the noble ideals of the wartime generation.

1 month ago | dailymail.co.uk | Robert Hardman

From the Palace balcony to the far end of The Mall, from toddlers to centenarians, the message was as one: Eternal gratitude to those who, in Winston Churchill's words, 'drew the sword against tyranny'. In May 1945, the Prime Minister had been at George VI's side come that great moment of national rejoicing – Victory in Europe, forever to be known as VE Day. Eighty years on, King Charles III was joined by Joy Trew, 98, a great-grandmother from Bristol.

1 month ago | dailymail.co.uk | Robert Hardman

For a town that has just caused a genuine political earthquake – while also setting a new record for electoral nano-margins – Runcorn seems remarkably underwhelmed. The rest of Britain, and particularly that part of it which inhabits the much-derided 'Westminster bubble', might still be in a state of shock. Those who delivered victory for Reform here in Thursday's by-election shrug and tell me that there was no alternative.