Isabel Hardman

Isabel Hardman is assistant editor of The Spectator and edits the Coffee House blog. She also presents Radio 4’s Week in Westminster.

Boris’s allies defend their attacks on the Privileges Committee

11 July 2023 4:44 pm

The House of Commons often rises early these days, with little in the way of legislation to keep MPs busy.…

Starmer commits to oracy classes for children

6 July 2023 9:03 pm

Keir Starmer is giving another speech on one of his five missions (remember them?) today. The Labour leader has a…

Chris Pincher’s suspension spells more trouble for Rishi Sunak

6 July 2023 7:30 pm

Chris Pincher should be suspended as an MP for eight weeks following allegations he groped two people at the Carlton…

Is the glucose monitoring craze really so healthy?

1 July 2023 9:00 am

The curious obsession with glucose monitoring gadgets

The privileges committee was right to scold Boris’s supporters

29 June 2023 10:40 pm

Did the privileges committee really need to bother with a report scolding a number of Boris Johnson’s supporters for what…

What’s the true cost of the Rwanda deportation plan?

27 June 2023 6:05 am

What’s the point of the government’s flagship Rwanda deportation scheme if it isn’t going to save money for the taxpayer?…

Is Labour bluffing on Lords reform?

22 June 2023 9:22 pm

Is Labour really going to reform the House of Lords? The party has ended up in a bit of a…

Neither party is fully trusted on the economy

21 June 2023 12:31 am

Jeremy Hunt was bombarded by MPs worried about the ‘mortgage timebomb’ when he took Treasury questions in the Commons today.…

Parliament votes to ban Boris

20 June 2023 7:47 am

MPs have just voted 354 to 7 in favour of the Privileges Committee report’s finding that Boris Johnson deliberately misled…

The Tories can’t escape partygate

20 June 2023 3:28 am

Is partygate all in the past? That’s what Rishi Sunak is hoping. He sent Penny Mordaunt to the Commons this…

The partygate report is damning for Boris Johnson

15 June 2023 7:10 pm

The Privileges Committee has published its report on whether Boris Johnson deliberately misled parliament over partygate. It is damning. The…

Boris Johnson quits parliament

10 June 2023 6:15 am

Boris Johnson has announced he will be standing down from parliament with immediate effect, after the Privileges Committee recommended a…

Sunak and Biden’s White House love-in

9 June 2023 7:45 am

Rishi Sunak and Joe Biden’s White House press conference started late, presumably to make a point that the two had…

Will Britons be injecting their way out of obesity?

8 June 2023 10:51 pm

Is it right that the government is going to let more people use weight-loss jabs on the NHS? Anti-obesity jabs,…

Labour’s AI attack strategy comes unstuck

7 June 2023 1:50 am

What’s wrong with the government’s AI strategy? Labour has been claiming today that it is ‘already out of date’, with…

The mystery of Boris Johnson’s missing WhatsApp messages

31 May 2023 6:30 pm

Where have Boris Johnson’s diaries and WhatsApp messages gone? The row over the demands of the Covid Inquiry for evidence…

What Suella Braverman needs to do to keep her job

23 May 2023 2:40 am

As luck would have it, the Home Secretary was down to answer departmental questions in the chamber this afternoon, and…

The myth of the beautiful green belt

18 May 2023 4:25 am

What a nonsense debate the fight over the green belt has become. Today Keir Starmer has been – rightly –…

Suella Braverman is making Rishi Sunak look weak

17 May 2023 10:32 pm

The National Conservatism conference is entering its third day in London, and has managed to grab more headlines than the…

Labour’s coronation policing muddle

9 May 2023 5:50 am

The political fallout from the coronation policing row shows us that if Labour does get into government after the next…

Can the Foreign Office avoid the mistakes of Kabul in Sudan?

25 April 2023 8:24 pm

A British evacuation of Sudan began last night after a 72-hour ceasefire was agreed. Ministers, however, are anxious about the…

Rishi Sunak distances himself from Raab’s resignation

21 April 2023 11:13 pm

Rishi Sunak seems keen to stand back from the row about Dominic Raab, offering more of a commentary on it…

What does the SNP leadership election mean for Scottish Labour?

27 March 2023 4:00 pm

Unionist politicians are warming up for what they hope will be one of the biggest opportunities of the past two…

It’s easy to become numb to the madness of Boris Johnson

23 March 2023 4:53 am

What was Boris Johnson up to at the Privileges Committee? The former prime minister has just finished more than three…

Rishi Sunak has a scrutiny problem

15 March 2023 3:46 am

Rishi Sunak is in a hurry to fulfil his ‘five priorities’, especially on small boats. He’s in a hurry because…