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.

Badenoch’s substitute fails to land on Rayner at PMQs

21 November 2024 1:02 am

Angela Rayner was so keen to get out of the traps with her criticism of the last Conservative government at…

Resignations alone won’t fix the Church of England

15 November 2024 1:54 am

Will there be more resignations following the departure of Justin Welby as Archbishop of Canterbury? The Church is, as on…

Keir Starmer has a problem answering questions

14 November 2024 12:45 am

Kemi Badenoch didn’t have the best start at today’s Prime Minister’s Questions: she asked a question that had apparently already…

MPs should take their time over the assisted dying bill

13 November 2024 1:34 am

You don’t need to have a strong opinion either way on assisted dying to be concerned about the latest attempt…

Justin Welby quits as Archbishop of Canterbury

13 November 2024 1:09 am

In the past few minutes, Justin Welby has announced he is resigning as Archbishop of Canterbury over his handling of…

Can Justin Welby cling on?

12 November 2024 10:18 pm

MPs are getting involved in the row over Justin Welby’s position as Archbishop of Canterbury, with Conservative MP Nick Timothy…

Evangelicals have questions to answer over the John Smyth scandal

11 November 2024 1:59 am

Justin Welby has said he considered resigning as Archbishop of Canterbury over the findings of the Makin Review into the…

Laura Trott’s Commons debut gives a clue to Kemi’s tactics

5 November 2024 6:01 am

What difference has Kemi Badenoch’s victory made to the way the party talks about education? Badenoch doesn’t want to make…

Rishi Sunak enjoyed his last Commons hurrah

31 October 2024 2:21 am

Rishi Sunak’s final act in the Commons as leader of the opposition was one he clearly enjoyed. The outgoing Conservative…

Rachel Reeves’s ‘stability Budget’ contained few surprises

31 October 2024 1:24 am

All the political framing of the past three months has been around Rachel Reeves’ first Budget. Black holes have been…

Rishi Sunak says farewell to Keir Starmer

31 October 2024 12:23 am

When Rishi Sunak was Prime Minister, he and Keir Starmer had some of the most repetitive and uninformative sessions at…

Why is Lindsay Hoyle telling off Rachel Reeves?

29 October 2024 7:43 am

Is the Speaker being a bit precious with his complaint about pre-Budget announcements? Lindsay Hoyle made a statement in the…

Keir Starmer is borrowing from Nick Clegg’s playbook

28 October 2024 11:53 pm

Keir Starmer has given up trying to define what a ‘working person’ is after last week’s debacle, announcing at the…

Dowden and Rayner do battle for the last time

24 October 2024 12:29 am

Angela Rayner and Oliver Dowden shared a tender moment today at Deputy Prime Minister’s Questions as they bade farewell to…

Do we really need more ‘national conversations’?

22 October 2024 6:24 am

Other than being fired out of a cannon to raise funds for the NHS, what could Wes Streeting possibly learn…

Does Wes Streeting’s ten-year NHS plan amount to anything?

20 October 2024 10:12 pm

The Health Secretary is making a big fanfare about a cash boost in the Budget and a new plan to…

Starmer denies being soft on China

17 October 2024 12:42 am

Prime Minister’s Questions today asked the same question that Katy raised in her magazine cover piece last week: what is…

Keir Starmer’s reset comes unstuck at PMQs

10 October 2024 12:02 am

Keir Starmer’s reset isn’t going very well. He turned up at Prime Minister’s Questions today clearly hoping to talk about…

Do the Tories need to worry about the winter fuel row?

8 October 2024 8:34 am

How long are the Tories going to campaign on the winter fuel payment? It was their main line of attack…

Starmer insists he hasn’t stepped back support for Israel

8 October 2024 6:27 am

Keir Starmer took a different tone on Israel today. That change of tone is to a certain extent to be…

The heart-rending story of a child’s heart transplant

5 October 2024 9:00 am

As nine-year-old Max resigns himself to death, a saviour arrives in the person of Keira, the victim of a tragic car crash, whose family opts to donate her organs

Badenoch pitches herself as the great disruptor

2 October 2024 11:05 pm

Kemi Badenoch’s opening video before her speech had a series of politicians and normal people talking at odd angles into…

James Cleverly thinks the Tories need to be more ‘normal’

2 October 2024 10:05 pm

James Cleverly’s speech did a much better job than Tom Tugendhat’s of explaining what sort of person he is, and…

Does Kemi cause problems for Kemi?

1 October 2024 5:33 am

Kemi Badenoch is being followed around the Tory party conference by her own comments about maternity pay. She had to…

Did you know Tom Tugendhat was in the military?

1 October 2024 2:54 am

Tom Tugendhat may have the most interesting merchandise in this Tory leadership contest (including fake tan, for reasons no-one has…