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.

Sunak unites the Commons behind Israel’s right to defence

19 October 2023 12:40 am

Most of the questions to Rishi Sunak today at Prime Minister’s Questions can be usefully summarised by the point put…

Sunak calls the Israel attack a ‘pogrom’

17 October 2023 4:44 am

Should the UK warn Israel about its response to the Hamas attack? The Prime Minister was very pointed as he…

Keir Starmer looks ready for an election

11 October 2023 2:33 am

The stage invasion at the start of Keir Starmer’s speech was a total failure for the protestor who carried it…

Rishi Sunak vows to end the ‘30-year status quo’ in Tory conference speech

5 October 2023 12:15 am

Rishi Sunak pitched himself as the change candidate at the next election in his speech to Conservative party conference this…

Sunak set to scrap HS2 from Birmingham to Manchester

4 October 2023 8:55 am

Rishi Sunak will tomorrow confirm he is scrapping the HS2 link between Manchester and Birmingham, Coffee House understands. The prime…

The great Tory dilemma: try to win or prepare for defeat?

4 October 2023 12:40 am

What are the Conservatives putting the most effort into: winning the next election, or life after defeat? While Rishi Sunak…

Sunak’s climate climbdown puts Labour in a pickle

21 September 2023 3:45 am

Rishi Sunak hadn’t wanted to announce the first part of his ‘vision’ for government this way. He was bounced into…

Sunak is embracing wind farms because of politics, not principle

6 September 2023 4:34 am

Michael Gove today announced that the government was relaxing the effective ban on new onshore wind farms that was introduced…

How did the Tories not see the school concrete crisis coming?

4 September 2023 5:48 pm

How did they not see this coming? Normally that question is one of the laziest you can ask in Westminster:…

Why can’t NHS managers spot a serial killer?

26 August 2023 9:00 am

No one who has paid any attention to NHS scandals over the past few decades should be at all surprised…

How was Lucy Letby able to operate in an NHS hospital?

19 August 2023 2:45 am

How was Lucy Letby able to operate as a serial killer in an NHS hospital? Now that the verdicts in…

How the Tories plan to take the fight to Labour on the NHS

14 August 2023 1:58 am

Brace yourselves for health week. After the rip-roaring success of the government’s ‘stop the boats’ week, you might forgive the…

Ulez isn’t the election gift Sunak wishes it was

21 July 2023 10:37 pm

Given everyone has won a prize in this round of by-elections, the three main party leaders have been feasting on…

Illegal Migration Bill passed by Lords

18 July 2023 7:09 pm

The Illegal Migration Bill is making its final crossing today to become an Act, after peers and MPs voted into…

Tories fight over Illegal Migration Bill

11 July 2023 11:36 pm

The Illegal Migration Bill is back this afternoon for ‘ping pong’ – the final stage of its legislative passage where…

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…