Isabel Hardman is assistant editor of The Spectator and author of Why We Get the Wrong Politicians. She also presents Radio 4’s Week in Westminster.
From our UK edition
Nick Clegg said this morning that ‘appropriate steps’ will be taken to deal with Lord Oakeshott after the peer was outed as the ‘Lib Dem supporter’ who had commissioned uncomfortable polling about the Lib Dems’ chances in 2015. As with other difficult situations with Lib Dem peers, though, Clegg doesn’t have that much power to
From our UK edition
Moments of grumpiness aside, Ed Miliband’s fightback speech this afternoon was very worth listening to. listen to ‘Miliband: It’s ‘dead wrong’ that Labour has been too radical’ on Audioboo
From our UK edition
In the past few minutes, Vince Cable has issued this statement on the leaked ICM polling: ‘Lord Oakeshott’s actions are totally inexcusable and unacceptable. I have made it very clear repeatedly that he does not speak or act for me. ‘Commissioning and publishing polls without the consent of the Member of Parliament, as in the
From our UK edition
Ed Miliband has just delivered his post-European and local elections comeback speech in Thurrock, to show that he’s not afraid to confront the challenges that Labour still faces in the run-up to 2015. I’ll post on the details of the speech and what it means shortly, but one exchange in the Q&A told us quite
From our UK edition
Who is the mysterious ‘Lib Dem supporter’ behind the ICM poll showing that the Lib Dems would fare very badly next year if Nick Clegg remains leader? ICM have published the poll tables, saying only that the commissioning client is a ‘member of the Liberal Democrats’. The British Polling Council rules state that its members
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Will Nick Clegg survive his mauling in the European elections? The front pages this morning don’t do the Lib Dem leader any favours – although his main leadership rivals, Tim Farron and Vince Cable, did by pledging their loyalty to him. There is considerable suspicion in the party that the polling on the Guardian front
From our UK edition
Nigel Farage hasn’t just been enjoying today, he’s been using it as a springboard for a professional, grown-up Ukip. He told a press conference in London that his party would challenge Ed Miliband’s focus on the cost-of-living crisis and do so in the Labour leader’s own town. He also said the party had been doing
From our UK edition
Vince Cable, definitely not in the Team Nick camp, has finally broken his silence from a trade visit in China to defend his colleague. In the past few minutes the Business Secretary has released this statement: ‘These were exceptionally disappointing results for the party. Many hard working Liberal Democrats, who gave this fight everything they
From our UK edition
Conservative MPs and candidates are, it’s fair to say, pretty exhausted this afternoon after last-minute campaigning for the local and European elections and all-nighters watching the results come in. But with the Newark by-election drawing closer, they’re not flopping into their beds just yet. All candidates have been summoned to a 10am briefing in Newark
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Labour has a strange response today to Ukip’s success. Ed Miliband has argued that ‘there is deep discontent with the way the country is run and a deep desire to change’, which almost suggests that the results have been resoundingly good for Labour. True, the party has won seats – 152 net gains so far
From our UK edition
Labour’s performance in the local elections is a blessing for the Conservatives. A less impressive showing in the polls for the Opposition a year out from the general election, with key target councils failing to go red and what John Curtice has described as a ‘failure to do well enough’ means the story is not
From our UK edition
Inevitably, given Ukip has made strong gains overnight, some Conservative MPs have been renewing their calls for a Tory-Ukip pact. Conservative ministers have been quick to brush this off, with Grant Shapps arguing: ‘We’re not going to have a pact or joint candidates, or whatever. It can’t happen on a technical basis because we do
From our UK edition
Around a third of all councils up for election yesterday have now declared. Here are the results so far: So far the Conservatives have lost eight councils, with 15 declared Conservative. The Tories have 1,005 seats (a loss of 85). Labour has gained 73 seats with 1,280 now Labour and two councils, with 25 declared
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Now the waiting begins. If you’re interested in the results of around 50 councils which expect to declare overnight, here they are: Basildon, Basingstoke & Deane, Bexley, Birmingham, Bolton, Brentwood, Broxbourne, Bristol, Cambridge, Cannock Chase, Carlisle, Castle Point, Colchester, Coventry, Croydon, Daventry, Derby, Eastleigh, Enfield, Fareham, Gloucester, Gosport, Hammersmith & Fulham, Haringey, Harlow, Hartlepool, Hastings,
From our UK edition
When polls close tonight, another vote will open in one part of the country that could cause a bit of European trouble for David Cameron. Tory MPs Peter Bone and Philip Hollobone and Conservative candidate for Corby Tom Pursglove are running a In/Out referendum in North Northamptonshire, consulting around 250,000 people across three constituencies on
From our UK edition
The inconveniently-timed net migration figures are out this morning, and they’re not good for the Prime Minister’s pledge to get immigration into the ‘tens of thousands’ by the general election. The Office for National Statistics estimates that net long-term migration to the UK was 212,000 in 2013. This is a rise—one the ONS says is ‘not
From our UK edition
A Prime Minister defending a government policy is usually quite unremarkable. But today David Cameron defended the Government’s free school meals policy, and given the amount of vitriol this has attracted between the two Coalition parties in recent weeks, that really is remarkable. He told the World at One: ‘I don’t really accept it was
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Most of the reshuffle-related excitement in Westminster is focused on a pending Tory one. But does Ed Miliband’s top team need a bit of freshening up too? I blogged last week that Labour backbenchers, including a number with serious experience of government, were unhappy with the way many of the Labour top dogs are failing
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Nigel Farage has stirred up talk again this morning of joint Conservative/Ukip or Labour/Ukip candidates. This has been doing the rounds ever since the Ukip leader mooted it in an interview with James in the Spectator, but neither main party is keen. The reason is that this would effectively outsource candidate selection to someone outside
From our UK edition
Ukip’s we’re-not-racist ethnic minority carnival in Croydon always looked as though it was going to provide plenty of material for sketchwriters and critics. It was another attempt by the party to showcase its non-white members and candidates, with local candidate Winston McKenzie on hand too. But the event aimed at spinning a line about the
