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.
Before coming into government, Keir Starmer would use his battles with the unions, particularly Unite, as a way of defining himself against the parts of the Labour movement resistant to change. His speech to the Trades Union Congress this morning was more about suggesting that the unions could be part of that change. I say
Who was Rachel Reeves more worried about tonight when she addressed the Parliamentary Labour party? The Labour MPs who will rebel against the government tomorrow in the vote on restricting winter fuel payment to those on pension credit – or the ones who are staying loyal? No one spoke out against the cut when the
The most interesting thing about Lord Ara Darzi’s report on the health service, expected to be published this Thursday, is how ministers decide to use it. The former health minister from the last Labour government was commissioned to carry out a rapid review of how well the NHS is functioning. He is expected to conclude
16 min listen
Seven years after the tragedy, the inquiry into the Grenfell fire has published its report. What did we learn from it and who bears responsibility? And, with thousands of buildings still believed to contain flammable cladding, what should happen next? With such important lessons to be learnt, why do British inquiries take so long? Also
Keir Starmer made a couple of verbal slips at Prime Minister’s Questions. Both were quite telling. The first was that he repeatedly referred to Rishi Sunak as the ‘Prime Minister’. An easy mistake to make, perhaps, when both are still getting used to the job swap they performed after the election. But the reason it
There are very few people who emerge from the Grenfell Inquiry’s final report with much credit today. Certainly very few who had a formal responsibility to ensure that those living in Grenfell Tower were safe. The local community stepped up in the aftermath of the disaster, but even then the institutions set up to ensure
Keir Starmer is back at the despatch box for Prime Minister’s Questions today and his honeymoon period is unquestionably over. He will face hostile questions on the winter fuel payment, on arms export licences to Israel, and on whether Labour plans to raise taxes in the autumn budget. And he will want to talk about
David Lammy has just announced that Britain is suspending 30 arms export licenses to Israel. The Foreign Secretary told the House of Commons that after a review of international humanitarian law, he was left with no choice but to conclude that there was a risk of a number of weapons being used to commit or
It was the Commons at its best: the whole House, united in agreement on one key matter. MP after MP took a stand against the critics to support a colleague. All of them wanted to praise Angela Rayner’s dancing while on holiday. They were back in the Commons after recess for Housing, Communities and Local
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Keir Starmer’s biographer Tom Baldwin has revealed that the PM has removed a portrait of Margaret Thatcher from No 10. The portrait was originally commissioned by Gordon Brown. Why has he bothered to get rid of it? Elsewhere, the government has more plans for health, and select committees have some surprising new candidates. Megan McElroy
Could Labour be about to water down its removal of the winter fuel payment for pensioners? The chorus of muttering is getting louder in the party about restricting it to those on pension credit or other means-tested benefits, with backbenchers saying they have been shocked by the volume of letters from pensioners about it. This
13 min listen
The government seems to have appointed another party-political advisor to the civil service – this time Labour Together’s Jess Sargeant to the role of deputy director at the Cabinet Office’s Propriety and Constitution Group. Is the Labour party just as prone to a bit of cronyism as they accuse the Tories of having been? Cindy
15 min listen
The fallout from the riots continues as the numbers being processed by the justice system have led to emergency measures being triggered by the government. What does this mean and, given the prison system was at breaking point even before the riots, what happens next? Also on the podcast, the six Tory leadership contenders have
11 min listen
Less than 48 hours after Transport Secretary Louise Haigh hailed a new deal with train drivers… the rail union Aslef announced further strike action. So what happened to Labour’s ‘relationship reset’ with the unions? And with recent pay deals, what incentive is there for workers to compromise with the government? Fraser Nelson and Isabel Hardman
Piet Oudolf’s long borders at Wisley were worn out. The famous designer had in fact become a bit embarrassed by them: they’d done well for 20 years but in that time his own style had evolved – and so had people’s tastes. Oudolf is now such a household name that his pointillist landscaping is considered
Synchronised swimming isn’t really a sport, is it? It’s ‘artistic swimming’ now, of course, though many athletes don’t like that term precisely because it makes the Olympic event sound less like a real sport. But by the end of Swimming Pretty, Vicki Valosik’s meticulous history of synchronised swimming, it’s difficult to think of it as
13 min listen
Kemi Badenoch is the favourite in the Tory leadership race at the moment, which is partly why she’s been subject to a fair amount of scrutiny and some mud-slinging this week. But could Robert Jenrick actually overtake her as the frontrunner on the right of the Conservative party? Cindy Yu talks to Katy Balls and
A much bigger story than Rachel Reeves cancelling the winter fuel payment is her announcement today that she is finally killing off the beleaguered cap on social care costs. Reeves told the Commons that the Conservative government had not funded its reforms to social care, so they weren’t going to happen. She said: Adult social
The government has offered junior doctors a pay rise worth up to 20 per cent over two years in a bid to end the strikes that have seriously hampered the NHS. Rachel Reeves is expected to confirm later today that the doctors have struck a deal with their ministers that will include a backdated rise
One of the big themes of Keir Starmer’s government could well end up being accountability in the public sector, which sounds boring until you look at examples of where that is sorely lacking. Take the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the NHS regulator. Today, Health Secretary Wes Streeting declared it ‘not fit for purpose’ after an
