menu_open Columnists
Isabel Hardman

Isabel Hardman

Independent

We use cookies to provide some features and experiences in QOSHE

More information  .  Close

Keir Starmer hasn’t done enough to save himself

The final Prime Minister’s Questions of a parliamentary session is often quite a demob-happy affair with a pantomime atmosphere. Today’s, though,...

latest 6

The Spectator

Isabel Hardman

What is the argument for keeping Keir Starmer?

For something that’s apparently only a ‘desperate political stunt’, Keir Starmer is taking the looming vote on whether to refer him to the...

previous day 10

The Spectator

Isabel Hardman

Did Keir Starmer watch the same Olly Robbins as me?

It will come as no surprise that Keir Starmer appears to have heard a very different evidence session from Sir Olly Robbins to the one everyone else...

22.04.2026 10

The Spectator

Isabel Hardman

Olly Robbins hits back over Mandelson’s vetting

Sir Olly Robbins has only been giving evidence to the foreign affairs committee for 20 minutes, and already he has made clear that he is not going to...

21.04.2026 10

The Spectator

Isabel Hardman

Lee Anderson and Zarah Sultana are two sides of the same coin

What a funny pair Lee Anderson and Zarah Sultana are: so vehemently opposed to one another’s politics and yet so similar in the way they operate,...

20.04.2026 10

The Spectator

Isabel Hardman

Starmer wants to ask, not answer, the questions at PMQs

Keir Starmer gave six responses to questions about Lord Robertson’s defence spending comments today, none of which addressed the criticism properly....

15.04.2026 10

The Spectator

Isabel Hardman

Why I still watch PMQs

Is Prime Minister’s Questions past it? We frequently ask this question in Westminster when the Wednesday lunchtime ding-dong between the two party...

15.04.2026 9

The Spectator

Isabel Hardman

Will Starmer fix any of Britain’s big problems?

George Robertson’s critique of the government’s reluctance to commit to proper defence spending is deeply politically inconvenient for Keir...

14.04.2026 10

The Spectator

Isabel Hardman

Is Britain falling out of love with the NHS?

Why is Wes Streeting launching a report that argues the NHS doesn’t need to change its funding model? The Health Secretary gave a speech this...

13.04.2026 10

The Spectator

Isabel Hardman

A&E is buckling under the mental health crisis

Mental health provision is totally inadequate in this country: we already know that. But you can only really understand quite how badly broken it is...

09.04.2026 10

The Spectator

Isabel Hardman

Has Starmer run into trouble with the defence investment plan?

One of the key rites of passage for all modern prime ministers is losing their temper a little during an exchange with Bernard Jenkin at the liaison...

23.03.2026 10

The Spectator

Isabel Hardman

Will the Covid inquiry teach us anything?

The Covid inquiry has published the third of its ten (ten!) modules today, this time focused on how the healthcare systems of the UK coped with the...

19.03.2026 10

The Spectator

Isabel Hardman

Starmer doesn’t have a handle on his job as Prime Minister

Keir Starmer had an appalling performance at Prime Minister’s Questions today. It was summarised very well later in the session by Conservative MP...

18.03.2026 10

The Spectator

Isabel Hardman

Starmer and Badenoch were like squabbling kids at PMQs

Prime Minister’s Questions today saw a leader under repeated attack for a ‘screeching U-turn’ and their suitability to be Prime Minister called...

11.03.2026 10

The Spectator

Isabel Hardman

Badenoch attacks Starmer’s Iran response at PMQs

Kemi Badenoch used Prime Minister’s Questions to accuse the government of being flat-footed in its response to the war in the Middle East. The Tory...

04.03.2026 10

The Spectator

Isabel Hardman

More reviews won’t fix the NHS’s failing maternity services

NHS maternity services are in crisis: everyone knows that. In fact, everyone has known a lot more than that for at least a decade. There have been so...

26.02.2026 10

The Spectator

Isabel Hardman

Badenoch savaged Starmer at PMQs

Kemi Badenoch was on savage form at Prime Minister’s Questions. The leader of the opposition has generally improved her performance in this session,...

25.02.2026 10

The Spectator

Isabel Hardman

Why ministers want to talk about Andrew

This afternoon’s Commons debate on Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was unusual for all kinds of reasons. It was not just that the Speaker had decided...

24.02.2026 8

The Spectator

Isabel Hardman

Keir Starmer doesn’t know how close his government is to collapse

Today’s unemployment figures aren’t just a reminder of the mess the government has made of the jobs market with its national insurance hikes. They...

17.02.2026 10

The Spectator

Isabel Hardman

What could a Starmer government possibly achieve now?

09.02.2026 9

The Spectator

Isabel Hardman

Do MPs really want to save the Houses of Parliament?

05.02.2026 10

The Spectator

Isabel Hardman

PMQs / The question Starmer didn’t want to answer about Peter Mandelson

04.02.2026 10

The Spectator

Isabel Hardman

Met launches criminal investigation into Peter Mandelson

03.02.2026 10

The Spectator

Isabel Hardman

Politics / For once, David Lammy had a good DPMQs

28.01.2026 10

The Spectator

Isabel Hardman

Starmer blocks Burnham from parliament

25.01.2026 10

The Spectator

Isabel Hardman

Politics / Keir Starmer talked tough on Trump at PMQs

21.01.2026 10

The Spectator

Isabel Hardman

Andrew selling his wedding present from the Queen tells you everything about him

08.01.2026 8

iNews

Isabel Hardman

Nigel Farage was the winner of PMQs – and he wasn't even there

07.01.2026 10

The Spectator

Isabel Hardman

It's a bit rich for Keir Starmer to urge ministers to hold their nerve

07.01.2026 9

The Spectator

Isabel Hardman

Badenoch – and Starmer – should work on their PMQs jokes

17.12.2025 10

The Spectator

Isabel Hardman

Why are public inquiries so popular?

16.12.2025 7

The Spectator

Isabel Hardman

Where is the violence against women and girls strategy?

16.12.2025 10

The Spectator

Isabel Hardman

Where is the violence against women and girls strategy?

15.12.2025 10

The Spectator

Isabel Hardman

Beat the BMA and Streeting is one step closer to No 10

11.12.2025 10

iNews

Isabel Hardman

Badenoch still has a Herculean task ahead of her

10.12.2025 8

The Spectator

Isabel Hardman

From grooming gangs to maternity safety: how the British state is failing

09.12.2025 8

The Spectator

Isabel Hardman

Kemi Badenoch is enjoying herself

03.12.2025 10

The Spectator

Isabel Hardman

The end of the state pension triple-lock just became inevitable 

27.11.2025 10

iNews

Isabel Hardman

Badenoch’s PMQs attack ran out of steam

26.11.2025 10

The Spectator

Isabel Hardman

Starmer did even worse than Badenoch at PMQs

19.11.2025 7

The Spectator

Isabel Hardman

Only Wes Streeting came out well from PMQs

12.11.2025 10

The Spectator

Isabel Hardman

Lammy is a terrible deputy PM - and it's Starmer's fault

07.11.2025 10

iNews

Isabel Hardman

Deputy PMQs / David Lammy can’t blame the Tories for the latest prison release debacle

05.11.2025 10

The Spectator

Isabel Hardman

Attacking Rachel Reeves shows how desperate the Tories have become

31.10.2025 10

iNews

Isabel Hardman

Why Starmer is back to attacking the Tories at PMQs

29.10.2025 7

The Spectator

Isabel Hardman

Keir Starmer failed to put a lid on the China spy story at PMQs

15.10.2025 10

The Spectator

Isabel Hardman

Trump's art of the deal paid off. Here's the lesson for other leaders

10.10.2025 8

iNews

Isabel Hardman

What does Reeves want from businesses?

30.09.2025 8

The Spectator

Isabel Hardman

Starmer's plan to entice Reform voters with digital IDs will backfire

26.09.2025 10

iNews

Isabel Hardman

Mandelson's sacking is personal to Trump - it spells disaster for the UK

11.09.2025 10

iNews

Isabel Hardman