Isabel Hardman

Andy Burnham knows that ‘fixing’ social care will drain political capital away from him faster than a teenager emptying their parents’ bank account. At the moment, he is clearly more focused on funding mechanisms to put the sector on a sustainable footing... See more

Andy Burnham told his Cabinet this morning that they need to give people a ‘sense that help is coming’. He was largely focused on the cost of living as he addressed ministers, but one of his other big themes in the past 24 hours since taking over as prime... See more

What does Yvette Cooper as Health Secretary mean for the NHS? It’s a question no one thought to ask before today, which underlines why her appointment is quite left-field. Cooper does have experience: she was a junior minister in the health department bac... See more

No, we don’t need a better tone at PMQs Keir Starmer has been quite an irritable – and irritating at times – performer in the Commons as prime minister. His sessions with Kemi Badenoch in particular have been marked by pompous lectures about how she shoul... See more

Now that he’s officially the Prime Minister in waiting, Andy Burnham is trying to work out how to stop Labour MPs from turning against him in the same way they turned against Keir Starmer. He’s got a letter from nearly 80 backbenchers calling on him to ‘r... See more