Isabel Hardman

If you are looking for a bashing of our political class, then pass on. This is more about the failure of having a properly representative system, and how Parliament's way of working fuck up the good politicians we may have there, than a smackdown of the Westminster's bubble. Fair enough, but it doesn't make for a read as satisfying as it coud be. I have to rant.

I understand Isabel Hardman to be a political journalist and broadcaster having to deal with MPs on a daily basis as part of her show more job. As such, she obviously has no interest to alienate them by coming out on them too harshly. I get that. Yet, trying to have the reader sympathise with their lots, the pressure of a job that undeniably takes its toll on their relationships and health and mental health while going through an increasing amount of unacceptable abuses, is, well, quite gutted. Aren't we all going through hardships and struggles, tolls on our relationships and health, all stemming from policies implemented by, well, who? As for the abuses, it's disgraceful but, here again, aren't such behaviours, Manicheism, and triumphing caricatures and hate shutting off serious debates and criticism the product of a culture encouraged by, well, who again? It's my personal opinion, but I feel we have now a crass and self-centred political class who had it coming for quite a while... And it shows. No amount of cajoling will make me change my mind on that.

Does it mean, though, that this book is just bootlicking and lips service paid to our leaders? Certainly not.

We all know it, the Commons is everything but staffed by commoners. How come? Describing the process to stand a chance just to be selected as a potential candidate is telling. The author here presses indeed right where it hurts: the issue of a proper representative system in a democracy. Now, of course, as she acknowledges, having politicians drawn from such a narrow pool of the population (put bluntly: middle aged white men from the ABC1 social classes...) wouldn't be much of an issue if such politicians were able to relate to the rest of us. But are they?

Her analysis takes then an interesting turn, because she surprisingly brushes aside the easy accusation that our MPs are out of touch. To her indeed, they certainly are not because the time-consuming surgeries they hold in their constituencies put them face to face with the grimmest of reality. The bad policies they more often than not implement are therefore not a matter of lack of goodwill, nor are they a matter of blindness. Instead, she blames the bureaucratic intricacies and appalling culture of the Westminster bubble, where there is no clear cut divide between the legislative and the executive... Ouch! Here her stance walks a thin line, and could be very controversial (she is looking up at America, which has a Congress and a House of Representative, certainly not one House of Commons...). There's no denying, though, that she scores points.

The 2012 Omnishambles Budget, the Health and Social Care Act, the Housing Benefits bill, Brexit, how the Grenfell fire could have happened... Isn't it amazing how many policies have been fucked up by people who should have known better? Describing the process involved when drafting bills, let alone voting them, she outlines a culture where scrutiny and the consequences of tabling amendements (select committees aside) are so bad, that it is absolutely shocking. Backbenchers may enter the Parliament full of hopes and dreams about making changes (again, this book is not about trashing politicians and denying them good intent and honesty) but, Ministers and Whips, the ones really in charge, will make sure to dash all that, feeding thus a culture of sycophants if not disillusioned 'yes-man'. The picture is sobering if not damning:

'...bad policies are passed by the Commons because there is a culture in which joining the executive is more important than being a serious legislator.'

Even more sobering, once such bad policies have been implemented long enough for their long term impact to be fully felt, more often than not the people who voted them are no longer in charge, and so no longer accountable.

All in all then, it's not so much about having the wrong politicians; though the question of representability is obviously an issue. It's about the dysfunctional working ways of a Parliament where legislating properly is not valued as much as sucking up to the executive. Worst, taking your role seriously as a legislator does not only puts you at odd, it usually is a great way to commit career suicide. Isn't it bizarre indeed that, when a lucky one like Jeremy Corbyn rebelled more than 500 times against his own party he was branded 'an eccentric' (her word) rather than being acknowledged for doing his job that is, scrutinise bills enough to debate and challenge them?

Incisive and compelling, I couldn't put this book down for its brilliance in unfolding a systemic failure. The author surely targets serious problems, but does she have any solutions?

She mentions the idea of 'bursaries' to help finance people on low-income get on the political bandwagon. That's an idea implemented by the Conservative, if not with the success it deserves... She also mentions setting up 'public payback' to make legislators accountable for the laws passed under their watch, especially after they left office (so they won't blame bad decisions on pressure coming from the whips and other mandarins...). That's an interesting idea too... However, I have to say I closed this book thinking she is not going far enough. If the problem really is the executive overpowering the legislative, isn't a Constitutional change needed as the painful remedy? Now, as I mentioned earlier, she is too much of a goodie-goodie towards our political class to dare going that far. Yet, if one takes her points onboard seriously, then clearly I don't see a change of culture happening soon enough, coming out of the blue, unless our sick political system is, well, radically changed! Should we look at the American model again... ?

You may have more sympathy for politicians than I do. In any case, if you want to understand how policies so bad can be implemented by people usually quite bright, well, here's a fascinating and great analysis. A riveting read. show less

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/why-we-get-the-wrong-politicians-by-isabel-hardm...

An interesting and gloomy reflection on the deficiencies of the British political system by a close observer.

I knew a fair amount of this, having hung around with politicians for most of my career, but there were some things I had not really thought of before – the sheer economic cost of running for parliament, putting your life on hold for a desperate contest that you may not win, and the toll that serving show more as an MP puts on your family life and mental and physical health, are really extreme. The path to Westnminster is a grim and terrible winnowing process which rules out many people who are not young-to-middle-aged men with a particular set of personality neuroses.

The interlinkage of executive and legislature then works to actively discourage good policy-making. Opposition MPs have no power at all, obviously; but most government MPs are struggling to get on the greasy pole of preferment, and therefore have no incentive to criticise, even constructively. There are a few exceptions – well known mavericks, and the chairs of Select Committees – but essentially, to make your mark in the House of Commons you need to abandon your political ambitions.

Hardman has some modest thoughts on how to improve things. She (rightly) discounts electoral reform, which was lost for at least a generation by the botched 2011 referendum. But reduction of the government payroll, and enhancement of the scrutiny powers of the Commons, could both serve to rebalance the system in a healthier way. She also discounts the complete division of the legislature and the executive, pointing at the deficiencies of the U.S. system of government; but the American way is not the only way, and Belgium, for instance, makes ministers leave parliament while remaining accountable to it.

None of this is going to happen, of course. The surgery that is needed requires either a fresh mandate from an energised reforming new government, or a carefully developed cross-party consensus that Something Must Be Done. The incoming Labour government will have many other fish to fry than constitutional tinkering; and MPs and peers at present can’t even agree on the basics of how to fix the crumbling physical infrastructure of the Palace of Westminster, let alone how to improve the way it makes laws. But if you want to get better informed, you can get the book. show less

I openly admit I admire Isabel Hardman as one of the best political journalists in Britain today and she seems to be a decent human being in the process. She is someone who has been open about her mental health issues over the years especially in the face of extensive trolling on social media by the knuckle dragging class. In her journalism her insights are balanced researched and honest, and this is reflected in the research and non-partisan writing, which makes this book an engaging show more read.

As someone who has worked in the bubble worked in constituencies along with political campaigning across the country this brings it all back to me. Everything that is in this book actually happens now and it happened over twenty-five years ago and in the intervening years. It is sad to see nothing has changed. Part of me wants to scream at people that ‘we’ get the politicians we all deserve. In real life there tend to be discussions and compromises and that is supposed to happen in politics. The partisan nature of Parliament makes everything difficult especially when some are screaming from the sidelines inflicting their dangerous politics on our country. There is no such thing as a sensible calm debate. As Isabel eloquently puts it ‘the experts are ignored and laughed at, then people try and blame each other when the expert would have told them this was going to fail. Remember Michael Gove saying we did not need experts, that we had too many experts and then his party tanked the economy and another party tanked the country with Brexit.

Before working in and around Parliament I used to believe in the abolition of the House of Lords as it was bigger than the Chinese politburo. Right now the people of Britain have been dependent on that House tempering much of the last fourteen years of legislation which was sloppy at best and not really challenged by members of Parliament at the committee stage. As there is very little debate and then a briefing sheet just tells elected members how to vote at the division bell. No detail no context to the legislative vote nothing. All our elected members of all parties are doing is nodding through legislation that has not been examined or debated.

The problems highlighted in this book are still prevalent today in 2024 with a brand-new intake of parliamentarians. Then there is the payroll vote, the executive is too big, how many boards of directors contain around twenty-seven members with other in attendance? Change in Parliament is slow and that reflects in the country as there are no dynamic leaders willing to grab the bull by the horns and force change on the House or change British politics. From the way the parties select their representatives to the way those representatives then behave in Parliament. For real change would mean some turkeys voting for Christmas and we all know that will never happen.

There is much to commend reading this book and then looking at every political party and think we can do better than this. show less

This book is both fascinating and depressing in about equal measure. "It's not the people, it's the culture". I don't disagree but I don't see the culture changing any time soon - if anything it's getting worse. Politicians don't currently scrutinise legislation at anything like the level needed. Yet, with Brexit, there will be even more to scrutinise and if this is anything to go by, even more bad laws created.