The Lady Walney | |
|---|---|
 Hardman chairing a Policy Exchange debate, September 2014 | |
| Born | 5 May 1986 |
| Alma mater | University of Exeter |
| Occupation | Journalist |
| Known for | Assistant editor, The Spectator |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 |
Isabel Hardman, Baroness Walney (born 5 May 1986), [1] is a British political journalist and the assistant editor of The Spectator . In 2015, she was named Journalist of the Year at the Political Studies Association's annual awards.
Born in Camden, Hardman is the daughter of Michael Hardman, the first chairman and one of the four founders of the Campaign for Real Ale. [2] She was privately educated at St Catherine's School, Bramley, and then state educated at Godalming College, before graduating from the University of Exeter with a first-class degree in English literature in 2007. [3] [4] While at university, Hardman worked as a freelance journalist for The Observer . [5] She completed a National Council for the Training of Journalists course at Highbury College in 2009. [4]
Hardman began her career in journalism as a senior reporter for Inside Housing magazine. She then became assistant news editor at PoliticsHome, moving to The Spectator in 2012. Alongside The Spectator, Hardman wrote a weekly column for the Evening Standard [6] on nature in London from 2020, until 2021.
Currently, she is an assistant editor of The Spectator. [7] Elsewhere, she writes a monthly column for the i paper [8] on health policy. In radio, she is a presenter of the BBC Radio 4 programme Week in Westminster [3] and in early July 2023, she became Political Commentator at Times Radio.
In television, she has appeared on programmes such as Question Time , [9] The Andrew Marr Show and Have I Got News for You . [10] [11]
Hardman has also written books. In 2018, she wrote Why We Get The Wrong Politicians, this was followed by The Natural Health Service, in 2020, and Fighting for Life in 2023. [12] [13] [14]
In regard to accolades, in September 2014, GQ magazine named her as one of their 100 most connected women in Britain, [3] and in December 2015, she was named "Journalist of the Year" at the Political Studies Association's annual awards. [15] Why We Get The Wrong Politicians won the award for best political book by a non-parliamentarian at the Parliamentary Book Awards 2018. That year, it was also shortlisted for the Waterstones Book of the Year award and the Orwell Prize. [16]
In April 2016, Hardman tweeted that a male member of Parliament had referred to her as "the totty" and that she had reported him to the whips. She was not intending to name the man [17] who was subsequently revealed to be the Conservative MP Bob Stewart. [18]
Hardman has written about suffering from depression, and in October 2016 wrote that she had stopped working temporarily due to anxiety and depression. [19] She has said that, in 2017, she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, due to a serious trauma in her personal life. [20] She wrote that her recovery was partly down to time spent outdoors: she is a cold-water swimmer, and in 2019 ran the London Marathon for Refuge, raising £37,000 for the charity.
Hardman began a relationship with the politician John Woodcock in summer 2016. [21] [22] In November 2019, Woodcock announced he and Hardman were expecting a child. [23] Hardman gave birth to a son on 12 May 2020. [24] On 30 July 2021, the couple married in a small ceremony at Barrow-in-Furness's register office. [25] This gave Hardman the title Lady Walney as the wife of a baron.
Catharine Letitia Hoey, Baroness Hoey, better known as Kate Hoey, is a Northern Irish politician and life peer who served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Home Affairs from 1998 to 1999 and Minister for Sport from 1999 to 2001. During the 1970s Hoey was involved in radical far-left groups but by the end of the decade became involved with the Labour Party. Hoey remained a member of the Labour Party for several decades while she was Member of Parliament (MP) for Vauxhall from 1989 to 2019, but resigned from the party in 2020.
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Michael Lawrence Crick is an English broadcaster, journalist and author. He was a founding member of the Channel 4 News team in 1982 and remained there until joining the BBC in 1990. He started work on the BBC's Newsnight programme in 1992, serving as political editor from 2007 until his departure from the BBC in 2011. Crick then returned to Channel 4 News as political correspondent. In 2014 he was chosen as Specialist Journalist of the Year at the Royal Television Society television journalism awards.
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Kirsty Blackman is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Aberdeen North since 2015.
Heidi Suzanne Allen is a British businesswoman and former politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Cambridgeshire from 2015 to 2019. Initially elected as a Conservative, she resigned from the party in February 2019, joining and later serving as acting leader of Change UK. She resigned from Change UK in June of the same year, and joined the Liberal Democrats in October 2019. She announced on 29 October of that year that she would not stand for re-election at the next general election.
"Piggate" refers to a claim that, during his university years, the former British prime minister David Cameron inserted his penis and/or scrotum into a dead pig's mouth as part of an initiation ceremony for the Piers Gaveston Society at Oxford University.
Nicholas James Timothy is a British Conservative Party politician and former political adviser, serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for West Suffolk since 2024. He served as Joint Downing Street Chief of Staff, alongside Fiona Hill, to Prime Minister Theresa May, until after the 2017 general election.
The following list contains a run down of politicians, individuals, Constituency Labour Parties, trade unions, socialist societies, newspapers, magazines and other organisations that endorsed a candidate in the 2016 leadership election
Various newspapers, organisations and individuals endorsed parties or individual candidates for the 2017 general election.
Various newspapers, organisations and individuals endorsed parties or individual candidates for the 2019 United Kingdom general election.
Charlotte Louise Nichols is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Warrington North since 2019.
Abena Oppong-Asare is a British Labour Party politician who has served as a Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office since July 2024. She was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Erith and Thamesmead in the 2019 general election. She and Bell Ribeiro-Addy, both elected in the 2019 general election, are the first female British Ghanaian MPs.
Mohammad Saqib Bhatti is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Meriden and Solihull East, formerly Meriden, since the 2019 general election. He previously served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Tech and the Digital Economy from 2023 to 2024 and as the Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party for Business from 2022 to 2023.
Katy Balls is a British journalist. She is political editor of The Spectator.
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