Javid was gracious to apologise for his tweet. But backing down comes at a cost.

The yearning to render everything inoffensive has itself become offensive, for it leads to persistent self-censorship.

Johnson now has the serious task of restoring pride to the working class, failed by Labour

David Skelton catalogues the snobbish abuse heaped by progressive intellectuals on workers in neglected towns.

Andrew Gimson’s PMQs sketch: The Prisoner of Chequers sounds fine but does not look well

He was placed under no real pressure by the Leader of the Opposition, whose questions were far too long.

Is racism in Britain increasing?

The third part of a series on ConHome this week about the politics of race and ethnicity in Britain today.

Profile: The Church of England, afflicted by a central bureaucracy which is mounting a takeover bid

Liberal Anglicans are appalled by the plan launched by the Archbishops to attain salvation through House Churches.

Andrew Gimson’s PMQs sketch: Johnson will not be goaded into admitting his view of taking the knee may have changed

The PM set out to demonstrate that he is every bit as fervent an anti-racist as the Leader of the Opposition.

Profile: Priti Patel, who promises to stop asylum seekers crossing the Channel in small boats

It is harder for liberal critics to impute racism, or undue severity, to a Home Secretary who herself belongs to an ethnic minority.

Andrew Gimson’s PMQs sketch: Johnson recalls that an ounce of emotion is equal to a ton of fact

The Prime Minister meanwhile offered the House not much more than an ounce of facts.

Andrew Gimson’s PMQs sketch: Do you really care how Hancock was sacked, or has that Westminster bubble burst?

The view one takes of the PM and the Leader of the Opposition depends on whether one is by temperament a cavalier or a puritan.

Off the football field, Laschet assures the Germans they can continue to pretend to be weak

The front-runner to succeed Merkel has perfected the art of making not having a row, indeed not making a decision, sound reasonable.

Husain warns in his new book that British Muslims lead increasingly separate lives

In the large Muslim communities in such towns as Dewsbury, Blackburn and Bradford, integration is not taking place.

Profile of an ex-Prime Minister. Theresa May becomes the voice of Conservative conscience.

While Blair, Brown and Cameron scuttled off indecorously after leaving Number 10, she remains in the Commons and tries to hold Johnson to account.

Andrew Gimson’s PMQs sketch: Sir Keir for a moment or two makes Johnson struggle

The British tradition of liberty, and of equality, demands that the PM be brought low, but today no MP quite managed that.

Interview with Dominic Raab: The EU’s approach to the Northern Ireland Protocol is “pretty analogue in a digital age”

The Foreign Secretary contends that by forming an aspirational coalition the Conservatives can gain votes in the North without losing support in the South.

Andrew Gimson’s PMQs sketch: Cummings has lived, or at least blogged, in vain

The Labour leader for some reason declined to test fire the latest ammunition supplied by the former Downing Street adviser.