Selection news: Peterborough shortlist revealed, and the first London seats open for candidate applications

Plus: the postponed selection processes in Darlington and Wirral West have been restarted. And: Ryan Henson selected in Bedford.

A candidate shortage strikes Conservative target seats

Numbers applying for target seats are down across the board. At least one Tory association has refused to shortlist, and demanded applications be reopened.

Ashers Bakery. Politicians should do their job rather than force courts to arbitrate on conflicting rights

If MPs want to take the plaudits for creating such laws, they must also take the responsibility of defining their limits.

Candidate selection news: Shortlists for Bedford and Bury North

Updated, plus: the results of four recent contests in target seats – Bishop Auckland, Bristol North West, Crewe and Nantwich, and Ipswich.

Osborne raided Universal Credit budgets, but it’s Hammond who is suffering the hangover

The prospect of millions of families losing out financially makes ministers jittery – as, presumably, those briefing the press intend.

The “end of austerity” must not mean a return to the bad old days of Brownite mismanagement

“Austerity” has been blurred and misused as a term. If everyone takes its end as a promise of whatever they fancy, it will soon get costly and risky.

The Minister who only just became a Conservative

The legacy of past disorganisation in our Party’s machine even affects those at the top.

Sixteen Parliamentarians appointed to the Conservative Policy Commission taskforces

The chairs of the 1922 Policy Boards are joined by a range of MPs and peers, all of whom will aid Skidmore’s work.

Selection news: Shortlist for Bristol North West; Tall selected in Bath

Cllr Mark Weston, Simon Jupp and Kirsty Finlayson compete tonight for a shot at regaining Charlotte Leslie’s former constituency.

ConservativeHome’s new monthly survey is out. Who should be the next Tory leader?

Plus: Should the Prime Minister resign? If so, when? What will the result of the next election be? How are Cabinet ministers performing?

Corbyn has upped his rhetorical game – and he appears to be developing his political savvy a bit, too

His promises are unaffordable, and his spending plans are reckless, but he has started to offer retail policies.

Starmer chances his arm by challenging McDonnell and McCluskey over Brexit

It’s a bold gambit. The Labour Party may be changing, but the people the Shadow Brexit Secretary is taking on still have claws.

McDonnell is more dangerous than Corbyn – not just because he’s more extreme, but because he is more intelligent

Even the Labour Party itself seems aware that the Shadow Chancellor is visibly more wily than his leader.

Shortlist revealed for tomorrow’s Crewe and Nantwich open primary

Robert Largan and Dr Kieran Mullan will contest the final in the ultra-marginal seat tomorrow. And: Cllr Jack Rankin selected in Warwick and Leamington

On the question of a second referendum, Labour’s easiest answer is yet more careful, deniable ambiguity

Corbyn is willing to bend his principles. But he and his advisers will cling more closely to their strategy of being all things to all sides.