Profile: Sue Gray, civil servant – and “the most powerful woman in Britain”
Reshuffles, reorganisations, investigations – the Director General of the Propriety and Ethics Team in the Cabinet Office is always in on the action.
Alex Morton: Building homes up, taxing new diesel – how the Chancellor should act next week
Her needs to deliver bold measures, but also show that he can read the politics and mood of the party and country.
Lord Ashcroft: What American voters think of Trump
Not surprisingly, the country remains sharply divided as to the merits of its leader – a division that can hardly be missed in this new polling.
Why pro-Leave MPs should prepare to back the Chancellor next week
Letting disagreements about Brexit leak into the Budget’s treatment could deal the Government irreparable damage – and voters much harm.
Henry Newman: Voters know Brexit might be messy, but that doesn’t mean they want it called off
Those who still refuse to accept we’re really going to leave the EU are misreading the process, the politics, and the people.
Robert Colvile: There is a new generation on the Centre-Right, fizzing with ideas
The Centre for Policy Studies is working with many young, passionate Conservatives to build a better Britain.
The Conservative MPs most likely next to make the Cabinet are those you may not have heard of
The Mercers, Tugendhats and Cleverlys get a lot of media coverage. However, most promotions come from the ranks of the toiling Ministers of State.
Nadhim Zahawi: No one will win if the cold war between Iran and Saudi Arabia turns hot
The goals of the young Crown Prince are broadly in line with ours. But we should be urging calm thinking and cool heads.
James Cartlidge: We should consider joining EFTA – which would give us the brake on unskilled EU migration that we may need
If we are also out of CAP, CFP and direct ECJ jurisdiction, able to negotiate our own trade deals and in the Single Market, it might not be such a bad outcome after all.
May’s Brexit negotiating position has held up much better than some claim – or you may think
On Article 50, sequencing and security, there have been retreats. But the core of the position – on taking back control – remains strikingly intact.
James Palmer: Ofsted measures academic achievement. Let’s get it measuring apprenticeship success too.
Another option would be for Ofsted to rate the school in question from “Outstanding” to “Inadequate” for its engagement and the breadth of its careers advice.
Why the Government is resisting calls to devolve Brexit powers at once
Most of the powers involved in ordering the Single Market are technical and trivial-seeming, but supporters of Section 11 of the Withdrawal Bill see danger ahead.
Jessica Studdert: The devolution drive has become devolution drift. This must change if we’re really to take back control after Brexit
Instead of tinkering around the edges, we need a real shift to create a system of governance that is closer to people and responsive to needs of different areas.
Lewis Baston: Poulson, sleaze, expenses. A history of recent Parliamentary scandals.
In the best of all worlds, standards would be upheld voluntarily. But in the world we have, we seem to need rules – and sometimes to extend them.
Overseas aid – and Britain’s Brexit bonus. Mordaunt must mull what to do with it.
Patel got a lot done – in particular, improving international rules about emergency spending. Now her successor must work on an aid policy for Global Britain.