Labour enjoys huge majorities in this heartland of heartlands, but there are a few seats where the Tories are slowly getting competitive.
Whilst the leadership talks up 16 MSs, activists are angry about missing so many target seats and failing to mobilise the 2019 vote.
These elections were very good indeed for the Conservatives – though there are warning signs of a potential Blue Wall effect in the south.
But he looks to be a stronger candidate than he did four years ago, when he first stood to be West Midlands Mayor.
Strangely, one of the few things that now unites voters across the Left and Right is a feeling he won’t win an election.
We’re about to find out whether the Commission’s work marks a turning-point for the zeitgiest, policy – and attitudes to the Tories.
Plus: The Government will soon have to set out the tough decisions on public spending to constituents.
Contra mistaken notions of ‘unionist unity’, the Opposition can reach sections of the current SNP vote that the Tories cannot.
Council tax and stamp duty are confusing, unpopular, unequal and unfair – so it’s time to replace them.
The party needs to reach parts of the pro-UK electorate that the Tories cannot. Under Leonard, it has signally failed to do so.
That means looking into, and addressing, the cultural and working practices which create and maintain significant barriers for women.
It’s time to stop pretending there is any way to solve the shortage without building in the South and face up to what it will take to get that done.
If not for your efforts on the doorstep and the endless nights of telephone canvassing, we would not have defeated Corbyn’s Labour Party a year ago.
The Transport Secretary has set up a reform committee which is getting ready to use the pandemic to rout the Luddites in the rail unions.
By uniting behind Johnson’s plan, and replicating the approach of these two mayors, the the environment can become a winning issue for the party.