We have seen a long list of these bodies let people down, with hapless ministers then held to account for their failings.
Four, deep-rooted currents in are carving out space for movements which seek to prioritise the interests, the culture, the values, and the ways of life of the majority group against what they see as self-interested, corrupt, narcissistic, and incompetent elites.
Mike Freer’s announcement is a significant milestone. As he prepares to leave the room, Labour is knocking on the door. We have little sense of how it would rearrange the furniture.
Our deputy editor talks to Newsnight about the challenge posed by Robert Jenrick and other rebels to Rishi Sunak: that to date, trying to thread the needle of creating an effective policy without re-assessing our legal commitments has not worked.
“If Nigel Farage doesn’t come back to lead… it never manifests in by-elections, it doesn’t have a ground machine, so I expect a few points of that would probably end up back in the Tory column.”
Our focus groups found the Party’s recent tweet, which featured a BBC newsreader raising her middle finger to the camera, played very badly with the people it needs to win back.
We have become a party for whom the grotesque is the primary mode of communication. Just to reiterate, I’m not talking about policy or principle here, but a predilection for the odd and off-putting in presentation.
There is also a moral point: if someone works, they should be the main beneficiary of their labour, rather than being forced to give most of their extra earnings to the Government.
It’s past time that mainstream Tory politicians recognised these realities and engaged with it as an opportunity rather than as the broadcasting equivalent of a leper colony.
“We’re not in the business of damaging people’s privacy”, Michelle Donelan tells the BBC.
“If it were this country, and it was in proportion, we’d be talking about ten thousand people killed… and how would we react?”
The Corporation’s guidelines to not require neutrality in the face of attacks on civilian targets. We know that because it regularly uses the word ‘terrorist’ in every context save this one.
During the half century since the Yom Kippur war took place, conflict abroad has increasingly meant consequences here.
The Conservatives need first to address a real perception problem: voters in these seats are twice as likely to say they associate the words ‘divided’ and ‘uncaring’ with the Tories than with Labour.