Johnson’s new Prime Minister’s Department is no substitute for a proper political mission

Like Tsar Nicholas II, he may learn that taking personal command can solve nothing and leave one nowhere to hide.

Rees-Mogg must deliver tomorrow, just as Sunak should today. To do so, he needs Johnson to back him up.

At a time of pressure on public spending, delivering efficiency savings is especially important.

David Willetts: Johnson’s reorganisation of Number 10 and the Cabinet Office hints at bigger problems than partygate

These two institutions at the very centre of Government do not appear to be operating the way they should.

Stephen Booth: The Government’s regulatory reform plans. We know a lot about the principles…but not much about the practice.

Critics have a point when they note that, so far, Ministers’ rhetoric has been appreciably more ambitious than its actions.

Johnson hugs Conservative MPs close

These moves are like those of a boxer who throws his arms round his opponent in an attempt to save himself from a knock-out blow.

Peter Franklin: Downing Street is no place for a government

It was meant to be a home but has become the heart of government. With this split personality, no wonder a frat house culture took hold of it.

This isn’t the first time in recent years that the police have probed Downing Street

Blair stepped down shortly after the cash-for-honours debacle. Will history repeat in every sense?

Stephen Booth: The EU also has an obligation to settle the Northern Ireland Protocol – and help keep the peace there

With the Assembly elections in May fast approaching, it is clear that there is a finite time horizon for these negotiations to bear fruit.

Bernard Jenkin: Four lessons for government from the fuel shortages

A new culture of inquiry and challenge is essential if government is to be better prepared for what ministers cannot be blamed for failing to anticipate.

Sarah Ingham: The Government could learn a thing or two from Britain’s panic buyers

At least they know how to identify, assess and prepare for risks – unlike ministers, it seems.

Snap guide to this session’s Government legislation 3) The dissolution and calling of Parliament Bill

Our introduction to: what each Bill is, the politics of it, who’s responsible, arguments for and against – and a controversy rating out of ten.

Nick King: Levelling up. The challenge is less defining it than delivering it, for which Johnson will need the private sector.

The first of a mini-series of pieces on ConHome this week about the most distinctive of the Prime Minister’s big aims.

Iain Dale: On my radio show, I asked Salmond who he would side with out of Putin or Biden. Can you guess his answer?

Plus: I’ve been around the political lobbying world for 30 years, but the Greensill scandal has genuinely floored me.

How to advise Lord North, or Heath, or Thatcher, or Johnson

A new volume of essays puts special advisers in historical context, and suggests the Cabinet has been marginalised by a succession of over-mighty PMs.

Liam Fox: Are we really going to close down the global economy every time a new virus emerges?

We have to ask whether high bed occupancy rates in the NHS are tilting the balance between efficiency and resilience in the wrong direction.