John O’Connell: Presiding over the biggest tax burden in 70 years is surely a legacy Johnson must be keen to avoid

In one of an occasional series we are running in advance of the Budget, some radical suggestions for kickstarting the British economy.

Alistair Lexden: On this day, 75 years ago – VJ Day at Westminster

By happy chance, it coincided with the State Opening of the new Parliament, elected in July, which was ‘restored to something of its pristine splendour’.

The Conservatives risk obsession with China to the exclusion of other threats, including Russia and Islamist extremism

As the great eye of the Conservative Party swivels its gaze towards the Far East, it’s in danger of missing other threats that are closer to home.

Bevin, the working-class John Bull who stood up to Stalin and has no successors in today’s Labour Party

Andrew Adonis’s new biography of “the first of a new breed of ‘common man’ who would manage the British state” and became one of the great Foreign Secretaries.

No, Prime Minister. Overseas aid and foreign policy aren’t “one and the same”

Furthermore, the change creates a brand new cart to put before the horse – that’s to say, the awaited defence and security review.

Robert Halfon: We will need a Remembrance Day to honour our Corona Heroes

Plus: And a Coronavirus Social Justice Minister. Give thanks for Starmer. And: it’s time for a Virtual Parliament.

David Gauke: The virus – and my journey from serving as Lord Chancellor to volunteering to stack shelves

Plus: Treasury and Work & Pensions lessons. Greenlighters v the rest. Remembering Attlee’s surplus. And: the key question now is “how”, not “what”.

“If you go ‘transgender rights are our big thing’, you are going to lose that culture war”

How the Conservatives are winning and Labour losing the working class – a pattern that the latter’s leadership candidates are set to repeat.

Labour will ignore Blair’s speech yesterday. But Tories should take note.

His message, that the Conservatives will win if the electoral battle is on identity politics and culture wars, is correct.

John O’Connell: The tax choice ahead. Johnson, and the highest burden since Attlee. Or Corbyn, and…the highest ever.

The tax burden isn’t a full measure of the size of the state. But it’s arguably the pre-eminent factor and certainly that which most concerns the TaxPayers’ Alliance.

Neil Shastri-Hurst: NATO’s problems today include three Presidents…and a prospective Prime Minister

Trump, Erdogan and Macron all pose difficulties for the alliance. Corbyn in Downing Street would pose deeper and more dangerous ones.

Johnson’s critics will get nowhere by calling him a liar

Character assassination displaces comprehension, and so damages those who engage in it.

Watson quits. Will Labour’s moderates follow his example – or endorse an extremist as Prime Minister?

Only yesterday, Andrew Gimson reported for this site that the party’s Deputy Leader was in deep trouble in his West Bromwich constituency.

Conservatism is better than liberalism – and Putin much, much worse than either

What he detests is less liberalism than democracy, and the obstacle it poses to Russian foreign policy objectives.

Robert Buckland and Justin Tomlinson: Why Johnson is the best choice for the Party. For our town, Swindon. And for the country.

We are MPs who supported Remain and Leave respectively, and are looking for a Prime Minister who will be realistic and honest with the EU.