Alistair Lexden: On this day 180 years ago – Sir Robert Peel’s great election victory

He ranks with Gladstone as one of the truly great premiers of the 19th Century. Both also inflicted huge damage on their respective parties.

Alistair Lexden: We should have listened to “the great Lord Salisbury” on reform of the upper house

He proposed a limit was placed on the number of life peers that could be created. Much criticism of the House of Lords could have been spared.

Alistair Lexden: At the top of the greasy pole – Disraeli 140 years on

His first premiership was accidental and cut extremely short by Gladstone – but ‘Dizzy’ did manage to make the Queen a Tory.

Sarah Ingham: The Duchess, the Queen – and that Oprah interview. It’s time for Johnson to step in.

Reports that the former brought pressure to bear on ITV are alarming. Can we look forward to a new series – Britain’s Got Feudalism?

Shifting health policy leftwards?

A move from Ken Clarke to Aneurin Bevan would not only risk harming the NHS, but miss the real target of reform: social care.

Alistair Lexden: The Conservatives and the Carlton Club – in partnership for nearly 200 years

From Wellington to Johnson, this institution has managed to keep itself at the heart of Tory politics.

Richard Ritchie: Why I believe that Enoch Powell would have supported this Brexit trade deal

His archivist writes that this agreement has succeeded…in recovering powers which some thought had been lost permanently”.

Jenrick, King of Liverpool?

Max Caller, the inspector who brought change to Tower Hamlets, has been sent in to the city. The Government could take control.

Ben Monro-Davies: “I think when women cry, often they are angry.” On this day, 30 years ago, Margaret Thatcher resigned

At the final meeting of her Cabinet, a revived Iron Lady told members, during a coffee break, that “on no account must Heseltine be elected”

Dolly Theis: What can Conservative history teach us about tackling obesity?

The second part of the author’s mini-series of three articles on obesity policy for ConservativeHome this week.

Alistair Lexden: On this day, 75 years ago – Churchill’s unexpected election disaster.

Butler added a further key factor: “six years of left-wing propaganda accompanied by a virtual cessation of right-wing propaganda”.

A year of Johnson as Prime Minister. As with Thatcher and Blair, his enemies can’t get the measure of him.

We’ve learned nothing at all about his outlook but quite a lot about his capacities during the last tumultuous twelve months.

David Gauke: Big Government is back. It didn’t work before. It may not now. Here’s why we should be wary of it.

Post-Covid, the environment is likely to be egalitarian and interventionist. For libertarian, small state Eurosceptics, this must come as a disappointment.

Daniel Hannan: One man driving to Durham imperils the nation’s health. But lots of protesters in London don’t. Have we all gone mad?

Sitting in a park is selfish, but organising a mass demonstration in a park is wonderful, and schools should still stay closed. Seriously?

Samuel Williams: Taking the knee is an expression of evolution – of showing compassion, even if it comes at a cost to ourselves

But these demonstrations, which cannot uphold social distancing, will have a catastrophic impact on our collective fight against the virus.