Richard Kelly: A lesson from May’s departure – and from history. So often, it’s Tory activists, not MPs, who bring down their leader.

Yesterday’s emergency National Convention meeting was a reminder of the influence and power of the grassroots.

ConservativeHome’s leadership election panel. “The next Tory leader’s task is to fashion a home for “decent populists”

Each week, our panel of John O’Sullivan, Rachel Wolf, Trevor Phillips, Tim Montgomerie and Marcus Roberts will analyse and assess what’s happening.

From magic circle to one member one vote: a short history of Tory leadership contests

The present election will turn on whether MPs and activists put national popularity before ideological soundness.

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: May failed to lead Britain out of the EU – but her successor can yet succeed

There may be greater willingness by Brussels to negotiate following populist successes in the European elections.

Alistair Lexden: Forty years ago, Thatcher was assembling her transformative Government

Disraeli defined conservatism as ‘love of country and an instinct for power’, and her successors should strive for her winning fusion of the two.

Neave had the boldness to make a home run from Colditz, and to help Thatcher beat Heath

Patrick Bishop’s biography of Airey Neave, who in 1975 showed how to run a successful leadership campaign.

Why Britain wants to leave this European Union of failed nation states

In his new book, Jeremy Black traces the history of Britain’s relations with the Continent, and how it bears on the Brexit debate.

Richard Ritchie: Brexit. Four great Commons debates that show how we got here – and what’s at stake.

That’s to say, those of 1950, 1961, 1967 and 1971. Sovereignty was always the key concern, despite arguments over its meaning.

Andrew Gimson’s Commons sketch: May cannot sell her compromise and centrist MPs are preparing to take over

Power seems to be seeping away from the ancien regime.

Chloe Westley: If the Conservatives bow to May’s betrayal of the referendum result, they will be cursed for a generation

By refusing to consider the option of leaving without a deal, Conservative Ministers are essentially admitting defeat. And we deserve better than a defeatist political class.

May is miscast as Prime Minister because she takes far too little trouble to find the right words

A new study of the 2017 general election shows May failing to insist on a message and a manifesto which supported each other.

Henry Newman: A Brexit deal isn’t certain, but it’s within reach – and it could still make it through Parliament

The process is hard and risky, but it still seems unlikely that the Labour Party would really torpedo an agreement in the last resort.

Sir David Cameron-Hume. In time, why not?

He may eventually be able to construct a case for return which, while tortuous, would not be beyond the reach of his powers of persuasion.

Alistair Lexden: Heath, the “almost great” Prime Minister who became the crosspatch of the century

This unusual leader still evokes passions in his Party even decades after his surprise election victory.

The very English scandal of Thorpe the Liberal leader and Rinka the dog

The comedy and horror of Thorpe’s trial, and of the 1970s, are caught in this book and television series.