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.

Today’s One Nation Conservatives are as dreary as Baldwin, not as exciting as Disraeli

History shows that One Nation Conservatism, once espoused by Powell and Macleod, need not be wet.

Aitken on the meaning of Easter: “We can all have second chances, little resurrections in our lives.”

The former Cabinet minister, who went to prison for perjury, explains why, as a prison chaplain, he is happier than he has ever been.

Anger

Amidst verbal and actual violence, it is tempting to seek to shut down, say, Farage or Lammy altogether. But politics without anger would be impossible – and undesirable.

Screwing Scruton

His sacking is more evidence, were it needed, of the tensions that tear at the Tory coalition – and threaten to render it unsustainable.

Alistair Lexden: I heard the bomb as it exploded. My memories of Airey Neave, for whom I worked.

He was murdered by terrorists 40 years ago today. Now there is a new, exemplary biography of him.

Daniel Hannan: I want to support May’s plan. But I can’t. It proposes a way of leaving the EU that’s exactly the wrong way round.

Instead of leaving the Customs Union but retaining chunks of the Single Market – we shall end up staying in the Customs Union but leaving most of the Single Market.

Andrew Gimson’s Conference Sketch: Javid on how Enoch Powell lost a generation of ethnic minority voters

The Home Secretary also spoke of the vital need to fix the housing crisis.

Daniel Hannan: It should be obvious, not controversial, to seek a deep friendship with our EU neighbours

In the third piece in our mini-series evaluating the EEA, our columnist wonders how both sides managed to become so hostile to moderate concepts.

Profile: Jonathan Sacks, who accused Corbyn of supporting “racists who want to kill Jews”, and compared him to Powell

The former Chief Rabbi felt he had to speak up against the Labour leader for “legitimising the public expression of hate”.

Joshua McMullan: To effectively fight antisemitism, the Conservative Party must address its own troubled history on race relations

The sooner we deal with our Party’s past, however difficult, the easier it will be to drive out the hatred emerging on the Left today.

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 Rudd debacle highlights a problem. Many of the Government’s special advisers are no good.

Ministers like Amber Rudd have great difficulty finding able SpAds because the Conservative Research Department, which used to train them, has been destroyed.

Daniel Hannan: Like the Windrush children, EU nationals raised here have a moral right to UK citizenship

We must oppose illegal immigration. But making life harder for legitimate residents helps nobody.

Profile: Enoch Powell. Many politicians rose higher. Few made a bigger impact – or still do.

He made grotesque errors of taste and judgement – see “Rivers of Blood”. But even his critics admit that he was one of the great parliamentarians of the 20th century.