Andrew Wood: We need a strong defence in an uncertain world

As a new manifesto is being finalised, it is time to review how our 2017 commitments on defence have worked out.

Stephen Booth: An independent UK must decide swiftly on its preferred place in the world

Politicians are so uncomfortable talking seriously about our international role and relationships that instead we constantly engage in proxy battles.

Farage’s decision sends a signal to Leave voters in marginal seats: vote Conservative

His shift on candidates now acknowledges that a hung Parliament would be a bad thing. It follows that pro-Brexit voters in tight contests should back the Tories.

Garvan Walshe: Nobody except the Catalan separatists will gain from Spain’s second election of the year

The PSOE hoped to reunite the Left. Instead, rising tensions have fuelled extreme parties.

Matt Kilcoyne: The Conservative manifesto. Wooing Labour heartlands with socialist policy is a doomed strategy.

The first piece of a series this week about what the Conservative Manifesto should look like.

Farage’s greed is Johnson’s opportunity. Why Conservatives should rejoice at the absence of a pact.

The two parties have different Brexit policies, and it would therefore be impossible for them to project a united appeal.

Nadine Dorries: Thuggery. Abuse. Threats. Unacceptable everywhere. But no-one came to Brexiteers’ defence when we were victims.

The abuse became so bad that I felt the need to stop giving media interviews, writing articles and to remove myself from the public arena.

Alex Hall: Why the Conservatives shouldn’t enter into an election pact with the Brexit Party

And what of our voters who would be repelled by a pact with it? I can see the Lib/Lab slogan already: “Vote Blue, get Farage”.

Why the second referendum campaign is failing

It is as if it had become a vehicle to help Blair redeem his reputation and popularity, lost after the Iraq War.

David Gauke: When your bell rings in December, you expect to be sung a carol – not asked how you’re going to vote

The result of a general election next month would by no means be a foregone conclusion.

Sheila Lawlor: Ultimately, as the EU’s leaders recognise, the momentum is with Johnson

The big prize will be that the UK’s economic and trade freedom will be restored, something May’s backstop would have prevented, potentially indefinitely.

Karen Bradley: Why I’ve doubts about an autumn election – and want the Withdrawal Bill brought back now

I fear that we would lose too many good colleagues to a Remain coalition in the south, and would not pick up enough Leave-voting seats in the midlands and the north.

The case for and against seeking a general election this year

ConservativeHome is very dubious that, assuming a poll is deliverable, the Party can win a healthy majority without already having delivered Brexit.

Push, Varadkar, push. How he can now get Johnson over the line – and make Brexit happen

This is Ireland’s deal as much as the UK’s. So the Taoiseach has an interest in assisting the Prime Minister over extension.

Robert Halfon: How Labour flicked two fingers at 17.4 million people

Plus: The disaster zone is in the way that children with special educational needs are educated.