This rotting Cabinet

The conventional wisdom is: weak Prime Minister, strong Cabinet. But what we see is: weak Prime Minister, weak Cabinet.

Robert Halfon: A new, magical Conservative leader with presents for all? Sorry – I don’t believe in Santa Claus.

Plus: Bad Tory language. Cutting VAT, Good Conservative news for workers. And: a second referendum – not a People’s Vote but a Cheater’s Vote.

Profile: David Lidington – the Tory loyalist diverging from his leader over Brexit. And now tipped as her successor.

At the heart of May’s operation, this staunch Conservative is now mulling potential ways to a second referendum with Labour MPs.

How May’s Conservatives could morph into SDP Two – realigning British politics from the top down

The sequence of events: bow to a second referendum, lose the ERG, gain Blairites, contest a general election – and rebrand the Party.

Chicken May

Is she chickening out on Brexit? Or playing chicken with Commons and Party over her deal? Or merely a headless chicken herself – bent on daily survival?

ConHome’s Cabinet League Table. Everyone’s rating is down – and half of the top table is now in negative territory. Worst ever results.

Not for the faint-hearted. Contains intense violence, blood and gore, strong language and Philip Hammond.

Andrew Gimson’s PMQs sketch: You behold a range of exhausted volcanoes

Never have the Prime Minister’s colleagues looked more despondent, but her backbenchers refrained from trying to defenestrate her.

Wilf Lytton: Ten years of the Climate Change Act. We need a new target to get net emissions down to zero.

The IPCC’s latest report removes any doubt that upholding the Paris Agreement is in the UK’s interests.

Stewart Jackson: Mendacity, duplicity, subterfuge and misjudgement. How I saw an establishment coup wreck a clean Brexit.

Number Ten has been desperate from the start that we must remain in the Customs Union – and endure a kind of semi-skimmed faux Brexit.

Andy Street: Here in the West Midlands, there’s a new kind of politics developing. We call it Urban Conservatism. And it’s winning.

Our new fortnightly columnist on a renaissance which “through teamwork and shared vision, is producing real results”.

Canadians v Norwegians. How the Cabinet lines up on alternatives to Chequers.

For all the talk of May being pushed towards a Canada-type deal, there is currently no majority around the top table for any Chequers alternative.

Iain Dale’s Top 100 Most Influential People on the Conservative Right

In all, there are 30 new entries in the whole list, one down on last year and two down on the 2016 record of 33.

Cabinet League Table: Javid is top again – just. He leads a soaring Hunt by a single point.

The Foreign Secretary’s score is up by 20 points. Grayling now brings up the rear – and Bradley is in the red.

Davis, Hinds, Brokenshire, Hancock, Clark, Wright – ConHome’s full Party Conference fringe programme is now live

Speakers include eight Secretaries of State, the Mayor of the West Midlands, and many more.

Lewis and Davidson both suffer a Boris burka backlash in our Cabinet League Table

Meanwhile, Hammond’s approval rating plumbs new depths – as Fox and Raab gain ground after criticising the Treasury’s Brexit forecasts.