Lord Ashcroft: The Conservatives gain five points and overtake Labour in this week’s Ashcroft National Poll

The Juncker Effect, if that is what it is, certainly outweighs any Coulson Effect.

Priti Patel MP: The transformation of the system – from welfare to work

Iain Duncan Smith is helping to turn lives round and Labour has nothing to offer.

Iain Dale: I won’t join those dancing on Coulson’s grave

Plus: Bad Suarez. Useless Obama. Kinnock, the new Miliband. And: Make the most of your mother while you still have time.

Labour’s lead is down to five points in this week’s Ashcroft National Poll

The party leads on empathy, the Conservatives on ability. When it comes to choosing a government next year, which quality will voters value more?

Lord Ashcroft: A big lesson from the Blue-Yellow marginals – don’t assume uniform swing

My poll of closely-contested Conservative-Liberal Democrat seats indicates that were the general election held now Nick Clegg’s party would lose 15 MPs to the Tories.

Do we really want Liberty?

The Centre for Policy Studies’ coming conference lauds freedom. But voters seem to prefer security.

Stephen Tall: Why I believe Nick Clegg should stand down as Liberal Democrat leader

He would find it hard to sell a second Lib/Con coalition to his party…or to serve in a Lib/Lab coalition as Deputy Prime Minister.

Now would be an excellent time for a post-mortem on the 2015 Conservative election campaign

Imagine if a pre-mortem had been performed on the plans for the 2010 campaign.

Priti Patel MP: Oxfam has allowed itself to become a mouthpiece for the Left

If some charities were acting in a way that was genuinely balanced, they would have been more vocal in criticising the last Labour Government.

Edward Dawson: Can Garden Cities really come in from the cold?

The history of these cities or new towns is replete with problems – and people tend not to like them.

Honours for Party volunteers

The Conservative Party is starting to value its activists again

Parvez Akhtar: The Birmingham schools problem was about more than extremism – namely, segregation.

Interference at a local level goes against every conservative principle we all hold dear – but the consequences of not acting can be severe.

Icarus Miliband gets burned by The Sun

By laying into the red-top, then trying to woo it, the Labour leader has succeeded in annoying everyone.

Lewis Baston: The national election that saw the highest Conservative vote in the age of democracy

The 1979 saw the election of a group of Tories to the European Parliament whose enthusiasm for the European project is part of a vanished age.

The strength of the Conservative team, the weakness of the Labour team

The failure of Yvette Cooper and Tristram Hunt in the Commons yesterday was a symptom of a bigger Opposition problem.