Opinion polls catch-up. The Tories’ troubles come and go – but they keep hitting about 40 per cent, or more, in the polls

The country remains divided poll-wise into two unarmed camps. One cannot stick the Conservatives at any price. The other is unified by its fear of Corbyn.

Votes loom on the EU Withdrawal Bill in the Lords. Which places a big responsibility on Labour’s leader there – Angela Smith.

Crossbench votes are always crucial in the Upper House as it now is. But the decisive role in the Bill’s consideration may well be played by the Official Opposition.

WATCH: Cable – It’s “very important for the Prime Minister to build a consensus” on Syria, “which she hasn’t done”

The Liberal Democrat Leader warns that May could come to regret not holding a Commons vote if the operation goes “very badly pear-shaped”.

Robert Halfon: In defence of populism

It’s time for us to acknowledge that it is a response to our own failures – and to listen to voters who are opting for it.

Lewis Baston: How Torrington launched the tradition of Liberal by-election shocks

Looking back, 55 years of Liberal and Liberal Democrat by-election success looks less important than UKIP’s two-year surge.

Tim Bale: Why the real Conservative membership figure matters to the whole country – not just the party

Sooner or later, it will hold a leadership contest in which its members will actually get to decide the winner – and perhaps our next Prime Minister.

Iain Dale: Davis’s message to the EU should be: we’re not Greece – and won’t be treated like Greece

Plus: Henry Bolton, secret LibDem agent. (Or not.) Penny Mordaunt, next Tory leader. (Or not.) British communists surprise us. (Or don’t.) And: my CNN joy.

Lord Ashcroft: Capital Punishment? The Conservatives and the 2018 London elections

Key voters include those who voted heavily to remain in the EU, and were decisive in the lost Tory seats of Battersea, Kensington, Kingston and Twickenham.

May the builder?

If she really is to “dedicate my premiership” to fixing housing growth and home ownership, she will need to throw a chunk of her caution to the winds.

The stubborn resilience of the Conservatives in the opinion polls

A brief glance at this month’s findings to date helps to explain why Tory MPs have been resisting media and some internal pressure for a leadership challenge.

WATCH: Cable says Lib Dems are winning their fight for a second referendum

“We are winning the public argument which is having a vote on the final deal.”

Henry Hill: Talk of direct rule as top civil servant redeploys to Northern Ireland

Also: May wades into Scottish flag row; Liberal Democrat accused of costing taxpayers thousands to prop up Jones; and DUP dismiss legal threat to £1 billion deal.

Interview: Boles says that National Insurance should become National Health Insurance – and fund the NHS

“We need to give it its own clear funding stream that is then permanently separate. For all its flaws, is almost the only bit of the British state that is genuinely loved.”

Peter Franklin: Ruling political tribes 1) Labour. How the Left came in from the wilderness and drove the Blairites out.

Since I last surveyed the political landscape in 2013 and 2014, some ruling tribes have been cast down, and some formerly lost tribes have risen to rule.

Scully replaces Hammond as Party Vice-Chair for London

The MP for Sutton and Cheam will have his work cut out to reconnect the Tories to a city which some fear could become their “next Scotland”.