Interview: Herbert – making with fervour the case for staying inside a reformed EU

The leader of a new pro-Remain campaign group makes a “pragmatic” case for staying in the EU, and says most Conservative MPs agree with him.

Lord Ashcroft: My new research into what Poles and Bulgarians make of Britain, the EU and Brexit

A new series of focus groups offers an insight into the view from ‘new Europe’.

Iain Dale: How slippery Salmond drowned in oil

The injustice of the Durham rape allegation. Mundell comes out. And: who will help me to make my mind up about Europe?

Isabel Oakeshott: Where is Leave’s leader?

The campaign to quit the EU lacks charismatic faces to put up against the Prime Minister, three former premiers and well-known business figures.

Henry Hill: Mundell praises biggest shift of powers since devolution

Also: Osborne attacked by Welsh Labour; Cameron rules out SNP EU demands; Villiers faces calls to quit if she backs Brexit; and more.

Iain Dale: As this new year begins, I gaze again into my crystal balls

Plus: Loathsome Winston McKenzie. Alex Salmond, Thatcher fan. The indestructible Keith Vaz. And: my interview with Charles Moore is well worth a listen.

From Reggie to Dessie: When Rosie Winterton was mistaken for Barbara Windsor

And I’m having none of that nonsense about Dry January.

ConHome readers’ Scrap of the Year is Douglas Carswell versus Nigel Farage

Strife within the so-called ‘People’s Army’ topped the poll on 32.3 per cent.

UKIP, even further behind the Tories than they are behind Labour

The average Conservative majority in seats where UKIP finished second is 18,328 votes.

UKIP, the party of the distant second place

Last week’s by-election in Oldham put a different complexion on their advances in May.

The main obstacle to a deal between the rival Leave campaigns is Arron Banks himself

The key Eurosceptic donors who will fund the anti-EU campaign do not feel they can work with him. Will he step aside to aid the cause?

Iain Dale: Why I suspect the CCHQ inquiry into the Mark Clarke claims may be a cover-up

Plus: Military strikes against Syria now. And: Maria Eagle should tell Corbyn to stuff his job. So should Kevan Jones.

Isabel Oakeshott: Brexit campaigners don’t know friend from enemy

Vote Leave and leave.eu need to join together to fight the pro-EU campaign – and not each other.

Nadhim Zahawi MP: Why this One Nation Government is right to take new measures to tackle discrimination

In his speech, the Prime Minister cited instances of black people changing their names just to find work by ‘whitening their CVs’.

Rebecca Coulson: It’s not religion that’s the opium of the masses – it’s ideology

For the Conservative Party, arguing for strong policies on a purely rational basis seems, in today’s climate, agreeably different – as well as sensible.