The backstop threatens the Union. Davidson knows it. And May can’t afford to lose her.

It isn’t just pro-Brexit MPs who should be watching the Prime Minister carefully. It’s pro-Union ones: in other words, all of them.

Brexit. It’s time for an end to illusions. May must choose between the backstop and her country.

The key question now for Conservative MPs is whether they can support the UK being trapped in a customs union – and the dismemberment of the Union itself.

Straw poll: who will be the next Cabinet Minister to resign over Brexit? (If any of them.)

McVey? Mordaunt? Hammond, because the policy swings the other way? May herself? None of the above?

May on the fence

Media focus is on the DUP. But we can’t help suspecting that near the heart of policy is a preoccupation with those just-in-time supply chains.

Penny Mordaunt: “The more we do, the more we trade, and the less demand there will then be for aid.” Her development speech: full text.

Traditional donor governments gave a tiny fraction of the total sum needed last year. So how do we close that gap? The private sector has to be part of the answer.

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: Oh, I do want the Conservative conference to be beside the seaside

The excuse is always that there aren’t enough beds in other places. How come Labour goes to Brighton, then?

Our Next Tory Leader survey. Javid is up and Johnson down slightly – but the latter retains a double-figure lead.

No other entrant has more than ten per cent of the vote, though Hunt is almost there.

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.

WATCH: Foreign Secretary – “If you put a country like Britain in a corner, we don’t crumble. We fight. ”

This video also includes speeches from Liam Fox, Penny Mordaunt and Gavin Williamson.

Lord Ashcroft’s Conference Diary: How Leave voters reflect – good humouredly, mostly – on being called knuckle-dragging bigots

Plus: Labour anti-semitism, May’s African dancing. Will Mordaunt speak to the conference? And: will Russia take on NATO?

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.

Penny Mordaunt: London has some serious problems. It needs a serious candidate – namely, Andrew Boff.

I’m backing him to be the next Mayor of London. He will work tirelessly to deliver and he will lead.

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.