The CPS, Tory MPs, new ideas – and a debate we need on economic policy

Theresa May thought aloud about low interest rates. Mark Carney hit back and no more was heard from her. Time for others to do so?

Ben Houchen: Brexit. We need Project Fearless – and it starts with freeports. Let’s kick off with one in Teesside.

Yesterday, I wrote to the Chancellor with the support of 50 of the biggest and most established businesses in the Tees Valley, to call for a pilot scheme.

Binita Mehta-Parmar: What the Tories need to do to improve their standing with minority voters

The reshuffle showed just how far BME Conservatives have come since I first joined the Party, but we have much farther still to go.

Modernisers Revisited. Meet “Onward” (Or perhaps “Onward!”) – the new C-Change.

A catspaw of Osborne? A competitor to Policy Exchange? A resource for a modernising leadership candidate? The truth is more subtle and interesting.

Needed early in the New Year. A reshuffle to help Britain better prepare for leaving the EU.

Futhermore, the Government needs to sharpen up its sense of mission. And there is a heap of talent on the Tory backbenches.

Rishi Sunak: How to ensure that disabled children can enjoy a day out with their families

Standard disabled toilets are not enough to make important venues and attractions open to all. The Government must push for more Changing Places.

Freeman is right about a new Policy Commission to prepare for the next election – complete with non-Tory members

The 1997 experience of Downing Street keeping the manifesto process to itself was unhappy. The Party needs to draw on wider talent to reinvent itself in government.

Spreadsheet Phil must become Storyteller Phil – if his Budget is to succeed where the Tory conference failed

The Chancellor needs to help deliver the sense of direction so strikingly absent in Manchester last month, and indeed since last June’s election.

Robert Colvile: There is a new generation on the Centre-Right, fizzing with ideas

The Centre for Policy Studies is working with many young, passionate Conservatives to build a better Britain.

Peter Bould: A reshuffle may be coming – and the Cabinet needs more northern MPs

You would have to go back more than 20 years to find a time when fewer secretaries of state held northern constituencies. 

And now for 15 items of good news

May’s damaged authority is having a beneficial side-effect – namely, freeing Tory MPs to think aloud about the Party’s future.

James Frayne: The Government needs fresh faces – here are seven MPs who should be promoted

Raab, Badenoch, Sunak, O’Brien, Eustice, Frazer and Tugendhat should all be more senior and more visible.

Charlie Elphicke: Ready on Day One for lower, fairer, simpler taxes to boost jobs and growth

The fourth article in a five-piece series by the author on how Britain must prepare for March 31 2019 – and has less than 600 days to get it right.

Parliamentary Private Secretaries: full list

Seema Kennedy becomes the Prime Minister’s second PPS. Brexiteer Kwasi Kwarteng is PPS to Philip Hammond. And much, much more.

The EU is dysfunctional at negotiating trade deals – which is bad news for everyone

Even after Brexit it is in the interests of the UK for the remaining member states to prosper.