Profile: Andy Street, champion of John Lewis conservatism

His understated, unpretentious, unexciting style of politics works well in the context of local government. Could it be transposed to Westminster?

Shaun Spiers: The answer to the housing shortage is more planning, not less

And, as Boles says, we will never build the number of homes we need unless the state is building 100,000 a year.

Nicky Morgan: Chope’s upskirting ban veto, and no-deal hard Brexiteers – fellow travellers in the campaign to wreck modernisation

It says it all, really, that an older male Tory MP should object to outlawing a sexual crime which makes use of twenty-first century technology.

Henry Hill: SNP’s PMQs stunt prevented the very debate they claimed to want

Also: Robinson calls for fixed-term border polls in Ulster; Wood sets departure date as leader of Plaid; and the architect of ‘The Vow’ comes out for Scottish independence.

Peter Franklin: Physician, heal thyself; think tanks, re-think thyselves

Onward seems set to propound the liberal and Freer the libertarian versions of the globalist agenda. Where does that leave the anti-globalist voters who now back the Tories?

Henry Hill: Bradley refuses to rule out fresh Assembly elections for Northern Ireland

Also: Davidson wisely opposed ‘The Vow’ in 2014; Jones proposes special conference to decide Welsh Labour leadership election rules; and more.

Dean Godson: Our mission to help build a new national consensus

At Policy Exchange, we see prosperity, people, place, and patriotism as the four pillars of a politics which seeks to unite the four nations, town and country, and north and south.

Wollaston’s pudding taxes and bans on cartoon characters are the opposite of Davidson’s call for more joyful politics

It isn’t only flinty securocrats who find themselves in conflict with her positive message – moaning nannies should take heed, too.

“I see neither the sense nor the need to stick to an immigration figure devised…a decade ago, which has never been met” – Davidson

“In or out of the EU, our task remains the same: to be open, not closed, to the world around us. To always look outwards for opportunities, not inwards for cold comfort.”

That Gove-Davidson dream ticket

Readers will see that it is all plain sailing for the plan reportedly being cooked up by “Tory grandees”.

Henry Hill: New polls find no surge in support for Northern Ireland leaving the UK

Also: Davidson calls for ’emotion bonds’ of the Union to be strengthened; SNP face tough choices on independence ‘summer offensive’; and more.

Strength through joy?

Change, optimism and hope are a step up from paralysis, despair and pessimism. But successful politicians don’t necessarily radiate uplift.

Nicky Morgan: As Onward launches today, Number Ten needs to give us all something to hope for

The Government should consider setting up a domestic policy Cabinet sub-committee to help alleviate the Brexit bandwidth problem.

The ‘crisis’ between Westminster and Holyrood is political, not constitutional

May is right to press ahead with the Withdrawal Bill. Westminster’s prerogatives should be defended tactfully, but they must be defended.

Albie Amankona: Why now, more than ever, BAME Britons need to vote Conservative

One party cannot have a monopoly on BAME voters. Competition breeds excellence, and if we want excellent BAME policies, we need politicians competing for our votes.