We won without yet breaking through in the North, urban Britain, or Scotland – but we’re now in a position to make real headway in all three.
The Scottish Conservatives only held their single seat at the General Election, but do the 2016 and 2020 elections offer the prospect of breakthrough?
Also: Knives out for two more Labour leaders – Murphy in Scotland and Jones in Wales.
The threat posed by Scottish Nationalists to the Union has had the beneficial consequence of reinvigorating the Scottish Conservatives.
Also: Calls for referendum as NI Assembly votes down gay marriage by two votes; and Jones and Davidson join the debate on EVEL.
Privately, leading Scottish Tories are livid at the Carlisle Principle, Theresa May’s ‘abdication’ intervention and the rest of the rhetoric of the last week.
Plus: This week’s focus groups in Glasgow, Paisley and Edinburgh; and who would play whom in Nicola Sturgeon: The Movie?
Also: Welsh Conservative leader disowns the national manifesto; and Villiers defends the party’s choice of candidates in Northern Ireland.
It doesn’t matter how you cut it: the seat I’m contesting is very much the flashpoint of all of the ideological battles we face with Labour during this election campaign.
The Scottish leaders’ debate: they clash on the economy.
I worry that we are not learning from the experience of the Scottish referendum, and what it might mean for the next plebiscite looming on the horizon.
“Forget about what other people have told you about the Conservative Party. I’ll tell you about the Conservative Party.”
Also: UUP have grave doubts about new NI deal; Murphy’s deputy very happy to work with the SNP; and NI Conservatives choose East Belfast candidate.
Also: UUP leader claims Sinn Fein would collapse Stormont for the sake of its southern ambitions; and Labour set to lose a quarter of their 2010 vote to Sturgeon.
Opportunities for Scotland’s Conservatives lie ahead – if the right organisation and resources can be found.