Cardwell is loyal to May and Brokenshire, but does not tell us much about the Prime Minister’s people

This account of three and a half years as a special adviser confirms how trivial and transitory the role can be.

Iain Dale: Covid-19. There is no good reason why the arts sector should get a billion pound bailout while coach operators do not

Plus: If Johnson goes soon, it will be of his volition. And: these presidential debates are a train crash for America.

Johnson benefits from the scorn of critics such as Parris, for it suggests the Prime Minister is still an outsider

I have decided to write a second volume of my life of Johnson, who has always been an affront to serious-minded people’s idea of politics.

Prime Ministers and their health

History shows that they can usually weather health crises, and we hope and trust we shall soon see this one restored to his normal vigour.

Johnson’s critics will get nowhere by calling him a liar

Character assassination displaces comprehension, and so damages those who engage in it.

What Johnson will be like as Prime Minister

He is a man of Negative Capability, who cannot be understood by those with a fact-checking mentality, and he admires Trump.

From magic circle to one member one vote: a short history of Tory leadership contests

The present election will turn on whether MPs and activists put national popularity before ideological soundness.

For a really serious British foreign policy failure, look at Chamberlain’s attempt to appease Hitler

Tim Bouverie has written a fascinating account of the slide towards the Second World War.

We think we know Churchill, but are constantly surprised by him

Andrew Roberts manages to bring the great man before us in all his variousness in just under a thousand pages.

Why May – and all her predecessors – have failed to cut the Gordian knot of the EU

Andrew Adonis’ new study of Prime Ministers since Churchill shows how difficult it is to reach an acceptable, and practical, European policy.

When think tanks think and when think tanks tank

Onward, FREER, the revitalised CPS. The Tory MPs involved in all these will have to take some risks if they’re to get off the groumd.

Peter Marshall: We must all now focus on finding a way to build a positive future relationship

We need to rekindle l’esprit communautaire, on both sides of the channel. In Walpole’s famous phrase, “this dance can no longer go”.

Hard lessons for May from leadership contests of the past

Bonar Law’s words in 1922 apply to the present leader: “The party elects a leader, and that leader chooses the policy, and if the party does not like it, they have to get another leader.”

John Deben: Weak leadership, catastrophic decisions. The appeasement of reactionaries over Brexit has betrayed Heath’s legacy

He wouldn’t have let Cash and Fox, Johnson and Rees-Mogg seize the agenda. He would have fought Farage’s populism as he fought that of Powell.

Interview: “Well, it’s very flattering. But I’m not taking it seriously.” Rees-Mogg says he won’t stand for the Conservative leadership

The Somerset MP strongly supports Theresa May, denies anti-Etonian prejudice in public life, and says a Catholic could perfectly well be PM.