Johnson the Earl, Cummings the heiress – and the Downton Abbey marriage cursed before it began

Our regret that he is no longer in place is cancelled out by his own suggestion that he shouldn’t really have been doing his job at all. 

Bim Afolami: Five books to read over the summer recess

Reading and reflection really helps me get a perspective on what is going on, whether in my own constituency or in the country more broadly.

Raghib Ali: Systemic classism, not racism. Why the main factor in health and educational inequalities is deprivation, not race.

The fourth part of a series on ConHome this week about the politics of race and ethnicity in Britain today.

David Skelton: The new snobbery. How football fans and Brexit voters were demonised as racists.

We need a multi-racial working-class conservatism that tackles discrimination – and prioritises removing the barriers that prevent people advancing.

Ryan Bourne: The tax hikes that could fall in the south. And tear the Tory coalition apart

The problem is that spiralling spending demands quickly use up the options which voters don’t notice. Eventually you need other big sources of revenue,

Houchen. He’s patriotic. Even more importantly – he delivers.

Labour isn’t focused on the second, preferring to blame others for problems, and too many of its activists aren’t the first, either.

Peter Saunders: The myth of social immobility. Those who champion meritocracy are pursuing something we’ve basically already got.

The second of two pieces on ConHome this week on social mobility. How much does it matter and is it in decline?

Robert Halfon: The political parties are stuck in the Dark Ages

This book tells you more about the demographics of party members than anything you will hear from the usual commentators.

Anand Menon and Matt Bevington: Will Johnson really be able to level up?

Our research with low-income voters in some of these areas revealed that many are not expecting miracles. They simply want better local services.

Liam Fox: Today, the Chancellor should aim to boost an unambiguously private sector-led recovery

Before pumping more funding into the public sector, we must restore the habit of making sure we have the money in the bank before we start spending it.

Robert Halfon: Who’s up for a Southern Research Group?

There is deprivation and lower educational attainment in the southern new towns, coastal communities, inner cities and rural coldspots.

Ryan Bourne: A British overspill from America’s result. Why the debate on the right over economics will now intensify.

Stateside narratives have a tendency to be imported into UK politics – one of the knock-on effects of this messy Presidential election outcome.

James Frayne: Perhaps the Conservatives should simply revert to being southern and posh

If they can’t make a real impact on the lives of working class voters in provincial seats, Johnson will meet the same electoral fate as Trump.

James Frayne: Coastal towns – next for the Conservatives after the Red Wall seats. And essential for a shore-to-shore majority.

I will be returning regularly to this theme: the need to create a mainstream English and Welsh majority from shore to shore.

Darren Grimes: Out of office but in power. How the Left keeps losing elections, yet gets its way nonetheless.

Each time rioting is ignored by the police, we move one stop closer to allowing a tyrannical Twitter-dwelling minority to become very powerful indeed.