The virus. Why Johnson fell. Why Johnson flourished. Two first drafts of history from 2024.

Two extreme versions of what happens next in Britain. Events are more likely to end up somewhere in the middle.

John Redwood: Why I, as a strong supporter of the market economy, back the Government’s emergency economic measures

The reason we will get away with it again, as we did in the banking crash, is that there is so much deflation around, inflation is not a problem.

Ryan Bourne: The upside-world of virus economics. And why we free marketeers must adapt our usual ways of thinking.

The theoretical aim of policy then should be bridging over what is hopefully a short pause in activity – eliminating near-term distress for households and businesses.

The economy and the virus. Tear up the rulebook – we need Big State Government on a scale unknown in modern times.

The implications of the crisis are such that Johnson and Sunak need not so much to think outside the box as to trample it to tatters altogether.

Richard Holden: How the Budget will help former Red Wall seats in the north – like the one I represent

The fact that Darlington station was explicitly addressed in his statement is a great sign of how swiftly the Chancellor has mastered the detail of his brief.

Budget 1) This was less a Conservative Budget than “the People’s Budget”. From a Vote Leave Government – not the usual Tory one.

It may be necessary, given the Coronavirus, and could even work. But Britain has a long, long record of state spending failing to turbo-charge growth.

The Budget we want will have to wait

The Coronavirus will punch a hole in Sunak’s sums sufficient to throw levelling-up, Boosterism, Brexit bonuses – what have you – off course.

Ryan Bourne: The real Budget question on borrowing is not “could we?” but “should we?”

My answer would be “maybe, provided the spending or tax cuts significantly improved our growth potential.”

The Treasury fights back. How it plans to drive radical reform – and become “the Government’s internal think tank”

Would the Government have the bottle for planning, childcare and police overhauls – and will Downing Street sign up to this plan anyway?

David Gauke: As a non-Tory at the last election, my worry is that this Government won’t be Conservative enough

As a former Chief Secretary to the Treasury, I am uneasy about the bail-out of Flybe. Every time a private business is bailed out by the taxpayer, the pressure grows.

Tom Clougherty: Unless Labour resorts to printing money, higher income tax, NI or VAT are coming – for the many, not the few

That’s a legitimate political agenda, and people are quite welcome to vote for it. But they deserve to know what’s coming.

John O’Connell: The tax choice ahead. Johnson, and the highest burden since Attlee. Or Corbyn, and…the highest ever.

The tax burden isn’t a full measure of the size of the state. But it’s arguably the pre-eminent factor and certainly that which most concerns the TaxPayers’ Alliance.

Daniel Hannan: £1 million? £1 billion? £1 trillion? McDonnell is relying on you not knowing the difference.

Labour is banking on our innumeracy. I don’t say that they are taking us for fools. Plenty of clever and educated people can’t process numbers on that scale.

David Gauke: A traditional southern Conservative supporter ponders how best to vote

Economic competence has been the cornerstone of the Conservative appeal. Remove that cornerstone and the entire structure becomes fragile.

Matt Kilcoyne: The Conservative manifesto. Wooing Labour heartlands with socialist policy is a doomed strategy.

The first piece of a series this week about what the Conservative Manifesto should look like.