School re-openings. Williamson is making his case without a taranatula perched on his shoulder.

Enraged voters are not his target: he is zeroing in on the mass of questioning teachers and parents.

Stephen James: As a state school teacher, I want to spell it out. The teaching unions don’t speak for me.

Instead of finding solutions to problems, the NEU finds problems in solutions – for example, telling its members not to engage with lessons via the internet.

John Bald: This week has seen the cynicism of teaching union leaders exposed

Rather than having a genuine regard for safety, the hard left is resorting to threats and scaremongering as a “negotiating position”.

Local authorities do not have the power to stop academies reopening

Plus: councils will not go bust – and restrictions are to be eased on eating al fresco.

Mark Lehain: The rivalries and Corbynism that are driving the biggest education union’s extremist stance on school reopenings

I’m a former union rep myself – and am finding that schools, empowered by the Gove reforms, are quietly getting on with preparations,

Starmer – and how the Coronavirus is giving old-fashioned class politics a new lease of life

Johnson will be well aware of this – and will be more concerned about heading Labour’s leader off than by the restive Tory press.

The Chancellor’s statement. A firm second step – but he must go further to deliver “whatever it takes”.

The most significant part of his announcement was talks with employers and unions “to urgently develop new forms of employment support”.

Neil O’Brien: The balance of power between economic and social conservatives may be shifting to the latter

We lost Putney, but gained loads of poorer seats in the north and midlands. That’s highlighted the tensions.

John Redwood: Lessons for managing civil service obstruction from the Thatcher years. And my role as head of her Policy Unit.

There were plenty of Yes Minister routines and scripts to live through then as now. Much of the system did not like the privatisation programme.

Mike Clancy: Ministers must not let no-win, no-fee legal culture into the workplace

Unlike litigious firms, trades unions such as mine have a long-term stake in the success of every company that employs our members.

Mark Lehain: Ending the union monopoly on workplace representation would be a positive change

Allowing alternative organisations at hearing would mean levelling up the quality of life for workers.

Max Young: Labour’s London Assembly candidates stress their Corbynista credentials

Most don’t even mention knife crime. Instead they boast of endorsements from far left groups.

Liam Fox: Now we must focus on getting Brexit done – and on Labour’s threat to wages, job and savings

Understandably, attention is concentrated on the London Bridge attack aftermath. But we must focus laser-like on all the essential issues.

The poor bloody infantry: why people join political parties

A new study asks good questions without providing good answers.

Watson quits. Will Labour’s moderates follow his example – or endorse an extremist as Prime Minister?

Only yesterday, Andrew Gimson reported for this site that the party’s Deputy Leader was in deep trouble in his West Bromwich constituency.