Patrick Harley: How we won in Dudley

The local election campaign was started with an eight page magazine highlighting our achievements on local issues. This was delivered prior to election expenses kicking in.

Rebecca Lowe: Women’s attitudes to the Conservatives – and vice-versa – are not what you may think

There are clearly questions about what’s happening in relation to voting, membership, and representation — and what the Party should or might want to do.

Henry Hill: New polls find no surge in support for Northern Ireland leaving the UK

Also: Davidson calls for ’emotion bonds’ of the Union to be strengthened; SNP face tough choices on independence ‘summer offensive’; and more.

The consequences of Customs Union indecision. How Britain could end up with EEA-lite – formally or informally.

The longer the delay in making a decision, the longer it will take for an alternative to be ready.

Alex Morton: Conservatives and Liberals share a new opponent – Progressive Authoritarians

But some, perhaps many, Tory MPs have these tendencies – including one no less senior than the Prime Minister herself.

It’s in the district council elections that the Conservatives are strongest – and so have the most to lose

The final part of our series this week on May’s elections. Will there be a LibDem revival – which polls have yet to indicate?

Low expectations could make the local election results seem like a Conservative triumph

UKIP’s decline will probably allow the three main parties to each claim an increased vote share. Afterwards, the Tories will still be the largest party in local government.

Iain Dale: A revitalised and purposeful May heads for the Welsh hills to call an election (just kidding, folks)

Plus: Gauke’s failure, UKIP chaos, Salmond’s Russia Today shame, Corbyn’s anti-semitism debacle…and an invitation if you live near Bath.

Andrew Green: The Government has lost its way on immigration – and the Home Secretary shows no interest in reducing it

We should not allow ourselves, in the next phase of negotiations, to be drawn into further migration concessions in exchange for trade concessions.

It’s time the pollsters stopped prompting UKIP as a major party

The former ‘People’s Army’ is struggling to survive, and even what’s left of its poll support could be an overstatement.

Iain Dale: Davis’s message to the EU should be: we’re not Greece – and won’t be treated like Greece

Plus: Henry Bolton, secret LibDem agent. (Or not.) Penny Mordaunt, next Tory leader. (Or not.) British communists surprise us. (Or don’t.) And: my CNN joy.

Iain Dale: Yes, we’re British. We’re also European.

Plus: Johnson’s EU speech. Turnbull’s sex ban. Horror in America. Change in South Africa. And: order your popcorn for this weekend’s UKIP conference.

WATCH: UKIP. Marr – “It’s over, isn’t it?” Bolton – “No, I don’t believe it is.”

The party’s leader says that it can either lose itself in another leadership election or help to shape Brexit.

UKIP loses Towler, the man who made Farage famous

The lights really are going out all over what’s left of the ‘People’s Army’ – the departure of their communications director leaves them without a single national press officer.

Iain Dale: What happened at the President’s Club was no worse than many women’s events

Plus: Vicious Cybernats. Bolton’s brass neck. Widdecombe’s ratings. Johnson’s death wish. And: the courage of my friend Tessa Jowell.