In a field this crowded and with an electorate so, er, sophisticated, make no assumptions about which names will be forwarded to Party members.
I found an incredibly likeable person – but although he knuckled down and scored some successes, he was better placed as Chief Whip than Defence Secretary.
What’s that you say? That what really matters is the Huawei decision itself? Quite so. And on that, we have an uncomfortable feeling that he’s right.
His sacking is more evidence, were it needed, of the tensions that tear at the Tory coalition – and threaten to render it unsustainable.
“How would you feel if we spent the money on local transport links in the Midlands and the north?’’ Gove asked Conservative MPs last year.
Ministers need to be clear about who they intend to admit, and that they will set limits on numbers and on any rights to benefits and access for family members.
Robin Aitken, who worked for the Corporation for 25 years, accuses it of propagating liberalism and suppressing conservatism behind a pretend impartiality.
Outside Westminster, Crouch’s resignation will make little impact on a Budget that has gone more or less according to plan. Inside, it may not be quite the same story.
Today’s Daily Mail confirms that, under Geordie Grieg, its editorial policy has shifted. Clean Brexit supporters are short of a committed backer that counts.
If anti-private landlord agendas are allowed to shape Government policy, things will only get worse for them and for their tenants alike.
This strangely unreal conference is a kind of passage between the stymied Chequers plan…and whatever happens next.
The Party’s main problem isn’t having too many applicant members – it’s having too few present ones.
James Kanagasooriam’s recent analysis is powerful, but the suggested solutions are less sure. Simply offering what younger voters want won’t work.