This obscure but vital body enables Tory MPs to wield decisive power.
France’s intractable divisions between left, right, and centre were once again highlighted by Sunday’s election.
His biggest strength now is that to a mass of people who don’t follow politics he is a Given, A Fact – like Thatcher, Blair or the weather.
This account of three and a half years as a special adviser confirms how trivial and transitory the role can be.
Plus: If Johnson goes soon, it will be of his volition. And: these presidential debates are a train crash for America.
I have decided to write a second volume of my life of Johnson, who has always been an affront to serious-minded people’s idea of politics.
History shows that they can usually weather health crises, and we hope and trust we shall soon see this one restored to his normal vigour.
Character assassination displaces comprehension, and so damages those who engage in it.
He is a man of Negative Capability, who cannot be understood by those with a fact-checking mentality, and he admires Trump.
The present election will turn on whether MPs and activists put national popularity before ideological soundness.
Tim Bouverie has written a fascinating account of the slide towards the Second World War.
Andrew Roberts manages to bring the great man before us in all his variousness in just under a thousand pages.
The consequences for the international order have been debated for decades, but, in contrast, little attention has been paid to this area.