The final piece in our series on levelling up comes from our fortnightly columnist – as the White Paper looms.
Voters at this week’s by-election in Old Bexley and Sidcup are angry with the Prime Minister, but do not appear to have settled on anyone better.
It is always easier to laugh at the jokes of someone you like, and Rightist columnists no longer indulge their former colleague.
Those in power seem to actively dislike the culture which has made Britain’s forces globally respected.
We need to stand up for the value of Parliament and of spending time there improving and working on legislation.
The Chancellor is damned if he yields to backbenchers’ demands for bailouts – and damned if he doesn’t.
Extending carbon pricing would serve as a constant pressure on emissions. But it won’t be enough on its own.
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.
Political popularity appears to be broad and sustained but, when eventually it is exhausted, the falling away of support is dramatic.
If Conservatives don’t take the Opposition seriously, one can hardly blame them. And yet that could prove to be a big mistake.
Local pride in towns like Blyth is wounded at every turn by evidence of neglect, shoddiness and former greatness.
My great fear is that isolationism on the left and right could take root. And not all interventions have been disastrous – let alone about imposing our values.
The Government has a choice. Local solutions with limited funding – or £10 billion on centralised non-solutions.
Conservatives must reach out, listen and engage much more with young people.