The Conservative Party is ambivalent about populism because populism itself is such a frustrating mix of common-sense and impractical nonsense. Both have been on display as illegal migrants flow in across the Channel.

There is increasing concern that AI could take our jobs. And yes, new technologies do change the jobs we do.

The first anniversary of the last election is an opportunity to consider the extraordinary state of British politics. Both of the two main parties are in serious difficulties.

Why does the state keep growing? The Chancellor’s spending plans continue the re-shaping of the British state. Some critics complain that there is not enough for key public services. Other critics complain that total public spending is growing with little to show for it. What is going on?

The past week has seen ConservativeHome graced by a piece from Michael Ashcroft warning of ‘baby deserts’ and a column from Harry Phibbs backing the two child cap on benefits. Are the two issues linked? Should they be?

One way out of the Conservative Party’s deep difficulties is a lively constructive debate about policy. That would be a refreshing contrast to the empty slogans of Reform and the inevitable constraints on Government.

These are bad times for the Conservative Party – and there is a lively argument about the direction the Party should go in. One very useful clue to a way forward is the Conservative response to the Government’s legislation on Children’s Wellbeing and Schools.

Modern economies have to incorporate young people into the jobs market. That does not necessarily mean they have to get a round peg into a round hole straightaway. Indeed a few years in your twenties moving around and trying out different jobs before you settle makes a lot of sense.

I’m in the US attending conferences in Washington DC and Colorado, so this is a report from the front-line of the Trump revolution.

The emergence of the free market ideology, the new right in the 70s, Keith Joseph, David’s work with the CPS, Thatcher's policy unit and Nigel Lawson.

Kemi Badenoch’s speech last week launching the policy renewal exercise struck many of the right notes. She opened with the seriousness of the challenge facing Britain – we are failing to deliver the promise of rising prosperity for successive generations.

The Spring Statement is due on Wednesday 26th. One reason why we are likely to have tough announcements on welfare reform before then is that there is a real danger the Government may break the fiscal rules it set itself only last July.

Friedrich Merz’s early statements after his party came first in the German election are tough, honest and fresh. He accepts that the election of Donald Trump has created new threats to Western security, and that Germany has a responsibility to help create a new security architecture.

At last a proper debate is opening up on what to do about immigration. Sir Keir Starmer’s strategists are on to it; Kemi Badenoch has produced her first set of policy proposals; and there have been interesting ideas from, amongst others, the CPS.

Not intervening in Syria in 2013 because of the civil war that followed our intervention in Libya was a key moment in the weakening of the West. It emboldened Putin and Assad and fuelled the Syrian refugee crisis which peaked in 2015.

Rachel Reeves tried yesterday to shift the agenda back to the prospects for getting growth going. That is indeed the most important challenge for this Government, just as it was for the last one.

The portrait of Margaret Thatcher may no longer hang over one of the rooms in No 10 she used for meetings (and long, fraught speech-writing sessions). But her presence still looms large over the Conservative leadership contest.

One of the first Parliamentary tests that Keir Starmer’s Government could face is a possible Parliamentary vote on the abolition of the Winter Fuel Payment. That would be a test of the loyalty of his backbenchers suddenly facing the reality of the tough decisions which governments have to take.

Henry Hill’s editorial of last Friday reflected a widespread Conservative hostility to universities. The evidence does not bear out his criticisms. For a start the graduate premium is not disappearing. Non-graduates aged 21-30 earn on average £26,000, whereas graduates earn £31,500 and post-graduates earn £35,000.

Reform of the House of Lords is back on the agenda with measures due in the King’s Speech. Labour’s manifesto proposed “an immediate modernisation, by introducing legislation to remove the right of hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords”.

Both Labour and Conservatives share the objective of raising the growth rate – and it looks very likely that, on Friday, this challenge will fall to a Labour chancellor.

The British economy has performed poorly since the Financial Crash of 2008/9. Many of the issues at the forefront of this election campaign would look very different if we were enjoying economic growth of the thirty years before the crash.

We are now into our second week of campaigning. Conservatives have been particularly active with policy announcements, and behind them a clear theme is emerging: appealing to the core pensioner vote.

The Prime Minister’s speech to Policy Exchange last week took security as its theme: “The next few years will be some of the most dangerous yet the most transformational our country has ever known. So the question we face today is this: Who has the clear plan and bold ideas to deliver a secure future for you and your family? The dangers that threaten our country are real.”

Cutting the surge in legal and illegal migration is one of the Government’s priorities. An urgent report on overseas students from the Migration Advisory Committee is due to be published shortly before the next set of migration statistics. The plan appears to be to announce another toughening up of the overseas student regime to offset another big migration figure.

Jeremy Hunt’s decision in his last two financial statements to go for cuts in national insurance contributions was the right thing to do. It focussed tax cuts on people in work. Just for once, it shifted Conservative priorities towards people of working age rather than providing yet more help for pensioners who have done very well since 2010. Their benefits are up by far more than inflation whilst families have had cuts.

This week’s tax and benefit changes are a significant moment for the Government. Benefit changes for working-age families are based on historic inflation in the year to last September 6.7 per cent. That means they sound large compared with current inflation, now falling fast, even if they are only a catch-up to restore the real losses from inflation.

Robert Colville wrote about the problems facing the Conservatives In his column for The Sunday Times on 16th February. He referred to me quoting Churchill on how to behave in Opposition. So for those who follow Tory politics here is my original speech about all this twenty five years ago when the Conservatives were working out how to respond to being kicked out of office in a landslide defeat. Some things have changed and others haven’t!

One of the most popular causes on which Conservatives unite and which appeals to many others is the free school movement.

An attempt to explain what Modernising the Conservative Party means, drawing on the recently published first edition of After The Landslide.

Any properly Conservative Party has to address what Disraeli in Coningsby called ‘the awkward question’: ‘what will you conserve?’

In 1994, David Willetts developed his ideas and produced this paper providing a defence of free markets and a fresh approach to social policy.

An attempt to explain what Modernising the Conservative Party means, drawing on the recently published first edition of After The Landslide.