Our top ten picks of the week | Conservative Home

This campaign must be the nadir of government by bunker 

Henry Hill

“It is increasingly clear that the withering of the Party as an institution has reached the point where it is self-destructive. A handful of people should not have a free hand to commit the entire party to new policies at zero notice.”

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The exodus of Conservative MPs will make the challenges of the party – and the country – much harder to tackle 

William Atkinson

“The loss of Michael Gove and almost 80 other current MPs promises a future parliamentary party denuded of experience and talent, whatever the election result.”

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Vox pub in Hartlepool: Johnson leaves a gap no other politician has yet filled 

Andrew Gimson

“I think if Boris was still in I’d vote for Boris, obviously,” a Hartlepudlian said. “He was dopey but he was our dopey.”

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More councils cease funding for Stonewall 

Harry Phibbs

“But Conservative-led Gloucestershire Council is making a payment to them of £4, 230.00 this year.”

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Campaign Diary. Week 1. Duncan Smith is fighting on a thirty-two year record in Chingford and Woodford Green 

Angus Parsad-Wyatt

“When the former Tory leader was first elected to the old Chingford seat in 1992, his majority was nearly 15,000. It has since fluctuated up and down, but has never been lower than it is now – just 1,262 at the last election.”

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Campaign Diary. Week 1. History will be kind on Sunak’s decision to go to the polls now. 

Alex Deane

“I’m delighted to be your diarist for the duration. But is it too late to explain the Prime Minister’s new National Service policy?”

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Politicians must make popular policies that are in the national interest – not quick fixes 

Miriam Cates MP

“MPs habitually underestimate the ability of the electorate to understand complex issues. But the people I speak to on the doorstep are generally well-informed, rational, and understand the trade-offs.”

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My first election survey. What cuts through, what matters to voters, and what separates a Tory loyalist from a defector?

Lord Ashcroft

“Less than half of voters have decided what to do on 4th July according to my first poll since the election was called.”

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What does the future of the right look like? Last week, the Legatum Institute tried to find out.

Fred de Fossard

“While the right flank of British conservatism is largely united on matters of immigration, culture, education, and welfare, the hunt for an answer to big economic questions will carry on for the months and years to come.”

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Farage has consigned himself to the margins of this election – but his instincts remain better than Tice’s 

Henry Hill

“He always grasped that, as the leader of a minor party in a system which makes breakthroughs difficult, he was always at his most effective when the Tories were trying to do something about him.”