The Party Chairman responsible for fund-raising is playing for higher stakes than he may appreciate.
The Prime Minister must get out in front of the issue — and deal with the whole mess before it buries him.
The overseas aid and Universal Credit decisions suggest that, for the first time in a while, the cause of fiscal conservatism is gaining the upper hand.
The further the act of leaving the EU recedes, the more 2019’s Tory voters will move on – as two recent by-elections reminded us.
But this electoral Titan has an Achilles heel – tax rises which, rather than planning or HS2, are the real threat to future Chesham & Amershams.
Plus: Why Johnson will end lockdown in July, but is to blame for maintaining it. And: Labour. Seen as too anti-Semitic in some places… not enough in others.
In the aftermath of the by-election, ConHome republishes Henry Hill’s post-May analysis of the threat to the Conservatives in the South.
Clarity is needed that “levelling up” is not intended to mean class war against the more affluent.
Plus: Batley & Spen is no Hartlepool. LibDems eye Chesham & Amersham. And: will the West Ham variant hit Europe?
If we don’t learn lessons, then the Party runs a real risk of repeating this result at the next general election more widely.