Last year Conservative delegates were positively encouraged to drink champagne, to show a "business as usual" attitude during the excruciating four-day wait for David Cameron's clincher speech. They did this with aplomb, standing outside the Imperial Hotel in Blackpool till the wee small hours, smiling, shivering, displaying the Dunkirk spirit that Tories are so good at.

This year there is a different feel. "We should be slightly cautious that [...]

The focus on all things "new Tory" has continued over this dank British summer, and has now given rise to a play, Tory Boyz, at the Soho Theatre in London's West End. The opening night on 18 August drew a large, very excitable crowd, as well-cut suits mingled with extra-tight Abercrombie & Fitch polo shirts, worn a size too small, for that ultimate muscle definition. The conversation in the bar [...]

If part of Gordon Brown's problem in England is that he is too Scottish, his problem in Scotland is that he isn't Scottish enough. Labour MPs and ministers up for the Glasgow East by-election were astonished to find how many of their "natural" voters now regard themselves as Scottish nationalists. Nationalism has spread across Scotland like a social networking craze since the SNP entered government just over a year ago. [...]

On the day before recess, it's pretty much business as usual at Conservative campaign headquarters, where the talk is that the summer holds no late starts or long, boozy lunches on the Commons terrace. The press team is still putting out stories and there is a rota of MPs organised for rapid response should Gordon put his foot or mouth in it while in Southwold.

The staff were rewarded for [...]

In Westminster there may be a feeling of winding down, but with all the doom-laden talk of a credit crunch, David Cameron is wasting no time, and is busy making speeches to the business community ahead of the summer break. The strategy is to get all this out before the financiers go off, worrying about their bonuses, for their family holidays, and the two leaders go off to embrace Britain. [...]

With Boris's mayoral team having a rough ride, what better time for David Cameron to flee metropolitan London, hit the Glasgow by-election trail and tell a roomful of Scots to lay off the cakes?

There are a few unlikely Tories around now that things are on the up, but the Glasgow East Conservative candidate, Davena Rankin, is almost implausible. Glaswegian-born and bred, she describes herself as "half Scottish, half Caribbean". [...]

Tories are socialising, hanging out together, going to parties and having "away weekends" in Buckinghamshire. Not scared to be snapped with a glass of champagne, they have stopped skulking and are getting imaginative with colour. Last Monday night, a week of balmy summer evenings kicked off with the Conservative Summer Party.

The venue was the Roundhouse, a trendy concert venue in Camden, which is probably about three miles north of [...]

Many fondly recall David Davis's website for his Tory leadership campaign of 2001. It featured Davis in a vest, hanging by a rope from a cliff edge. As if that were not enough, underneath was a quotation from Frederick "Freddie" Forsyth comparing Davis with Bruce Willis or somebody like that.

In 2008, Davis is back on form with the triumphantly named David Davis for Freedom, although he invites the reader [...]

After a week in which the unsuitable - some would say greedy - use of public funds by Tory MEPs has been highlighted, David Cameron has to do some serious sacking and backing. Revelations about parliamentary allowances being chanelled into family firms, employing relatives, and a transatlantic trip conveniently combining business with a wedding have produced fervent gossip in the Commons tea room about who may or may not have [...]

It's at this time of year that young Tories' thoughts turn to Henley, and not just to the regatta. With Boris safely ensconced in City Hall, the next by-election and who the lucky candidate might be are very much the topics of discussion. It's the ultimate golden ticket, a possible job for life for whoever wins, in a south Oxfordshire utopia by the Chiltern Hills; the Holy Grail of Conservative [...]