The Tory conference was a pseudo-sacred affair, with devotees paying homage in front of Thatcher’s old shrouds — and your reporter, initially barred, only need mention he’d once met her to gain access. But would she consider what was on offer a worthy legacy, asks ANDREW MURRAY

ON August 9 this year the employers’ organisation the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) issued its report entitled Open and Controlled — Recommendations for a New Approach to Immigration.
The report, based on commentary from its membership organisation, focused entirely on the impact of Britain leaving the EU and interestingly made the point in opening that EU workers should not be subject to the burdensome Non-EU Visa Rules.
In other words, the headline does not fit the story. First, it conflates immigration and work — something that has been a feature since Tony Blair’s Immigration Acts — and, as importantly, it is a case of special pleading for the EU nations, saying nothing at all about the rest of the world.

Listening to our own communities and organising within them holds the key to stopping the advance of Reform UK and other far-right initiatives, posits TONY CONWAY

TONY CONWAY assesses the lessons of the 1930s and looks at what is similar, and what is different, about the rise of the far right today

