AboutArticles by John Rentoul

Sunak, leader who goes where most don’t

27 Sep 2020

When a politician takes a stand against public opinion it is time to sit up and pay attention. Especially when it is Rishi Sunak, the most popular politician in Britain...

Jo Swinson made a bold but disastrous decision

17 May 2020

Jo Swinson almost got it right. She was bold, taking a risk for the chance of great gain, having decided that, otherwise, the cause was lost. That cause was keeping...

Keir Starmer is in the ‘Harold Wilson, Blair mould’

10 May 2020

It seems much too early to be thinking about the policies of a Labour government. But three things happened this week that made me think about them all the same....

Matt Hancock acts like real deputy prime minister

26 Apr 2020

It has been suggested in some quarters that Matt Hancock is the provisional health secretary; that, because he is not in with the in-crowd of Vote Leavers around the prime...

Johnson’s response to coronavirus shows how different he is from fellow ‘national populist’ Donald Trump

31 Mar 2020

Boris Johnson’s attempt to model himself on Winston Churchill seemed absurd, until now. In America, most presidential candidates write books about themselves; Johnson wrote a book called The Churchill Factor....

New MPs’ speeches tell the future of politics

08 Mar 2020

Many new Conservative MPs are different from the traditional Tory stereotype, while many of the (fewer) new Labour MPs are carbon-copy Corbynites. After every election, I try to listen to...

Landslide victory is a huge responsibility

23 Feb 2020

In the old days, winning an election by a landslide meant trouble ahead. Clement Attlee won a 146-seat majority in 1945. Five years later, it was gone. His majority cut...

Sadiq’s EU citizenship proposal is unworkable

19 Feb 2020

Long ago, I predicted a “Schrodinger’s Brexit”, by which the UK both leaves the EU and stays in it, “with individual citizens allowed to choose which status they prefer”. ...

Starmer may find easier to unite Labour Party

16 Feb 2020

Stuff can happen in election campaigns, and the Labour leadership contest is not yet at the halfway point — but Keir Starmer is in a strong position and party members...

When predictions went wrong in the last two years

09 Feb 2020

We missed two years, but one of the great institutions of the uncodified British constitution is back. The Peter Mandelson Memorial Dim Sum Supper has finally reconvened and issued its...

John Rentoul

Chief Political Commentator, The Independent; visiting professor, King's College, London.

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