AboutArticles by John Rentoul

Keir Starmer is likely to win Labour race

05 Jan 2020

We had our fun. It is back to boring normal politics now. Tedious things such as a government with a standard majority in the House of Commons trying to do...

UK government is forcing the Brexit bill through

22 Dec 2019

It was like a parliament of cartoon characters, still running in mid-air after they had gone over the cliff. Some MPs were still rehearsing the arguments of the 2016 referendum....

Opinion polls are tightening, Corbyn might just become PM

27 Nov 2019

The gap between the Conservatives and Labour is closing. A Kantar poll was published on Tuesday that showed the Tory lead falling from 18 points to 11, with Labour gaining...

Labour Party position on EU is right

24 Nov 2019

It is a common theme of politics coverage that the voters don’t want this election and are apathetic about a lacklustre campaign. This is quite wrong. When parliament...

There was uproar at Question Time debate

24 Nov 2019

The big news from tonight’s BBC Question Time Leaders’ Special is that Jeremy Corbyn would be “neutral” in the second referendum held by a Labour government if he wins the...

Opinion polls are important, but we shouldn’t be ruled by them

10 Nov 2019

Every time the opinion polls seem to get it wrong, we journalists say to ourselves that we mustn’t allow our reporting to be so dominated by polls next time. And...

This is how Johnson’s Brexit offer differs from May’s plan

03 Oct 2019

Jeremy Corbyn’s instant verdict on the government’s Brexit proposal is that “it’s worse than Theresa May’s deal”. This may not be right, but it is probably the easiest way to...

Nothing may ever go right for Johnson in No 10

30 Sep 2019

Boris Johnson has been prime minister for 66 days. He needs to stay in 10 Downing Street until 20 November to avoid being the shortest serving prime minister ever (George...

Cameron’s ‘record’ of failure carries eerie echoes of Blair

20 Sep 2019

David Cameron’s book of memoirs opens ominously, with a foreword in which the former prime minister explains why he has barely spoken publicly about his time as prime minister: “The...

Cameron failed because he stuck to what he believed in

17 Sep 2019

David Cameron was always an open book. As prime minister he was talkative and straightforward. Many times, I am told, when there was a Downing Street meeting to discuss a...

John Rentoul

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

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