AboutArticles by John Rentoul

Could Starmer and Reeves get lucky with the economy?

12 May 2024

Rachel Reeves must be psychic. On Tuesday, she delivered a speech that attracted attention for a single word: she accused Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt of “gaslighting” the British public....

No, the local elections don’t point to a hung parliament

07 May 2024

Professor Michael Thrasher, the Sky News boffin, caused consternation on Friday by publishing a projection from the local elections that suggested the results would produce a hung parliament if repeated...

Conservatives are heading for a long spell in wilderness

21 Jan 2024

Politics can be a simple business. Isaac Levido, who brutally summarised the Conservative message at the last election — “Get Brexit Done” — is now trying to do the same...

Labour Party’s policies won’t impact climate change

08 Jan 2024

Chris Skidmore had already announced that he was standing down as a Conservative MP at the next general election, because his Kingswood constituency is being abolished. Half of his...

There are ways Sunak can put up an election fight

01 Jan 2024

To add to the cacophony of predictions for the year 2024, I offer the following: Jeremy Hunt will not cut inheritance tax in the Budget on 6 March. He will...

The green problem that Labour still needs to tackle

24 Dec 2023

Take your time, Keir and Rachel. The election is still nearly a year away, so there is no need to hurry. After all, you have known that there is a...

Under attack from three directions, Tories could face meltdown

03 Dec 2023

The slow but inexorable pace of social change sometimes leaves political parties stranded. One hundred years ago on Wednesday, Labour won more seats than the Liberals in the general election,...

‘Taxes will go up under Labour’ is the only way the Conservatives can fight back

26 Nov 2023

Norman Fowler is more of a lesser-sung public servant than an unsung hero. He was the health secretary who persuaded Margaret Thatcher to run a campaign to educate people about...

Rishi Sunak’s killer robots summit was a success

06 Nov 2023

We should proclaim the unsung success of Rishi Sunak’s artificial intelligence summit. It is easy to mock the prime minister’s fanboy interview with Elon Musk, and we can certainly have...

Labour would be nowhere without Rachel Reeves

15 Oct 2023

The party conference season is over, having confirmed the new power in the land. Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, is now running the country. Keir Starmer, who had a successful...

John Rentoul

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

author