AboutArticles by John Rentoul

Jeremy Corbyn’s terrible warning to Keir Starmer

02 Apr 2023

One of my vivid memories of working in TV was the moment when John Habgood, the Archbishop of York, responded to a question from Jonathan Dimbleby in a BBC On...

Starmer’s impossible promises are harder to believe

26 Mar 2023

The reaction to some of his pledges was “a sharp intake of breath”, Keir Starmer said on Thursday. He welcomed that because “nobody can doubt the scale of our ambition,...

Boris Johnson has been humiliated on two fronts

23 Mar 2023

Boris Johnson spent three hours giving evidence to the Committee of Privileges, trying to keep the flame of a comeback alight – including when he had to interrupt said testimony...

The vacuum at the heart of the next Labour government

06 Mar 2023

Keir Starmer keeps telling us what he believes, often at length. There was the 14,000-word Fabian pamphlet 18 months ago. In the past week he has given a speech about...

Has the Conservative Party lost the will to win?

15 Jan 2023

James Callaghan was making an excuse for himself when he said that “there are times, perhaps once every 30 years, when there is a sea-change in politics”. What he meant...

The next election will be a contest of competence

08 Jan 2023

We saw a preview of the election campaign between Keshi Sumer and Rishir Starnak this week. One of them gave a speech declaring: “It’s time for change.” The other replied...

Time has come to show some seriousness

01 Jan 2023

The coming year will be the year that The Question changes. Until now, the question that opinion pollsters ask, “How would you vote if there were a general election tomorrow?”,...

British PM Rishi Sunak is a quick learner

25 Dec 2022

The most surprising thing about Rishi Sunak being prime minister is that he doesn’t look surprised. He hasn’t been in politics long. He became an MP only seven years ago....

This is how Rishi Sunak could win the next election

18 Dec 2022

As one of the Bolsheviks at the Peter Mandelson Memorial Dim Sum Supper, I predicted that Rishi Sunak will be prime minister after the next election. The Bolsheviks, Russian for...

Britain will be closer to the EU in future for sure

14 Dec 2022

Funny business, British politics. Before the 2016 referendum, none of the parties in the House of Commons advocated leaving the EU, which was what the majority of the people wanted....

John Rentoul

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

author