AboutArticles by John Rentoul

Labour campaign machine is definitely out of control

16 Apr 2023

Speculation about the next election is constant, yet it alternates between two outcomes that ought to be unlikely. One is a Labour majority, which would require an unprecedented recovery in...

As Biden visits Northern Ireland, can US again help seal the deal?

10 Apr 2023

One of the stars that aligned when Tony Blair felt the hand of history on his shoulder 25 years ago was the changing politics of the Irish lobby in...

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....

John Rentoul

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

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