AboutArticles by John Rentoul

Michael Gove could still become prime minister

25 Apr 2022

One Conservative leadership campaign is active in Portcullis House, the annexe to parliament where MPs and journalists mingle, sharing tea, coffee and (in my case) Danish pastries. Jeremy Hunt’s...

Here’s how Nick Brown’s Law saved Boris Johnson

18 Apr 2022

When Gordon Brown was about to take over as Labour leader and prime minister, I bumped into Nick Brown, who was about to become chief whip, and we had a...

Johnson is a lawbreaker and he is staying put

13 Apr 2022

On his own narrow terms, Johnson was smart to use the Sue Gray report and the Metropolitan Police investigations to buy time. Not that he had much option. Something might...

Johnson is beneficiary of Sunak’s self-inflicted woes

11 Apr 2022

Rishi Sunak has not taken adversity well. He has shown a petulance, and a tendency to blame others for bad news for which only he is responsible. He should...

Leadership battle between Truss and Sunak in full swing

27 Mar 2022

The gleeful response from some of Boris Johnson’s supporters to Rishi Sunak’s drubbing after his spring statement was as unwise as it was premature. One anonymous cabinet minister, described as...

War in Ukraine has influenced course of British politics

27 Feb 2022

John Rentoul, The Independent The Russian invasion of Ukraine has had unexpected effects on British politics already. It has ended all talk, for the moment, about the Conservative Party changing...

Tory MPs see Rishi Sunak as their new prime minister

06 Feb 2022

We are at the last-moment doubts stage of the defenestration of Boris Johnson. Conservative MPs have decided that the prime minister must go. What is holding them back is not...

The odds are against Boris Johnson’s survival

31 Jan 2022

The tribe hasn’t had its catharsis yet. Boris Johnson, more than most, understands politics at the primal level. He knows that the people are angry about lockdown parties in Downing...

Brexiteers are fighting among themselves

02 Jan 2022

The key to the last election was that the Leave vote was more united than the Remain vote, so it matters that Brexiteers are at war with each other, while...

For Johnson ‘end is nigh’— maybe in several years’ time

20 Dec 2021

Prime ministers tend to last longer than you think. I haven’t placed a bet of more than 50p on politics since I lost an undisclosed sum on John Major to...

John Rentoul

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

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