Andrew Rawnsley

Profile: Full name: Andrew Rawnsley Area of interest: Politics Journals/Organisation: The Observer Email: a.rawnsley@observer.co.uk Personal website: Website: http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/andrewrawnsley Blog: Representation: Networks: https://twitter.com/#!/andrewrawnsley

Biography: About: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2007/apr/04/andrew.rawnsley Education: Rugby School (scholarship); Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge University: History (first-class Honours) Career: BBC: 1983/1985; The Guardian: reporter 1985/1987, political sketch writer 1987/1993; The Observer: chief political columnist and associate editor 1993- Current position/role: Chief political commentator, associate editor also writes/has written for: Other roles/Main role: author and broadcaster Other activities: Disclosures: Viewpoints/Insight: Broadcast media: Channel 4’s A Week in Politics: co-presenter, 1989-97; BBC Radio 4’s The Westminster Hour: principal presenter, 1998/2006; Regular appearances on Today, PM, World at One, World Tonight, News Quiz and other news and current affairs programmes; ITV's The Sunday Edition: co-presenter (with Andrea Catherwood), 2006; Also writes and presents one-off documentaries for Channel 4, including The Rise and Fall of Tony Blair (June 2007) Video: IMDb Controversy/Criticism: Resigned as editor of PoliticsHome after Lord Ashcroft, the deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, bought a majority holding in the website, see: Editor resigns after Lord Ashcroft buys up political websites - Sam Coates, Chief Political Correspondent, The Times, 23rd September 2009 Simon Walters (Mail on Sunday Political Editor) reported that in 'The End of the Party' allegations are made that prime minister, Gordon Brown, physically attacked members of his staff, see: Angry Gordon Brown 'hit out at aide and yanked secretary from her chair' - 31st January 2010 Awards/Honours: Student Journalist of the Year, 1983; Young Journalist of the Year, 1987; Journalist of the Year, C4 Political Awards, 2003; became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 2001 Scoops: Other:

Books & Debate: Servants of the people: the inside story of New Labour OCLC 44532783 (top ten best-seller in both hard cover and paperback and voted Channel Four Political Book of the Year), 2000 Latest work: The end of the party OCLC 458731872, 2010 Speaking/Appearances: Andrew Rawnsley will discuss his forthcoming book, The End of the Party, at an Observer/Waterstone's event at One Great George Street, London SW1 on Wednesday, 3 March from 7pm. For tickets, contact Waterstone's, Gower Street on 020 7636 1577 Debate:

The Observer: Column name: Remit/Info: Politics Section: Role: Chief political commentator Pen-name: Email: a.rawnsley@observer.co.uk Website: Guardian.co / Andrew Rawnsley Commissioning editor: Day published: Sunday Regularity: Weekly Column format: Average length:

Articles: 2017 That jeering sound you can hear is Europe laughing at Britain - For years we mocked our neighbours’ ‘unstable’ governments. Now, with Brexit upon us, the joke is on this country - 25th June There’s a member of the living dead walking Downing Street - With the Conservatives having lost all faith in her leadership, Mrs May is still in office but she has no power - 11th June The Maybot and Monsieur Zen. A drama that didn’t obey the script - This strangest of election campaigns has raised many questions about Britain’s future and provided few answers - 4th June The Supreme Leader doesn’t seem quite so invincible now - The Conservatives’ relentless focus on Mrs May has advertised her deficiencies to a wider audience - 28th May Something old, something new, something stolen, but still blue - Shameless opportunism, brazen larceny and other reasons Theresa May’s Conservatives will win - 21st May The really scary thing about Corbyn? He’s not radical at all - If Labour had any respect for its own history, it would have a better idea about how elections are won - 14th May May’s no genius, Labour has only itself to blame for this catastrophe - She only gets to look unbeatable because of the paucity of the competition from an utterly inept Labour leadership - 8th May How the opposition parties can still make a contest of this election - They should make the issue not who should be prime minister, but whether the Tories can be trusted with a landslide - 23rd April Even your best poker face won’t be enough for success, Mrs May - There may be a way to an agreement with the EU, but it won’t be achieved by trying to bluff - 2nd April Parliament can’t be defeated by terror, but it will be changed - Those who work in the Palace of Westminster are members of a family who will resist hiding behind locked doors - 26th March Nicola Sturgeon and Theresa May hurtle through the looking glass - Pro-Brexit unionists and Scottish nationalists match each other with the illogicality of their arguments - 19th March Bad blood begins to flow between the neighbours of Downing Street - The desperate blame game over the budget is a bad sign when the perilous business of Brexit is about to begin - 12th March Trapped with a leader who won’t take responsibility for his failures - After the cataclysmic defeat, Jeremy Corbyn’s diminishing band of apologists can’t even get their alibis straight - 26th February Why some Tories fear blood on the streets in a couple of years - Further spending cuts, higher taxes and a renewed squeeze on living standards all add up to trouble ahead - 19th February Parliament has diminished itself at this turning point in our history - Cowed and fearful MPs have sanctioned a Brexit strategy which most of them think will end in calamity - 12th February Mrs May discovers you can’t be a bridge builder and a bridge burner - By tearing up relations in Europe and with Trump in the White House, Britain looks very lonely in the world - 5th February Why Tristram Hunt concluded he had a brighter future in a museum - His resignation isn’t an isolated case, but an example of the existential angst afflicting many Labour MPs - 15th January Could Mrs May the control freak become the Queen of Misrule? - The prime minister would do herself a favour by being less opaque and more candid about the challenges facing her - 8th January

Articles: 2016 Don’t think the sound of silence means the end of Labour’s war - Rather than moaning to the media, Jeremy Corbyn’s opponents are focused on winning control of constituencies - 11th December Small earthquake in south-west London. Full tremors yet to be felt - The Lib Dem victory in Richmond Park contains implications that should worry both the Tories and Labour - 4th December Blair and Major don’t deserve this venom for joining Brexit debate - The two former prime ministers are right to join the fray and they can help to rebalance the argument - 27th November The shock lessons for liberals from Brexit and the Trumpquake - The new demagogues on either side of the Atlantic are ripping up the traditional rules of electoral politics - 20th November Terrifying Trump will turn into Tamed Trump? It’s an illusion - His election presents great dangers for both the global economy and the international security system - 13th November Endorsed by Ukip, backed by the Tories, independent Zac is a fake - If he wins the byelection, voters will not have to wait long before they are once again represented by a Tory MP - 30th October The crew are cutting each other’s throats on Mrs May’s leaking ship - Some senior Tories are behaving as if there is no penalty for advertising their divisions. They are wrong - 23rd October The ‘just about managing’ won’t forgive May if she botches Brexit - The prime minister has made much of how she will help the many and not the few. Now she needs to start delivering - 2nd October If you can’t beat Jeremy Corbyn, you’d better try to learn from him - Labour MPs must now have a deep think about why the leadership challenge was such a spectacular failure - 25th September Reports of the death of liberal centrism are greatly exaggerated - The British political centre may not be in good health but with fresh blood and a new vision it will recover - 18th September Theresa May’s honeymoon is masking her many vulnerabilities - She’s done a deft job of defining herself as ‘not-Cameron’, but that won’t be enough for very much longer - 4th September Labour is fighting for its life… and Jeremy Corbyn has never looked happier - The mutiny against his leadership is not the result of a meticulously planned plot, but an act of utter desperation - 24th July Ten things that Chilcot’s verdict reveals about Tony Blair and the Iraq war - Should Britain have taken part in the American-led invasion of Iraq? Was the war illegal? - 9th July The Tory party has probably now passed peak chaos. Not so Labour - The Conservatives are ready to mop up the blood and restore order. The opposition is still trapped in its agonies - 4th July Will politicians use this time to swap poison for serious debate? - Jo Cox exemplified the best of British democracy. Emulate her in what remains of the referendum campaign - 19th June Labour needs to seize the day and make a powerful case for Remain - Opposition voices against Brexit have been drowned out by the Tory-on-Tory slugfest. It’s time to speak up - 12th June This isn’t a Tory game of thrones, the stakes are high for everyone - In the final weeks of the European Union referendum campaign, all of the United Kingdom needs to be heard - 5th June Our European allies dread Brexit, and they have good reason to fear it - The ambition of some anti-Europeans goes further than pushing Britain out. They hope to destroy the EU - 29th May To claim victory now would be a fatal error for the EU In camp - Bookies and pollsters are suggesting that Remain will prevail, but campaigners should take nothing for granted - 22nd May They wanted to gag Nigel Farage. Now Tory Outers sound like him - The Leave campaign is doubling down on immigration because it has been so badly beaten up on the economy - 15th May Dr Corbyn’s elixir for electoral success will kill only the patient - Labour’s awful showing last Thursday was the worst performance by a new opposition leader in half a century - 8th May How the parties let the poison of racism seep back into our politics - Labour has a serious problem, but the last place to go for sincere advice is the Conservative party - 2nd May Brexit: Lessons from the east about what folly it would be to choose isolation - Brexit wouldn’t just cut us off from Europe – it would close the door on opportunities in rising economies across the world - 25th April Britain's membership of the EU could fall down the generation gap - The young say they are much more enthusiastic about staying in, but will they turn up on the day of decision? - 3rd April Two tribes go to war and neither the red nor the blue chief is safe - It is conceivable that before year’s end there will be attempts within both major parties to oust their leaders - 27th March A complete collapse of trust lies at the heart of Iain Duncan Smith’s resignation - It felt like a bolt from the blue but the work and pensions secretary’s departure was the culmination of years of personal and policy feuding - 20th March My new rule for the EU referendum. If you’re whingeing – you’re losing - The Out campaign is spending most of its time whimpering about the other side. Could it be that they’re rattled? - 6th March Why swapping partisan nastiness for olive branches would be smart - David Cameron needs support across the opposition for his In campaign. The problem is, he’s royally riled them all - 28th February This can’t be left to the Tory party – it’s everyone’s country at stake - Brexit is not only about the struggle for the soul of the right, the historical consequences will be epic - 21st February Britain’s future in Europe lies in the hands of the Labour party - The outcome of the referendum will pivot on whether the party can mobilise its supporters to vote to remain - 15th February Politicians need to get off their knees with the likes of Google - They have the power, if only they had the will to use it, to deal with outrageous tax-avoiding multinationals - 31st January Now if only I had followed my own advice about opinion polls… - An inquest into how they got the election so wrong is out this week. But the clues to the true result were all there - 17th January Blue on blue, red on red. Welcome to the year of great schisms… - The Tories will go to war over Europe and Labour over the nuclear deterrent. And neither leader can do much about it - 10th January

Articles: 2015 And a big hand for Westminster’s ‘heroes’ in 2015 - The men and women who made their mark on the British political scene in 2015. Most of them for the wrong reasons - 27th December The Tories are unstitching the tapestry of our democracy - There is a trend of moves set to advantage the government at the expense of accountability and opposition - 20th December Prime minister Jekyll needs to keep a tighter leash on his inner Hyde - If David Cameron is to succeed in his European renegotiations, he will have to work on his anger management] - 13th December The fear and loathing in Labour and the question of accountability - The civilised way in which Hilary Benn and his father disagreed is a far cry from the furies unleashed over Syria - 6th December There is no obvious escape route for Labour from the party’s agonies - It is trapped with a leader without the confidence of his MPs who can’t be removed while he’s popular with its members - 29th November David Cameron will very likely get a yes to taking the fight to Isis - If the prime minister asks the Commons to sanction air strikes, many Labour MPs will back him over their own leader - 23rd November David Cameron is turning up the temperature on the in/out debate - As the prime minister finally puts his negotiating position in writing, what does he want and will he get it? - 1st November Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne forgot the First Law of Holes - Empty threats to the House of Lords reveal how sweaty they are getting about the revolt over tax credits - 25th October The Scottish Nationalists take the sly road to independence - When will Nicola Sturgeon’s party demand a second referendum? When they think they can win it, of course - 18th October The campaign to stay in the EU will be wrapped in the union jack - As the Ins and the Outs launch their arguments on the public, both have weaknesses to overcome - 11th October He’s beginning to enjoy it… see the glint in Jeremy Corbyn’s eye - Labour moderates are deluding themselves if they think he will realise he can’t hack it and go voluntarily - 4th October Jeremy Corbyn should beware his enemies – and even more his friends - After his stunning victory, the new leader is challenged by both the antagonism of many Labour MPs and a huge burden of expectation among his followers - 13th September Labour’s moderates start their long dark night of the soul - Their failures of imagination, inspiration and organisation paved the way for Jeremy Corbyn’s rise - 6th September Is the fabric of the union about to be weakened by another tug? - The SNP is paving the way for another referendum on independence, but faces a dilemma about its timing - 9th August Labour is really two parties. And they simply can’t stand each other - So are the Conservatives. It is only the electoral system that stops them both from splitting - 2nd August Labour downs a deadly cocktail of fatalism, fury and fantasy - Many party members seem to be retreating into the politics of the protest march instead of aiming for power - 26th July George Osborne is the master of all he surveys… except the economy - The chancellor delivered a budgetary masterclass in how to dish your opponents and discomfit your rivals - 12th July We’d dig ourselves a deep hole if we took politics out of planning - We may be slow as a country when it comes to major infrastructure projects. That’s the price of living in a democracy - 5th July Will the budget divide ‘hawkish’ George and ‘One Nation’ David? - The partnership has been remarkably resilient compared with many of their predecessors. Now it faces a new test - June 27th Why David Cameron is an anxious spectator of the Greek drama - The wrong outcome to this crisis will weaken Angela Merkel and jeopardise the prime minister’s European strategy - 21st June The wrong ways and the right ones to pick Labour’s next leader - Judge them on their values, character, ideas and potential to grow into a credible candidate to be prime minister - 14th June As Labour tries to resolve its past, the Tories are mapping the future - The Conservatives are already thinking about how they can win another – and bigger – majority in 2020 - 7th June The real reason David Cameron is sitting on a Commons majority - A new study shows that the most disproportionate result in UK history cheated millions of voters out of representation - 31st May For David Cameron, the best answer to the Europe question is a quick one - With pre-referendum visits to foreign capitals already in the diary, the prime minister looks like a man in a hurry - 23rd May Labour’s triple whammy defeat has left the party in a triple vice - Judge the contenders to replace Ed Miliband on whether they see the epic scale of the challenge facing Labour - 17th May Cameron should enjoy his ‘sweet victory’ – before it turns sour - His majority is fragile, the country is fractured and the EU referendum threatens to tear his party apart - 10th May Party manifestos: furtive silences that speak more eloquently than flowery words - These manifestos are best seen as opening positions for bargaining in the likely event of a hung parliament - 12th April General election 2015: why the main party leaders are failing the all-important smell test - Many voters judge viscerally rather than cerebrally and that is bad news for both David Cameron and Ed Miliband - 5th April 2015 election: Voters’ shifting moods have formed a five-act drama. Will there be a sixth before the curtain falls? - After five years, can any party break the stalemate or is another hung parliament the only likely result? - 29th March So how did George Osborne the failure become the people’s favourite? - Despite missing all his goals, the chancellor’s approval ratings outshine David Cameron and all the party leaders - 22nd March If one thing will cost the Tories this election, it is their arrogance - They know it is toxic to be seen as cronies of the super-rich but they threw their obscene fundraising ball anyway - 15th February This is not the time for Labour to indulge in a scrap in its own navel - Have Tony Blair and his allies forgotten all the lessons about loyalty and discipline that they once taught? - 1st February The fewer young people that vote, the worse for the future of Britain - Parties privilege the old because they are more likely to turn out. But who wants a country for old men? - 18th January

Articles: 2014 The parties prepare for a hung, drawn and quartered parliament - A stalemate election result next May could turn minor actors at Westminster into very major players - 14th December Autumn statement: Osborne only has scrawny rabbits to pull out of his hat - The chancellor’s failure to meet his deficit targets leaves him with no money to hand out pre-election bribes - 30th November Ukip should be taken seriously. But it may not like the experience - It's time for fewer TV images of Nigel down the pub and a lot more questions about what he would do with power - 22nd November Voters' real views on immigration would surprise all party leaders - Public attitudes are not as viscerally hostile as many assume, but there are lessons for liberals in how to talk about it - 16th November Labour angst about their leader risks echoing the Tories’ jeers - The sure route to Labour being defeated at the election is for the party to behave as if it has already lost - 9th November Why Ed Miliband now looks for salvation from an old Scottish foe - The Labour leader desperately needs Jim Murphy to revive the demoralised party north of the border - 2nd November Why both the Tories and Labour are vainly yearning for fantasy leaders - Labour politicians sigh for Alan Johnson. Tories dream of life under Boris. It's easier than facing the truth - 19th October Labour and Tories won't stop Ukip by blaming each other - After the byelection double whammy, no one displays a coherent strategy for arresting the march of the Faragistes - 12th October Labour is playing like a football team hoping for a dodgy 1-0 win - A flat and uninspiring conference in Manchester had none of the tingle of a party striding confidently towards power - 28th September So the union is secure for a generation after the referendum? I wouldn't be so sure, Mr Cameron - Far from being 'settled', the future of our islands now hangs in the balance, with the British constitution thrown up in the air, and a visceral struggle under way to pick up the pieces - 21st September Whatever the result of the Scottish referendum, Alex Salmond will be the winner - Even if independence is rejected, the nationalists will be stronger than ever and inevitably far more powers will be devolved to Scotland - 14th September The battle for what it means to be on the right of British politics - Douglas Carswell's defection to Ukip is another manifestation of the bitter struggle for the soul of Conservatism - 31st August Ed Miliband's lack of popularity is nothing to do with his photo-ops - The Labour leader's major problem is that voters don't think he's tough enough. Not that he looks like Wallace - 27th July A reshuffle that opened a window into the soul of David Cameron - The cabinet changes did not tell us that much about the trajectory of the Tory party, but they did reveal the prime minister's personality - 20th July The allegations of the VIP paedophile plot further shred respect for key institutions - We cannot make meaningful political choices if we trust no one - 13th July David Cameron and Ed Miliband are both having money troubles - The Labour leader tries to convince bosses he doesn't hate wealth. The Tory leader faces voters who thinks he cares only for the rich - 6th July Cameron was right about Juncker. Which makes his defeat more dire - If he couldn't swing this one, what are the chances now for the humiliated prime minister's European ambitions? - 29th June Ten crucial months remain for Ed Miliband to pass the blink test - The Labour leader doesn't lack policies. Now he must convince voters to actually visualise him at the door of Number 10 - 22nd June Labour needs to be candid about the painful cuts it will have to make - Behind the scenes, Labour's Treasury team has begun to identify how it would squeeze spending to balance the books if the party were to win power - 15th June Why David Cameron is right in his bid to junk Mr Juncker - The smug Eurocrat is the wrong choice for president, but the PM could have been more cunning in his opposition - 8th June This may surprise you, but Nick Clegg is a very lucky politician - The Lib Dem chief survives because his party has no alternative. No leader in waiting and no new way forward - 1st June Labour's got big problems and diminishing time to fix them - A poor campaign and unimpressive results are bringing a lot of anxiety about the party's prospects to the surface - 25th May Euro and local elections: the Stay At Home party will win a landslide victory - The Tories' and Labour's resigned reaction to deep public disaffection is to settle for just enough votes to scrape in - 18th May Can Nick Clegg survive another meltdown for the Lib Dems? - Whatever tactic or strategy he's tried so far, nothing seems to be lifting Clegg's party from its plight - 11th May The UK's housing policy is surely madder than Venezuela's - Ed Miliband's promise to protect tenants addresses just some of the symptoms of this profound crisis - 4th May There is only one reason why Boris Johnson is eyeing a seat in the House - If Boris Johnson stands as an MP, it's not to help the Tories to win, but because he calculates that it's quite likely they won't - 27th April The stellar rise of Sajid Javid and what it says about Britain today - The life story of the new culture secretary confounds expectations and prejudices on both left and right - 13th April Pro-Europeans who shrug off Nigel Farage do so at their peril - Making excuses for the Ukip leader's victory over Nick Clegg won't do. They should work on their arguments - 6th April The five fault lines that divide Ed Miliband's Labour party - The party used to split along a distinct left-right divide. These days it's much more complicated. Here's a guide to Labour's warring tribes - 30th March Labour's pledges on the economy that no one really knows about - The budget response highlights the fact that the two Eds' many promises to demonstrate their fiscal responsibility aren't being communicated to voters - 23rd March Tony Benn: charismatic leader of the left damned by warm Tory praises - An eloquent romantic, but a failure as a practical politician, Tony Benn lost all the major causes he fought for - 16th March The staged battles of the coalition disguise their genuine conflicts - 'Play fights' between the Tories and the Lib Dems mask a bitter behind-the-scenes punch-up over the budget - 9th March Not even Angela Merkel can bridge the vast Europe divide for David Cameron - A deal can be done on EU reform, but it is not one that will ever satisfy the Tory Europhobes - 2nd March The Clegg-Farage Euro debate – the real reasons why Nick threw down the gauntlet to Nigel - The Lib Dem leader is gambling that the upcoming clash of heads with Ukip will lift his party's poll performance - 23rd February David Cameron is betting that the Scots want to be told they're loved - Some pro-union campaigners believe fearmongering in Scotland is enough. The prime minister doesn't agree - 9th February Ed Miliband boldly goes where even Tony Blair feared to tread - If the Labour leader's proposals get through he'll have done more to democratise his party than any predecessor - 2nd February All three main parties are jittery. Which one can hold its nerve? - With the Euro-elections coming up, and dissent and angst in all their ranks, the leader who can stop his MPs from losing their heads may prevail - 26th January Why Ed Miliband would like to see himself as the heir to Teddy Roosevelt - The Labour leader's role model is the early 20th-century American president. But he has a lot to learn from his hero - 19th January Labour is blowing kisses at the Lib Dems. But don't buy a hat yet - Nick Clegg and the two Eds are being a bit nicer about each other, but it doesn't suit either party to embrace too warmly - 12th January Lord Ashcroft's big bucket of cold water to douse Tory optimism - The Conservative peer's latest poll illustrates the profound strategic conundrum facing the prime minister - 5th January

Articles: 2013 Leaders reach the end of the year sighing with relief - after a turbulent 12 months, Cameron, Miliband and Clegg will each be grateful they are still in the ring - 22nd December The Tories and the Lib Dems plot their coalition endgames - With the next general election only 18 months away, their relationship is becoming more belligerent - 15th December Nelson Mandela: a shining lesson that politics can be a tremendous force for good - The world's current leaders would best honour Nelson Mandela's life by learning from his noble example - 8th December Well, Boris, it would seem you just failed the intelligence test - The London mayor's vision of society has disturbing similarities with Aldous Huxley's chilling Brave New World - 1st December How can banking still be a source of scandal so long after the crash? - There are alarming signs that people are behaving as if there were nothing really to learn from the bubble years - 24th November What does Mr Cameron believe in? His own ministers aren't sure - The Tory leader's lack of deep convictions has been good for coalition relations, but bad for dealing with his party - 17th November Ed Miliband's momentum confronts Cameron with a sharp dilemma - Labour is frustrated by Conservative stalling over agreeing to election TV debates between the leaders - 10th November Our spy chiefs won't be losing any sleep over their summons by MPs - Despite the hype, public quizzing is no substitute for proper democratic scrutiny of our intelligence services - 3rd November Labour has landed a palpable hit – but it's not a knockout punch - Ed Miliband has scored with his energy bill pledge, but regaining trust on economic competence remains critical - 27th October Like Gordon Ramsay, I spied on my daughter. I'll tell you why - Gordon Ramsay's mistake was not telling his daughter. But it shows he cares - 20th October Mr Cameron's government is like a poor Thatcherite tribute band - The 80s feel to the Royal Mail sell-off and the Help to Buy scheme betrays a distinct lack of new Tory ideas - 13th October Weirdly it is the Tories who are sounding most like Marxists - Instead of engaging with popular Labour policies, Tories prefer to believe the public doesn't know its own mind - 6th October Can the Tories woo the have-nots and not just the have-yachts? - A growing number of Tory MPs believe they need better answers to Labour's challenge on living standards - 29th September Three daunting hurdles that the Labour party needs to overcome - Ed Miliband goes into conference facing huge challenges. Some signature policies might help convince voters - 22nd September The question that the Lib Dems are desperate not to answer - The party is split in so many ways over whether it would prefer to govern with Labour or the Tories - 15th September Ed Miliband can't retreat from his battle with the union bosses - Victory for the Labour leader would be good for him, bad for the Tories and best for the way we do politics - 8th September This defeat over Syria has left the prime minister humbled, not Britain - The character of the country shouldn't take the blame for spectacular miscalculations in Downing Street - 1st September In an age of coalition, leaders will have to change their tune - Andrew Rawnsley: The strong possibility of another hung parliament challenges the parties to think again about how they do politics - 25th August Both Tories and Labour need to bridge the north-south divide - The party leaders must find a way to heal this geographical schism if they ever want to claim a national mandate - 28th July The Tories are smiling again, but their problems remain - Conservative confidence is currently running high, but senior insiders are taking a more sober long-term view - 21st July The numbers that add up to trouble for all political parties - Labour, the Tories and the Lib Dems must reinvent themselves as mass-membership organisations - 14th July The Unite row is a grave crisis that Ed Miliband could turn into a great opportunity - The Labour leader has a chance of emerging stronger from his battle with the union, but only if he acts boldly - 7th July Labour's big problem isn't being different: it's how to look credible - Voters won't doubt that the Eds would change things. They do need persuading that their sums would add up - 30th June Does the Tory party actually want to win the next election? - An 'alternative Queen's speech' by rightwingers illustrates David Cameron's enduring problems with his MPs - 23rd June The G8 could act radically to stop tax avoidance. Don't bet on it - Mr Cameron, as president of the summit, talks a good game. But his ambitions appear disappointingly small - 16th June The two Eds take the first painful steps on a long and hard road - They now have to convince voters to believe them when they say a Labour government will be disciplined - 9th June Too many MPs are wrapped in the tentacles of the lobbyists - The Patrick Mercer affair is just one small symptom of a much bigger and insidious subversion of democracy - 2nd June Cameron isn't even among friends in his own cabinet now - Already wounded by battles with backbenchers, the prime minister is faced with a revolt by ministers over cuts - 26th May Tories just about held it together in the past. This time it's different - The Conservative factions are warring so zealously over Europe that a formal split in the party is not unthinkable - 19th May Both the Tory and Labour leaders need lessons in political geometry - As David Cameron and Ed Miliband move away from the centre, they leave a space for Nick Clegg - 12th May David Cameron won't prosper by trying to outkip the Kippers - Both the Tories and Labour have several reasons to be troubled by the Ukip surge – and one to be grateful for it - 5th May A crime mystery. It's going down, but no one really knows why - Nearly all the so-called experts predicted that austerity would lead to more crime. The opposite is happening - 28th April Local elections: it's not just the Tories who should beware Ukip - Nigel Farage is the wild card of the county council contests. He appeals to the enraged across the spectrum - 21st April David Cameron's ambivalent relationship with the lady in blue - The prime minister thinks he can be as radical as Margaret Thatcher without being as divisive. That won't be easy - 9th April A French lesson for Ed Miliband: don't enter office without a proper plan - The plunging popularity of François Hollande and his socialists is a severe and timely warning to the Labour leader - 31st March George Osborne's Plan C: invest all your hopes in a Canadian - The chancellor is gambling that the Bank's new governor Mark Carney will succeed where he has failed - 24th March The Conservatives are plotting and talking themselves to death - There are more than two years to go before the next election, but many Tories are acting as if they've already lost - 17th March There's a fresh way on immigration – and it has the public's support - A new survey points the way to a balanced and rational approach to immigration that could win widespread consent - 10th March The Tories should now know you don't beat Ukip by copying them - Conservative MPs urging David Cameron to lurch right are drawing the wrong conclusion from Eastleigh - 3rd March Revealed: George Osborne's master plan for reviving the UK economy - Tory MPs are agitating for a dramatic budget to transform their party's fortunes. They will be disappointed - 24th February Ed Miliband's 10p tax pledge is smart politics but poor policy - Stealing the mansion tax from the Lib Dems is an effective ploy. But he's spending the money the wrong way - 17th February It is too early for Labour to write off its chances in Eastleigh - Ed Miliband's party shouldn't just jeer from the byelection ringside as the Tories and the Lib Dems slug it out - 10th February The Tory malcontents possess a destructive intensity all their own - As daggers flash behind him, David Cameron is paying the price for not having sufficiently reformed his party - 3rd February David Cameron's great leap into the dark on Europe may prove fatal for him - The Tory party's cheering now, but the prime minister's speech on Europe will prove disastrous for him and them - 27th January Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg's relationship is starting to thaw - There has been a notable political climate change behind the scenes, with the Lib Dem and Labour leaders spending more time together - 20th January The EU: David Cameron should take tips from John Major about Europe - Patient alliance-building and rational argument will serve Britain best – not threatening to flounce out - 13th January The Make Labour Look Like the Party for Skiving Fat Slobs bill - The chancellor's cunning plan to embarrass the opposition could end up being very costly for the Conservatives - 6th January

Articles: 2012 What does 2013 hold for the main party leaders? - Nick Clegg and David Cameron face more of the same. Ed Miliband's future is more complicated. He has choices - 30th December Now, pay attention, 007. There is a conspiracy against Britain - At a treacherous Christmas time, M dispatches James Bond on the secret agent's most dangerous assignment - 23rd December Could David Cameron be a bit frit about facing Ed Miliband in TV debates? - David Cameron's cold feet about televised leaders' debates suggest a new respect for his Labour opposite number - 16th December The fracking dream which is putting Britain's future at risk - George Osborne and fellow zealots believe shale gas to be a bonanza of cheap energy. Where's the evidence? - 9th December Leveson report: the ball bounces back to the press - As the Leveson proposals split the party leaders, newspapers have a final opportunity to prove a law is not needed - 2nd December Those who want Britain out of Europe are raising a glass to themselves far too soon - Outists who would have us leave the European Union are buoyant now, but battle has yet to be properly joined - 25th November Elections: if you can't be bothered to vote, the person most to blame is you - Politicians and the media share some of the responsibility for low turnouts, but the public is guilty too - 18th November The big lesson from the US election is not a new one, but a very old one - The Conservatives and Labour should both note that President Obama won re-election by capturing the centre - 11th November This latest Tory rebellion was not just cynical, it was completely bogus - The result of the unholy alliance between Tory Europhobes and Labour will be to increase the cost of the EU - 4th November A tip for Labour about planning for power. Listen to the Tories - Senior Conservatives are already rehearsing the election lines they will use against Eds Miliband and Balls - 27th October The Tories forced their own chief whip out. David Cameron beware - Andrew Mitchell's resignation tellingly shows how unbiddable the Conservative parliamentary party has become - 21st October The party leaders impressed their own gangs – the voters less so - Despite the rhetoric, they struggle to get closer to a project that will get the majority of the nation behind them - 14th October Boris Johnson reminds Tories of what David Cameron has lost - Number 10 says it is relaxed about the mayor's speech at conference. It is as relaxed as a cat on a hot tin roof - 7th October Ed Miliband's big test is to make voters see him as prime minister - He can't do anything about the way he looks, but he can do something about the way he talks to the country - 30th September The Lib Dems aren't going to rescue themselves by being timid - They need to be seen as kinder than the Tories, safer with the economy than Labour and more radical than either - 23rd September The police must no longer be immune from radical reform - Hillsborough emphasises that the government must be bold in dealing with the last unreformed public service - 16th September The prime minister's masterclass in how not to conduct a reshuffle - David Cameron failed most of the 10 tests on whether recasting a government has any serious point - 9th September Lib Dems won't knife Nick Clegg – well, not quite yet anyway - The misjudgments they have made in office have not been the leader's alone – as Vince Cable surely knows - 2nd September Michael Gove has made a cruel mess of exam grades. Discuss - The education secretary is right to want to stop grade inflation, but he is tackling it in an unjust way - 26th August The promises and the perils of Ed Miliband's French connection - President Hollande is an inspiration to the Labour leader. But he may also turn out to be a cautionary tale - 29th July This five-ring circus is only for those in love with white elephants - I wish the best for our competitors, but it is a delusion that the Olympics will make us fitter, wealthier or happier - 22nd July Only Cameron can rescue the coalition. But does he want to? - Unless the prime minister deals with the wreckers in his party, the Lib Dems will scupper boundary changes - 15th July How do the Tories seriously imagine they can get a majority by 2015? - Cameron's prospects of increasing his share of the vote look worse, not better, than when he first took power - 8th July Banksters will keep on escaping justice until the politicians act -The restoration of integrity in the City will not happen without serious criminal sanctions against venal traders - 1st July The greatest obstacles to Lords reform sit in the Commons - A ferocious battle will be engaged this week. It will be a significant character test of all three party leaders - 24th June Powerless ministers are waiting in terror to see if the asteroid will hit - Fear grips the Treasury and the Bank about the consequences of the total disintegration of the eurozone - 17th June Sir Alex Allan: how an esteemed public servant has been made into a useful idiot - How cynical of David Cameron to order Sir Alex Allan to investigate Baroness Warsi, but not Jeremy Hunt - 10th June Diamond jubilee: congrats, Ma'am, on preserving the monarchy in a populist age - It is the personal nature of the Queen's achievement in which republicans might find a sliver of consolation - 3rd June The prime minister has put his judgment and integrity on trial - The Leveson inquiry, designed to examine the sins of the press, has become an inquisition into the government - 27th May Easy to blame the Germans. Smarter to learn from them - Other leaders are being hypocritical when they shove all the responsibility for the euro crisis on to Angela Merkel - 20th May How can Labour harness the voter rage against the machine? - Ed Miliband is better at describing why so many people hate conventional politics than he is at providing an answer - 13th May David Cameron needs to keep his headless chickens in the coop - The coalition will be strained to breaking point if the prime minister fails to face down the angry Tory right - 6th May Posh boys stood on the burning deck when all but they had fled - The government is being most undone by a combination of arrogance and inexperience at the highest levels - 29th April The midterm elections are now crucial thanks to omnishambles - The outcome of these contests will make a huge difference to the morale and momentum of the rival parties - 22nd April Cracks are beginning to open along the Downing Street fault line - They vowed that it would never happen, but the prime minister and the chancellor are increasingly at odds - 8th April It's two fingers to Westminster, but don't expect a revolution - The shock Bradford West result is a symptom of a deeper and wider disaffection with the main parties - 1st April It's not enough for Labour to call the Tories the party of the rich - The backlash against George Osborne's budget presents the opposition with both an opportunity and a trap - 25th March George Osborne is about to make a tremendous political gamble - If cutting the top rate of tax is not to be seen as a budget for the rich, the affluent will have to pay in other ways - 18th March The coalition's biggest danger lies outside, not inside, the two parties - Mutual interest still sustains the increasingly fraught Lib Dem-Tory alliance. But Iran could tear them apart - 11th March What sort of prime minister does David Cameron really want to be? - Tory romantics urge their leader to radical action while the pragmatists advise caution. He himself seems torn - 4th March The Tories have lost the public on health but not on welfare reform - The voters could turn against Labour on benefits just as they have rounded on the Tories over the health service - 26th February The Osborne budget will do just enough to save Nick Clegg's face - The Lib Dem leader's call for help for low earners will probably be heeded, but Tories won't concede a wealth tax - 19th February Cameron's dangerous game - There are far more than three senior Tory ministers who are in despair about their NHS nightmare - 12th February Why more of the Lib Dems now want to be like Chris Huhne - He has resigned from the cabinet just as his party adopts his more belligerent approach towards coalition politics - 5th February Who most wants independence for Scotland? The English… - If the Union referendum were held south of the border, Alex Salmond would be more likely to get his way - 29th January How many party leaders does it take to change capitalism? - Ed Miliband, David Cameron and Nick Clegg all promise reform. But voters need a lot more than noisy posturing - 8th January Let this be the year democracy shines its beacon as it should - Politicians may often prove feeble, but the forthcoming elections across the world are still something to celebrate - 1st January

Articles: 2011 Cameron: over-confident, cavalier and careless… and still on top - The prime minister hasn't had a brilliant 12 months, but there's no one that can rival him inside or outside his party - 18th December Now it's three-speed Europe. And we're left on the hard shoulder - This abject defeat for British diplomacy is the more striking because Mr Cameron's demands were quite modest - 11th December All the party leaders will have to rewrite the stories that they tell us - Each party has to rethink how to contest a 2015 election likely to be fought in a continuing atmosphere of austerity - 4th December No one should want to go back to the 80s – not even the Tories - That decade inflicted deep scars on Britain that have never healed and did lasting damage to the Conservatives - 27th November Neither her sex nor status should save Theresa May if she's misled us - Westminster thinks that the home secretary will stay, but we've only heard her side of the story - 13th November The only power world leaders have is to frustrate each other - The failure of the G20 summit has dramatically advertised the incapacity of the political elite to rise to the crisis - 6th November The protesters seem more adult than politicians and plutocrats - With a few nylon tents and some amateurish banners, the Occupy movement has rattled the establishment - 30th October The Tory Eurosceptics are on a roll. So why are they still so cross? - At a time when they ought to be united in a feeling of triumphant vindication, they are falling bitterly apart - 23rd October Dr Fox is not so rare a beast as Mr Cameron would have us think - The former defence secretary is not the only Tory with odd friends and a cavalier disregard for the rules - 16th October Why the conference season felt like three weeks in Lilliput - At all of the party gatherings none of the politicians could find the words to match the scale of the challenges - 9th October For want of a plan for tomorrow the Tories go back to yesterday - With hopes for the economy dashed, the Conservatives are riskily reliant on their leader's personal popularity - 2nd October You can call Ed Miliband many things, but certainly not cautious - The Labour leader believes he can defy both conventional wisdom and his party's historical experience - 25th September The Lib Dems need to be more than just the people who say no - Nick Clegg's party must be seen to be doing positive things in coalition, as well as putting a brake on the Tories - 18th September Stroppy Tories seem to have forgotten they didn't actually win - Nick Clegg is delighted when Conservatives complain that he's stopping them from being more rightwing - 11th September Labour must learn from their history or be doomed to repeat it - Ed Miliband wants us to dismiss Alistair Darling's memoirs as irrelevant to today's debates. He's wrong - 4th September The right and the wrong lessons to draw from Libya's liberation - Striking from the air while keeping western boots off the ground appeals to many. But it won't work everywhere - 28th August In praise of unconventional men whose mad ideas make us think - Steve Hilton and Maurice Glasman may get a lot wrong, but politics needs intellectual provocateurs like them - 31st July Ten days in which we saw Ed Miliband throw off his L-plates - Having bested David Cameron, the Labour leader has won the opportunity to be heard with enhanced respect - 17th July Rupert's next party will show us how much has really changed - This could be the point where political life is liberated from the thrall of media barons. But old habits die hard - 10th July Online is fine, but history is best hands on - The British Library-Google tie-up will make thousands of texts available. But nothing beats the thrill of an original document - 3rd July No wonder the coalition hasn't got many friends in the north - Viewed from Leeds or Newcastle, Westminster seems more remote than ever – and increasingly hostile - 26th June Ministers and unions sliding into a war that neither really wants - A protracted struggle between the government and public sector unions would be highly risky for both of them - 19th June The more he reverses, the more Mr Cameron wants to look strong - Voters will accept the occasional U-turn, but they will not respect a government that loses its way too often - 12th June Thatcher's dream becomes a nightmare for a jilted generation - The goal of a property-owning democracy will wither and die if Britain doesn't start building many more homes - 5th June His calamity cabinet must be the despair of David Cameron - An astonishing number of ministers are either deliberately stirring up trouble or stumbling into the mire - 22nd May To have a hope of power, Labour must turn from dull into dynamic - Ed Miliband's party needs to forget complacent assumptions and remember that the task is both big and urgent - 15th May It's not divorce, but the coalition is now poisoned by bitter mistrust - Lib Dems are saying astonishingly vituperative things behind the scenes about being betrayed by the Tories - 8th May Which party leader will be happy on Thursday? It may surprise you - Both coalition partners have reason to fear the fall-out from the result. But it's not all good news for Ed Miliband - 1st May The double nightmare scenario for David Cameron on 5 May - Many Conservatives will be demented with rage if they are defeated in the referendum on electoral reform - 17th April Reshuffle in haste, Mr Cameron, and you will repent at leisure - Moving around a few ministers would be a distraction from the government's problems, not a cure for them - 10th April Adopting the alternative vote would be a very British revolution - It would not produce a saintly Commons, but it would make MPs more representative of their constituents - 3rd April Ed Miliband is walking a tricky tightrope over the spending cuts - The Labour leader has to achieve a careful balance between the politics of protest and the politics of credibility - 27th March Libya: This is only the first step along an unpredictable and hazardous road - The durability of the international coalition behind the Libyan intervention will be tested in the crucible of conflict - 20th March Instead of fearing another Iraq, the west must do right by Libya - Time is running out to prevent Colonel Gaddafi from bombing his people into submission - 13th March The Lib Dems need to whistle their way through these dark days - It's not impossible for Nick Clegg's party eventually to win back support, but they mustn't lose their nerve - 6th March Mr Cameron gets a lesson on the need for a proper foreign policy - The convulsions in the Arab world ought to teach David Cameron that there's more to his job than being a travelling salesman - 27th February The cynical enemies of electoral reform think we're stupid - Those against the alternative vote believe they can persuade the British that we are too dim to count up to three - 20th February The spotlight begins to shine on the coalition's flaws and faultlines - There is angst at the heart of government about the number of ministers blundering into avoidable traps - 13th February The west should cheer, not fear, this cry for freedom in Egypt - Our values and our long-term self-interest demand that we back the struggle for democracy in the Middle East - 6th February When they say they have no Plan B, you really should believe them - Beguiled by the example of Margaret Thatcher, David Cameron and George Osborne are determined to press on - 30th January Cameron loses a tainted friend, Miliband promotes a tricky rival - The promotion of Ed Balls will prove to be much more significant for politics than the spiking of Andy Coulson - 23rd January Labour can only win if voters believe they're on the money - The British public is not going to hand them the keys to Number 10 until they restore their economic credibility - 16th January Oldham and Saddleworth: All three leaders are jumpy about the verdict of the Pennines - The Oldham and Saddleworth byelection highlights the challenges facing each of the parties in the year ahead - 9th January

Articles: 2010 Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Westminster Uglies awards - Who got the Pants on Fire or the Shameless Hypocrite prizes? How about Opportunist of the Year? Read on - 26th December Chairman Cameron's regime is not a million miles from Mao - Anywhere you look in Whitehall, there's a secretary of state unleashing upheaval with reforming zeal - 19th December David Cameron really should be sharing Nick Clegg's pain - The coalition will become increasingly unstable if the Lib Dems feel they are turning into the fall guys for the Tories - 12th December Two-tribe politics is over. But the likes of John Prescott can't see it - Nearly all the politicians fronting the campaign against electoral reform are fading blasts from the past - 28th November Ed Miliband needs to change a lot more than his son's nappies - It is far too early to start offering the voters detailed policy, but he can prove himself by reforming his party - 21st November Great reforms in principle, quick and painful cuts in practice - Iain Duncan Smith's proposals will take years to make an impact. George Osborne's benefit-slashing will not - 14th November Why Barack Obama is looking good for a second term in 2012 - The midterm drubbing for the Democrats masks the many encouraging auguries for the president - 7th November The fierce battle behind the scenes for the coalition's soul - A raging argument over counterterror laws is putting their commitment to human rights to a crucial test - 31st October Not the end of the battle over spending, but just the beginning - Now we will see whether the coalition can implement these cuts and endure the unpopularity they will bring - 24th October Wake up and smell the burning rubber, Mr Cable and Mr Clegg - Betraying their pledges on tuition fees exposes the contradiction which has always lurked within the Lib Dems - 17th October David Cameron's ambivalent relationship with the lady in blue - The prime minister thinks he can be as radical as Margaret Thatcher without being as divisive. That won't be easy - 10th October The Tories are still struggling to come to terms with the new order - David Cameron has never really settled the hash with the right in his party. The argument is just waiting to erupt - 3rd October Ed Miliband: You thought fighting your brother was tough. That was the easy bit - The new Labour leader's first imperative is to start recovering the party's reputation for economic competence - 26th September Lib Dems: They love the power, but they're not sure about the responsibility - As some Lib Dems suffer from buyers' remorse, Nick Clegg will have to remind his party why they chose coalition - 19th September Spending cuts: When ministers talk of lynch mobs, you know they're scared - The cabinet is finally beginning to appreciate the scale of the consequences of the Treasury squeeze - 11th September The leadership contenders sneer at Tony Blair at their peril. He knew how to win - If Labour is ever to be electable again, it still needs to remember the lessons of its longest-serving prime minister - 5th September Barack Obama is down, but it's far too early to count him out - Despite an impressive record by the president, discontented American voters are turning against the Democrats - 29th August An impressive start by David Cameron, but a start is all it is - There's a big potential danger for this government in trying to run before it has fully learned how to walk - 1st August It's still all smiles at the top, but there's rumbling down below - The cabinet spent an awayday at Chequers preparing for the challenges facing the coalition in the weeks ahead - 25th July Labour needs to talk about Gordon. Otherwise it will repeat its failures - Its members will not grasp why they lost unless they discuss why Mr Brown was such a catastrophic leader - 18th July Lovers of political paradox, I give you the upcoming referendum - The battle over electoral reform will present all three main parties and their leaders with extraordinary dilemmas - 4th July The worm of anxiety is already eating away at the Lib Dems - Nick Clegg can probably handle being disliked or even hated. What he will find unbearable is being seen as a Tory dupe - 27th June George Osborne is wearing the trousers in this government - The chancellor's forthcoming austerity budget won't win him any friends, but then he's used to that - 20th June Despite their hopes of a great revival, the left got left behind - The 'socialist moment' which was supposed to be triggered by the financial crisis is already evaporating - 13th June Nick Clegg sets the test which will make or break this coalition - He will stand or fall on whether this government can implement spending cuts without the savagery of the Eighties - 6th June Burying everything New Labour did is not the road to recovery - The contenders for the party's leadership need to balance regret about its failures with pride in its successes - 30th May Why Cameron prefers coalition to being alone with his own party - The prime minister is happily centred with the Lib Dems on one wing and the Tory right on the other - 23rd May Queen Victoria would be amused by this Clameron coalition - There is a flavour now of the 19th century when circumstances regularly made expedient allies of bitter rivals - 16th May It's this way a rock and that way a hard place for the Liberal Democrats - With Gordon Brown and David Cameron competing to win his favours, Nick Clegg faces a hideous conundrum - 9th May The British don't need to be hung up about a hung parliament - A coalition with a wider range of support could be much more stable than a weak single party government - 2nd May (Cif at the polls) Brown's 'bigot' episode shows him acting not out of character, but in it - On the Brownout Scale of volcanic eruptions this was only a three or four - 29th April Election 2010: This volcanic eruption has been waiting to blow for many years - The shared mistake of the Tories and Labour was to assume that power was a timeshare between them - 25th April It's not the answers that will win this election, it's the questions - The parties unveil their manifestos this week. Don't expect them to be reliable guides to what they'd do in power - 11th April How an unvalued chancellor became Labour's priceless asset - Even Gordon Brown is now forced to acknowledge that he needs Alistair Darling – the man he tried to sack - 28th March Why all these emails from Barack Obama make me feel cheap - The internet is undermining old-fashioned campaign models and killing traditional forms of propaganda - 21st March It's Nick Clegg's chance to shine, so he'd better not fluff his lines - The Lib Dems have a fabulous opportunity, but will need exceptional discipline during the campaign - 14th March Get downwind of a senior Tory and you'll smell the anxious sweat - It is no longer totally outlandish to wonder if the son of the manse might be the next prime minister - 7th March Lessons from my 15 rounds in the ring with the forces of hell - It's strange to find yourself publicly denounced by Number 10 and privately encouraged by ministers - 28th February Rage, despair, indecision. Inside Gordon Brown's Number 10 - In the most eagerly awaited political book for years, the Observer's chief political commentator, Andrew Rawnsley, provides a gripping inside account of Labour governments since 2001. Here, in an exclusive extract from The End of the Party, he paints a disturbing portrait of a besieged, tortured and volatile Gordon Brown as he struggles to cope with being prime minister - 21st February Voters should know the full truth about the character of Gordon Brown - The prime minister's conduct in office has long been the subject of gossip. The real story needed to be told - 21st February Why master juggler Cameron is suddenly dropping the balls - The unresolved contradictions and tensions within the Conservatives are being exposed even before they have made it to power - 14th February Parliament is finally cleaning up its act? Don't count on it - Optimists in politics hope that public trust can be regained. But it'll take more than a few MPs in the dock and an election - 7th February Blair v Chilcot. No contest: we and the truth are the losers - The country needed answers on Iraq, but this limp inquiry couldn't touch such a consummate performer as the ex PM - 31st January Now Gordon Brown will have to face the music on Iraq - The prime minister as well as his predecessor will have to accept responsibility for the war and its catastrophic aftermath - 24th January Why Ulster should celebrate its sex and money scandal - Hypocritical, sleazy and adulterous – at last Northern Ireland politics looks just like politics everywhere else - 17th January The plot was a flop but a revealing one none the less - Alistair Darling, Harriet Harman and others left Gordon Brown to shiver for a few hours, exposing their anger with him - 10th January

Articles: 2009 See the records tumble at next year's general election - The electorate is so disillusioned with our politicians it's likely we'll see new turn-out lows when we choose the new PM - 27th December Bah! Humbug! A Christmas ghost story in Downing Street - With apologies to Charles Dickens, Gordon Brown is visited by three spirits and the chain-clanking spectre of Tony Blair - 20th December Having invoked the taxman, the axeman waits for Labour - Alistair Darling's pre-budget report has won the government no friends and quite a few new enemies, particularly in the media - 13th December The Tories have put all their chips on David Cameron - He's been a talented leader of the opposition but the Conservative party's one-man-band approach is beginning to look risky - 6th December Gordon Brown's favourite Conservative policy pledge - Promising to slash inheritance tax once looked like a brilliant coup for the Tories. Now it's an albatross around their necks - 29th November Why it's very likely the next parliament will be doubly hung - With today's poll suggesting a shrinking Tory lead, David Cameron could find himself governing with a tiny majority or none at all - 22nd November The country doesn't want to be led by someone it pities - Gordon Brown has attracted near-universal sympathy after the attack by the Sun, but it won't be worth a single vote - 15th November Two cheers for the world after the fall of the Berlin Wall - Millions have become freer and more prosperous since the end of the Cold War but the battle for liberal values goes on - 8th November The more people see of the BNP, the worse for the party - Nick Griffin's performance on Question Time gave him publicity all right. Voters could see how ridiculous the far-right leader is - 25th October Will David Cameron turn out to be a one-term wonder? - We have been in a period when prime ministers reigned for unusually long stretches. Nothing says this pattern will continue - 18th October The parties turn back to politics in primary colours - Slick sloganeering and lazy posturing at conference time mask important truths about the task for the next government - 11th October Power beckons for the Tories, but are they ready for it? - David Cameron has brought his party to the brink of government. Now we need more clarity about what he would do with it - 4th October Gordon Brown has to break out of the spiral of decay - The threat to the prime minister at the Brighton conference is not assassination, but a remorseless slide into irrelevance - 27th September Nick Clegg must blow up David Cameron's love bombs - The Lib Dem last night launched his most aggressive attack ever on the Tory leader. It signals an essential change of strategy - 20th September If Labour doesn't fight the tide, it will be drowned by it - The government has a record to defend and a story to tell, if only it could summon up the energy to take the fight to the Tories - 13th September The things Mr Brown did not say about Afghanistan - The British army could be broken by another humiliation like the retreat Tony Blair precipitated in Basra - 6th September Who do you think you are kidding, Mr Cameron? - The Tories speak with two tongues when they claim that they can make deep cuts to public spending and improve services - 30th August Labour may never, ever win power on its own again - The two-party domination of British politics is coming to an end as more and more disaffected voters reject both of them - 19th July Cameron's spinner is making the wrong sort of headlines - The focus on Andy Coulson has reminded everyone of the centrality of spin to the reinvention of the Conservative party - 12th July Power to the people! Great idea, Mr Brown, but how? - This week, the prime minister will promise to make public services more accountable and responsive to those who use them - 28th June Dishonesty is not the best policy on public spending - The Tories are revealing only a bit of the truth about the cuts that will follow the election. Gordon Brown won't even go that far - 21st June The triumph and tragedy of the Overlord of New Labour - Peter Mandelson has finally satisfied his ambition to be the undisputed, indispensable right-hand man to the prime minister - 14th June Why in the end the cabinet just didn't have the stomach for a kill - Gordon Brown is badly mauled but he survived because his indecisive would-be assassins are ultimately afraid of the alternative - 7th June The Lib Dems alone are truly serious about voting reform - Whatever Gordon Brown or David Cameron say, their new enthusiasm for changing our political system is deeply unconvincing - 31st May A climate of loathing towards all MPs is bad for democracy - We should pillory those who deserve it, but an enfeebled Parliament cringeing before the mob will not serve Britain well - 24th May Reinventing the party - A new politics: Independents appeal at moments of crisis, but a healthy democracy needs vigorous parties to nurture real political talent - 20th May The right answer to public rage is a purge of the guilty - The decent MPs must demand a clear out of the sleazy, both for their own sakes and to save the reputation of Parliament - 17th May These scams are atrocious. Worse is the lack of remorse - The expenses racket shows politicians have lost their ethical bearings. It seems they no longer care what people think of them - 10th May Gordon Brown - why a clever man ends up making a fool of himself - Gordon Brown is blundering into self-inflicted debacles because he lacks emotional intelligence and some basic political radar - 3rd May Gordon and David are both whistling in the graveyard - New Labour is dead. All that is left is the sleaze and spin that voters have always loathed. The New Tory project is buried too - 26th April Well done, Gordon. Now it's time to come back to earth - Mr Brown is glowing after a successful summit where he was in his element. Now he has to focus on being prime minister again - 5th April Gordon Brown - more piggy in the middle than global giant - The prime minister will have to apply every ounce of psychological pressure to win significant agreements at the G20 summit - 29th March The long party is over for the public sector, whoever wins - Credit-crunch voters simply won't tolerate their money being wasted on bloated quangos and underperforming services - 22nd David Cameron needs more than a clique of four to succeed - The Tory leader promises to restore cabinet government. There's no evidence he will do so from the way he runs things now - 15th March Obama at least didn't treat Brown like a lame duck - The prime minister hopes that the success of his Washington trip will convince the G20 that he's not in the departure lounge yet - 8th March These bankers are lucky that they are not going to jail - The government has been too timid about confronting these failed financiers. It's time that it showed some teeth - 1st March Do the Tories know what they would do with power? - David Cameron will reap the whirlwind if the Conservatives are not properly prepared to take over government - 2nd February The cabinet's quarrels are a warning of the storms ahead - Behind closed doors, ministers are locked in fierce arguments over the best way to get the voters behind them once again - 15th February The greatest moral failure of Tony Blair's premiership - Britain's silence when George W Bush sanctioned the use of torture is to the enduring shame of the former prime minister - 8th February Mr Brown, it's time to come down from the mountain - Never mind 'British jobs for British workers', it's time for the prime minister to assuage the growing anger in the country - 1st February The return of Ken Clarke reveals the Tory leader's fears - Mr Cameron, still surprisingly worried about his election prospects, is hoping his party will now look less posh and more tough - 25th January Don't drizzle your pessimism on Obama's grand parade - Let's see what this exceptional man can do with power before we decide that he's going to be a complete disappointment - 18th January Three little words that the prime minister can never say - The true answer to how this crisis will unfold is: 'We don't know.' But Gordon Brown would get no credit for admitting that - 11th January

Articles: 2008 Next year, Gordon Brown will be on another planet - I foresee a busy time ahead for all our political leaders. Especially the prime minister who, of course, will be saving the universe - 28th December Gordon Brown saved himself. Now he has to save his party - The breathtaking reversal in the prime minister's fortunes has astonished his party and disoriented his opponents - 21st December If we're going to spend, then let's invest in Britain's future - Rather than encourage people to squitter money on imports, the government should build us an infrastructure fit for this century - 14th December Labour threatens to spank the banks who like to say no - Gordon Brown may give the public and his party some visceral pleasure by beating up bankers, but it won't solve the credit crisis - 7th December Politicians are always leaking. It's insane to arrest one for it - The detention of Damian Green makes the government look like a paranoid bully, the Speaker feeble and the Met out of control - 30th November Another on-off election fiasco would be fatal for Mr Brown - The Prime Minister will only kill speculation about going to the country in the spring by unequivocally saying he won't - 23rd November Osborne is waiting for Brown to tumble from his tightrope - The knives are flashing behind the Shadow Chancellor, but he is playing a longer game with economic credibility at stake - 16th November Everyone will want a special relationship with Obama - Other leaders may look ridiculous as they jostle to get close to him, but they're right to assume he'll be a two-term President - 9th November Barack Obama's impressive road to the White House - Say what you don't like about the length and expense of the presidential race, it is the most intense audition for the job - 2nd November After so many scandals, these reckless politicians don't get it - Peter Mandelson appears to have learnt nothing about dangerous liaisons with rich men. Neither have the Conservatives - 26th October A golden age, and other things they wish they'd never said - Mr Brown and Mr Cameron couldn't flatter financiers enough. Now they're scrambling to reposition themselves in a world of bust - 19th October Why the crisis puts a spring in the Prime Minister's step - A re-energised Gordon Brown has been given a second chance to persuade the voters to respect him and listen to him - 12th October What really drove Gordon and Peter back together again - Two of New Labour's founding fathers are desperate to rescue their creation and save their reputations from oblivion - 5th October Mr Cameron can't be caught naked in front of the voters - At a time of such severe financial crisis, the country expects and deserves some proper answers about what the Tories would do - 28th September Destiny calls, but will Alan and David seize the moment? - A desperate Labour conference will be yearning to see if there's anyone who offers a credible alternative to Gordon Brown - 21st September Clegg may be inadvertently giving a hand to Cameron - The Lib Dem leader wants to offer a progressive alternative to Labour, but the immediate effect will be to help the Tories - 14th September Labour despairs of Brown, but there is no sign of a Brutus - The party can neither make a collective decision to get rid of the beleaguered Prime Minister, nor to rally round him - 7th September The Chancellor's chill wind should make Mr Brown shiver - Alistair Darling's candid comments on the state of the economy can only add to the precarious position of the Prime Minister -31st August Obama needs Americans to believe that he's one of them - In his crucial speech this week, the Democratic contender will have to overcome suspicions that run deep through the US heartlands - 24th August There is no doubt about it, this is a full-frontal assault - The Foreign Secretary has flaunted his cojones. His challenge dares a weakened Prime Minister to try to chop them off - 3rd August archive

News & updates:

References:

Links: Comment highlights: best of Andrew Rawnsley (The Observer) Wikipedia bio