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
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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:
Controversy/Criticism:
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:
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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:
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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:
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Articles: 2017
- Will one more heave be enough to get Jeremy Corbyn to Number 10? - An argument begins within Labour’s ranks about what the party needs to do to win the next election - 2nd July
- 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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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