Biography:
About: Rachel Sylvester writes a weekly political column and also does an interview every Saturday with Alice Thomson. She started writing about politics in 1996 and was a lobby correspondent on The Daily Telegraph before becoming political editor of The Independent on Sunday. She joined The Times in 2008
Education: Oxford University
Career: The Daily Telegraph: Political Correspondent; The Independent: Political Editor, 1998/1999; The Daily Telegraph: Assistant Editor / Political Commentator / Interviewer (with Alice Thomson), 1999/2008; The Times: Political Columnist, 2008-
Current position/role: Political interviewer and columnist
Other roles/Main role:
Other activities:
Disclosures:
Viewpoints/Insight:
Broadcast media:
Video:
Controversy/Criticism:
Awards/Honours:
Scoops:
Other: Married to Patrick Wintour of The Guardian
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Articles:
- Right-wing Fox still has Cameron on the run - The Defence Secretary’s role as leader of the Tory traditionalists will protect his position – for the moment - 10th October 2011
- Could economic victory mean election defeat? - The Chancellor’s determination to stick to the path of austerity risks a return to the party’s old nasty image - 4th October 2011
- Voters’ verdict: the two Eds aren’t on the money - Labour won’t be regarded as credible until it works out how to govern when there is no cash to spend - 27th September 2011
- Clegg must lead his party out of the scullery - The demise of the Westminster version of Downton Abbey could be a big opportunity for the Liberal Democrats - 20th September 2011
- Fight vested interests, Ed. Start with the unions - If Miliband wants to woo the ‘squeezed middle’ he will have to distance himself from public sector strikers - 13th September 2011
- Turbulent times call for grown-up politics - We are in a period of colossal change and uncertainty. Westminster point-scoring will not solve anything - 5th September 2011
- OMG now we’ve got govt by txts. gr8! LOL - Forget e-mails or sofa chats. SMS messages – short, sweet and personal – are now oiling the wheels of Whitehall - 9th August 2011
- The coalition see-saw tips to the Lib Dems - The hacking row and the retreat on health reform have allowed the junior partners to lord it over their Tory allies - 2nd August 2011
- How the euroquake is rocking Westminster - As Labour flirts with Euroscepticism, the Conservatives are laying plans to repatriate powers from Brussels - 26th July 2011
- Will politicians now dare cross the blue line? - With public faith in the police tainted by tales of bungs and backscratching, long-resisted change is finally possible - 19th July 2011
- ‘Jed’ Miliband discovers the joys of opposition - With the Prime Minister dithering, the hacking crisis has given the Labour leader the chance to find his voice - 12th July 2011
- Memo to both sides: loosen up or lose power - Christopher Shale was right. The Tories are being smothered with their own safety blankets — but so is Labour - 28th June 2011
- Tell us why it was worth stabbing your brother - In the TV age voters see leaders through images. Ed Miliband is a blank screen desperately in need of definition - 14th June 2011
- All hands on the machines of loving grace - ‘Power to the people’ was Cameron’s mantra – until he got into power. Now he’s taking back control of the levers - 7th June 2011
- From rose garden romance to secret love - The Lib Dems’ anger is an act. Off stage, the coalition is still cosy. In fact, it may even survive a Tory majority - 31st May 2011
- The Giggs affair is not the only fight in town - The row over privacy is just part of a deepening battle between Parliament and judges - 24th May 2011
- Is that a second chamber in the long grass? - Lords reform seems as distant as ever. Even the Lib Dems are backing off, realising there’s little public support - 17th May 2011
- Lib Dems must now decontaminate themselves - For a year Nick Clegg’s party has protected the Tory brand. It can no longer do that and recover its own standing - 10th May 2011
- Win people’s hearts and you’ll come up trumps - Passing laws and spending money is an outdated way to govern. You need an EPS (emotional positioning system) - 3rd May 2011
- AV arguments show the honeymoon is over - The coalition won’t end, whatever the referendum result. But the marriage of convenience won’t be the same again - 26th April 2011
- Purple and orange: united colours of coalition? - Labour’s Blairite wing is following Lib Dem reformers with a modernisers’ manifesto. A new alliance beckons - 19th April 2011
- Yes or no, a negative campaign kills our trust - Electoral reform won’t affect politicians as much as voter hostility. Public spats and broken promises don’t help - 5th April 2011
- Ailing NHS reforms will face radical surgery - As the Government prepares to backtrack on health, Nick Clegg could seize a chance to rebuild his reputation - 29th March 2011
- We did it by the rules. We must stick to them - David Cameron has been meticulous about the process of going to war. But the dangers lie in what comes next - 22nd March 2011
- Why nudge people if you don’t get the credit? - Ministers fear not reaping the political rewards if they use persuasion, not new laws, to improve our behaviour - 15th March 2011
- Royals are not above the rules of public life - Prince Andrew’s errors of judgment have rattled Whitehall. But how far can ministers push the monarchy? - 8th March 2011
- The politics of petrol is highly inflammable - Voters know what it costs to fill their tank. Little wonder that the Treasury is looking at ways to stop the price rising - 1st March 2011
- Wind of change blows Cameron off course - As the Prime Minister visits Cairo, his pragmatic foreign policy is being shaken by the Middle East revolutions - 22nd February 2011
- A Facebook policy met by baffled faces - The Big Society is determinedly uncynical. That is why it does not fit into the Westminster mindset - 15th February 2011
- The cult of Tony is a danger to Tory disciples - The former Prime Minister ended up believing the public were wrong. The coalition must avoid the same error - 8th February 2011
- After health and welfare, now a tax revolution - Lib Dems want the poorest to pay no tax. Some Tories want rid of the 50p rate. But which side is Osborne on? - 1st February 2011
- No more red-top grit to spoil ‘red Tory’ oyster - The exit of former tabloid editor Andy Coulson marks a significant shift in the modernisers’ struggle to rebrand the party - 25th January 2011
- Rushed reform can seriously damage health - Even David Cameron is jittery about his Health Secretary’s plan to ‘throw a hand grenade’ into the NHS - 18th January 2011
- Bed of roses? Or sleeping with the enemy? - Listing their hits, pitching their policies, the Lib Dems are drifting away. Oldham could be the tipping point - 11th January 2011
- It’s Santa v Scrooge this coalition Christmas - Having backed the Tories on tuition fees, the Lib Dems want payback — and it is the banks that will be paying - 21st December 2010
- It’s open season on the pushmi-pullyu party - The Lib Dem are falling apart and Ed Miliband is keen to pick up the pieces. But where will they land? - 14th December 2010
- Clegg’s up to his neck. And so is Cameron - We know the Lib Dem leader is struggling with his party, but the Tory leader is struggling with his liberal instincts - 7th December 2010
- The ‘imperial’ Treasury refuses to cede power - George Osborne may be committed to reining in the power of his department, but his civil servants are not - 30th November 2010
- Blair is casting as long a shadow as Thatcher - It took the Tories 15 years to get over the Iron Lady’s fall. Labour is finding it just as difficult to move on - 23rd November 2010
- Keep bloody-mindedness on the red benches - The House of Lords is a thorn in the flesh of successive governments. Emasculating it would be a disaster - 16th November 2010
- Whitehall starts to feel the wind of change - Tensions are emerging between minister and civil servants who feel distrusted and fear for their jobs - 9th November 2010
- Prime Minister’s question: terror or liberty? - The cargo bomb plot has shown Mr Cameron the harsh choice he must make between principle and protection - 2nd November 2010
- You mess with people’s homes at your peril - A housing revolution that breaks up households and pushes up costs – does that remind you of anything? - 26th October 2010
- Shut your ears to the squeals of self-interest - Forget the military, the unions or the arts lobby. It’s squeezed ordinary voters the coalition can’t afford to alienate - 19th October 2010
- Is that a starting pistol or a shot in the head? - Ed Miliband has sidelined the deficit deniers, but he still has battles ahead with his Shadow Chancellor - 12th October 2010
- The Big Society faces up to the Small State - There is an ideological divide at the heart of the cuts debate. And Cameron and Osborne are on different sides - 5th October 2010
- Now Labour has a full-blown identity crisis - To cast off the label of Gordon Mark 2 – or even IDS – Ed Miliband must inspire the party that didn’t vote for him - 28th September 2010
- Nick reassures, but Vince will delight them - The Lib Dem divide is not between ‘inners’ and ‘outers’ but Tory-friendly ‘affiliators’ and sceptical ‘differentiators’ - 21st September 2010
- Coalition may split along freedom’s fault line - How to balance liberty and restraint is the defining question of our age. But Tories and Lib Dems seek different answers - 14th September 2010
- Can the Labour winner be more than a loser? - Whoever wins the leadership risks the fate of William Hague in 1997 – unless he can reach out to normal people - 7th September 2010
- After the TB-GBs, now it’s the Heebie-BoJos - If you found the Blair-Brown rivalry gripping, the Cameron-Johnson animosity has the potential to match it - 17th August 2010
- Who’s for a game of Growers and Shrinkers? - Some Cabinet flowers are blooming nicely after 100 days. Others look as if they’ve had a dose of weedkiller - 9th August 2010
- Crush social apartheid, then build a Big Society - From gangs to Facebook, barriers are everywhere. Only if we break them down will Cameron’s big idea work - 3rd August 2010
- The Tories and a metrosexual merger - By 2015 we could see coalition candidates fighting on the same ticket - 26th July 2010
- Five years? Four years? Keep counting down - Britain is getting ready to leave Afghanistan. We are only waiting for the Americans - 20th July 2010
- An authentic voice will end this psychodrama - Anxiety, denial and depression still dog a party that must start to be honest with itself - 13th July 2010
- Fenced-in ministers tunnel under the wire - As the cuts start to bite, the wisdom of protecting some departments’ budgets is coming under assault - 6th July 2010
- The Famous Five land in big union trouble - Whoever the big unions support as leader, their influence is a serious disadvantage to Labour - 29th June 2010
- Whatever they say, the poor will feel the pain - The Government wants to be fair, but today it will have to put its lack of money where its mouth is - 22nd June 2010
- Cameron offers us the audacity of despair - The Prime Minister has always seemed to be the sunny optimist, but pessimism on the economy suits him fine - 15th June 2010
- Forget football. The coalition’s game is different - Unlike the Labour tactic of tabloid-friendly team games, the new Government promotes energetic individualism - 8th June 2010
- The real cuts will spell trouble - The next round of savings will be bloody. Lib Dems already want to make sure they don’t carry the can - 25th May 2010
- Can the brothers give Labour family therapy? - The candidates all talk about next Labour, but the old rivalries are still overshadowing the leadership election - 20th May 2010
- It’s a fight for power: purists v pragmatists - The kaleidoscope has been smashed – a monumental struggle is now under way within all three parties - 11th May 2010
- This wasn’t about apathy. More like antipathy - Usually voters want to change the Government. This time they were determined to change the whole system - 7th May 2010
- Off with their heads! Soon the cuts will begin - There’ll be no sigh of relief at Thursday’s result but fury as voters discover how much hot air they’ve been fed - 4th May 2010
- Labour is learning that it has no right to exist - Gordon Brown could lead his party to its worst result since 1918. Will anyone be able to pick up the pieces? - 27th April 2010
- But who will be Nick Clegg’s political partner? - The Lib Dem leader has a problem with Gordon Brown ... but the Tories may prove incompatible too - 20th April 2010
- Central control or choice? The divide is clear - The policy and personality clashes are just noise. Underneath the parties are reverting to their traditional instincts - 13th April 2010
- 13 years on, new Labour has come full circle - It’s just like the 1997 election. The only tactic the governing party has left is to sow the seeds of fear - 6th April 2010
- Tories are still failing the Bridget Jones test - The voters have fallen out of love with Labour but they are not convinced the Conservatives have changed - 30th March 2010
- Anyone got an idea for the Labour manifesto? - As the Tories begin to fight back, their opponents are struggling to find a way to appeal to the electorate - 23rd March 2010
- It takes more than Play-Doh to plug a deficit - Sticking it to middle-class mums is the easy option for cash-strapped politicians, but it won’t balance the books - 16th March 2010
- In the red corner: Labour’s answer to Ashcroft - It’s not just the Tories. The Government has Charlie Whelan directing money and muscle in the marginals - 9th March 2010
- Cameron must not become the clunking fist - Aggressive tactics can look like arrogance in a ‘born to rule’ Tory. He must be clear why he deserves power - 1st March 2010
- Mr Angry at No 10 should read Jane Austen - A prime minister who cannot control his emotions is unsuited to the job of making important decisions for the country - 23rd February 2010
- They’re all ignoring political climate change - Both Labour and the Tories are stuck playing short-term games when the voters are crying out for true repentance - 9th February 2010
- Tories should be afraid of their fear - Cameron is at his best when he is at his boldest. But a dangerous timidity is taking over - 2nd February 2010
- Chilcot is a stage for Labour’s psychodrama - Blair was both hero and villain for his party. This inquiry is not really about Iraq, but resolving that split personality - 25th January 2010
- Class war is so last week for new Gordon Brown - If the Prime Minister wants to be on the side of the ‘mainstream majority’ he must shake off his old Labour mindset on schools - 19th January 2010
- Is Mr Cameron’s naughty step a step too far? - The Tory leader’s traditional family policies will please his party but it risks harming his image as a force for change - 12th January 2010
- For Caesar and Cicero, read Ed Balls and Peter Mandelson - More than just one election campaign is at stake in the bitter power struggle between Gordon Brown’s two chief allies - 5th January 2010
- Voters will always go for Santa, not Scrooge - Cameron has gone from blue skies to ‘bah humbug’. Brown has tried to do the reverse. But optimism will win in the end - 22nd December 2009
- Cameron’s odd attitude taxes our trust in him - The Tory leader must answer the Ashcroft question in full, otherwise how can voters be sure he will be assertive in No 10? - 15th December 2009
- Darling won't pay for Brown give-away - As he prepares for his Pre-Budget Report, the newly confident Chancellor is standing up to the pressure - 8th December 2009
- It’s not just about Iraq, it’s about Blair’s style - The poisoned ink is flowing because mandarins hate Labour’s sofa-style government and hope to end it under the Tories - 1st December 2009
- Dave’n’George: there may be trouble ahead - Though close, there are distinct differences between the more traditional Tory leader and his urban Shadow Chancellor - 24th November 2009
- This election will be won at the school gate - Mum power matters. Politicians of all parties are lining up to test their family-friendliness with the voters on Mumsnet - 17th November 2009
- Graveyard of empires could claim more careers - It is Gordon Brown feeling the heat over Afghanistan now, but the Tories too must decide if this is a war worth fighting - 10th November 2009
- Restore authority fast and face down the mob - The voters are angry over expenses. Politicians must harness the court of public opinion or we will never move on - 3rd November 2009
- Only the Milibands can save Labour - It's time for the brothers to head for their local Greek to make a Lemonia pact - 20th October 2009
- The MPs' expenses scandal could change politics for ever - The class of 2010 will be a new generation of political virgins who are untouched by outrage over the John Lewis list - 13th October 2009
- Cameron needs a clear blue message - If voters believe that the leader cannot keep the Right in check, they will desert him - 6th October 2009
- Brown is finished. Labour might be too - The coalition of working and middle-class voters that sustained new Labour is fracturing - 29th September 2009
- Come on, Clegg, say your own C-word - Coalition. The Lib Dems don’t deserve to be taken seriously until they admit they can’t win outright - 22nd September 2009
- Who dares reveal the instruments of torture? - Labour fears it is already too late to try to gain credit from voters by being honest about the need for spending restraint - 15th September 2009
- That’s another fiasco you’ve got us into - Brown's dismal handling of the Lockerbie affair has dismayed Labour MPs and reignited talk of a coup - 7th September 2009
- Special Relationship. Passed away 2009. R.I.P. - For some time America has regarded this country as Little Britain. The Lockerbie bomber case is seen as the final straw - 1st September 2009
- Are MPs born mad or driven crazy by power? - Even on their summer breaks, our leaders struggle to look normal. Perhaps politics attracts only a certain type of person - 11th August 2009
- The equality row reveals a deeper rift - The meltdown at the human rights quango is symbolic of a battle over the Labour Party's future - 5th August 2009
- Equality row reveals a deeper rift for Labour - The meltdown at the human rights quango is more than a bureaucratic squabble. It is about the future of the Centre Left - 4th August 2009
- Friends: Dave’s strength and weakness - No Westminster set has ever been closer than Cameron’s, but will they alienate the rest of the party? - 28th July 2009
- Lord Sugar and the taste of hypocrisy - As Labour fails to tackle reform of the Lords, Brown grabs headlines by ennobling a TV personality - 21st July 2009
- It’s the beginning of the affair - The Civil Service has turned its back on Labour and is getting into bed with the Conservative Party - 14th July 2009
- Nasty or nice cuts, there will be blood - Tories are obsessed with learning how Canada slashed its pending in the 1990s - 7th July 2009
- Can Brown fix it? No, he can’t - Labour has spent 12 years constructing Britain’s future but nothing has gone up - 30th June 2009
- Everyone's crying out for change. Except MPs - The new Speaker was not chosen for his modernising credentials. This election shows the Commons at its worst - 23rd June 2009
- Lord or lad? It's one or the other for Gordon Brown - On his right sits the mighty Mandelson; on his left, his favourite, Balls. They disagree profoundly on policy. Only one can win - 16th June 2009
- No leader, no ideas: a party at the gates of Hell - Even some of his new Cabinet question the strength of a Prime Minister who now lacks any sense of political direction - 9th June 2009
- Is this the final act in Labour's 15-year drama? - With its Blairite Capulets battling the Brownite Montagues, the party has become a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions - 5th June 2009
- Bodies are piling up in this Westminster thriller - There is growing irritation that Brown is using the expenses row to remove ministers he wanted to get rid of anyway - 2nd June 2009
- The little people no longer look up to the big - The public anger is not just about expenses. There has been a cultural shift away from organisations towards individuals - 19th May 2009
- They're all sorry now. But it's too late - Politics is about emotional intelligence as much as reason, but even reasonable claims look excessive - 12th May 2009
- Blairite backlash in the battle for Labour's soul - With the party's slow, sure drift to the left and defeat looming, a stalking horse may challenge Gordon Brown - 5th May 2009
- Fiddling with expenses while UK burns - MPs' allowances are a sideshow. The real problem is that the public doesn't trust politicians to be honest on the big issues - 28th April 2009
- Red is the new black and nasty the new nice - There is little room for pre-election bribes in the Budget, but the voters will no longer tolerate out-of-control spending - 21st April 2009
- Brown's loyal attack dogs always bite to order - The McBride e-mail scandal follows a familiar pattern - the brutal and relentless undermining of opponents and rivals - 14th April 2009
- World leaders or emperors with no clothes? - The G20 family photograph may look good but the summit can not possibly live up to its overblown expectations - 31st March 2009
- MAD looks mad as we face financial doomsday - Ministers and the military Establishment are thinking the unthinkable - that Britain should scrap its nuclear deterrent - 24th March 2009
- Tougher Tories must not frighten the horses - The fallout from the credit crunch has shifted David Cameron's party rightwards. But that could alienate nervous voters - 17th March 2009
- Politicians twitter while the UK burns - MPs are trying to look in touch by using the latest webtools. But all they reveal is how insecure the political elite has become - 10th March 2009
- Brown fiddles abroad while UK burns - Instead of managing the fine detail of recovery, the PM is caught up in the global ‘vision thing' - 3rd March 2009
- Public services need private cash. Where is it? - The credit crunch threatens to undermine the ambitious plans of all parties to reform schools, housing and welfare - 24th February 2009
- Even Labour MPs are shortselling the bust PM - The defection of the Government's welfare guru is the latest sign that Gordon Brown is sliding inexorably to defeat - 17th February 2009
- Labour can't control City slickers - Taking over the banks was one thing but running them is another. Public anger will turn on ministers - 10th February 2009
- Never underestimate the Lords - After the cash-for-influence affair, it would be easy to imagine an elected chamber is the answer - 3rd February 2009
- Labour panic: Superman falls to earth - Brown boasted that he had saved the world. Now his party fears he looks like a headless chicken - 27th January 2009
- A true appetite for power - Ken Clarke will not be easy to handle, but his recall shows ideological purity is behind the Tories - 20th January 2009
- Labour's happy families will end badly - Despite their return to the fold, the comeback kids still have fundamental disagreements with Brown - 13th January 2009
- Memo: don't rely on the Brits during a battle - Never mind our colonial past. Confidence in the Armed Forces is the biggest threat to the special relationship - 6th January 2009
- Peter's rabbit dominates Labour talk - Since his return, Lord Mandelson has been skilfully repositioning his party - and himself - 16th December 2008
- Our modern morality tale villains - Meddling and a class obsession is ruining the Government's most successful parenting scheme - 9th December 2008
- The Memo Martyr was not the real target - The Government has lost control of the flow of information. The pursuit of Damian Green was the wrong way to stem it - 2nd December 2008
- ‘Real' Labour regroups to fight the old battles - Blairites fear that the Chancellor's new top tax rate will reawaken the issue that has cost the party so dear in the past - 25th November 2008
- It's Dave's head they really want - As Cameron prepares to signal a new direction on tax and spending, the Tory Right is becoming restive - 18th November 2008
- From Prudence to Beg, Steal or Borrow - Labour and the Conservatives both want to cut taxes now. But there is a real divide over how to pay for it - 11th November 2008
- This is no time for a novice. Oh yes it is - Gordon Brown's favourite slogan will be seriously undermined if the American electorate vote for change - 4th November 2008
- After Corfu, the spotlight turns on Belize - There will be trouble for the Tories if their millionaire benefactor Lord Ashcroft does not answer vital questions - 28th October 2008
- There's a God-shaped hole in Westminster - Today's politicians - whose favourite summer reading was The God Delusion - have never been more fearful of faith - 21st October 2008
- Brown's boom will end only in another bust - The Prime Minister is riding high in a time of crisis. But voters are unlikely to forget who got us into this mess - 14th October 2008
- New Labour family seethes with hatred - Not only is the future of the party as precarious as ever, there is still no sense of direction - 7th October 2008
- It's au revoir to the days of laissez faire - The credit crunch has changed the public mood and is forcing a rapid repositioning for David Cameron - 30th September 2008
- Global storm gives Gordon Brown shelter - for now - David Miliband's speech to the Labour conference was not openly disloyal. But the plotters are gaining confidence - 23rd September 2008
- The physical impossibility of Brown's survival - Labour's greatest strengths in 1997 are now its biggest weaknesses as presentation fails and anarchy breaks out - 16th September 2008
- Labour beware, the dinosaurs are not extinct - After a long period of irrelevance, the trade unions are back - and that could mean trouble for the centre Left - 9th September 2008
- Brown now has nowhere to hide - Relations with Alistair Darling are dire as the Prime Minister's recovery plan founders before it starts - 2nd September 2008
- A diploma in muddled thinking - The new school qualification could mean the end of A levels and reflects Labour's fear of elitism - 12th August 2008
- Marriage is a Tory divorcing issue - Family policy is an area in which the two most senior Conservatives have a basic disagreement - 5th August 2008
- The prosecco plotters circle wounded Gordon Brown - David Miliband now has the ‘cojones' for a leadership challenge that could decide Labour's future direction - 29th July 2008
- Hey, it's no time for Alistair to say goodbye - The Chancellor is increasingly his own man - and that is something Gordon Brown would do well to celebrate - 22nd July 2008
- Gordon Brown is being suffocated by a policy vacuum - Many on his own side see the Prime Minister as a dead man walking. And it is lack of big ideas that is killing him - 15th July 2008
- The Conservatives understand it's society, not the economy, stupid - Mending the “broken society” should be natural Labour territory, but it is the Tories who have grasped its importance - 8th July 2008
- Gordon Brown, the snail finds it hard to be a whale - The Prime Minister is trying to speed up reform of the public services. But can he shake off his past? - 1st July 2008
- Who will finish off Gordon Brown? Follow the money - The super-rich donors who have bankrolled new Labour are increasingly disillusioned with the Prime Minister - 24th June 2008
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