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Andrew Rawnsley

Andrew Rawnsley

The Guardian

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The Tories are playing a risky game with their relentless pursuit of Angela Rayner

James Daly, the Tory MP who pestered the Greater Manchester police into reopening inquiries into Angela Rayner, rather gave the game away when he was...

21.04.2024 60

The Guardian

Andrew Rawnsley

Don’t despair. History shows Labour even cash-strapped governments can be radical

Talking about the prospect of a Labour government, some people sound like they are preparing the obituary before they have witnessed the birth. Sir...

14.04.2024 20

The Guardian

Andrew Rawnsley

Conservative cabinet ministers, look away now: your ‘Portillo moment’ could be on the cards

Reader, I was there. It was shortly after 3am on 2 May 1997 when the Labour celebrations at the Royal Festival Hall turned from noisy exuberance at...

07.04.2024 40

The Guardian

Andrew Rawnsley

Rishi Sunak’s refusal to give up the Frank Hester gold proves his principles have a price point

It has been such an atrocious six days for Rishi Sunak that his most lowering point was not Lee Anderson, the gargoyle the prime minister appointed as...

17.03.2024 100

The Guardian

Andrew Rawnsley

Rishi Sunak and his desperate party needed the budget to be a gamechanger. It wasn’t

The polls will tighten. The polls will tighten. The polls WILL tighten. This has been the drumbeat banging away in the background of British politics...

10.03.2024 10

The Guardian

Andrew Rawnsley

Observer comment cartoon Mob rule: the Tory right has Rishi Sunak on a short leash – cartoon

02.03.2024 3

The Guardian

Andrew Rawnsley

The ‘mob rule’ Rishi Sunak fears most lies in the ranks of his own party

Conservatives would usually be the first to complain when police officers are diverted from their duties tackling crime and maintaining order to...

02.03.2024 3

The Guardian

Andrew Rawnsley

If this tawdry affair ends with a red card for the Commons ref Sir Lindsay Hoyle, it will not reflect well on our MPs

Nearly a quarter of a century has passed since a speaker of the Commons stood down from its high chair with dignity and to applause. Being appointed...

25.02.2024 30

The Guardian

Andrew Rawnsley

Keir Starmer’s had a torrid fortnight, but the big picture is bleakest for Rishi Sunak

Liz Truss, a name with which you will be painfully familiar if you have had to remortgage your home since she was prime minister, has claimed that...

18.02.2024 10

The Guardian

Andrew Rawnsley

Scuttling his flagship green policy, Sir Keir Starmer has imperilled his credibility

I know a dead pledge when I see one, and I’m looking at one now. Labour’s green prosperity plan is history. It’s kicked the bucket, run down the...

11.02.2024 60

The Guardian

Andrew Rawnsley

Labour mustn’t be starry eyed about its whirlwind romance with big business and the City

What was unimaginable in the days of Jeremy Corbyn has become routine under Sir Keir Starmer. The rapprochement between Labour and capitalism was on...

04.02.2024 50

The Guardian

Andrew Rawnsley

The threatened return of Donald Trump endangers the UK’s most vital interests

A spectre is haunting Europe – the spectre of Donald Trump. In London, Paris, Berlin and every other significant European capital, bar Moscow, the...

28.01.2024 100

The Guardian

Andrew Rawnsley

To hit the ground running rather than face first, Labour must prepare for power now

Sir Keir Starmer recently surprised some colleagues by telling them that he regards the time he has spent in parliament since he became a Labour MP as...

21.01.2024 4

The Guardian

Andrew Rawnsley

The abuse of unaccountable power is at the wicked heart of the Post Office scandal

To the widely voiced reasons to admire Alan Bates, the heroically dogged leader of the campaign to achieve justice for the victims of the Post Office...

13.01.2024 5

The Guardian

Andrew Rawnsley

Keir Starmer won’t just be battling the Tories this year but also the absence of hope

It is an occupational hazard of being leader of the Labour party to receive a lot of unsolicited advice from people who think they have a better idea...

07.01.2024 7

The Guardian

Andrew Rawnsley

With every ‘reset’ having failed, nothing is coming good for Rattled Rishi

One member of the cabinet likes to amuse himself at meetings with his civil servants by making ludicrous statements in order to test whether the...

17.12.2023 8

The Guardian

Andrew Rawnsley

Observer comment cartoon Rishi Sunak’s zombie government tries to stop the boats – cartoon

10.12.2023 60

The Guardian

Andrew Rawnsley

Need a Christmas party game? Try ranking 13 years of Tory screw-ups in order of severity

What will be an appropriate epitaph to inscribe on the tombstone of this Conservative government? Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, came up with a...

09.12.2023 6

The Guardian

Andrew Rawnsley

After years of Tory failure, getting Britain growing again will be Labour’s greatest test

Yogi Berra, the revered baseball player and coach, would have called it deja vu all over again. A Tory chancellor telling the country it has “turned...

26.11.2023 10

The Guardian

Andrew Rawnsley

The sight of Lord Cameron strutting the world stage won’t save Rishi Sunak

It can’t have been for the peerage, because former prime ministers can usually get a berth on the claret-coloured benches of the Lords for the...

19.11.2023 50

The Guardian

Andrew Rawnsley

Rishi Sunak must surely sack his recklessly irresponsible and incendiary home secretary

Herbert Morrison, a past chief of the Home Office, once said that its “corridors are paved with dynamite”. Which is why it is of such critical...

12.11.2023 100

The Guardian

Andrew Rawnsley

When Britain most needed a decent leader, we had a derelict at the helm

If a government looks bad from the outside, it will be twice as rotten on the inside. I’ve found this a reliable rule of thumb over the years, but...

04.11.2023 4

The Guardian

Andrew Rawnsley

Labour must beware of tearing itself apart over the horrific conflict in Gaza

As fate would have it, the recent Labour conference in Liverpool opened the day after Hamas started its deadly incursion into southern Israel to seize...

29.10.2023 30

The Guardian

Andrew Rawnsley

Labour’s double whammy of byelection victories should make the Tories more scared

Tell me that you are one of those people who think that byelection results don’t really matter and I will know for a fact that you are not Sir Keir...

22.10.2023 10

The Guardian

Andrew Rawnsley

Buoyant Labour is beginning to tingle with anticipation at the prospect of taking power

B reaking the strict no-complacency rule that was supposed to be in force at the Labour conference, a member of the shadow cabinet said to me: “In...

15.10.2023 10

The Guardian

Andrew Rawnsley

Confident would be a good look for the Labour conference. Cocky wouldn’t

R ishi Sunak’s closing address to the Conservative conference thrilled the speechwriting team – of Sir Keir Starmer. Before the event, there was...

08.10.2023 20

The Guardian

Andrew Rawnsley

The Tories meet in Manchester plagued by their delusions, desperation and divisions

T o Manchester for a tale of two Conservative conferences. The official one is taking place in the cavernous central convention complex under the...

01.10.2023 50

The Guardian

Andrew Rawnsley

Before we get to the election, Lib Dems need to raise their sights and up their game

I f I remember correctly, the Lib Dem logo is supposed to represent the “bird of liberty”. Seen from the angle of a twitchy Tory MP, it resembles...

24.09.2023 7

The Guardian

Andrew Rawnsley

Keir Starmer is borrowing from Tony Blair, but that doesn’t make him a Blairite

W hen his parents named him after Keir Hardie, Labour’s first leader, they could not have imagined how often their son would be measured against...

17.09.2023 40

The Guardian

Andrew Rawnsley

The Tories are mistaken if they believe that immigration is still their trump card

I t is going to be nasty, brutish and very, very long. The general election is probably more than a year away, but the campaign has already begun. Sir...

10.09.2023 70

The Guardian

Andrew Rawnsley

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