Labour Party
Labour always lurches left when it loses. But this time is worse
The party always swings left after defeats. But this time is worse
Jeremy Corbyn’s debt to Silvio Berlusconi
I’m going off Jeremy Corbyn. He seems more and more pleased with himself by the minute. But I understand why…
Why Liz Kendall isn't close to qualifying as 'Taliban New Labour'
Toxic virus or Taleban: it’s funny how the mild-mannered Liz Kendall has attracted for her Blairite associations the most violently…
Does Labour need a new name? Let’s ask Plato
In order to make a sensible choice of new leader, the Labour party is trying to work out what its…
How Jeremy Corbyn could destroy the Tories (yes, really)
‘Why this sudden restlessness, this confusion?’ asked C.P. Cavafy in his poem ‘Waiting for the Barbarians’: Because night has fallen…
Whoever wins the Labour leadership, Blairism is at death’s door
The exhausted Labour leadership contest takes a bucket-and-spade holiday next week, with all four candidates agreeing to an uneasy truce…
Jeremy Corbyn won’t destroy Labour. But he might yet destroy the country
Imagine, for a moment, the following scenario. In 2016 Britain votes narrowly to remain within the European Union, despite the…
The SNP surge at Westminster might just accidentally save the Union
There are few quicker ways to annoy an MP than to suggest that they are on holiday when the House…
Why I was right to vote for Jeremy Corbyn
Is the ‘Tories for Corbyn’ campaign politics at its most infantile? As one of the few conservative commentators willing to…
Unions vs workers – this is David Cameron’s chance to strike back
Trade unions have ceased to serve working people. It’s time to act against them
The humiliation that turned Andy Burnham from Blairite to union man
Andy Burnham is the Labour establishment’s choice as the next party leader. So why does he feel like an outsider?
What kind of life-form boasts that it can ‘speak human’?
The next Labour leader will have to be able to speak human, said a piece in the Observer. This, it…
Labour’s campaign was fine. It’s the party that Britain rejected
Patrick Wintour is one of the best political editors around. For the Guardian he’s been for decades a cool and…
The secret heart of London conservatism…
There is a dive near St James’s which could claim to be the epicentre of international reaction. It is also…
Why is Len McCluskey paying Carter-Ruck to threaten me?
Unite’s leader splashes out on legal threats because he knows his cause is in trouble
Why I still have a deep attachment to the BBC
After I failed my O-levels and decided to leave school, my father suggested I go to Israel to work on…
The Tories have survived a near-death experience. But they’re not home yet
At 5.45 a.m. Lynton Crosby holds the first meeting of the day at Conservative campaign HQ. The aim is to…
Left-wing populism is on the rise - and may take Ed Miliband to No10
Would-be leaders of the left are harnessing the mood of angry populism
How Ed Miliband lost the Jewish vote
Labour’s leader would be the first Jewish prime minister since Disraeli – so how has he alienated so many Jewish voters?
Ed Miliband could still win. Here’s what would happen next
He could still win. Here’s what happens if he does
Boy, can Alan Johnson write
Alan Johnson’s first volume of memoirs, This Boy, is still in the bestsellers’ list, but the Stakhanovite postman has made…
How Wales was betrayed by its (Labour) government.
Devolution has left my country with catastrophic misgovernment
Ed Miliband’s problem isn’t his image. It’s us
That bacon bap earlier this month was not the cause of Ed Miliband’s unpopularity. Ed Miliband’s unpopularity was the cause…
Nigel Farage is becoming a moderniser
There are many words that you might associate with Nigel Farage, but moderniser probably isn’t one. Yet the Ukip leader…
Was Roy Jenkins the greatest prime minister we never had?
Roy Jenkins may have been snobbish and self-indulgent, but he was also a visionary and man of principle who would have made a good prime minister, says Philip Ziegler
