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Rafael Behr

Rafael Behr

The Guardian

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In the Trump vortex, Keir Starmer must fight hard and fast to define Britain’s destiny

In the Trump vortex, Keir Starmer must fight hard and fast to define Britain’s destiny
22.01.2025 40

The Guardian

Rafael Behr

Keir Starmer is right to gamble on an AI revolution, but it might not pay out in time

Keir Starmer is right to gamble on an AI revolution, but it might not pay out in time
15.01.2025 10

The Guardian

Rafael Behr

Kemi Badenoch was supposed to make the Tories serious again. She has failed

Kemi Badenoch was supposed to make the Tories serious again. She has failed

The House of Commons is built for confrontation, with rows of benches facing each other across an aisle. When the original Victorian chamber was...

08.01.2025 10

The Guardian

Rafael Behr

What does the China ‘spy’ row show? That Starmer can’t just muddle through on foreign policy

When Keir Starmer met Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Rio last month he declared that Britain should build a “pragmatic and serious relationship”...

18.12.2024 30

The Guardian

Rafael Behr

Where is Kemi Badenoch’s Tory tent? In a political no man’s land

Election defeats are to some degree self-inflicted, so the first place that opposition parties should look for someone to blame for their...

11.12.2024 10

The Guardian

Rafael Behr

After months of dysfunction and miscommunication, is the Starmer method finally working?

If Rishi Sunak had clung to power until the very end of the five-year term that Boris Johnson won in 2019, he would still be prime minister today....

03.12.2024 5

The Guardian

Rafael Behr

Is it hot where you are? Spare a thought for the residents of Western Sydney

27.11.2024 5

The Guardian

Rafael Behr

MPs will vote, but there is a better way to decide who has the right to die

When MPs vote this Friday on assisted dying, they will be trying to answer two questions folded into one. First comes the ethical choice. Is it...

27.11.2024 30

The Guardian

Rafael Behr

Labour wants tax rises to fall on the ‘broadest shoulders’. The farmers furore shows why that’s so hard to achieve

It is hardly advanced political science to observe that governments are more popular when giving people stuff than when taking it away. Junior...

20.11.2024 10

The Guardian

Rafael Behr

Trump’s victory has fractured the western order – leaving Brexit Britain badly exposed

The 35th anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down was not commemorated much in Britain last weekend. It is no Poppy Day. The unravelling of the...

13.11.2024 90

The Guardian

Rafael Behr

Left, right, Harris, Trump: all prisoners of political nostalgia in an era few understand

Donald Trump’s record of refusal to concede defeat after the last US election should have disqualified him from running in this one. His criminal...

05.11.2024 2

The Guardian

Rafael Behr

Britain suffered 14 years of Tory small-state delusion. Labour’s budget will turn the page on that

What matters more to the British public: the health service or the European convention on human rights (ECHR)? It isn’t a trick question. The...

23.10.2024 40

The Guardian

Rafael Behr

Starmer is stuck in a British bubble, but it will soon be burst by a turbulent world

There is plenty of action in British politics but not a lot of movement. The government’s unsteady start in office and a Tory leadership contest...

16.10.2024 10

The Guardian

Rafael Behr

Is the Sue Gray debacle another Hartlepool moment for Keir Starmer? Let’s hope so

No prime minister plans to spend the first hundred days in Downing Street learning how not to govern for the next hundred. The intensity of the job...

07.10.2024 3

The Guardian

Rafael Behr

Badenoch, Cleverly, Jenrick, Tugendhat: four ways for the Tories to reach the same wilderness

The Conservative party has become a weak tribute act to itself. Candidates in a leadership contest belt out classic Tory tunes to an audience that...

02.10.2024 20

The Guardian

Rafael Behr

Why did Starmer cut the winter fuel allowance? It’s called Treasury brain – and that spells trouble

An unwritten law of Westminster mechanics states that power, in the absence of a countervailing force, gravitates to the Treasury. The governing...

11.09.2024 20

The Guardian

Rafael Behr

EU leaders may envy Starmer’s stable majority – Brexit’s part in it less so

Two summers ago, when the Conservatives had just defenestrated Boris Johnson and were rallying around Liz Truss as his successor, there was little...

04.09.2024 3

The Guardian

Rafael Behr

The bedraggled Tories are useful foes, but Keir Starmer’s real enemy now is time

The defining promise of Labour’s general election campaign – the single word “change” – was modest and ambitious at the same time; easy to...

27.08.2024 6

The Guardian

Rafael Behr

There is a serious problem at 10 Downing Street, but it isn’t Sue Gray v Morgan McSweeney

Westminster is witnessing an outbreak of Torschlusspanik. The translation from German is “panic at the gate shutting”, commonly associated with...

21.08.2024 60

The Guardian

Rafael Behr

The next Conservative leader will face a vital decision. Let’s call it the ‘rivers of blood’ test

The last four times the Tories chose their leader, the rest of the UK was obliged to pay attention because the winner of the process would...

14.08.2024 10

The Guardian

Rafael Behr

The Brexit fantasists may be beaten, but Brexit reality is a far tougher foe

Rishi Sunak didn’t choose an early July election so that defeat might spare him the hassle of hosting tomorrow’s summit of the European...

17.07.2024 20

The Guardian

Rafael Behr