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Andy Beckett

Andy Beckett

The Guardian

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Margaret Thatcher set Britain’s decline in motion – so why can’t politics exorcise her ghost?

An old spectre is haunting Britain yet again – the spectre of Thatcherism. Although she became Tory leader almost half a century ago and was sacked...

12.04.2024 100

The Guardian

Andy Beckett

Where’s the usual excitement about an imminent change of government in the UK?

Why are so many voters so unsatisfied with Britain’s main parties? In the opinion polls, despite Labour’s strong lead, their combined support is...

31.03.2024 9

The Guardian

Andy Beckett

The left is smeared as the angry mob again and again. In reality, it is the target of political violence

In Britain and other supposedly calm democracies, the ascent of leftwing politicians can arouse unusual fears of violence. Many conservatives and...

20.03.2024 40

The Guardian

Andy Beckett

MPs, understand this: protests are inevitable when you fail to represent the people

Where should politics happen? For most MPs, accustomed to the Palace of Westminster’s inward-looking spaces and rituals, the answer is obvious. In...

10.03.2024 20

The Guardian

Andy Beckett

Anderson and Braverman shout loudest, but one man has led the toxification of the Tories: Michael Gove

On the ever more common journey from the centre right to the far right, there are two contrasting routes conservative parties can follow. One is to...

02.03.2024 100

The Guardian

Andy Beckett

The frightening thing is not that Tories are paraded as more fiscally competent. It’s that even Labour believes it

In our punitive politics, the Labour party is almost always on probation. You can see it in Keir Starmer’s sometimes jumpy public manner, in the...

09.02.2024 5

The Guardian

Andy Beckett

Thatcher was right: Tory moderates have no power over the party’s ruthless rightwing extremists

For Tory moderates – assuming some still exist – these ought to be quietly promising times. Their party’s extremists have made a huge mess of...

02.02.2024 20

The Guardian

Andy Beckett

After 14 years of Tory misrule, voters will crave a fresh start. That may be a blessing for Starmer – or a curse

The often messy end of a party’s long hold on power is one of the key rituals of British politics. Voters who made that party’s ascendancy...

11.01.2024 1

The Guardian

Andy Beckett

A lesson from Harold Wilson for Keir Starmer: don’t let the right undermine Labour’s achievements

Labour leaders looking to cite successful predecessors, at least in the most obvious electoral sense, don’t have many to choose from. Ramsay...

05.01.2024 40

The Guardian

Andy Beckett

Britain’s rich are living in a golden era. Labour should not be scared to end it

For millions of Britons, this feels more and more like a poor country. Essentials such as heating and regular meals are increasingly unaffordable....

08.12.2023 5

The Guardian

Andy Beckett

A dock of sorts for the men who failed Britain during Covid – but they may yet escape

In so many ways, the Covid inquiry feels as if it is going very badly for the Tories. Seemingly every session in the plain, low-ceilinged, rather...

01.12.2023 60

The Guardian

Andy Beckett

The reason for these cynical power grabs: the weaker the Tories become, the stronger they need to appear

Has Britain ever had a government with so little support and yet such an appetite for expanding its powers? Less than a quarter of the electorate...

24.11.2023 60

The Guardian

Andy Beckett

Labour is limping towards a narrow election victory – sowing the seeds for future disaster

When an opposition party hasn’t won a general election for 18 years, you might expect its last success to be cited as a model for how that party...

09.11.2023 20

The Guardian

Andy Beckett

Thatcherite conservatism is on its last legs. I’ve had a disturbing glimpse of what might replace it

Where on earth is conservatism going? In Britain, at least, the simple answer seems to be opposition, and possibly for a long time. Non-Tories scarred...

03.11.2023 60

The Guardian

Andy Beckett

Starmer sells himself on stability – but does that benefit the country, or just business and elites?

I n scary enough circumstances, “stability” can be one of the most appealing words in politics. When a country has had years of political and...

13.10.2023 3

The Guardian

Andy Beckett

Dogmatic, desperate and out of ideas: Manchester was the Tories’ last hurrah

W hat does the prospect of losing power mean for a party that feels it was born to rule? That question has been haunting the Conservatives for almost...

06.10.2023 10

The Guardian

Andy Beckett

Labour and Tories, beware: endlessly shifting to the right won’t save the country

T his autumn, more than ever, British politics is a waiting game. Waiting for the Tory and Labour party conferences. Waiting for possibly pivotal...

29.09.2023 2

The Guardian

Andy Beckett

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