Tony Blair’s new dawn of 1997 offers landslide lessons for Keir Starmer
The Guardian’s political editor in 1997 recalls the optimism then and what went wrong in the transition from opposition to power
Starmer installs non-political ministers in ‘government of all the talents’
Covid adviser Patrick Vallance and businessman James Timpson among appointments from outside Westminster
Brief letters
Can things only get better for England?
Letters: Football and politics | Tactical voting | Dyslexia | Election jinx | Boris Johnson | Polling song | Note for the new chancellor
June 2024
UK children shorter, fatter and sicker amid poor diet and poverty, report finds
Post Office campaigner Alan Bates knighted in king’s birthday honours
‘Bigoted woman’ and fridge-hiding: a history of election gaffes after Sunak’s D-day disaster
Labour’s troubles leave voters with a ballot box dilemma
Starmer must introduce wealth tax after Labour wins election, top Blair aide says
Why Labour must adopt radical new tax policies – including on wealth and capital gains
Colm Murphy and Patrick Diamond
The best original photographs from the Observer
Original Observer Photography
May 2024
Keir Starmer’s ‘first steps’ might get him into Downing Street. But there is danger ahead
John McDonnell
This cautious programme is too limited to bring about the changes Britain needs – and which would keep Labour in power, says former shadow chancellor John McDonnell
‘People haven’t woken up to the scale of this’: Gordon Brown on the UK’s child poverty scandal
A quarter of Britain’s children live below the poverty line. Near his Fife home, the former PM shows how charities help families and says this issue must be a priority for any government
Children of austerity need a rescue plan, Gordon Brown says
Former prime minister proposes £3bn support package for ‘blighted generation’, including Sure Start relaunch
April 2024
The Guardian view on rethinking economics: a discipline in disarray holds too much sway in the UK
Editorial: Gordon Brown challenged Conservative ideas to fix the economy. His successors unfortunately will not
Lord Field of Birkenhead obituary
MP for Birkenhead for 40 years and former Labour minister who was asked to ‘think the unthinkable’ about welfare reform
Reports of Sunak’s foul mood in No 10 echo the final days of other dying administrations
The Guardian view on Sure Start’s success: Labour should see the latest findings as an opportunity
Senior Labour figures call for ‘life-transforming’ Sure Start policy
March 2024
Gordon Brown calls for new poverty fund to halt slide into ‘hungry decade’
The Guardian view on Labour’s economic plans: a response too small for the challenge the UK faces
