Rafael Behr

Brighton

Political Columnist at The Guardian

Columnist, podcaster Book: Politics, A Survivor's Guide https://t.co/vbGnscg88r Migrated to @rafaelbehr.bsky.social

Articles

Labour takes action over Gaza: what took them so long? - Politics Weekly UK

2 weeks ago | theguardian.com | John Harris |Rafael Behr |Sophie Stowers |Natalie Ktena |Zoe Hitch

The government has suspended trade talks with Israel and denounced its actions in Gaza. But why are we only now seeing this kind of action and moral outrage? John Harris speaks to Melanie Ward, a Labour MP and former chief executive at Medical Aid for Palestinians. Plus, after Keir Starmer’s reset with the EU, how does the public feel about the politics of Brexit? Guardian columnist Rafael Behr and Sophie Stowers from More in Common join John to discuss
In the never-ending Brexit Wars saga, reality is finally fighting back | Rafael Behr

2 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Rafael Behr

Like a Hollywood studio churning out the umpteenth sequel in a stale franchise, Westminster has manufactured another episode in the interminable Brexit Wars saga. The Resetis based on the true story of a prime minister negotiating improved terms of trade with the EU, against a backdrop of global insecurity and rising economic uncertainty.
Keir Starmer is caught in yet another trap of his own making | Rafael Behr

3 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Rafael Behr

Keir Starmer is embattled but not threatened. It is a strange combination. He is not challenged by Kemi Badenoch, who is weak in parliament and irrelevant outside it. Nor is the prime minister in immediate peril from Reform, the Liberal Democrats or the Greens. They pose electoral challenges in the coming years but they can’t stop the government passing laws in the meantime. The Labour leader is not in danger from backbench rebellion.
Keir Starmer can’t build a stronger European partnership by stealth. He has to declare it aloud | Rafael Behr

4 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Rafael Behr

Not much about Britain’s post-Brexit relationship with the European Union is settled, but Keir Starmer can justifiably claim it has been “reset”. That word was artfully chosen before last year’s election to dress low aspiration as high diplomacy. There are 10 days of negotiation before the summit in London, where a new UK-EU partnership is due to be unveiled. It will be more outline than substance.
The Tories have shown Labour exactly how not to fight Farage | Rafael Behr

1 month ago | theguardian.com | Rafael Behr

In the playbook of election strategies, there are two canonical campaigns. Incumbents say things are going in the right direction; don’t let the opposition screw it up! Challengers say everything is screwed up already; it’s time for change!There is a less orthodox, third option, innovated by the Conservatives in competition with whichever party Nigel Farage happens to be leading: our opponent is right; don’t vote for him.
Nigel Farage thinks net zero is the new Brexit. Starmer can prove him wrong

1 month ago | msn.com | Rafael Behr

Microsoft Cares About Your PrivacyMicrosoft and our third-party vendors use cookies to store and access information such as unique IDs to deliver, maintain and improve our services and ads. If you agree, MSN and Microsoft Bing will personalise the content and ads that you see. You can select ‘I Accept’ to consent to these uses or click on ‘Manage preferences’ to review your options and exercise your right to object to Legitimate Interest where used.
Nigel Farage thinks net zero is the new Brexit. Starmer can prove him wrong | Rafael Behr

1 month ago | theguardian.com | Rafael Behr

Which former British prime minister described the climate emergency as “a clock ticking to the furious rhythm of hundreds of billions of pistons and turbines and furnaces and engines … quilting the Earth in an invisible and suffocating blanket of CO2”? The florid style gives it away. You’d guess Boris Johnson even if you’d forgotten that the master of Brexit bombast also had a sideline in net zero evangelism.
In Trumpland, ‘defending free speech’ means one thing: submission to the president | Rafael Behr

1 month ago | theguardian.com | Rafael Behr

Compared with many countries around the world, the US is still a great democracy, but a much lesser one than it was four months ago. The constitution has not been rewritten. Checks and balances have not been dissolved. The difference is a president who ignores those constraints, and the impotence of the institutions that should enforce them. Which is the true US, the one enshrined in law or the one that smirks in contempt of law? If the latter, should Britain welcome its embrace as a kindred nation?
38 Londres Street by Philippe Sands review - Pinochet and the Nazis

1 month ago | theguardian.com | Rafael Behr

Augusto Pinochet expected London to be a hospitable city when he arrived there in October 1998. The 82-year-old former Chilean dictator had backed Margaret Thatcher in the Falklands war and, while the Conservatives were no longer in power, a former prime minister counted as a friend in high places.British police were not interested in kidnap, murder and torture in South America under a junta that had seized power in a coup in 1973. Besides, a former head of state had diplomatic immunity.
38 Londres Street by Philippe Sands review – Pinochet and the Nazis

1 month ago | msn.com | Rafael Behr

Microsoft Cares About Your PrivacyMicrosoft and our third-party vendors use cookies to store and access information such as unique IDs to deliver, maintain and improve our services and ads. If you agree, MSN and Microsoft Bing will personalise the content and ads that you see. You can select ‘I Accept’ to consent to these uses or click on ‘Manage preferences’ to review your options and exercise your right to object to Legitimate Interest where used.