Reports of Sunak’s foul mood in No 10 echo the final days of other dying administrations
Stories have emerged of a foul mood in Downing Street; it was ever thus behind the scenes in a dying administration
February 2023
The time is ripe for royal commissions, but the reforms we need now will be resisted
Royal commissions transformed Britain in the 1960s – we desperately need them now
Simon Jenkins
January 2023
Hunt became chancellor after a Tory tax calamity. History suggests he’s doomed
Phillip Inman
Like Roy Jenkins and Kenneth Clarke before him, he can do little but tackle a crisis bequeathed to him by Conservative folly
December 2022
It’s not enough for Labour to be a nicer version of the Tories. It must take risks for what is right
Simon Jenkins
Instead of fighting for the centre ground, Keir Starmer should look to the radical changes pushed through under Harold Wilson, says Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins
March 2021
From the Guardian archive
SDP launches itself onto the British political stage – archive, 1981
27 March 1981: The new party’s programme includes a demand for electoral reform and a commitment to ‘breaking the mould’
December 2020
Kim Philby: new revelations about spy emerge in secret files
UK government launched campaign to block memoirs being published fearing damaging disclosures
August 2020
Rishi Sunak is riding high, but history shows No 11 can be a dangerous address
William Keegan
Lord Lester of Herne Hill obituary
July 2020
Another view of Roy Jenkins’ achievements
Letters:David Blunkett responds to Lynsey Hanley’s praise of Roy Jenkins as someone who stood up for the values of social liberalism
June 2020
From the Guardian archive
SDP leaders meet to bury a dream – archive, 1990
4 June 1990: Dr David Owen, one of its founders, argued it was not the party’s finances which meant the SDP must die, but the rapid decline in membership
November 2019
Once, politicians treated voters as adults. Now they are contemptuous
Kenan Malik
A 40-year-old debate on the Common Market points up how debased UK politics has become
August 2018
I remember the bitter lessons of the SDP – we must not let Labour split
Andrew Adonis
Tory strength in England and first-past-the-post mean any new party is doomed to fail, says Labour peer Andrew Adonis
April 2017
The Guardian view on Sergio García: no longer the best never to win
Editorial: The Spanish golf star’s victory in the US Masters means he will no longer be remembered for his failures
March 2017
Limehouse review – the gang of four revisited
Murdoch, the Coughing Major and a Kids Company musical: theatre gets real
Limehouse review – timely account of Labour's 1981 split is beautifully acted
First thoughts
Should today’s Labour pick up where the SDP left off? This play makes you wonder
Polly Toynbee
February 2017
Dame Jennifer Jenkins obituary
Chair of the National Trust who faced down opposition to hunting on its land
January 2017
A look back
From the Observer archive: this week in 1981
Ronald Reagan becomes 40th president of the United States
