Steve Richards
Established as one of the most influential political commentators in the country, Steve Richards became The Independent’s chief political commentator in 2000 having been political editor of the New Statesman. He presents GMTV's flagship current affairs show The Sunday Programme and Radio 4’s Week in Westminster.
Steve Richards: The real purpose of public inquiries
There is a deceptive purity about them, the formality, the questioning of witnesses, the evidence-based conclusions. But the context of these acts is always multilayered
Recently by Steve Richards
Steve Richards: The deficit slashers are plain wrong
Tuesday, 15 June 2010
Economic hawks, like the warmongers of 2002/3, act from a dangerous mix of conviction and crude political calculation
Steve Richards: Opposition leader – a hell of a job
Thursday, 10 June 2010
It is not fashionable to cite Brown as a model but what he did for Labour's economic policy after 1992 was a real achievement, which a new leader must now repeat
Steve Richards: Not so much progressive as painful
Tuesday, 8 June 2010
Cameron, Osborne and Clegg are good at tone. They know how to play the mood music of spending cuts
Steve Richards: This time, Parliament can't be ignored
Thursday, 3 June 2010
There are bound to be knife-edge votes. Debates will come to matter more. Labour had big majorities but this coalition won't be able to take the Commons for granted
Steve Richards: Start reform with the Civil Service
Friday, 21 May 2010
Normally any minister who ends up in the Cabinet Office pulls levers and discovers that nothing happens, however close they are to the Prime Minister
Steve Richards: This is a sincere and coherent vision for rolling back the state. But will it work?
Wednesday, 19 May 2010
Unity at the very top of the new coalition is secure and genuine whatever happens further below. Nick Clegg's speech today on political reform, and David Cameron's yesterday on his plans for a "big society", are framed by a common view of the state. In his speech today Clegg promises a transformation so that "the state has less control over you and you have far more control over the state". Yesterday Cameron argued that the state is "too often inhuman, monolithic and clumsy to tackle our deepest social problems".
Steve Richards: Big tents don't have room for all
Tuesday, 18 May 2010
Whatever the differences, Cameron and Osborne still behave as if they are the heirs of Blair. They both prefer the choreography of politics to the details of policy
New politics? Don't you believe it. Old rivalries will soon be back
Thursday, 13 May 2010
Steve Richards: The so-called new politics is the logical extension of Blairism rather than a break from it, with both leaders testing their parties' ideological flexibility
Steve Richards: Novelty won't sustain this alliance
Wednesday, 12 May 2010
David Cameron has always been a brilliant choreographer, and he will manage the Tory right and the Lib Dem left with attentive charm
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Columnist Comments
• Bruce Anderson: Osborne has to find the right language
While not shirking the bad news, he must persuade us it will not last forever
• Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: Where has all the love gone?
The internet has hardly anything on the emotional truths and gifts of love
• Philip Hensher: Plus ça change for the Mr Gradgrinds
It is so depressing to learn a foreign language only because it is "useful"
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