Andrew Nicholas James Rawnsley (born 5 January 1962) is a British

political journalist Political journalism is a broad branch of journalism that includes coverage of all aspects of politics and political science, although the term usually refers specifically to coverage of civil governments and political power. Political journa ...

and broadcaster. A columnist and chief political commentator for ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

'', he has written two books on

New Labour New Labour was a period in the history of the British Labour Party from the mid to late 1990s until 2010 under the leadership of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. The name dates from a conference slogan first used by the party in 1994, later seen ...

Early life

Rawnsley was born in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popul ...

. He was educated at Lawrence Sheriff School in Rugby and later on a scholarship at

Rugby School Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. ...

and read history at

Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge Sidney Sussex College (referred to informally as "Sidney") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. The College was founded in 1596 under the terms of the will of Frances Sidney, Countess of Sussex (1531–1589), wif ...

, gaining a first-class Honours degree. He was a columnist for the newsletter of the Cambridge University Social Democrats during 1982–83. He was also editor of ''Stop Press'', the Cambridge University newspaper of the day, and won the Guardian Student Journalist of the year award in 1984.

Career

Newspapers

Rawnsley began his career at the BBC, working there for two years from 1983, then joined ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' in 1985. From 1987 he was the newspaper's parliamentary sketch writer. In 1993 he moved to ''

'' as chief political commentator and associate editor, a position he retains. He has won several awards for his journalism, including: British Press Awards Young Journalist of the Year (1987); What The Papers Say Columnist of the Year (2000); Channel 4 Political Awards Book of the Year (2001); Channel 4 Political Awards Journalist of the Year (2003); House Magazine Awards Commentator of the Year (2008); and the Chair's Choice Award at the Editorial Intelligence Comment Awards (2015) for combining "excellent insight with an originality and power of expression which makes him sans pareil in his field".

Radio and television

Rawnsley has also broadcast regularly; he was co-presenter of Channel 4's ''A Week in Politics'' with Vincent Hanna. He continues to be the writer-presenter of one-off documentaries for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

. He made ''Bye Bye Blues'', a three part series about John Major's Government, in 1997. That was followed by ''Blair's Year'' (1998). His three-hour series ''The Rise And Fall of Tony Blair'' (2007) was long-listed for a BAFTA award. Rawnsley has written and presented a series of programmes on British politics, broadcast on Channel 4's current affairs series, '' Dispatches'': ''Gordon Brown: Where Did It All Go Wrong?'' (2008), which was nominated for an award at Banff World Television Festival; ''Crash Gordon: The Inside Story of the Financial Crisis'' (2009); ''Cameron Uncovered'' (2010); and ''A Year Inside Number Ten'' (2011). He was the founding and sole presenter of BBC Radio Four's ''The Westminster Hour'' from 1998 to September 2006. He was succeeded by

Carolyn Quinn Carolyn Quinn (born 22 July 1961 in Camberwell, London) is a British journalist best known for her work on BBC Radio 4 as a political correspondent and for presenting the '' Today'' programme and '' PM''. Early life Quinn attended St Joseph's R ...

when he moved to the ITV network for a new programme, ''

The Sunday Edition ''The Sunday Edition'' is a television programme broadcast on the ITV Network in the United Kingdom focusing on political interview and discussion, produced by ITV Productions. The show was hosted by Andrew Rawnsley and Andrea Catherwood. Th ...

'', with Andrea Catherwood, a series which began on Sunday 17 September 2006. Since 2011, he has presented BBC Radio Four's "Leader Conference".

Books

Rawnsley's ''Servants of the People: The Inside Story of New Labour'', published on 27 September 2000, is an account of the early years of

in government. The book raised the profile of the feud between

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of t ...

and

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Tony ...

. An expanded paperback edition, including coverage of the 2001 general election, was published on 16 July 2001. Rawnsley's '' The End of the Party: The Rise and Fall of New Labour'' was serialised in ''

'' starting on 21 February 2010 and published in book form on 1 March 2010. An expanded paperback edition, taking the story up to the day of Gordon Brown's resignation after the 2010 general election, was published on 30 September 2010.

Personal life

In 1990 he married Jane Hall in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

. They have three daughters: Olivia (born October 1991), Jessica (born January 1994) and Cordelia (born March 1997). Rawnsley became a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

in 2001.

References

External links

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– Andrew Rawnsley {{DEFAULTSORT:Rawnsley, Andrew 1962 births Alumni of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge BBC newsreaders and journalists BBC Radio 4 presenters British political journalists Channel 4 people Living people People educated at Rugby School People from Rugby, Warwickshire Social Democratic Party (UK) politicians The Guardian journalists The Observer people