Rafael Behr

Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist and leader writer. He was formerly a correspondent in the Baltic region and Russia. He is the author of Politics: A Survivor's Guide

• Andy Burnham meets with retired miners in Makerfield, Greater Manchester, 30 May 2026.

  Andy Burnham offers Labour a refreshing new voice to reach lost voters – but with what message?

  Rafael Behr

  It will take more than blokeish affability to reach across the Brexit faultline that scars British politics, says Guardian columnist Rafael Behr

• A TV repair shop in Taiwan, with screens broadcasting the Beijing meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, 14 May 2026.

  The balance of global power is shifting fast, but Britain is stuck in the same old Brexit rut

  Rafael Behr
• Andy Burnham smiling to a camera outside Downing Street earlier this year

  Today in Focus

  Labour, u ok hun? - podcast

• Illustration

  Labour needs a battle of ideas now, not a scramble to snatch the keys to No 10

  Rafael Behr
• Nigel Farage on stage in front of giant projection of union flag

  Labour’s nationwide collapse risks making Nigel Farage the face of the UK’s fragile union

  Rafael Behr

• The stabbing of two Jewish men in Golders Green, north-west London, has become the latest in a series of antisemitic attacks. So is rising antisemitism now a national emergency? Helen Pidd is joined by columnist Rafael Behr

  Today in Focus: The Latest

  ‘An epidemic’: is antisemitism out of control in the UK? - The Latest

• Police and onlookers near the scene in Golders Green. (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP via Getty Images)

  Today in Focus

  ‘An epidemic’: is antisemitism out of control? – The Latest

• Liz Kendall, the UK's science, innovation and technology secretary, stands beside a robotic dog on a visit to IBM's London headquarters in 2025.

  In the coming AI future, Britain must not end up at the mercy of US tech giants

  Rafael Behr
• Keir Starmer, Donald Trump, The White House, Peter Mandelson

  The rush to appease Trump led Keir Starmer into this ethical void

  Rafael Behr

• Politics Weekly UK

  Is Keir Starmer ‘complacent’ on defence? – podcast

• The Brexit delusion is dead – so now Keir Starmer doesn’t need to pretend any more

  Rafael Behr

• Europe cannot bet on a post-Trump US turning back to sanity

  Rafael Behr

• Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House, 16 March 2026.

  Trump is being schooled on the limits of US power – but he is a slow learner

  Rafael Behr
• Donald Trump in Miami, Florida, 9 March 2026.

  Trump’s ego-trip war has collided with economic reality but he can’t undo the damage

  Rafael Behr
• Donald Trump and Keir Starmer

  Today in Focus

  Starmer, Trump and the shaky ‘special relationship’

• Donald Trump and Keir Starmer meet at Chequers in Buckinghamshire, September 2025.

  Starmer’s position on Iran pleases no one, but that is because there are no good options

  Rafael Behr

• A view of Nigel Farage’s socks at a press conference in Dudley, West Midlands, 24 February 2026.

  From Trump’s Maga to Farage’s Reform, they’re all following Putin’s nationalism playbook

  Rafael Behr

  Reform is promising a ‘patriotic school curriculum’ – but what does that mean? In the end it comes down to submission to the leader, says Guardian columnist Rafael Behr
• Keir Starmer at a community centre in Hertfordshire, 10 February 2026.

  Keir Starmer is the bandage that Labour can’t rip off for fear of opening old wounds

  Rafael Behr

  The party’s MPs know their leader is failing but they are paralysed by fear of a contest with no obvious successor, says Guardian columnist Rafael Behr
• Illustration by Deena So’Oteh

  When Maga oligarchs control the platforms, it isn’t really a debate about ‘free speech’

  Rafael Behr

  Moves to ban under-16s from social media should raise deeper questions about who controls democracy’s digital infrastructure, says Guardian columnist Rafael Behr

• Picture of Keir Starmer in front of union jack and Chinese flag

  From the Burnham row to the China visit, avoiding hard choices is the Starmer doctrine

  Rafael Behr

  Whether at home or abroad, the pattern of ducking difficult arguments and calling it pragmatism is the same, says Guardian columnist Rafael Behr