People like Andrew Rawnsley

Andrew Nicholas James Rawnsley (born 5 January 1962) is a British political journalist and broadcaster. A columnist and chief political commentator for The Observer, he has written two books on New Labour.

Rawnsley was born in Leeds. He was educated at Lawrence Sheriff School in Rugby and later on a scholarship at Rugby School and read History at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, 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.

Rawnsley began his career at the BBC, working there for two years from 1983, then joined The Guardian in 1985. From 1987 he was the newspaper's parliamentary sketch writer. In 1993 he moved to The Observer as Chief Political Commentator and Associate Editor, a position he retains.