John Rentoul (journalist)

John Rentoul, lecturing at Queen Mary, University of London.

John Rentoul is a British journalist, who is the chief political commentator for the Independent on Sunday.

He has been in this position since February 2004, having previously been chief political commentator at the Independent since January 1997. Before that, he had been political correspondent for the same paper since 1995, and Deputy Editor of the New Statesman between January 1983 and May 1988. He was also a political reporter for BBC's "On The Record" between 1988 and 1995. He has become known as an "ultra-Blairite", both by himself and others, and has described having "slavish admiration" for Tony Blair. He is also a visiting fellow in Contemporary History at Queen Mary, University of London. His biography of Tony Blair has passed through several editions.

Fellow journalist Martin Bright has said Rentoul "remains one of the most incisive political columnists writing today, even though he has lost his access to the highest levels of power".

He also maintains a daily blog on LiveJournal. His blog has running features including "Questions To Which The Answer Is 'No'", an idea originated by Oliver Kamm.

Rentoul is related to 1920s Conservative MP, Sir Gervais Rentoul.