Fellow journalist Martin Bright wrote in 2009 that Rentoul "remains one of the most incisive political columnists writing today, even though he has lost his access to the highest levels of power".

[6] In 2011, Total Politics said that Rentoul "is probably the most high-profile defender of Tony Blair's record in the British media, in a year when the mere mention of the former PM's name provoked boos at the Labour Party conference.

[7][3] In November 2015, Rentoul issued a public apology for tweeting that "Jeremy Corbyn might say that France had brought the Paris attacks on itself".

[8] Rentoul was critical of Ed Miliband's leadership of the Labour Party,[9][10][11] and voted for Boris Johnson in the 2008 and 2012 London Mayoral elections.

Rentoul had claimed that the MP's use of the slogan "Kill the Bill" implied support for the murder of police officers.