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Rishi Sunak warned 2023 would have its “challenges”. Not wrong, was he? Here is a whistle-stop tour of the last year in British politics.
January
The prime minister unveiled his five promises by which he said voters should judge him on at the next election. He pledged to halve inflation, grow the economy, reduce the debt, cut NHS waiting lists and “stop the boats”.
Nadhim Zahawi was sacked as Tory Party chairman after “a serious breach of the ministerial code” over his tax affairs. Sunak marked his first 100 days in office by being less popular at that point than his five predecessors (who made it that far). Labour headed into the year with a 26-point lead.
Grant Shapps photoshopped Boris Johnson out of a picture he posted on Twitter.
February
Striking workers marched through London in the largest day of coordinated strike action for a decade, in protest at pay and conditions. Lee Anderson – who claimed nurses using food banks had “something wrong” with their ability budget – was appointed Tory deputy chairman. Environment secretary Therese Coffey said people should eat turnips to help ease the shortage of fruit and vegetables.
Sunak pulled off the seemingly impossible by reaching a breakthrough with the EU on Northern Ireland, signing the Windsor Framework.
Nicola Sturgeon resigned as Scotland’s first minister after more than eight years in the job.
March
Gary Lineker was suspended by the BBC from presenting Match Of The Day after tweeting that the language used by ministers around Rishi Sunak’s new asylum plan was similar to Germany in the 1930s.
Matt Hancock’s Covid-era WhatsApp messages were leaked by journalist Isabel Oakeshott, after Hanock gave them all to her. Boris Johnson swore “hand on heart” that he did not lie to the Commons about partygate.
Humza Yousaf won the SNP leadership election and became Scotland’s first minister. Jeremy Corbyn was blocked from standing for re-election as a Labour candidate.
April
Dominic Raab resigned following multiple bullying allegations. Oliver Dowden became deputy prime minister. Rishi Sunak set out plans to make every school pupil in England learn maths until they are 18. Conservative MP Scott Benton was filmed offering to help gambling industry lobbyists in exchange for money.
Labour suggested Sunak did not support the jailing of child sex offenders. Diane Abbott had the Labour Party whip suspended after she suggested Jewish, Irish and Traveller people had never been “subject to racism”.
The Scottish government launched a legal battle with the UK Government after it blocked the Scottish Parliament’s move to make it easier to change gender.
The White House denied Joe Biden was “anti-British”.
May
Rishi Sunak suffered a hammering at the local elections, losing around 1,000 seats across England, with Labour and the Lib Dems enjoying major gains. Jacob Rees-Mogg admitted the Conservative’s voter ID law was an attempt at “gerrymandering” that backfired.
Suella Braverman survived revelations she had been caught speeding and accusations she asked civil servants to help her avoid a public speed awareness course.
Tory MP Miriam Cates told the National Conservative conference “cultural Marxism” in schools was “destroying our children’s souls”. Another backbencher warned about the rise of “paganism”.
June
Nicola Sturgeon was arrested.
Nadine Dorries announced she would stand down as an MP with “immediate effect”…
Boris Johnson quit as an MP, claiming he was the victim of a “kangaroo court”. The Commons privileges committee decided he had misled parliament multiple times over partygate. He was stripped of his parliamentary pass. A new video emerged of Conservative Party staff having a party during lockdown in December 2020. The government has launched a legal battle against its own public inquiry into the handling of Covid in an effort to stop the release of Johnson’s unredacted WhatsApp messages, diaries and personal notebooks. Sue Gray was given the all-clear to start as Keir Starmer’s chief of staff.
Suella Braverman’s plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda was ruled unlawful by the Court of Appeal. Zac Goldsmith resigned from the government, saying he was “horrified” at Sunak. The Conservative press office tweeted that Labour had a problem with chaos.
Caroline Lucas, the former leader of the Green Party, said she was quitting parliament at the next election.
July
The Lib Dems overturned a 19,000 Tory majority to win the Somerton and Frome by-election. That was soon followed by the Conservatives’ 20,000 majority in Selby and Ainsty tumbling to Labour – a seat that wasn’t even on the party’s target list for the next election. But the Tories held onto Boris Johnosn’s former seat of Uxbridge – arguably thanks to local anger at Sadiq Khan’s expansion of the Ulez scheme. A Labour civil war erupted over the issue. Starmer also faced an internal rebellion after he insisted an incoming Labour government would keep the Tories’ two-child benefit cap. His speech on education was interrupted by climate protesters.
Nigel Farage was “debanked” when Coutts closed his accounts because of concerns over his political views. The Conservatives picked Susan Hall as its candidate for London mayor, she supported Donald Trump and expressed “deep joy” at Liz Truss’ mini-Budget. Robert Jenrick ordered the removal of murals of cartoon characters at an asylum centre for children in Dover.
August
Downing Street blanketed the airwaves with coverage of the government’s achievements on migration in what was dubbed “small boats week”. The Bibby Stockholm barge holding asylum seekers turned out to be awash with legionella.
Sunak went on holiday to California. While he was away Greenpeace activists managed to climb on the roof of his mansion to protest the granting of new North Sea oil and gas licenses. The prime minister “inadvertently” breached code of conduct rules when he failed to declare his wife’s shares in a childcare company that would benefit from his new childcare policy.
UK wages grew at a record rate – but people were over £200 worse off a week than they would have been if pre-financial crisis trends had continued.
Ukraine’s spring offensive stalled. Grant Shapps was appointed defence secretary.
Nadine Dorries announced she was finally actually resigning as an MP
September
Rishi Sunak has announced he would weaken net zero policies designed to tackle climate change, despite an outcry from several senior Tories. Boris Johnson attacked the move. As did the car companies.
Suella Braverman said multiculturalism had “failed” and immigration posed an “existential challenge” to the West. The home secretary added that fearing discrimination for being gay or a woman should not be enough to qualify people for refugee status.
Keir Starmer demoted former leadership rival Lisa Nandy as he carried out a reshuffle of his shadow cabinet.
Education secretary Gillian Keegan boasted she was doing a “fucking good job” over the crumbling concrete scandal that closed many of England’s schools.
October
Rishi Sunak cancelled the northern leg of HS2 to Manchester. He expertly announced the move during the Conservative Party’s conference, in Manchester. It came after an excruciating few days of refusing to confirm it even though the decision had leaked. Bois Johnson and David Cameron led the Tory backlash.
The gathering was largely a future Tory leadership beauty parade. The Conservative chair of the London assembly was dragged out of Braverman’s speech by security after he quietly complained she was delivering a “homophobic rant”. Liz Truss turned up and held a big rally of right-wing supporters. Nigel Farage said he was a fan of the ex-PM. Transport secretary Mark Harper spread conspiracy theories about local councils wanting to control how often people go to the shops. Susan Hall, the Tory candidate for London mayor, claimed Jewish voters are “frightened” of Sadiq Khan.
Labour overturned two huge Conservative majorities to claim victory at by-elections in Nadine Dorries’ old seat of Mid Bedfordshire and Chris Pincher’s former seat of Tamworth. Podcaster George Osborne said losing both was “armageddon” for Sunak. Labour also comfortably won the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election, held after Covid-rule breaking MP Margaret Ferrier got kicked out of parliament. An important boost for the party in Scotland. A protester disrupted Keir Starmer’s speech to the Labour conference by covering him in glitter.
British political leaders condemned Hamas for its brutal terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, which triggered the biggest crisis in the Middle East in years. The streets of London, like so many cities, filled with protesters, showing their support for either Israelis or Palestinians trapped under bombardment in Gaza. GMB presenter Richard Madeley asked British-Palestinian MP Layla Moran if she was aware Hamas was planning the attack before it happened. Starmer resisted demands that he back a ceasefire in the war as Labour splits erupted over his stance on the conflict.
From “disappearing messages” to the urge to “let the virus rip”, WhatsApp messages published by the Covid inquiry exposed the chaos in government during the pandemic. Sunak was branded “Dr Death the chancellor” by a senior government scientist. Simon Case, the UK’s top civil servant, told colleagues Boris Johnson “cannot lead”. Covid guidance was likely broken every day inside Downing Street during the pandemic, according to the second most senior official. Matt Hancock thought that he should decide who lived or died. Boris Johnson asked whether Covid could be cured by blowing a hair dryer up your nose.
Humanity could “lose control” of Artificial Intelligence, Sunak warned as he set out a series of grim scenarios for the future of mankind. MP Andrew Bridgen reported another MP to parliamentary authorities for allegedly slapping him on the back of the head and calling him a “bastard” before running away.
November
Rishi Sunak had a super normal love-in with Elon Musk. The Kings’ Speech unveiled the prime minister’s legislative agenda, including a crackdown on rogue pedicab operators in London.
The Supreme Court unanimously ruled the government’s plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda was illegal. Tory deputy-chairman Lee Anderson said the government should “ignore the law” and fly people there anyway. The prime minister said he would introduce “emergency legislation” in an attempt to keep the scheme alive.
Suella Braverman said homelessness was a “lifestyle choice”. She added – in an article No.10 made clear it had not signed-off – that the police had a left-wing bias. She was sacked. James Cleverly – who probably called the Rwanda deportation plan he was now in charge of “batshit” – became home secretary. He denied calling an English town “a shithole”.
David Cameron was appointed foreign secretary. Esther McVey was made “common sense tsar”.
Sunak hit his inflation target after figures revealed the rate had halved since the start of the year. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced he was slashing the rate of National Insurance by 2%, triggering speculation of a May election, Taxes were still projected to hit their “highest ever level”.
Boris Johnson was “clearly bamboozled” and “confused” by Covid science, according to Patrick Vallance. Downing Street officials were left red-faced after the Irish tricolour was wrongly used in a social media post about Northern Ireland.
Sunak triggered a diplomatic row by cancelling a meeting with the Greek prime minister over the Elgin Marbles. Nigel Farage said “never say never” after being asked whether he would consider running to be prime minister. Sunak was caught on camera using a hammer sideways.
December
Robert Jenrick resigned as immigration minister. But Sunak managed to face down a rebellion by Mafia don Mark Francois and his right-wing Tory “five families” to win a crunch Commons vote on his flagship Rwanda bill. He later told MPs there was no “firm date” for when he expected to meet his pledge to “stop the boats”.
Chris Whitty dubbed Rishi Sunak’s Eat Out To Help Out scheme “eat out to help the virus”. The prime minister defended not consulting government scientists before launching the policy.
Keir Starmer lavished praise on Margaret Thatcher.
Polls showed Sunak was as unpopular as Johnson was during his final months in office. He faces two more by-elections in the New Year after a sleaze watchdog recommended MP Scott Benton be suspended from parliament and Peter Bone lost a recall petition.
In the United States, Donald Trump said he only planned to act like a dictator on “day one” of his second term.
