2024 was a rollercoaster year in British politics and around the world.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during their BBC Head-to-head debate i
The year began with everyone in Westminster, and many outside the bubble who weren’t transfixed by ITV’s dramatisation of the Post Office Scandal, guessing when the general election would be.
Rishi Sunak wouldn’t say exactly when but kicked-off the longest election campaign in living memory during early January by saying it would be in the second half of the year.
As winter continued so did Labour’s ongoing saga over Gaza.
Speaking of which, Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle got into a pickle over the same issue in February, granting a vote to Labour, not the SNP, resulting in more than 60 MPs signing a vote of no-confidence in him.
Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, soaked in rain, pauses as he delivers a speech to announce Ju
Don’t miss… Keir Starmer to unleash most brazen act of Brexit betrayal yet in New Year [LATEST]
Sir Lindsay apologised and the show eventually moved on.
Later that month George Galloway made his latest comeback, returning to the Commons as the new MP for Rochdale after winning a toxic and chaotic by-election.
Reform UK secured their first ever MP in March when former Labour-man Lee Anderson defected from the Tories.
The party’s new “professional” approach was exemplified in April when it dropped its candidate for York Central Tommy Cawkwell for “inactivity”.
It turned out that he was dead.
The moment everyone had been waiting for duly arrived in May when Mr Sunak finally called the general election, getting drenched as he announced the historic moment in the pouring rain outside No 10.
The following month, in what was the signature screw-up of the election campaign, the Prime Minister fled early from the commemorations marking the 80th anniversary of D-Day and returned to London to do an interview with ITV.
Mandatory Credit: Photo by TOLGA AKMEN/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock (14522188bz) Nigel Farage (C), leade
Don’t miss…
Reform membership surges after Kemi Badenoch’s row with Nigel Farage [LATEST]
Nigel Farage opens up on links with Elon Musk and hails him as ‘bloody hero’ [LATEST]
Kemi Badenoch hauls in TV boss to demand airtime slashed for rival Nigel Farage [LATEST]
Rachel Reeves, Chancellor of the Exchequer, is seen in Westminster after meeting with trade union bo
Sir Keir Starmer spent most of the campaign saying a Labour government wouldn’t raise taxes while Lib Dem leader Ed Davey kept throwing himself into water.
Nigel Farage took charge of Reform UK again and got a milkshake chucked in his face for good measure.
He also promised a political earthquake, the aftershocks of which we are still feeling today and, most likely, until the next general election in 2029.
July saw Labour claim a landslide election victory which kick-started the Tory blame game/leadership contest.
Within weeks Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced that the government was scrapping the winter fuel payment for pensioners.
August, usually a quiet month politically, saw the opening salvo in the war of words between Elon Musk and Sir Keir after the billionaire took a swipe at the PM over the riots engulfing the country.
The new government also faced its first -gate scandal after it emerged the PM, Chancellor and members of his Cabinet had been racking up the freebies including tickets to Taylor Swift gigs and a natty line in clothes.
Both rows dominated September at a time when Sir Keir was still hoping to be enjoying his Prime Ministerial honeymoon.
MAIN: Donald Trump has denied that Elon Musk is stealing his presidency as the first cracks begin t
Ms Reeves celebrated in October by dying her hair Orang Utan orange – she quickly made a u-turn – before delivering the biggest tax-raising, pensioner-farmer-business-worker-bashing Budget in history.
Sue Gray, the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, was ousted the same month in further humiliation.
Kemi Badenoch beat off Robert Jenrick and James Cleverly, who basically cocked it up, to win the Tory leadership race.
Westminster and the rest of the world watched open-mouthed in November as Donald Trump won the US election, marking the most extraordinary political comeback.
It also marked the moment where Sir Keir and the rest of the government started to eat copious amounts of humble-pie having spent the previous eight years slagging off the Big Don.
Sir Keir was also given a major headache when thousands of farmers, including Jeremy Clarkson, descended on Whitehall to vent their anger over his inheritance tax hike.
There was very little to celebrate in December either with the sacking of Transport Secretary Louise Haigh.
Predictions for 2025? Trump, Musk, Farage, Trump, Musk, Farage……