2022 - A year like no other...

2022.

A year like no other.

We find ourselves on the eve of another new year, filled with hope and excitement for what lies ahead.

Before we embark on the new adventure of 2023, let's look back and reflect on the drama that unfolded in British politics in 2022 (and let's be honest, there is a lot to look back on. Westminster is more like a soap opera than the centre of government!).

Quick summary:

12 party gate investigations

11% inflation (October)

10 gruelling months of war in Europe

9 weeks of rishi Sunak in charge (So far)

8 7 192 fans watching the lionesses bring it home

7 decades of queen Elizabeth II celebrated

6 by-elections

5 education secretaries

4 chancellors of the exchequer

3 prime ministers

2 monarchs

1 tumultuous year in politics.

January - PPE contracts, partygate and the Sue Grey report

12th January

The High Court rules that the government acted unlawfully when it used a VIP lane to award PPE contracts to two companies. Then Prime Minister, Boris Johnson confirmed he did attend a party in the No10 garden during the first lockdown.

31st January

The initial findings of the Sue Grey report (the report of the civil servant investigating gatherings held at 10 Downing Street during the pandemic) were published. Grey noted that the some of the gatherings failed to observe “the standards expected of the entire British public at the time” and concluded that “ a number of thee gatherings should not have been allowed to take place.” This initial report was damaging for the government at the time and was a sign that the issue of party gate was far from over.

February - Resignations and the invasion of Ukraine

3rd February

Boris Johnson caused some controversy in PMQs (Prime Minister's Questions). Johnson’s comments at the dispatch box that afternoon resulted in several resignations from government aides. Johnson had said that Keir Starmer (Labour leader) was responsible for the failure to prosecute serial sex offender Jimmy Savile. Resignations that day came from; Munira Mirza (director of the No.10 Policy Unit), Jack Doyle (Director of Communications), Dan Rosenfield (Chief of Staff) and Martin Reynolds (Principle Private Secretary to the Prime Minister).

4th February

Policy advisor Elena Narozanski became the fifth aide to resign from Johnsons government over the comments made by Johnson in PMQs.

The 8th February

Cabinet reshuffle day. Jacob Rees-Moggs became Minister of State for Brexit Opportunities and Government Efficiency and Mark Spencer became leader of the house.

24th February

Russia launches a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Johnson and many other countries around world condemns Putin’s regime and continue to support Ukraine uphold democracy.

March - By-elections, release of Nazanin Zachary-Ratcliff and budgets.

3rd March

Paulette Hamilton won the 2022 Birmingham Erdington by-election for labour with 55.5% of the vote.

16th March

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, an Iranian-British dual citizen who was detained in Iran in 2016, was released by Iranian officials and allowed to return to the UK. This came after years of protests by her husband Richard.

23rd March

Then chancellor (now PM), Rishi Sunak delivered his spring statement. This included the rise in national insurance and a cut in fuel duty.

30th Marc

Jamie Wallis, MP for Bridgend became the first openly transgender MP in the UK. This was a breakthrough moment in terms of representation in parliament.

April - Partygate continues, Rwanda, and porn in the HoC

12th April

PM Boris Johnson, Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Johnson’s wife Carrie are each issued with a fixed penalty notice for breaking lockdown rules at gatherings in Whitehall and Downingstreet. 30 more penalties were announced. Sunak and Johnson apologised and faced calls from all over parliament to resign. Both men stayed put.

14th April

The government signed the Rwanda asylum plan, to fly migrants who cros the channel to Rwanda. This plan has faced a lot of scrutiny from Charites and MPs from across the house but the Supreme Court has recently ruled that this policy is lawful and does not violate human rights.

27th April

Conservative Chief Whip, Chris Heaton-Harris announces he is investigating a conservative MP (now known to be Neil Parish) for watching pornography on his phone in the house of commons.

29th April

Neil Parish, MP for Tiverton and Honiton was suspended from the Conservative Whip.

30th April

Neil Parish admits to watching pornography in the commons and subsequently resigns.

May - Local elections, Northern Ireland Assembley and the return of Sue Grey

5th May (Local election)

The conservative party lost a net loss of 485, including the London boroughs of Barnet, Westminster and Wandsworth – all formerly conservative strongholds.Labour gained 108 seats. Liberal Democrats gain 240 seats. The Green Party gain 87 seats. In Scotland, the SNP gains 22 seats. In Northern Ireland, Sinn Fein receive the largest share of votes. The 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election is held.

8th May

Sinn Fein is declared the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly election.

17th May

Then Foreign Secretary (now former PM), Liz Truss announced a plan to abandon parts of the Northern Ireland protocol (breaking part of the Good Friday agreement.)

25th May

The Sue Grey report (mentioned back in January) was released in full, concluding that senior Downing Street officials, political and non-political, “bear responsibility” for the culture and partying at Downing Street.

26th May

Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a £15 billion package of measures to help the rising cost of living. The package included a 25% windful tax on oil and gas companies, a guaranteed £400 energy bill discount for households.

June - the Platinum Jubilee, votes of confidence and Pincher.

3rd June

Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her Platinum Jubilee and marked an incredible 70 years on the throne, becoming England's longest reigning monarch.

6th June

marks the beginning of the end for Boris Johnson. Sir Graham Brady, Chairman of the 1922 Committee announced a vote of confidence in Johnson’s leadership of the party. The Conservative party voted in favour of Johnson with a result of 211 to 148.

23rd June

Despite the vote of confidence in Johnson’s government the two By-elections on the 23rd June (in Tiverton and Honiton and in Wakefield) were a big wake up call for the sitting Prime Minister. Both constituencies had a substantial conservative majority in the 2019 election. However, Tiverton and Honiton were taken by the Liberal Democrats and Wakefield is now held by Labour.

28th June

Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s First Minister announced the publication of the Scottish Government’s Scottish Independence Referendum Bill and proposed the 13th October 2023 as the date for a second Scottish Independence Referendum.

30th June

Member of Parliament for Tamworth, Chris Pincher, resigns as the Conservative Party deputy chief whip after an incident at the Carlton Club the night before saying he “embarrassed myself” and “drank way too much”.

July - the fall of Boris Johnson and jubilation for the lionesses.

On 1st July

more details of the Pincher scandal emerge. Pincher had the Conservative Party Whip withdrawn but stated that he would remain in parliament as in independent MP.

3rd July

a further six allegations against Pincher had been made. Allegations included making unwanted advancements towards other male MPSs. It is reported that one complainant had given No.10 details in February 2022 and expressed concerns over Pincher becoming a whip in charge of other MPs welfare.

5th July

Downing Street conceded that Johnson was aware of allegations against Pincher before appointing him as deputy chief whip. Following this, Health Secretary, Sajid Javid and Chancellor, Rishi Sunak resigned from Johnson’s government.

July 6th and 7th

Both of these days saw many resignations from Johnson’s government, including cabinet ministers, senior and junior aides.

7th July

Boris Johnson resigned as Conservative Party leader and as PM kick starting the first conservative leadership race. Several ministers who served in Johnson’s cabinet, including Rishi Sunak, Sajid Javid, Nadhim Zahawi and Grant Shapps launched their campaigns to become leader of the Conservative Party.

31st July, the Lionesses (England's Women's national football team) won UEFA Women's Euros in front of a record breaking crowd of 87, 192 fans at Wembley. (I know this is supposed to be about politics but as an avid women's football fan there is no way I could write about 2022 and not mention this!)

August

Despite Johnson resigning as leader of the Conservative Party he remained in No.10 until a successor was decided. Throughout the month of August parliament is in recesses so it is always a quite month and not a lot of policy making takes place.

However, it was announced on 31st August that the Queen will appoint the new Prime Minister at Balmoral and not return to Buckingham Palace, as is tradition.

September - Liz Truss becomes PM, the death of the Queen and "mini budgets"

1st September

In his last act as Prime Minister, Johnson confirmed that the government will provide £700 million in funding for the Sizewell C nuclear power station.

5th September

Liz Truss was elected as the new leader of the Conservative Party and was therefore, the new Prime Minister of the UK.

Over the following days, Truss formed the Truss Ministry, appointing Therese Coffey as Health Secretary, James Cleverly as Foreign Secretary, Suella Braverman as Home Secretary and Kwasi Kwarteng as Chancellor.

8th September, at 18:30, Buckingham Palace announced that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II had died, peacefully in her sleep at Balmoral Castle. Upon the death of his mother, Charles became King of the United Kingdom and head of the Commonwealth of Nations.

Over the next few days, tributes to the late Queen were read in parliament, the new King Charles III was proclaimed king and embarked on a trip around the United Kingdom, visiting Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales before returning to London.

19th September

this Monday was a national Bank holiday as the state funeral of the late Queen took place at Westminster Abbey and country celebrated the life of Britain’s longest reigning monarch

23rd September

we remember this day as the day of the disastrous “Mini Budget”. Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng delivered an emergency mini budget, in which he announced the biggest tax cuts in the UK since 1972.

The 45% top rate if income tax would be scrapped.

The basic rate of income tax would be dropped from 20% to 19%

The cap on bankers’ bonuses would be lifted

The planed rise in corporation tax was also scrapped.

The increase in National insurance was reversed.

The threshold before stamp duty is paid in England and Northern Ireland was raised to £425,000 for first time buyers and to £250,000 for everyone else.

October - the fall of liz Truss and the rise of Rishi Sunak

3rd October

following a huge amount of backlash the new government’s decision to abolish the highest income tax band was reversed.

14th October

after the international markets reacted badly to the “mini budget” delivered on 23rdSeptember, Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng was sacked and replaced by Jeremy Hunt.

17th October

Jeremy Hunt delivered another emergency statement in the commons in which he announced that he will “reverse almost all of the tax measures” from the mini budget.

19th October

Home Secretary Suella Braverman resigns after admitting to breaking security protocol having sent emails containing sensitive information from her personal phone. She was succeeded by Grant Shapps.

20th October

Liz Truss resigned as leader of the Conservative party and as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The front runners for the second leadership race is Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt.

25th October

Rishi Sunak becomes the 57th Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the first PM of colour.

26th October

Sunak reimposes a ban on fracking in the UK, undoing the plan by Liz Truss and in line with the 2019 manifesto. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt defers the statement on the government’s medium term fiscal plan from 31st October to the 17th November.

November - Autumn statements and Scottish independence ruling.

17th November

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt delivers his autumn statement to the house of commons, bring stability to the international markets.

23rd November

The Supreme Court ruled that the Scottish Government cannot hold a second Scottish independence referendum without the UK government’s consent.

December - by-elections, resignations and bullying allegations.

1st December

A parliamentary by-election in Chester is held and won by Labours Samantha Dixon with an increased majority. Ian Blackford, Westminster leader of the SNP resigns.

6th December

Stephen Flynn is elected to lead the SNP at Westminster. Conservative party peer Michelle Mone is to request a leave of absence after allegations she benefitted from a company, she recommended for a COVID contract.

14th December

It is announced that deputy Prime Minister, Domonic Raab is facing 8 formal complaints of bullying.

22nd December

Rishi Sunak appoints Sir Laurie Magnus, chairman of Historic England to be his new independent ethics advisor.

Throughout the month of December the UK was bought to a standstill due to nationwide strikes affecting the trains, busses, highways, postal services, nurses, ambulance workers and teachers. More strikes are set to be announced in the new year.

It really has been a year like no other. The Uk is in the midst of a cost of living crisis, the British public are struggling to pay their bills and provide for their families. War is still raging in Europe. The world is being battered by extreme weather, from 40 degree heat in the UK to 1/3 of Pakistan being under water. Women in Iran are fighting for their freedom and quite frankly their lives. While this seems like a negative way to end 2022, it is the reality facing many people across the world.

But with 2023 brings a new hope and a new desire for change.

Best wishes to everyone and a happy new year!

R.M.Jones