We are in the pre-Christmas dog days and politics has, finally, slowed down a bit. Reflecting on 2025, here are my top 12 key moments which tell us the most about where we are in politics and how things might pan out in 2026. Keir Starmer had a decent start to the year, while Nigel Farage ‘won’ from May to September. The final quarter saw the emergence of Kemi Badenoch and Zack Polanski:

Starmer produces letter from the King inviting Donald Trump on his second state visit, 27 February

This might have been the high point of the Prime Minister’s year. He and then foreign secretary David Lammy worked out that Trump was likely to win the presidential election a year earlier and got alongside his team. Playing the royal card in the Oval Office was a masterstroke and set up a much warmer than

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