Best of political opinion in 2022
Westminster this year was a lightning rod for drama. There were the many, many moments of Boris Johnson almost being ousted, to his final days when more than fifty members of the government resigned, only for his then-Chancellor, Nadhim Zahawi, to be behind the last knife. There was the short-lived premiership of Liz Truss and her Chancellor-for-a-moment Nadhim Zahawi. And finally the crowning of Rishi Sunak, with a rumoured bid forJohnson to run again for leadership almost threatening his ascendence to No10.
Even now, all is not well in the heart of London. The country is gripped by strikes and No10 is holding resolutely to its line on pay increases, including for nurses and ambulance workers.
Our columnists have covered the many twists and turns of each of these moments, below is a collection of the best, selected by our Comment & Features desk.
The first comes from back in May, by our columnist Steve Hawkes, on the winning position Keir Starmer found himself as Boris Johnson’s leadership hit the rocks, and how he was still wasting an opportunity.
The next looks at the power the unions wield over Britain, and how Labour has long struggled to keep their relationship with them on wave-and-smile terms. Will Cooling, who began writing for us this year, on how it was Labour’s failures to really be the party of the workers which gave union bigwigs like Mick Lynch their platform. It is a piece all the more relevant today as the UK public sector has been crippled by employees marching to the picket line.
Our own Comment & Features editor, Sascha O’Sullivan, in October looked at the rapid downfall of Liz Truss and how much of politics plays out on WhatsApp, stirring up discontent on the backbenches at a speed many of her predecessors may not have survived.
And finally, Morning Wire feature writer Elena Siniscalco looks ahead at the Voter ID reforms set to come in and disrupt the local elections next May.
Without any real coherence, many have warned the rules risk disenfranchised many Britons. And yet, the government has struggled to pinpoint the problem they’re supposed to solve.