2022 In Politics: A Timeline Of Chaos From Partygate To The Mini-Budget

How many major moments in this political timeline of 2022 had you forgotten? 

10 January - Police made contact with government over ‘BYOB’ ‘partygate’ event

The Metropolitan Police confirmed that they had been in contact with the Cabinet Office over potential breaches of Covid laws in Downing Street on 20 May 2020. 

The intervention followed reports of a ‘bring your own booze’ event held in the No 10 garden when lockdown rules were in place, with an email invite sent to staff. 

"The Metropolitan Police service is aware of widespread reporting relating to alleged breaches of the Health Protection Regulations at Downing Street on 20 May 2020 and is in contact with the Cabinet Office,” police said in a statement. 

12 January - Boris Johnson confirmed he was at the BYOB event 

Boris Johnson admitted attending the May 2020 party in the Downing Street garden, and apologised to the House of Commons. 

“I know that millions of people across this country have made extraordinary sacrifices over the last 18 months,” he said in a statement before that week’s Prime Ministers’ Questions.

“I know the rage they feel with me, and with the government I lead, when they think that in Downing Street itself the rules were not being properly followed by the people who make the rules.”

14 January - No 10 issued an apology to the Queen after The Telegraph reported parties were held on the eve of Prince Philip’s funeral 

Downing Street issued an apology to Buckingham Palace after it emerged that lockdown-busting gatherings had been held in No 10 on the eve of Prince Philip’s funeral in 2021. It was reported that staff filled a suitcase with wine from the Strand Co-op.

Boris Johnson did not attend either of the events.

19 January - MP Christian Wakeford defected from the Tories to Labour 

Bury South MP Christian Wakeford defected from the Conservatives to the Labour Party, and described the Tories as “incapable” of leadership in his resignation letter to Boris Johnson. 

Wakeford, who took the seat in the North West by just 402 votes at the 2019 general election, said Labour was “ready to provide an alternative government that this country can be proud of”. 

24 February - Russia invaded Ukraine

Russia invaded Ukraine in the early hours, after weeks of filing increasing numbers of troops on to the border. 

In an address to the nation later that day, Boris Johnson said that “worst fears have now come true”. 

“This act of wanton and reckless aggression is an attack not just on Ukraine. It is an attack on democracy and freedom in East Europe and around the world. 

“This crisis is about the right of a free, sovereign independent European people to choose their own future, and that is a right that the UK will always defend.”

8 March - Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy addressed the House of Commons 

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky received a standing ovation from MPs and the Commons galleries when he addressed Parliament virtually. 

He referenced Shakespeare and Britain’s battles in World War Two, and told MPs and Lords: "We will not give up and we will not lose. We will fight until the end at sea, in the air. We will continue fighting for our land, whatever the cost."

11 April - Imran Ahmad Khan found guilty of sexually assaulting 15-year-old boy in 2008 

Former Wakefield MP Imran Ahmad Khan was found guilty of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy in 2008. 

Khan had denied the charges but was convicted by a jury at Southwark Crown Court. He was subsequently expelled from the Conservative Party and then stood down as an MP. 

12 April - Boris Johnson, Carrie Johnson and Rishi Sunak issued with fixed penalty notices over breaches of Covid lockdown rules

Boris Johnson, his wife Carrie, and then-chancellor Rishi Sunak were all handed fixed penalty notices for attending a gathering in the Cabinet Room inside 10 Downing Street while lockdown rules were in place in June 2020. 

Despite calls for his resignation over the fine, Johnson committed to staying on as prime minister. 

“I understand the anger that many will feel that I myself fell short when it came to observing the very rules which the government I lead had introduced to protect the public, and I accept in all sincerity that people had a right to expect better,” he said. 

“Now I feel an even greater sense of obligation to deliver on the priorities of the British people.” 

30 April - Tory MP Neil Parish resigns after admitting to watching porn in the House of Commons 

Former Conservative MP Neil Parish announced he would step down after admitting to reports that he had watched pornography in the House of Commons. 

Parish, who represented the Tiverton and Honiton seat in Devon, had previously had the Conservative Whip removed.

10 May - Prince Charles stands in for the Queen at the state opening of Parliament 

Charles, then Prince of Wales, delivered the Queen’s Speech for the first time in place of his mother Elizabeth II, who had been advised to rest. 

He was joined by Prince William and his wife Camilla, then Duchess of Cornwall, as he outlined details of 38 bills, in a shorter than average speech which included plans to crack down on protests and a Brexit opportunities Bill. 

25 May - Sue Gray report into Downing Street lockdown parties was published by the Cabinet Office 

Boris Johnson claimed No 10 staff “genuinely believed” they were working after senior civil servant Sue Gray finally published her long-awaited report into rule breaking at the heart of government during Covid lockdowns. 

She detailed 15 social gatherings over eight dates, including the infamous gathering on the eve of the funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh. 

“The senior leadership at the centre, both political and official, must bear responsibility for this culture,” the report said.  

3 June – Boris Johnson was booed while attending a service of thanksgiving for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee at St Paul’s Cathedral

Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie received a frosty reception when they arrived at St Paul's Cathedral for the event marking 70 years of the Queen’s reign.

Johnson was under intense pressure from the public and his own MPs over his future, following months of scandal. 

6 June – MPs held a Vote of confidence in Boris Johnson 

More than 40 per cent of the parliamentary Conservative Party voted that they had no confidence in the prime minister when a ballot was triggered by the 1922 committee. 

Johnson won the vote by 211 to 148. He said it was an “extremely good, positive, conclusive, decisive result” that meant he could “move on to unite and focus on delivery.”

23 June – Conservatives suffered double by-election defeat

Labour won the Wakefield by-election, with Simon Lightwood becoming the new MP for Wakefield following Imran Ahmad Khan’s resignation, and Richard Foord won Tiverton and Honiton for the Lib Dems after Neil Parish was forced to stand down over watching porn in the Commons. The votes were widely viewed as a reflection of public frustration with the government. Lightwood accused Boris Johnson “contempt for this country” which he believed people “no longer tolerated”.

30 June – Tamworth MP Chris Pincher resigns as Tory whip after an incident the previous evening

Tamworth MP Christopher Pincher resigned as a Conservative Party whip after he admitted he had “embarrassed myself and other people” after drinking “far too much”, as reports emerged that he had groped two men at a private club. Pincher wrote to Boris Johnson and said “the right thing for me to do in the circumstances” was to resign as deputy chief whip.”

The following day, the MP lost the Conservative whip and it was announced he will be investigated by Parliament’s independent complaints and grievance scheme. 

5 July – Sajid Javid and Rishi Sunak resigned from government over Boris Johnson’s handling of the Chris Pincher misconduct complaint 

Health Secretary Sajid Javid and Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s resignations triggered a tidal wave of  departures over the subsequent 48 hours. 

Javid and Sunak quit within minutes of one another following months of No 10 scandal. Sunak said “the public rightly expect government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously”, while Javid said that he could “no longer continue in good conscience”.  

7 July – Boris Johnson announced he would stand down after dozens of ministers resigned

Boris Johnson pointed to a Westminster “herd” mentality but accepted that “no one is remotely indispensable” in a speech outside No 10 announcing his resignation. His announcement followed a tidal wave of ministerial resignations, triggered by Sajid Javid and Rishi Sunak two days earlier.  

“I tried to persuade my colleagues that it would be eccentric to change governments when we’re delivering so much and when we have such a vast mandate and when we’re actually only a handful of points behind in the polls,” he said. 

“But as we’ve seen, at Westminster the herd instinct is powerful, when the herd moves, it moves.”

12 July – Rishi Sunak launched first leadership bid at QE2 centre

Rishi Sunak told supporters that he could not promise lower taxes as he launched his own Conservative Party leadership bid, and promised he would be an “honest” prime minister. 

"We need to have a grown up conversation about the central policy question that all candidates have to answer in this election: Do you have a credible plan to protect our economy and get it growing?," he told supporters. 

14 July – Liz Truss launched leadership bid at Kings Buildings Smith Square

Liz Truss said she was “ready to be prime minister from day one” at the official launch of her campaign for No 10. 

“I can lead, I can make tough decisions, and I can get things done,” she said.  

5 and 6 September – Liz Truss won the Conservative leadership contest and became prime minister 

Liz Truss vowed to deliver a “bold plan to cut taxes and grow our economy” when she beat Rishi Sunak in the race to become next Conservative Party leader and Prime Minister. with 81,326 votes to Sunak’s 60,399. The following day Truss met with the Queen at Balmoral to formally become prime minister. Photos of the Queen meeting her 13th prime minister would become the final pictures of the monarch to be published when she died two days later. 

8 September – News of the Queen’s death overshadowed Truss’s first major intervention as prime minister

Frontbench MPs on both sides of the Commons were seen urgently passing a note between them, as Liz Truss announced a major energy support package to curb rapidly rising bills. 

It would later emerge that the note informed government that the Queen was gravely ill. 

The queen died at her Scottish residence that afternoon, halting all government business. Shortly after it was announced at 6.30pm, some MPs in parliament's bars were seen in tears. 

9 September – Former prime ministers Theresa May and Boris Johnson were praised for speeches during Commons tributes to the Queen. Truss as PM met Charles as King for first time 

Former prime ministers Boris Johnson and Theresa May both received widespread praise for their Commons speeches in tribute to the Queen, who died two days ealier. May shared a funny anecdote with MPs about a time she dropped some cheese in front of the Queen before a picnic, while Johnson said that “wave after wave of grief is rolling across the world”. 

Later that afternoon, the King told Truss his mother’s death was the moment he had been “dreading”, in the first of their weekly audiences.

10 September - Penny Mordaunt leads St James’ ceremony with political members of the Privy Council present as Charles was proclaimed King 

Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Privy Council Penny Mordaunt was joined by senior political figures past and present as she led the accession council for King Charles at St James’ Palace. The historic ceremony was televised for the first time. 

14 September – Queen moved to Westminster Hall for historic Lying-in-State 

The Queen’s coffin was moved to Westminster Hall at the heart of Parliament for more than four days of Lying-in-State ahead of the funeral service. 

Members of the public queued through the night for the opportunity to walk past the coffin, while visiting dignitaries and heads of state also got the chance to pay their respects. Cabinet ministers Ben Wallace and Alister Jack, who have military affiliations, were among the guards keeping vigil at the perimeter of the coffin as part of Edinburgh’s Royal Company of Archers. 

A state funeral for the Queen was held at Westminster Abbey five days later. 

19 September – State funeral of the Queen held at Westminster Abbey 

All living former Prime Ministers were among the congregation at Westminster Abbey for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. Almost 30 million people around the country watched the service on television, while the Metropolitan Police launched the biggest policing event in its history. 

23 September – Pound crashed following Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s announcements of unfunded tax cuts

The plans in the mini-Budget included the abolition of the top 45p rate of income tax, the lifting of the cap on bankers bonuses and the abandonment of a planned rise in corporation tax. The majority of the plans were later reversed either by Liz Truss, or Kwarteng’s successor at the Treasury Jeremy Hunt, but the backlash hastened Truss’s exit from Downing Street. 

September 28 – Bank of England announces it is buying £65bn of government bonds after economic uncertainty 

In response to the wavering economy in the wake of the previous week’s mini-Budget, the Bank of England announces it will purchase government bonds in order to “restore orderly market conditions”. 

14 October – Kwasi Kwarteng sacked as Chancellor over mini-Budget fall out after rushing back from IMF summit 

Liz Truss sacked her chancellor and long-time ally Kwasi Kwarteng and replaced him with Jeremy Hunt, before U-turning on other aspects of the controversial mini-Budget. 

Kwarteng had been on a visit to the International Monetary Fund global summit in Washington DC when he was called back before he was summoned to Westminster for crisis talks in Downing Street. 

17 October – Jeremy Hunt reversed almost all Liz Truss’s tax measures 

New Chancellor Jeremy Hunt warned that he faced difficult decisions when he confirmed that he was ditching almost all of the measures in Truss and Kwarteng’s “mini-Budget”, after his predecessor was unceremoniously sacked in the wake of economic turmoil it triggered. 

He scaled back the energy support package and said that Truss “reluctantly” agreed it wouldn’t be possible to keep the support in its proposed form past April 2023. 

19 October – Suella Braverman resigned over data breach before a key Commons vote descended into chaos

Suella Braverman resigned as Home Secretary after she was found to have sent sensitive information using personal emails, as Liz Truss’s premiership began to truly unravel.

Later that evening, there were accusations of manhandling of MPs through the voting lobbies as an opposition day motion on fracking descended into chaos. The government had applied a three-line whip and effectively turned the vote into one of confidence in Truss’s leadership. 

The government ultimately won the vote but the drama surrounding it marked the beginning of the end of Truss’s time as prime minister.

20 October – Liz Truss announced her resignation 

After not even 50 days in office, Liz Truss became Britain’s shortest serving prime minister with her announcement that she would step down as leader of the Conservative Party and prime minister, following irreparable damage caused to her leadership by her mini-Budget the previous month. 

Speaking in Downing Street, she said that the country has been “held back for too long by low economic growth”, but acknowledged that she “cannot deliver the mandate” on which she was elected. 

24 October – Rishi Sunak was selected as Tory Leader and Prime Minister 

Rishi Sunak told MPs that his party was facing an “existential threat” after being selected as leader of the Conservative party uncontested after likely rivals Boris Johnson and Penny Mordaunt pulled out at the last minute. Sunak said the party should “unite or die”.

The following day he travelled to see the King at Buckingham Palace, and walked into Downing Street as Prime Minister, less than four months after his resignation from Boris Johnson’s government. 

16 November - Investigation was agreed following misconduct complaints relating to Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab

Rishi Sunak agreed to launch a formal investigation after two formal complaints were made in relation to justice secretary Dominic Raab. 

Following a series of reports relating to the senior minister's conduct, Raab asked Sunak to “commission an independent investigation as soon as possible” after being notified of the complaints in relation to his time as foreign secretary and his first tenure in the Ministry of Justice. 

Later in November, it was announced that Adam Tolley KC would lead the investigation, and by 14 December, the number of official complaints has increased to eight. 

17 November – Jeremy Hunt presented Autumn Statement led by "difficult" decisions. 

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt lowered the top rate income tax threshold and reduced the help the average household will receive through the energy price guarantee scheme from next April, when he delivered his Autumn Statement, in an attempt to further calm the markets following Truss's departure. 

He told the Commons his plans would deliver a “shallower downturn” for the UK economy while “protecting the vulnerable” from the effects of the global downturn.

Labour said the Chancellor had "picked the pockets of purses and wallets of the entire country" and that the country was being "held back" by the government.

"Spending will not go up as much as people want and there'll be more efficiencies to find and we won't have the speed of tax cuts we're hoping for, and some taxes will have to go up," Hunt told Sky News ahead of the announcement. 

“That's the reality of the very challenging situation we face."

He added: "We have to look at these things in the round and we have to make sure as we take these very difficult decisions, we're honest with people about the situation". 

1 December - Labour won City of Chester by-election with a swing reflecting national poll lead

Samantha Dixon was elected as the new Labour MP for the City of Chester, with 61 per cent of the votes cast.

The by-election was triggered by the resignation of Chris Matheson after the Independent Expert Panel recommended he be suspended from the Commons for four weeks following complaints of sexual misconduct.

The vote was the first electoral test for Rishi Sunak since becoming Prime Minister at the end of October, and although Labour had been expected to win, the increase in their vote share was a demonstration of the strength of polling for Keir Starmer’s party.

1 December – Ian Blackford announced he was stepping down as SNP leader in Westminster

Ross, Skye and Lochaber MP Ian Blackford announced he would step down as the SNP leader in Westminster after more than five years in the job.

Speaking to BBC Scotland a few days later, Blackford denied he was forced out and said he needs “to make sure my talents are used in the right way to support the government and support the first minister”.

He was succeeded by Stephen Flynn on 6 December.
 

15 December – Nurses hold first strike in the Royal College of Nursing union's history

Thousands of nurses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland walked out for the first of two days of action over pay and conditions, the first national strikes in the Royal College of Nursing’s history.

The union is asking for a 19 per cent pay rise, which ministers have said would be unaffordable, and while Health Secretary Steve Barclay said he would be willing to meet with union officials, it is clear that any discussion of pay would be off the table.

A second day of action happened the following week on December 20.
 

Mid December – RMT and other rail unions continued multiple days of strike action in the lead up to Christmas

Rail unions continued their ongoing strike action in the days leading up to Christmas, with two 48 hour strikes on 13 - 14 and 16 - 17 December.

Passengers were advised to only travel if absolutely necessary, with large parts of the country without any services, as rail workers continued their dispute over pay and conditions.

As the second two-day walkout began, RMT boss Mick Lynch said he thought a pay deal was “achievable”.

He told Sky News: “Resolutions to disputes are about compromises. We understand what the companies want and they understand what we need.

"So we need some compromise on some of the conditions they're putting on the offer and we'll need an improvement in the pay offer. That is achievable, in my view."

The RMT also promised to walk out from 6pm on Christmas Eve, with further disruption to services.

19 December – Government action announced against PPE firm linked to Michelle Mone

Officials announced that the government was suing PPE firm PPE Medpro, linked to peer Michelle Mone, for £122m plus costs.

The announcement followed reports that Baroness Mone had profited after recommending the firm for government contracts during the pandemic via the government’s VIP lane.

Following the first reports, Mone took a leave of absence from the House of Lords, having been nominated as a Tory peer in 2015.
 

21 December - Ambulance strike in England and Wales 

Ambulance drivers in England and Wales walked out as the wave of winter industrial action continued.

More than 700 military personnel were drafted in to help transport to hospitals and other tasks, and people were told to use 999 in instances of life or limb threatening emergencies.

A day earlier, health minister Will Quince had suggested that people should avoid “risky activity” while ambulances were on strike.

"If there is activity that people are undertaking tomorrow, whether it's – for example – contact sport, they may want to review that," he reiterated to the BBC later that day.

 

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