Westminster never disappoints.
When Keir Starmer came into Downing Street, he promised that politics would “tread more lightly” on the lives of everyday people.
He was likely referring to the farce of Partygate, leadership battles and political blunders under successive Tory governments.
But Labour have got caught up in less than pleasant situations of their own making in their first full calendar year in power.
Opposition parties have also caught headlines with their own gaffes.
So, to finish off another year of constant drama in SW1, here are the biggest blunders, misjudgements and Westminster’s worst moments of the year.
Rachel Reeves breaks down at PMQs
In one of the most memorable emotional displays in the Chamber in recent years, pandemonium over Labour’s reforms to the benefit system saw Rachel Reeves seemingly succumb to the pressure of frontline politics.
With tears streaming down her cheeks during Prime Minister’s Questions, bond markets reacted violently, pushing up government borrowing costs over fears Reeves would cede her position to a more left-wing MP.
The ordeal came at the climax of a row within the Labour Party around the overall policy direction.
Reeves later said she was upset over an unspecified personal issue.
Rachel Reeves is seen tearing up in Parliament during Prime Minister’s Questions. House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA Wire
U-turn after U-turn
Another huge blow for Labour came in the form of fumbles over changes to the welfare system and cuts to the Winter Fuel Allowance, together worth around £7bn in savings.
A major rebellion prompted by some 130 MPs stopped Keir Starmer in his tracks.
U-turns on each of the two policy packages tinged perceptions of Starmer’s ruthlessness and gave rise to months of tax hike speculation ahead of the Budget.
The Leaky War
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) jumped the gun on Budget day, and mistakenly published their report on Reeves’ tax plans before she had got to her feet at the dispatch box.
The battle that ensued between the Treasury and the OBR resulted in the resignation of OBR chairman Richard Hughes.
This was just the climax of a five-month long frenzy of tax speculation that cast divisions between OBR wonks and excitable special advisers.
After Reeves hinted that a Labour manifesto pledge not to raise income tax rates would be breached at a press conference in early November, a leak to the media suggesting otherwise just a week later spooked bond traders who offloaded gilts en masse.
The Treasury is finishing the year with an inquiry into its handling of confidential information, amid staunch criticism from Treasury Select Committee chair Meg Hillier and OBR economists.
Former Bank of England economist Andy Haldane said months of tax speculation had been damaging for UK growth, causing “paralysis among businesses and consumers”.
Housing secretary didn’t pay housing tax
The housing secretary Angela Rayner admitted to underpaying stamp duty on the purchase of her second home in Hove.
Controversy over her financial affairs resulted in the Red Queen’s resignation as Deputy Prime Minister and as a Cabinet minister.
As a champion of Labour’s soft left groups and a vocal critic of tax avoidance, Rayner was roundly criticised for failing to live up to her own standards.
Just don’t rule out her return to the Cabinet in 2026, with the Prime Minister himself backing her comeback.
Why is the Labour manifesto in the Chinese spy witness statements?
Prime Minister Keir Starmer found himself under fire for the collapse of the prosecution of two men accused of spying for China.
The government failed to provide the prosecution with evidence that China was considered a threat to national security.
The Labour government blamed the collapse of the case on the previous Conservative approach on relations with China and not deeming the world’s second biggest economy to be a national security threat.
But within a top civil servant’s witness statements to the Crown Prosecution Service before the case’s collapse was a direct copy-and-pasted lifting of words from the Labour Party manifesto, prompting questions of the current government’s involvement in the collection of evidence.
Both men denied allegations of spying and the case was thrown out.
Tractors take over Whitehall
Proposed changes to the UK inheritance taxes led to major opposition from farmers and a number of Labour backbenchers.
Opposition came in the form of a platoon of tractors lining up Whitehall, with former Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson rallying the troops and helping draw considerable public attention.
The opposition seized on farmers’ discontent, with the Conservatives and the Lib Dems condemning the proposals.
Farmers have staged almost-weekly protests against the goverrnment.Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire
‘One-in-one-out’ migrant returns
A “ramping up” of immigration policy, as the home secretary put it, saw the introduction of the highly controversial ‘one-in-one-out’ deal aimed at deterring small boat Channel crossings.
The scheme involves an agreement with France that sees migrants returned across the Channel in exchange for asylum seekers with legitimate family ties to the UK.
But in news that left some Labour figures red-faced, it later transpired that a migrant deported to France as part of the deal managed to make their way back to the UK on a small boat.
While the policy has faced some issues, migrants who returned UK have been sent back.
Corruption minister resigns amid corruption row
Families often start fighting when work gets too close to home but former City minister Tulip Siddiq suffered the consequences of home getting too close to work.
After her aunt Sheikh Hasina was overthrown as Bangladesh’s leader for corruption and tyranny, Siddiq – who was responsible for policy around tackling financial corruption in the UK – faced intense scrutiny over the extent of her involvement in the regime.
Labour party pamphlets were found in Hasina’s property after she was toppled from power while Siddiq’s Labour pamphlets were also found at the scene.
Siddiq resigned as minister in January after weeks of pressure. She has since been given a jail sentence in Bangladesh for corruption but Siddiq said the trial process had been “flawed and farcical from the beginning to the end” and she vehemently denies all allegations against her.
Homelessness minister evicts tenants
Despite having condemned the exploitation of tenants and called for greater protections to be put in place, homelessness minister Rushanara Ali hiked the rent on an East London property in her possession just a few months after informing her previous tenants their lease would not be renewed.
Ali was forced to resign after she was accused of hypocrisy.
No 10 officials call Labour MPs ‘feral’ in briefing campaign
Westminster hacks published almost simultaneous stories about a leadership contest from health secretary Wes Streeting having received coordinated briefings from No. 10 officials.
Streeting, who denied the allegations, lamented “self-destructive behaviour” from inside No 10.
Some officials were also quoted as referring to Labour backbenchers as “feral” for blocking government plans, leaving some MPs somewhat despondent about their leadership.
Keir Starmer admits he didn’t read ‘island of strangers’ speech
After warning that the UK could find itself becoming “an island of strangers” without changes to immigration policy, Starmer found himself accused of developing a rhetoric not dissimilar to Enoch Powell’s infamous “Rivers of Blood” speech.
Starmer’s defence? He had failed to read over the speech closely enough, despite the highly contentious nature of its contents.
In an interview with his biographer Tom Baldwin, Starmer expressed deep regret for the use of the phrase, wishing that, when reading over the speech, he had “held it up to the light a bit more”.
Emma Reynolds can’t answer questions on Lower Thames Crossing
Appearing on LBC, the former City minister Emma Reynolds seemingly could not recall the numbers involved in one of the largest infrastructure projects currently on the agenda, the Lower Thames Crossing.
In her first blunder, Reynolds mistakenly referred to the Dartford Tunnel as the “Dartmouth Tunnel”, citing her obsession with “that part of the world” in explanation for her error.
The Minister was subsequently forced to admit she had no idea where the planned Lower Thames Crossing would start and end, nor how much it was going to cost.
David Lammy forgets poppy… and avoids telling Parliament about prisoner escape
In his first appearance at PMQs in place of the Prime Minister, justice secretary David Lammy, while paying tribute to the bravery of those who fought “to defend our freedom”, did not set himself up for success when he had to borrow a poppy from the RAF veteran and Labour MP Calvin Bailey.
In the same session, Lammy went on to tell a Tory frontbencher to “get a grip, man”, in response to a hard line of questioning regarding whether a second prisoner had been released by mistake following the accidental release of sex offender Hadush Kebatu.
Lammy defended his evasion of the question on the grounds that he did not want to mislead the House nor the British public by speaking on the matter before all the facts had been established.
James Cartilidge can’t count
Tory MP James Cartilidge’s poor counting skills saw him struggle at PMQs.
He attempted to catch the attention of Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle to ask Lammy another question at PMQs despite having already asked his allotted six questions.
David Lammy had some fun pointing out this mistake: “It doesn’t seem that the spokesman can count, let alone stand up on behalf of the public.”
Chaotic scenes followed as the Speaker was forced to interrupt a Labour MP in order to check Cartilidge’s maths.
Nigel Farage accuses BBC Question Time of set-up job over ‘earpiece’… when it was just a headphone
Nigel Farage claimed one of the members of a BBC Question Time audience had “an earpiece” and that “the whole thing was a complete, absolute set-up job” against him.
But the audience member was in fact wearing a pair of headphones he had forgotten to remove, according to the BBC.
In a diatribe against the BBC, Farage labelled the incident “absolutely farcical” and insisted that the broadcaster had “sunk to new depths”.
Reform figures also levelled further accusations against the BBC, claiming they had been ambushed by the identity of the audience member as a small boat migrant.
The BBC said it informed Reform’s Zia Yusuf and other participants on the panel about the audience the day before.
Reform UK report suspend MP Rupert Lowe to the police
Internal divisions were not confined to the Labour Party this year, with Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe facing allegations of bullying to the extent of threatening physical violence against Zia Yusuf.
The Crown Prosecution Service decided not to proceed with pressing charges on account of insufficient evidence.
Lowe denied any accusations of wrongdoing, pointing to Reform UK’s “complete inability to accept even the most mild constructive criticism” as underlying what he claimed to be a smear campaign.
He has since vowed to build his own party and found himself a pen pal in Elon Musk.
Chris Philp can’t name Welsh Tories leader
In a grilling on GB News, shadow home secretary Chris Philp attempted to evade a very simple question regarding the name of leader of the Welsh Conservative Party no less than five times.
“I’m afraid the name escapes me,” he later admitted.
The GB News presenter’s questions came following a huge blow for the Tories in the Caerphilly by-election, taking a meagre 2 per cent of the vote.
Tories can’t spell Britain
“When Labour negotiates, Britian loses” was the tagline on the packing for a chocolate bar at the Tory party conference.
Kemi Badenoch signed off on the error – quite literally, with her name stamped below the slogan.
Zack Polanski lets slip his views on migrants
Green Party leader Zack Polanski has slammed political leaders for demonising migrants and not giving them any dignity.
But during a recent BBC Question Time episode, Polanski appeared to expose his own prejudices against migrant labour.
Speaking about the contributions migrants make to the UK economy, Polanski said: “I don’t know about you, but I don’t particularly want to wipe someone’s bum.”
Polanski was widely ridiculed for his comments from people across the political spectrum.
Ed Davey says he wants to take issues seriously… then marches into conference with a band
Ed Davey’s photo opportunities have had the counterproductive effect of obscuring the electorate’s understanding of what the Lib Dems actually stand for, a poll by the More in Common thinktank has revealed.
Having indulged in paddleboarding, water slides and freewheeling down hills, Davey has made great strides when it comes to playing hard.
His latest stunt saw him arrive at his party conference with a marching band blaring out Sweet Caroline.
But with more than 60 per cent of voters according to More in Common seeing these stunts as inappropriate given the amount of serious challenges currently facing the nation, it might be time for the party to focus more on working hard.
When asked whether he was concerned that his gimmicks may be overshadowing serious messages, Davey defended his happy-go-lucky approach arguing that “politicians don’t always have to take themselves seriously”.
Liberal Democrats leader Ed Davey marched into conference with a band. Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire
Zarah Sultana accused of stealing thousands of Your Party funds… then boycotts own conference
Jeremy Corbyn’s new socialist party has provided a wealth of material for political satirists – even if unintentionally.
Internal issues kicked off with accusations that party co-founder and fellow independent MP Zarah Sultana was sitting on hundreds of thousands of pounds in donations, caught up in the temporary holding company set up by Sultana, MoU Operations Ltd.
Sultana would go on to boycott her own party conference, accusing leading members of the party of enacting a “witch hunt”.
The new party has since seen some of its key members in parliament ditch the group over smear campaigns and a “toxic culture”.