Winner of the Year

In a year where anyone could be the winner, who stands out as having won the most? Honourable mentions for this category go to Kemi Badenoch for taking over the reigns of a very diminished Conservative Party and who is now faced with the unenviable task of rebuilding the Party into a force capable of fighting the next election.

A further honourable mention lies in the success of Nigel Farage. Building on his record as arguably the most impactful politician of the past decade, he’s finally an MP on the eighth attempt after taking back control of Reform and building it into a machine which, on current polling, would give Labour and Conservatives a considerable challenge in the upcoming local and Mayoral elections in May.

Of course, we have to also give a mention to the social media sensation that was Ed Davey. Winning a century’s best 70 seats has given a new lease of life to the Liberal Democrats and arguably Ed was responsible for providing some much-needed joy in an otherwise very dry and predictable General Election.

Now no list of winners would be complete without mentioning the UK’s 58th Prime Minister, Keir Starmer. Having taken his party from a disastrous 2019 election to an overall majority in Parliament was no small feat. And yet as 2024 closes that winning feeling has long since faded after rows over freebies, pensioners, his No10 staff, taxes and then pensioners all over again.

However, Field’s Winner of the Year has to be Morgan McSweeney, Number 10 Chief of Staff. When Labour swept into Downing Street Sue Gray was at the helm and McSweeney stuck in a corner office. However, due to some mischievous briefing, Gray was ousted and the reign of McSweeney began. He’s now arguably the most powerful person in the country.

Loser of the Year

Where there are winners, electoral earthquakes have no shortage of losers. Obviously Rishi Sunak is a strong contender for this Loser of the Year’s Award after running the worst General Election in his party’s history. From the moment he stood in front of Downing Street getting drowned by the rain (and drowned out by Blair’s anthem 'Things Can Only Get Better' booming from behind the cameras), to the decision to visit Belfast’s Titanic Quarter (did someone say sinking ship?), Sunak handed the media headline gags on a silver platter.

But can he be called the biggest loser? TWFW would argue that Sunak seems a great deal happier now he has been relieved of his Prime Ministerial duties, and we’re sure having millions in the bank may cushion the brunt of his election loss.

Here comes Keir Starmer again. While he may be Prime Minister, the Labour leader hasn’t had the easiest start to Government. From the chaos of Sue Gray to the disgraced resignation of Transport Secretary, Louise Haigh, it’s seemingly going from bad to worse as the polls plunge.

But the biggest loser of all? As Labour’s National Planning Policy Framework opens the door for countless consents to be pushed through NIMBYs are in deep trouble. The loudest voices opposing development have been well and truly silenced by Labour’s no-nonsense approach to delivering their pledge of 1.5 million homes built this Parliament. A bad year for the NIMBYs, but a great one for anyone eager to get on the housing ladder in 2025!

Survivor of the Year

Even as the tectonic plates shift, some cling on. Jeremy Corbyn proved expulsion from Labour was just a minor inconvenience. Running as an independent, he trounced Labour in Islington North.

Sir Iain Duncan Smith defied the rising tide and clung to his Chingford & Woodford Green seat with the help of a Labour vote split that can only be described as a gift from above. Meanwhile, Priti Patel made another notable return, landing the role of shadow foreign secretary and proving that persistence (and thick skin) goes a long way in British politics.

But the true survivor in 2024? Diane Abbott. Despite cack-handed attempts to de-select her, she outmanoeuvred critics and rivals and a cacophony in the media to retain Hackney North and Stoke Newington with a commanding 59.5% of the vote. Worse still for her critics, as the newly minted Mother of the House, Abbott is now empowered to pour buckets of excrement over the Prime Minister at any moment of her choosing.

Rising Stars of the Year

In the world of politics, the limelight shifts rapidly, bringing fresh faces to the fore while others fade into the background. This past year has been no exception, with a host of fresh figures stepping up to shape the future of British politics.

It’s some achievement to go from election in July to your second promotion by November, so let’s start with Sarah Sackman. The hugely impressive barrister who is very close to Keir Starmer was made Solicitor General within hours of being elected and was promoted to Courts and Legal Services Minister when Heidi Alexander broke into the Cabinet (thanks to Louise Haigh’s telephonic indiscretions). Her job as the junior law officer was taken by Lucy Rigby, who had been a parliamentary aide at the Ministry of Justice.

Another very well-regarded Starmer pal and rising star is his former council leader, Georgia Gould. Often dubbed the "red princess," she represents a bridge between Labour’s past and its ambitious future. The daughter of Lord Philip Gould, a key architect of New Labour and close confidant of Tony Blair, Gould has been steeped in Labour values from an early age. Her job at the Cabinet Office is public service reform, and making sense of mission-led Government. Avoids the limelight and enjoys the detail – perfect for the PM’s managerialist approach.

Some rising stars make their mark on Committee corridor. Chris Curtis is enjoying the opportunity his membership of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee provides to be YIMBY-in-Chief, making a mark as a vocal backer of Angela Rayner’s ambitious house-building targets. Despite making a name for herself as the FT’s youngest ever Beijing bureau chief, the first-ever Chinese-born MP Yuan Yang side-stepped pressure to join the Foreign Affairs Committee and got herself elected to the Treasury Committee. Her forensic analysis and impressive intellect are already creating quite an impression there.

Josh MacAlister is proving a strong advocate for the Government’s green energy drive, as a member of the Energy Security and Net Zero committee and Chair of the Nuclear Energy APPG. If that wasn’t enough, he has a private members’ bill designed to protect children from the harms that can be caused by the use of social media which is expected – unlike many private bills – to make it on to the statute book. Other honourable mentions go to ex- serviceman Mike Tapp, who is leading the debate on immigration from the perspective of his Dover and Deal constituency, NHS heart surgeon Dr Zubair Ahmed and Catherine Atkinson the Derby North MP who is proving a doughty defender of her city’s train building heritage from the Transport Select Committee. As the legislation to create Great British Railways – which will be headquartered in the East Midlands town - passes through Parliament next year, you can expect to hear more from her.

Gaffe of the Year

Gaffes fall into two categories: the unwise and the unintentional. Election years come with extra banana skins and so 2024 did not disappoint.

From the former, Kemi Badenoch suggesting maternity pay had all gone a bit far back at Tory conference in October is among the more teeth-sucking moments of the endless leadership contest. While Badenoch often seeks to make a virtue of her controversial nature, and did win in the end, labelling maternity pay “excessive” looked like it had the ability to doom her campaign for the Conservative leadership. In the event, Badenoch was fortunate that allies of James Cleverly stumbled into unwise tactical voting decisions, ensuring ‘Clever-cloggs’ came third in an apparently two-man race.

The unintentional gaffe is often much funnier, and none was more amusing this year than Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s impassioned call for “the release of the sausages” to Israel, while speaking on the deeply serious issue of Hamas-held hostages. Obviously, the food-related puns wrote themselves, and the misstep kept ‘Have I Got News For You’ writers busy for weeks.

The political gaffe of the year, though, was a combination of the unwise, the unintentional, and the downright unforgivable, and must go to the Conservative Party’s General Election campaign. From that very first moment on the Downing Street steps in the pouring rain, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak then asked a Welsh voter if he was looking forward to the upcoming Euro 2024 football tournament, which Wales had not qualified for, announced teenagers would be forced to join the Army, left D-Day early for a TV interview and enraged veterans, then had apparently half his campaign team down the bookies using insider information. Tough to pick a winner there: we’ll just have give it to Isaac Levido’s entire series of unfortunate events as a whole.