Portrait of the year: From May to a December election

January

‘If parliament backs a deal, Britain can turn a corner,’ Theresa May, the Prime Minister, said. The Commons defeated her withdrawal agreement with the EU by 432 to 202. Patrols found 15 people on inflatable craft off Kent. The Argentine footballer, Emiliano Sala, 28, died when a light aircraft crashed into the Channel. Off Libya and Morocco, 170 migrants drowned in two shipwrecks. Patisserie Valerie went into administration. US President Donald Trump refused to approve a federal budget without funds for a wall with Mexico. A fatberg 210ft long was found blocking a sewer beneath Sidmouth.

February

Seven MPs resigned from the Labour party, objecting to anti-Semitism and lukewarmness towards a second referendum on Brexit. The 13th weekend of gilets jaunes protests in France ended with factional street fighting in Lyon. Shamima Begum, 19, who had left Bethnal Green in 2015 for a part of Syria controlled by Isis, said she wanted to return to have her baby; the child died in March. President Trump cut short talks with Kim Jong-un of North Korea. A first world war hand grenade was found among French potatoes sent to a crisp factory in Hong Kong.

March

Mrs May asked the EU to delay Brexit beyond 29 March. The Commons had taken business into its own hands, through an amendment by Sir Oliver Letwin; of eight indicative votes on Brexit, none was passed. Hundreds of thousands marched against Brexit. Teenagers were stabbed to death in London and Manchester. Migrants were picked up in the Channel. The head of the Paris police was replaced after gilets jaunes protesters damaged 92 shops. An Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 crash was the second for that model in five months. An Australian shot dead 50 people at two mosques in New Zealand. The Pentagon authorised $1 billion for a wall with Mexico.