January
The government stopped a Gender Recognition Bill passed by the Scottish parliament becoming law. Isla Bryson, now a transgender woman, was convicted of having raped two women; the 31-year-old was sent to a women’s prison, then transferred to one for men. A Met Police officer, David Carrick, aged 48, pleaded guilty to 24 charges of rape. Nadhim Zahawi was sacked as Conservative party chairman. Strikes by railway workers, Underground drivers, ambulance drivers, nurses and hospital doctors continued on and off all year. Ukraine struck a building in Donetsk housing Russian forces. A Russian missile destroyed a block of flats at Dnipro. Jacinda Ardern suddenly resigned as prime minister of New Zealand.
February
Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister of Scotland, announced her resignation. The Northern Ireland Protocol acquired a Windsor Framework. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine addressed the British parliament. President Joe Biden of America visited Kyiv. Fierce fighting continued at Bakhmut, where the Russian mercenary Wagner force was active. An earthquake killed more than 50,000 in Turkey and Syria. President Biden ordered a Chinese surveillance balloon to be shot down.
March
Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, appointed as his chief of staff Sue Gray, whose report into Downing Street lockdown breaches had damned Boris Johnson. Peter Murrell, the husband of Nicola Sturgeon, resigned as chief executive of the SNP; Humza Yousaf was elected its leader. Britain endured a week of chatter over Gary Lineker being stopped from presenting an episode of Match of the Day. Regulators shut down Silicon Valley Bank in America. UBS agreed to buy the mortally wounded Credit Suisse. Russia and Ukraine suffered heavy loss of life in the ruins of Bakhmut.
April
In a week 1,056 migrants crossed the Channel in small boats. An emergency alert exercise sent every mobile phone in the country a message. Richard Sharp resigned as chairman of the BBC. China held military exercises surrounding Taiwan. Civil war raged in Sudan. Poland and Hungary banned imports of Ukrainian grain to protect their farmers. Germany closed its last nuclear power station, leaving coal to produce more than a third of its energy.
May
The King and Queen were crowned. A barge, the Bibby Stockholm, was brought from Genoa to accommodate 506 asylum seekers. Phillip Schofield resigned as a presenter on This Morning. Three commanders of Islamic Jihad were killed in Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip.
June
Boris Johnson called the Commons Privileges Committee report on his conduct over Covid regulations a ‘kangaroo court’ and left parliament immediately. The Covid Inquiry under Baroness Hallett began. Nicola Sturgeon was arrested by police investigating her party’s finances and released without charge. The Bank of England raised interest rates to 5 per cent. In June 3,824 people crossed the Channel in small boats. A dam was breached on the Dnipro in Ukraine. In Russia, Wagner mercenaries advanced on Moscow, then stopped; Yevgeny Prigozhin, their leader, flew to Belarus. Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition politician, was tried on new political charges. Andrew Tate, a British-American social media personality, was charged in Romania with rape. The tourist submersible Titan broke up while inspecting the wreck of the Titanic. Saudi Arabia cut oil production to keep up prices. Iran reopened its embassy in Saudi Arabia. Coutts closed the bank account of Nigel Farage whose views did ‘not align with our values’.
July
The Tories saved Boris Johnson’s old seat at Uxbridge in a by-election, thanks to unpopular ultra low emission zones. Ben Wallace said he would cease to be defence secretary. Huw Edwards, the news presenter, was in hospital with ‘serious mental health issues’, according to his wife, who said it was him against whom there were allegations, according to the Sun, of receiving photographs from a young person now aged 20; police said no criminal offence had been committed. Dame Alison Rose resigned as chief executive of the NatWest group, which owns Coutts. Labour dropped its policy of making self-identification the criterion for changing gender. In three days, 1,339 migrants crossed the Channel in small boats. France had five nights of riots after police shot dead Nahel Merzouk, aged 17, in Nanterre. Police clashed with protestors in Israel opposed to judicial reforms. Russian drones destroyed Ukrainian grain stores on the Danube. Elon Musk renamed Twitter ‘X’.
August
The 39 migrants lodged aboard the Bibby Stockholm barge at the Isle of Portland disembarked again after traces of the Legionella bacteria were found. Lucy Letby, a nurse, was given a life sentence on conviction of murdering seven babies. The Police Service of Northern Ireland mistakenly published the names and location of 10,000 personnel. Hartwig Fischer resigned as director of the British Museum, from which 1,500 objects were missing. A private jet carrying Yevgeny Prigozhin fell out of the sky between Moscow and St Petersburg. Donald Trump, the former US president, answered charges in Washington; he was also indicted by Georgia, after previous indictments in New York and Florida. Drones struck Moscow six nights running. Russia’s Luna 25 spacecraft crashed into the moon.
September
More than 100 schools had to close buildings because they contained reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete. Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, appointed commissioners to run Birmingham city council, which could not meet expenditure commitments. Daniel Khalife, 21, on remand in Wandsworth, escaped, strapped under a delivery lorry, and was found after three days. Russell Brand, the television presenter, was accused of sexual assault, which he denied. The Sycamore Gap tree, beside Hadrian’s Wall, was cut down in the night. Floods hit Derna, Libya, killing 5,000. More than 8,000 migrants arrived at the Italian island of Lampedusa in three days. Azerbaijan attacked the ethnically Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh and more than 100,000 Armenians living there fled.
October
Rishi Sunak cancelled the Birmingham to Manchester leg of HS2. Labour took Rutherglen and Hamilton West in a by-election that the Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar, called ‘seismic’. The Tories were heavily defeated by Labour in by-elections at Tamworth and Mid Bedfordshire. Hundreds of gunmen from the Islamist group Hamas attacked southern Israel by surprise while thousands of rockets were launched from Gaza; they killed more than 1,200, mostly civilians. About 240 were taken hostage. Shocking social media videos came out. ‘We are at war,’ said Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel. President Biden visited Israel on the eve of its invasion of the Gaza Strip. About 1.1 million people in northern Gaza were told by Israel to move to the south-western parts. After days of heavy air strikes and artillery bombardment, Israel moved in ground forces. In London at a Hizb ut-Tahrir rally there were chants of ‘Jihad’.
November
David Cameron, prime minister 2010-16, was made Foreign Secretary and sent to the Lords for the purpose. James Cleverly, the Foreign Secretary, became Home Secretary, replacing Suella Braverman, who was sacked. The Supreme Court ruled that the government’s plan to send asylum-seekers to Rwanda was unlawful. The annual rate of inflation fell to 4.6 per cent. National Insurance was reduced from 12 per cent to 10 per cent. Dublin saw a riot. Global wine production fell to its lowest level since 1961.
December
After a seven-day ceasefire, Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza resumed with bombardment, heavy fighting and displacement of hundreds of thousands of civilians. Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister, resigned when a Bill was published, intended to make the Rwandan scheme lawful. Henry Kissinger, the former US Secretary of State, died aged 100. Boris Johnson appeared before the Covid Inquiry. The Court of Session, Scotland’s highest civil court, ruled the UK government acted lawfully in blocking the Gender Recognition Bill passed by the Scottish parliament. CSH
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