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The Steerpike Awards of 2022

Spectator Parliamentarian of the Year awards 2022

Four Chancellors, three Prime Ministers, two monarchs – one hell of a year. We said that it would be difficult to top the Covid craziness of 2021: we were wrong. Partygate, Pinchergate, porngate, beergate, queuegate – the greatest hits kept on coming as Boris Johnson was washed away in a sea of sleaze and scandal. Next up was Liz Truss’s 49-day interregnum, an inglorious experiment that did more to damage the cause of free markets than 100 years of Marxist dogma. And now, finally, we have Rishi Sunak, a living monument to social mobility as the UK’s first Asian premier, and more importantly, its first Wykehamist Prime Minister since 1834. Truly, what an underdog.

It wasn’t all just Tory psycho-drama of course. Keir Starmer and Ed Davey, those captains of charisma, made gains at the Conservatives’ expense, with polls now predicting Labour to win a Pyongyang-style majority. Nicola Sturgeon’s Supreme Court crusade came (predictably) to nought as did Matt Hancock’s jungle jamboree.

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Steerpike
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Steerpike

Steerpike is The Spectator's gossip columnist, serving up the latest tittle tattle from Westminster and beyond. Email tips to steerpike@spectator.co.uk or message @MrSteerpike

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