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To say 2022 was an eventful year in British politics is certainly an understatement.

Luckily (or unluckily), politicians gave us some memorable quotes to remind us of all the year’s tumultuous events.

From the bizarre to the poignant and the outrageous, here they are:

January

Boris Johnson: “Categorically nobody told me it was against the rules.”

The year kicked off with partygate (remember that?) and the then-PM Boris Johnson denying he was warned a drinks event held in the Downing Street garden during the May 2020 lockdown could breach COVID rules.

Conor Burns: “It was not a pre-meditated, organised party. He was, in a sense, ambushed with a cake.”

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Mr Johnson’s faithful ally and minister Conor Burns took the biscuit for the best defence of his boss attending a birthday party held for him by his wife Carrie Johnson inside Downing Street during the first lockdown.

David Davis: “In the name of God, go.”

The senior Tory and former cabinet minister told the Commons he had spent months defending the prime minister but after Mr Johnson’s reaction to the Sue Gray report, the PM should step down.

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PM told ‘in the name of God, go’

February

Boris Johnson: “As Rafiki in The Lion King says, change is good, and change is necessary even though it’s tough.”

After five of Mr Johnson’s key staff quit in 24 hours, the PM quoted a scene from the famous Disney film in which Simba is fleeing his pride after his father’s death, orchestrated by his evil uncle Scar, with Rafiki the mandrill convincing Simba to return and take his rightful place as king.

March

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe: “What’s happened now should have happened six years ago.”

The British-Iranian woman imprisoned in Iran since 2016 on allegations of spying made her first public comments after she was finally released when the UK repaid an outstanding debt to Tehran of £393.8m for an arms deal cancelled in the 1970s.

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‘I was told I’d be freed many, many times’

Pete Wishart: “No prime minister could possibly survive being fined for criminality for the very rules that prime minister set. You’d be finished.”

SNP MP Pete Wishart quizzed Boris Johnson at the Commons’ powerful Liaison Committee after police said 20 fines were to be issued for COVID breaches of rules the PM introduced.

Mr Johnson refused to give a “running commentary” and was fined the following month, but clung onto his job for a further three months.

April

Neil Parish: “Funnily enough it was tractors I was looking at.”

The Conservative MP for Tiverton and Honiton, who resigned after he was caught watching pornography in the House of Commons, said he accidentally found the website while trying to watch a video on tractors.

May

Oliver Dowden: “I have never purchased a tin of baked beans in my life.”

The then-Conservative Party chairman was being quizzed about the cost of living crisis when he revealed he had never bought baked beans. He did say it was because he has never liked them.

Boris Johnson: “Who’s Lorraine?”

The PM was widely mocked for not knowing who ITV host Lorraine Kelly was during an interview. GMB’s Susanna Reid finished her interview and said Lorraine was waiting to talk to him but he appeared to not know who she is.

June

Chris Pincher: “Last night I drank far too much. I’ve embarrassed myself and other people.”

Tory deputy chief whip Chris Pincher was forced to step down after he embroiled the government in a sex scandal following reports he drunkenly groped two men at a private London club.

Without addressing the allegations, he apologised for drinking too much and had the Tory whip removed but remained as an independent MP in his Staffordshire seat, where the former Tory Tamworth Council leader later said he had been “groped” by Mr Pincher twice in 2005 and 2006 – which Mr Pincher denies.

Conservative MP Chris Pincher
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Boris Johnson’s handling of the Chris Pincher scandal proved to be his downfall

Jesse Norman: “For you to prolong this charade by remaining in office not only insults the electorate, and the tens of thousands of people who support, volunteer, represent and campaign for our party; it makes a decisive change of government at the next election much more likely. That is potentially catastrophic for this country.”

Transport minister at the time, former Boris fan Jesse Norman handed in his stinging resignation letter to the then-PM following the Sue Gray report into lockdown parties held at Downing Street.

Sir Keir Starmer: “He’s gameplaying so much he thinks he’s on Love Island.

“The problem is, prime minister, I’m reliably informed that contestants who give the public the ick get booted out.”

The Labour leader used his weekly PMQs slot on 15 June to attack Boris Johnson over the economy as he accused him of not doing anything about reducing inflation.

July

Sir Keir Starmer: “Is this the first recorded case of the sinking ships fleeing the rat?”

“Charge of the lightweight brigade.”

The Labour leader used the growing number of Tory cabinet resignations to call for Mr Johnson to step down, in one of his more colourful PMQs.

Ian Blackford: “I recently compared the prime minister to Monty Python’s Black Knight. In fact, he is more like the dead parrot.”

The SNP’s Westminster leader used the same PMQs to hit out at Mr Johnson following cabinet resignations.

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SNP’s Monty Python jibe at PM

Tim Loughton: “Are there any circumstances in which you will resign?”

Showing further signs of exasperation with Mr Johnson within the Tory party, Conservative MP Tim Loughton said what it appears many other Tories were thinking.

Tim Loughton: “Well clearly Boris has downed the whisky and turned the revolver on Michael Gove. Who would have believed it?”

Mr Loughton then told Sky News Michael Gove had offered Mr Johnson the “metaphorical bottle of whisky and the revolver” after the PM sacked his close friend for telling him to quit after Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid resigned, kicking off the downfall of Mr Johnson.

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PM blames ‘herd instinct’ as he resigns

Boris Johson: “As we’ve seen at Westminster, the herd instinct is powerful and when the herd moves, it moves.

“My friends, in politics, no one is remotely indispensable.

“I want you to know how sad I am to be giving up the best job in the world, but them’s the breaks.”

Following days of ministerial resignations, Mr Johnson eventually said he was stepping down and gave a resignation speech that had people Googling the phrase “them’s the breaks” – another way of saying “that’s the way things turn out”.

Liz Truss: “Ready to hit the ground from day one.”

Kicking off her leadership bid after Boris Johnson announced he was stepping down, Liz Truss sent out a tweet which missed out a key word from the saying “hit the ground running” – prompting much mockery.

Boris Johnson: “Hasta la vista, baby.”

Signing off his final PMQs, Mr Johnson used Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator catchphrase, leaving MPs questioning whether he was leaving the door open for a possible comeback.

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Johnson’s ‘hasta la vista, baby’ moment

August

Liz Truss: “But actually what needs to happen is more … more graft. It’s not a popular message.”

As Liz Truss became the Tory leadership frontrunner, a leaked recording from 2019, when she was chief secretary to the Treasury, revealed her unflattering view of British workers.

September

Sky News political editor Beth Rigby: “You are prepared to be unpopular, aren’t you?”

Liz Truss: “Yes. Yes, I am.”

Three days before the disastrous mini-budget, Ms Truss claimed she did not care if she was unpopular as she hinted at her plan to deliver growth and reduce energy bills.

Angela Rayner: “Liz Truss even crashed the pork market. Now that. Is. A. Disgrace.”

Labour’s deputy leader used her closing speech at the party’s conference to take a dig at Liz Truss and the economic turmoil by referencing the then PM’s notorious 2014 speech about pork markets which has since become an internet meme.

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‘I’ll be in Beijing opening up new pork markets’

Australian TV presenters: “And we have no idea who this is… maybe a local dignitary or minor royal.”

Turning up at the Queen’s funeral 13 days after becoming prime minister, Liz Truss failed to be recognised by two Australian TV presenters.

October

Liz Truss: “I will not allow the anti-growth coalition to hold us back.”

The PM used her closing speech at the Tory conference to attack anyone standing in the way of the Conservative Party’s agenda, including Labour, “militant” unions, “Brexit deniers”, Extinction Rebellion and “some of the people we had in the hall earlier” – protesters who disrupted her address.

King Charles: “So you’ve come back again? Dear, oh dear.”

The King was overheard greeting Liz Truss at her first weekly audience with him following another day of turmoil in the markets after the disastrous mini-budget.

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King Charles meets Truss: ‘Dear oh dear’

Penny Mordaunt: “The prime minister is not under a desk.”

The Commons leader, asked by Labour MP Stella Creasy where Liz Truss was, confirmed the PM was not “cowering under her desk” as suggested.

Liz Truss: “I am a fighter and not a quitter.”

The then-PM defied calls from Labour to resign after having U-turned on her economic plans during PMQs – five days before she resigned.

Suella Braverman: “Guardian-reading tofu-eating wokerati.”

The Home Secretary criticised MPs who voted against measures that would allow police to deal more quickly with activists after Just Stop Oil protesters blocked part of the M25 for more than a day.

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Braverman bashes ‘tofu-eating wokerati’

Craig Whittaker: “I am f***ing furious and I don’t give a f*** anymore.”

Following chaos in the voting lobbies of parliament over a vote on fracking, which was seen as a possible confidence vote in the government, the deputy chief whip fumed before resigning.

Charles Walker: “To all those people who put Liz Truss into No 10, I hope it was worth it.”

Speaking in the House of Commons lobby after the chaos surrounding the vote on fracking, when whips were accused of bullying MPs, Tory MP Charles Walker did not hold back on his views.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: “What a c***.”

Channel 4 presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy was heard on a live feed, that was off air, reacting to Tory MP Steve Baker telling him his question about recently-resigned Liz Truss was stupid. He was taken off air for a short period in response.

November

Andy Drummond: “I’m looking forward to him eating a kangaroo’s penis. Quote me. You can quote me that.”

The chairman of Newmarket Conservatives in West Suffolk, where Matt Hancock is an MP, gave his damning verdict on the former health secretary appearing on a reality TV show while he should have been working.

Matt Hancock: “Survival in the jungle is a good metaphor for the world I work in.”

Appearing in a teaser video the day before going on I’m a Celeb, Mr Hancock said he did not think the jungle would be that different to parliament.

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Matt Hancock: ‘I messed up’

Suella Braverman: “Let me invite my colleagues…if there’s anything they want to add.”

Asked by fellow Tory Tim Loughton how a 16-year-old orphan escaping a war and persecution “in east Africa” with a sibling in the UK could arrive in the UK safely and legally to claim asylum, the home secretary could not answer.

Ms Braverman kept saying they could claim asylum once they got to the UK but did not seem to know how they would get to the UK, if not by small boat. Home Office permanent secretary Matthew Rycroft then admitted there are some countries asylum seekers cannot get to the UK safely and legally from.

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Braverman struggles to answer asylum question

Stephen Kerr: “I can confirm I am not a potato.”

The Scottish Conservatives’ education spokesman clarified he was not a root vegetable after the Scottish Parliament tweeted about a gene-editing debate and seemingly branded him a “potato with more vitamin C than lemon”.

December

Sir Keir Starmer: “As ever, the blancmange prime minister wobbles.”

The Labour leader likened Rishi Sunak to the milky pudding during PMQs after mandatory housebuilding targets were dropped under pressure from Tory MPs, in yet another U-turn forced by backbenchers.

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Trump-Putin summit starting to feel quite ‘Midnight Sun’ – as White House confirms location

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Trump-Putin summit starting to feel quite 'Midnight Sun' - as White House confirms location

It’s beginning to feel like “Midnight Sun” diplomacy.

In parts of Alaska, the sun doesn’t set in summer, casting light through the night but leaving you disorientated.

Ukraine latest: Zelenskyy reject’s Putin’s proposal

The Trump-Putin summit is pitched as “transparent” but it’s difficult to find any path to peace right now.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has reduced it to a “listening exercise” where Donald Trump will seek a “better understanding” of the situation.

There isn’t much to understand – Russia wants territory, Ukraine isn’t ceding it – but Ms Levitt rejects talk of them “tempering expectations”.

It’s possible to be both hopeful and measured, she says, because Mr Trump wants peace but is only meeting one side on Friday.

It’s the fact that he’s only meeting Vladimir Putin that concerns European leaders, who fear Ukraine could be side-lined by any Trump-Putin pact.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy claims Mr Putin wants the rest of Donetsk and, in effect, the entire Donbas region in eastern Ukraine.

He’s ruled out surrendering that because it would rob him of key defence lines and leave Kyiv vulnerable to future offensives.

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‘Steps have been taken to remedy the situation’ in Pokrovsk

European leaders – including Sir Keir Starmer – will hold online talks with Mr Zelenskyy twice on Wednesday, on either side of a virtual call with Mr Trump and US Vice President JD Vance.

Their concerns may be getting through, hence the White House now framing the summit as a cautious fact-finding exercise and nothing more.

The only thing we really learned from the latest news conference is that the first Trump-Putin meeting in six years will be in Anchorage.

A White House official later confirmed it would be at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, a US military facility.

Read more:
The land Ukraine could be forced to give up
Trump gaffe reveals how central Putin is to his narrative

The US base where the talks will take place. Pic: Reuters
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The US base where the talks will take place. Pic: Reuters

Alaska itself, with its history and geography, is a layered metaphor: a place the Russians sold to the US in the 1800s.

A remote but strategic frontier where the lines of ownership and the rules of negotiation are once again being sketched out.

On a clear day, you can see Russia from Alaska, but without Mr Zelenskyy in the room, it’s difficult to see them conquering any summit.

In the place where the sun never sets, the deal might never start.

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Explained: The land Ukraine could be forced to give up – and will Russia have to concede anything?

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Explained: The land Ukraine could be forced to give up - and will Russia have to concede anything?

Any agreement between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin when they meet on Friday could leave Ukraine in an impossible position after three years of brutal, grinding war for survival.

There has been speculation the two leaders could agree a so-called ‘land for peace’ deal which could see Ukraine instructed to give up territory in exchange for an end to the fighting.

That would effectively be an annexation of sovereign Ukrainian territory by Russia by force.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday evening that Mr Putin wants the rest of Donetsk – and in effect the entire eastern Donbas region – as part of a ceasefire plan.

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Sky’s Michael Clarke explains in more detail what territories are under possible threat.

But the Ukrainian leader said Kyiv would reject the proposal and explained that such a move would deprive them of defensive lines and open the way for Moscow to conduct further offensives.

Russia currently occupies around 19% of Ukraine, including Crimea and the parts of the Donbas region it seized prior to the full-scale invasion in February 2022.

President Trump has said he hopes to get “prime territory” back for Ukraine, though it’s uncertain what President Putin would agree to.

More on Russia

In this story, Sky News speaks to experts about what the highly-anticipated meeting between the Russian and American presidents could mean for the battlefield.

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are set to meet in Alaska. Pic: Reuters
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Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are set to meet in Alaska. Pic: Reuters

A ceasefire along the frontline?

The range of outcomes for the Trump-Putin meeting is broad, with anything from no progress to a ceasefire possible.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, for instance, said this week that he has “many fears and a lot of hope” for what could come out of it.

Military analyst Michael Clarke told Sky News that the summit “certainly won’t create peace, but it might create a ceasefire in place if Putin decides to be flexible”.

“So far he hasn’t shown any flexibility at all,” he added.

A ceasefire along the frontline, with minimal withdrawals on both sides, would be “structurally changing” and an “astonishing outcome”, he said.

However he doubts this will happen. Mr Clarke said a favourable outcome could be the two sides agreeing to a ceasefire that would start in two weeks time (for instance) with threats of sanctions from the US if Russia or Ukraine breaks it.

Read more:
What Trump’s Putin gaffe reveals about upcoming meeting

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President Zelenskyy: ‘Path to peace must be determined together’

Will Ukraine be forced to give up territory to Russia?

While President Trump’s attitude to Ukrainian resistance appears possibly more favourable from his recent comments, it’s still possible that Kyiv could be asked to give up territory as part of any agreement with Russia.

Moscow has been focussed on four oblasts (regions) of Ukraine: Luhansk and Donetsk (the Donbas), Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

President Putin’s forces control almost all of Luhansk, but about 30% of the others remain in Ukrainian hands and are fiercely contested.

“Russian rates of advance have picked up in the last month, but even though they are making ground, it would still take years (three or more) at current rates to capture all this territory,” Matthew Savill, director of military sciences at the RUSI thinktank, told Sky News.

He says it “wouldn’t be surprising” if Russia tried to acquire the rest of the Donbas as part of negotiations – something that is “highly unattractive” for Ukraine that could leave them vulnerable in future.

This would include surrendering some of the ‘fortress belt’ – a network of four settlements including Kramatorsk and Sloviansk – that has held back Russian forces for 11 years.

Michael Clarke said this might well satisfy President Putin “for now”, but many believe that he would return for the rest of Ukraine – possibly after President Trump leaves office.

It’s unclear if President Volodymyr Zelenskyy could accept such a painful concession – or indeed, survive it politically – or if the wider Ukrainian public would support it in return for a pause in the fighting.

Would Russia have to return any territory to Ukraine?

The White House appears to have been briefing that it might, though the situation is very unclear.

Mr Savill added: “The Ukrainians might want to even up the situation in the north, by removing Russian incursions into Sumy and near Kharkiv, but of greater importance would be getting the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant back under Ukrainian control, given how much it would contribute to Ukrainian power needs.”

It’s also possible that Russia could be willing to withdraw from the areas of Kherson region that it controls.

It’s “plausible” they could get the power plant back, Mr Clarke said, but Russia would likely insist on maintaining access to Crimea by land.

This would mean that cities Mariupol and Melitopol – would remain in Russian hands, with all that that entails for the people living there.

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What are West Bank settlements, who are settlers, and why are they controversial?

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What are West Bank settlements, who are settlers, and why are they controversial?

There are increasing reports of violence and intimidation by Israeli settlers in occupied Palestinian territory.

Sky News chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay has been inside the West Bank, where he’s found settlers feeling emboldened since the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel.

With the government largely supporting them, they act with impunity and are in many ways enabled by Israel security forces.

But what are the settlements, and why are they controversial?

What are settlements?

A settlement is an Israeli-built village, town, or city in occupied Palestinian territory – either in the West Bank or East Jerusalem.

The largest, Modi’in Illit, is thought to house around 82,000 settlers, according to Peace Now.

There is also a growing movement of Israelis wanting to build settlements in Gaza.

Settlements are illegal under international law and have been condemned by the UN. They are, however, authorised by the Israeli government.

As well as official, government-approved settlements, there are also Israeli outposts.

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Israeli settlers attack Palestinian villages

These are established without government approval and are considered illegal by Israeli authorities. But reports suggest the government often turns a blind eye to their creation.

Israel began building settlements shortly after the 1967 Six-Day War.

The Etzion Bloc in Hebron, which was established that year, now houses around 40,000 people.

Read more:
Israel-Hamas war: A glossary of terms
Israeli-Palestinian conflict: A century of war, heartbreak, hope
What is the two-state solution?

According to the Israel Policy Forum, the settlement programme is intended to protect Israel’s security, with settlers acting as the first line of defence “against an invasion”.

The Israeli public appears divided on the effectiveness of the settlements, however.

A Palestinian man walks next to a wall covered with sprayed Hebrew slogans. Pic: Reuters
Image:
A Palestinian man walks next to a wall covered with sprayed Hebrew slogans. Pic: Reuters

A 2024 Pew Research Centre poll found that 40% of Israelis believe settlements help Israeli security, 35% say they hurt it, and 21% think they make no difference.

Why are they controversial?

Israeli settlements are built on land that is internationally recognised as Palestinian territory.

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The activists trying to stop Israeli settlers

Sky News has spoken to multiple Palestinians who say they were forced out of their homes by Israeli settlers, despite having lived there for generations.

“They gradually invade the community and expand. The goal is to terrorise people, to make them flee,” Rachel Abramovitz, a member of the group Looking The Occupation In The Eye, told Sky News in May.

Settlers who have spoken to Sky News say they have a holy right to occupy the land.

American-born Israeli settler Daniel Winston told Sky’s chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay: “God’s real, and he wrote the Bible, and the Bible says, ‘I made this land, and I want you to be here’.”

Settlers make up around 5% of Israel’s population and 15% of the West Bank’s population, according to data from Peace Now.

How have things escalated since 7 October 2023?

Since the Hamas-led attacks on 7 October 2023 and Israel’s subsequent military bombardment of Gaza, more than 100 Israeli outposts have been established, according to Peace Now.

In May, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government approved 22 new settlements, including the legalisation of outposts that had previously been built without authorisation.

Settler violence against Palestinians has also increased, according to the UN, with an average of 118 incidents each month – up from 108 in 2023, which was already a record year.

The UK government has sanctioned two members of Mr Netanyahu’s cabinet, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, for “repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian civilians” – notably in the West Bank.

The UN’s latest report on Israeli settlements notes that in October 2024, there were 162 settler attacks on Palestinian olive harvesters, many of them in the presence of IDF soldiers.

Of the 174 settler violence incidents studied by the UN, 109 were not reported to Israeli authorities.

Most Palestinian victims said they didn’t report the attacks due to a lack of trust in the Israeli system; some said they feared retaliation by settlers or the authorities if they did.

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