POLITICO London Playbook awards 2025

From ministers and peers to survivor of the year, Westminster’s essential morning newsletter picks out the people who moved the dial — for good or otherwise — in 2025

LONDON — Keir Starmer began 2025 by promising the “fight for change” would define his every hour.

It didn’t quite work out. But in fairness to the British prime minister, Westminster has seen plenty of change this year — and more than a few fights.

Starmer can raise his festive pint to making it to “Phase 2,” more school breakfast clubs, falling interest rates, occasionally successful dealmaking with the U.S. and Brussels, and progress (maybe?) in Gaza and Ukraine.

But inevitably, the rest of SW1 was more occupied with Reform UK’s ascent, Zack Polanski’s arrival, tax hikes and U-turns, four directors of comms, three U.S. ambassadors, two political directors, and a deputy PM all at sea.

In short, politics didn’t tread much lighter on Westminster lives this year — and 2026 looks set to be even heavier. So before the wheels start turning again, we should look back and honor those who made an outstanding contribution to the chaos, or otherwise, in 2025. It’s time for Playbook’s entirely unscientific annual awards.

Minister of the year

Honorable mention to Nick Thomas-Symonds, Starmer’s pal who inched Britain closer to Brussels without riots on the streets, and even got a promotion out of it (if that’s what you call attending weekly Cabinet). Shabana Mahmood’s star is rising fast and Darren Jones has moved to the heart of No. 10, but they each have much to prove on asylum reform and digital ID. So for sheer stubborn stickability, this one goes to Ed Miliband. The energy secretary won big in the spending review, refused Starmer’s attempt to reshuffle him and held together most of Labour’s green pledges while net zero fell out of fashion. Party members love his fighting talk and there’s even some silly leadership chatter. Reality will hit next year as the visible costs of net zero pile up. Until then, live the dream.

Opposition politician of the year

Zack Polanski bobbed for contention, having already pulled the Greens level with the Tories, but it would be mad not to hand this one to Nigel Farage. Who else could take a band of upstarts through racism rows, council in-fighting and a hokey-cokey whip, yet still define the Westminster narrative all year and be the presumptive PM (for now)? Reform UK’s rising poll ratings brought huge donations which are now funding a rapid expansion in staff. Whether that lead has peaked, whether it’ll survive tactical voting, hard policy or attempts at discipline, and how much it rests on Farage himself, we’ll find out more in 2026 — but for now, we’re all dancing to Nigel’s tune.

Backbencher of the year

A tough one this time. An honorable mention goes to about half the PLP — not least Meg Hillier, Marie Tidball and the many other Labour MPs who forced July’s crashing U-turn over disability benefit cuts. Playbook’s DMs were also full of decent suggestions for campaigns including Natalie Fleet restricting rapists’ parental responsibility, Sarah Owen securing bereavement leave for more couples who have a miscarriage and Anneliese Midgley pushing No. 10 on a Hillsborough Law and Olivia’s Law.

But if only one Labour backbencher’s name ends up in history books this year, it may well be Tonia Antoniazzi. Sure, the victory for her amendment to decriminalize abortion showed where this parliament sits on the issue — but there was serious organizing too. Antoniazzi was at pains to present hers as a narrow reform and saw off plans to go further. Her strategy worked. Despite fractious debate beyond the Commons, the change passed with little fanfare and marked a moment when Britain trod a different path to the U.S.

Sacking of the year

Peter Mandelson. In political death as in life, the U.S. ambassador dominated SW1 — even from 3,500 miles away — and his exit over old emails to Jeffrey Epstein marked a moment when the danger accelerated for Keir Starmer. Mandelson’s posting to D.C. had a decent start, heralding big promises on trade in a way that might have vindicated his pal Morgan McSweeney’s desire for a schmoozer. But the PM’s decision to defend Mandelson, then dump him a day later, rebounded on Starmer and his chief of staff and gave Tory Leader Kemi Badenoch a much-needed boost. The Dark Lord always has his revenge.

Resignation of the year

There were so many contenders, from Tulip Siddiq’s departure as a Treasury minister and Danny Kruger’s defection to Reform UK to Tim Davie and Deborah Turness’ explosive double exit from the BBC. But for sheer impact, it had to be Angela Rayner. The deputy PM’s resignation over her tax affairs prompted a reshuffle that put ministers’ noses out of joint, removed a key figure in Labour’s soft left and derailed the delicate balance between a technocratic PM and his more human deputy. Rayner and Starmer were genuinely close and it is telling that he said she’ll be back in Cabinet. The results of that HMRC investigation will be watched closely in 2026 — but some allies already think she’ll be able to rehabilitate herself enough to run for leader. 

Special adviser of the year

The frustration among Labour aides when Starmer’s veteran comms chief Steph Driver left in September showed how much she is missed from No. 10. But it seems appropriate to hand this one to a serving SpAd, and Playbook reckons Jamie Williams deserves the crown. Since he landed in the Home Office in October, Shabana Mahmood’s media aide has been keeping his new boss exactly where she wants — in the headlines and facing to the right — like he did for Steve Reed the rest of the year. An ex-private sector consultant (and, fun fact, Cabinet Office Minister Josh Simons’ stepbrother), Williams honed his Tiggerish, disciplined yet polite style under Labour’s general election attack unit and is a smooth operator in his own right. Good thing too, as he’ll have his work cut out in 2026.

Comeback of the year

A late entry from Tim Allan, who returned to No. 10 after 27 years to be its latest director of comms and promptly declared war on the Lobby — but this one goes to Lucy Powell. Days after being sacked as Commons leader, she reinvented herself, bested a thicket of rivals and beat Bridget Phillipson by a whisker. (It was so close, some of her critics grumble that Powell would’ve lost if there was still an electoral college of unions, members and MPs.) What she does now with the job apart from listening is up to her.

Iconic outfit of the year

An honorable mention for Andrea Jenkyns’ glittery number, but Playbook has something way more prosaic in mind — Keir Starmer’s suit jacket in the Oval Office. Think of it like a costume on a stage; whipping King Charles’ invitation letter to Donald Trump from his breast pocket was a “jazz hands” moment for a PM not given to theatrics. It almost didn’t happen; Starmer’s aides had to persuade White House officials not to take the letter off him before the big moment. But it produced the photo of No. 10’s dreams, kicked off a beautiful friendship and began the trade push that led to that “deal” in May. Who cares if we’re still trying to work out the details? Or if the “coalition of the willing” still hasn’t got boots on the ground? It beats being in the president’s bad books … right?

Political adviser of the year

The survivor of 14 years under the Tories had every right to sail away, but Sheridan Westlake just couldn’t let go. Parachuted into a demoralized CCHQ, the former “super-SpAd” reinvented himself as an irritant to the government, ghost-writing endless parliamentary questions (and consuming an ironic quantity of taxpayer resource in the process). He and colleagues claimed some responsibility for the Rayner scalp. The Tories have improved at the game of parliamentary opposition — even if Nigel Farage is playing on a different pitch.

Leadership campaign of the year

There were just so many to choose from. Who could forget Robert Jenrick chasing fare-dodgers, Andy Burnham going for the bond markets, or the buzz around rising star Katie Lam at Tory conference? (OK, some readers might have missed that last one). But here Playbook bows to the inevitable, and hands it to Wes Streeting. Seldom has a minister so firmly entered the hive mind as a contender with their job and loyalty intact (well … ish), and so little gritty detail about actual plotting in the public domain. Of course, Streeting’s team would say, because no such machinations are taking place. Kudos to his tightrope-walking all the same.

Broadcast round of the year

Wes Streeting also triumphs in what was broadly a fallow year for iconic media rounds. The morning after those briefings that he could mount a coup against Starmer, the health secretary’s counter-attack on the “toxic” culture in No. 10 swung the narrative in his favor and achieved the unthinkable — some MPs feeling sorry for the Cabinet minister. Chapeau.

Interview of the year

Keir Starmer with Tom Baldwin. Baring his soul to his biographer, the PM told a human story of a man mourning his brother. But Starmer also revealed his political frailties, and his admission that he should have read his own “island of strangers” speech better will be one of the things his critics remember most this year.

Peer of the year

Honorable mention to John McFall, who as Lord Speaker oversaw an ever more assertive chamber on government policy and assisted dying — and by stepping down early to care for his wife with Parkinson’s, has reminded us all where our priorities should really lie. But Playbook hands this one to Charlotte Owen. Her appointment as one of the youngest peers was controversial, but Owen did what every good parliamentarian should — pinpointed an issue, got stuck in and didn’t stop campaigning until she achieved change. New laws on deepfake porn are a testament to that.

Excuse of the year

Nigel Farage’s response to claims that he said racist things as a teenager had an impressive range. We saw outright denials, then claims of poor memory, Farage insisting he did nothing “in a hurtful or insulting way,” and a pivot to attacking the racism aired on the BBC in the 1970s. Playbook can’t wait to see how he responds next.

Scoop of the year

The news that Rachel Reeves would no longer hike income tax — broken on a Thursday night by the FT’s George Parker, Anna Gross and Sam Fleming — stood apart from the usual pre-budget briefing for the anguish it inspired inside the Treasury. Unauthorized and market-moving, it stung because it removed spinners’ hopes of managing the news themselves. 

WTF moment of the year

There were so many to choose from; Reform’s Nathan Gill being jailed for taking pro-Russia bribes … David Lammy’s fight with a French taxi driver … Donald Trump’s Eurovision-style tariff board … a speaker at Reform’s conference linking the Covid-19 vaccine to royal cancer … and (of course) Rachel Reeves crying in the Commons. But Playbook has to hand it to the endless stream of WTF moments created by Your Party. From that first glorious night of chaos in July to the stand-off over £800,000, Zarah Sultana and Jeremy Corbyn will keep us hacks gainfully employed for some time to come.

Press conference of the year

Donald Trump (and occasionally Keir Starmer) at Turnberry. The president showed who the special one was in this relationship with 88 minutes of freewheeling chatter about Gaza, Ukraine, “windmills,” tariffs, Sadiq Khan, Epstein and Victoria Starmer — all before the meeting had started. The prime minister and three of his aides could only watch with frozen smiles. Playbook’s Emilio Casalicchio would be proud.

Beard of the year

Boris Johnson’s face fungus.

Gaffe of the year

Another crowded field, from the Tories misspelling Britain on a chocolate bar to David Lammy fishing with JD Vance without a license. But this prize can only go to the Office for Budget Responsibility. Uploading the budget response (and therefore the meat of the budget) to a predictable URL was a misjudgment for the ages that cost OBR chair Richard Hughes his job. And they might have got away with it too, if it weren’t for those meddling Reuters hacks.

Backseat driver of the year

Tony Blair. The ex-PM’s global supervillain good governance organization pushed digital ID straight onto Labour’s agenda, while Blair himself got involved (with mixed success) with the plan for Gaza and even interviewed Shabana Mahmood about God. The man just can’t let go.

U-turn of the year

Keir Starmer gave us so many contenders, from a national grooming gangs inquiry and winter fuel payments to (at the 11th hour) inheritance tax for farms — but shelving PIP disability benefit cuts was as significant as it gets. The U-turn crystallized how No. 10 had mishandled its own backbenchers and emboldened Labour’s soft left at the highest levels, including Angela Rayner. You could even argue it nudged the two-child benefit cap to its full demise four months later. Best of luck to DWP Minister Stephen Timms, who has to put forward alternative reforms in 2026.

Survivor of the year

Morgan McSweeney. The No. 10 chief of staff is still at the heart of Starmer’s operation — at the time of writing, anyway — even after so many aides shuffled out the door. Briefing-gate made him the story, MPs mutter about his future, and some argue his influence has waned (e.g. on blaming Brexit for our ills) — but the man who spent so long building the Starmer project remains a big part of its future. Roll on 2026, when we’ll see exactly what that future holds. Perhaps McSweeney and Starmer will be joint winners in this category next year?