Events from the decade 2020s in the United Kingdom.
Premiership of Boris Johnson (2020-2022)
Less than two months after the 2019 general election, cases of COVID-19 had reached the UK, and Boris Johnson himself was hospitalised with the disease in March 2020. The government responded to the pandemic in March 2020 by enacting emergency powers and widespread societal measures including several lockdowns, and approved a vaccination programme which began in December 2020. Reception for Johnson's leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic was mixed. The media later reported that there had been social gatherings by the Conservative Party and government staff which contravened COVID-19 restrictions. Johnson was personally implicated, and he, his wife Carrie Johnson, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, were given fixed penalty notices by the police in April 2022, becoming the first prime minister to be sanctioned for a criminal action while in office. Public dissatisfaction over the events led to a decline in public support for Johnson, the government led by him, and the Conservative Party as a whole.
The publishing of the Sue Gray report in May 2022 and a widespread sense of dissatisfaction led in June 2022 to a vote of confidence in his leadership among Conservative MPs, which he won. In late June 2022, the Conservative MP Chris Pincher resigned as deputy chief government whip after an allegation was made that he had sexually assaulted two men. Johnson initially refused to suspend the whip from him, and his spokesperson said Johnson had not been aware of "specific allegations" against Pincher. On 4 July, Johnson's spokesperson said that Johnson was aware of allegations that were "either resolved or did not proceed to a formal complaint" at the time he appointed him. Several ministers resigned on 5 July, including Sunak and health secretary Sajid Javid. Following dozens of government resignations, Johnson announced on 7 July his intention to resign. Voting in the July–September 2022 Conservative Party leadership election took place between 13 July and 2 September. After a series of MP ballots, the list of candidates was narrowed down to Liz Truss, who served as Foreign Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities under Johnson's leadership, and Rishi Sunak, who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer until 5 July.
Premiership of Liz Truss
Truss defeated Rishi Sunak in the July–September 2022 Conservative Party leadership election on 5 September and was appointed prime minister the following day. Elizabeth II's death on 8 September caused government business to be suspended during a national mourning period of 10 days.
With the appointment of Kwasi Kwarteng as Chancellor of the Exchequer, James Cleverly as Foreign Secretary, and Suella Braverman as Home Secretary, for the first time in British political history, no white men held positions in the Great Offices of State.
In response to the cost-of-living crisis and energy supply crisis, the Truss ministry announced the Energy Price Guarantee, which reduced energy prices for households, businesses, and public sector organisations. Kwasi Kwarteng, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced large-scale borrowing and tax cuts in a mini-budget on 23 September. The mini-budget was widely criticised and largely reversed, expeditiously having led to financial instability.
Truss dismissed Kwarteng without explanation on 14 October and appointed Jeremy Hunt to succeed him. Suella Braverman resigned as Home Secretary on 19 October after admitting to having used her personal email address to send a Cabinet document. Her resignation letter was critical of Truss's government. On the evening of 19 October, MPs voted to reject a motion which would guarantee parliamentary time for a bill to ban fracking in the UK. The vote was controversial as it was unclear whether a three-line-whip had been issued to Conservative MPs, ordering them to vote against it. Allegations of "manhandling" and intimidation were made by a number of MPs against some government ministers. Following these events, together with mounting criticism and loss of confidence in her leadership, Truss announced on 20 October her intention to resign as party leader and as prime minister.
Premiership of Rishi Sunak (2022-2024)
Rishi Sunak was elected unopposed in the October 2022 Conservative Party leadership election to succeed Truss on 24 October and was appointed the following day. Sunak went on to further reverse many of the economic measures she had made as prime minister but retained Hunt as chancellor.
As prime minister, Sunak has reshuffled his Cabinet twice, the latter of which resulted in the return of the former prime minister David Cameron to frontline politics as foreign secretary. Sunak and Hunt have continued the levelling up policy introduced during the premiership of Boris Johnson. In January 2023, Sunak outlined five key priorities; halving inflation, growing the economy, cutting debt, reducing NHS waiting lists, and stopping the boats, and expected voters to hold his government and himself to account on delivering those goals. In February 2023, Sunak negotiated a proposed agreement with the European Union (EU) on Northern Ireland's trading arrangements which was published as the "Windsor Framework". Sunak has made the Rwanda asylum plan a key policy of his government.
On foreign policy, Sunak has authorised foreign aid and weapons shipments to Ukraine in response to the Russian invasion of the country, promising £2.5 billion in military aid to Ukraine in 2024. In the aftermath of the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, Sunak pledged the UK's support for Israel and declared that Israel "has an absolute right to defend itself" and has backed calls for humanitarian pauses however, Sunak later condemned the high number of civilian casualties during the Israeli bombardment of Gaza and called for a "sustainable ceasefire".
Under Sunak's leadership, the Conservatives performed poorly at the 2022 and 2023 local elections, where Labour and the Liberal Democrats made gains from Conservatives, often by very wide margins. The parties made further gains in the 2024 local elections. On 22 May 2024, Sunak called a general election for July 2024 despite being widely expected to call the election in the autumn; the Conservatives lost this election in a landslide to the opposition Labour Party led by Keir Starmer, ending 14 years of Conservative government.
Premiership of Keir Starmer (2024–2026)
Keir Starmer's tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom began on 5 July 2024 when he accepted an invitation from King Charles III to form a government, succeeding Rishi Sunak of the Conservative Party, after the Labour Party had won the 2024 general election.
Domestically, Starmer has said he will focus on economic growth, planning system reforms, infrastructure, energy, healthcare, education, childcare, and strengthening workers' rights, all of which were outlined in the Labour Party's 2024 election manifesto. He established the Border Security Command to replace the Rwanda asylum plan, to tackle smuggling gangs which facilitate illegal migrant crossings over the English Channel. Within his first month in office, Starmer faced his first major domestic event, the ongoing riots across the country following the Southport stabbing, which Starmer responded to by announcing the establishment of a national violent disorder programme to facilitate greater cooperation between police forces when dealing with violent disorder.
In foreign policy, Starmer has supported Ukraine in its war against Russia and Israel in its war against Hamas, but has also called for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. At the 2024 NATO summit, Starmer signaled that Ukraine could use Britain's Storm Shadow missile donations to strike military targets inside Russia, and in a meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Starmer called for an "irreversible" membership strategy for Ukraine to join NATO. Starmer told Benjamin Netanyahu later that month that the UK would continue cooperation to deter malign threats with Israel.
Premiership of Andy Burnham (2026–present)
Andy Burnham became prime minister following a leadership crisis within the Labour Party and the subsequent resignation of Keir Starmer.
History by issue Brexit
In January 2020, the United Kingdom and Gibraltar left the European Union, beginning an 11-month transition period, during which they remain in the Single Market and Customs Union.
Climate change In December 2019, the World Meteorological Organization released its annual climate report revealing that climate impacts are worsening.Climate Change Is Accelerating, Bringing World ‘Dangerously Close’ to Irreversible Change, By Henry Fountain, 4 December 2019, NY Times. They found the global sea temperatures are rising as well as land temperatures worldwide. 2019 is the last year in a decade that is the warmest on record.2019 Ends Warmest Decade On Record, State Of The Global Climate Report Warns, iflscience.com
Global carbon emissions hit a record high in 2019, even though the rate of increase slowed somewhat, according to a report from Global Carbon Project.Global carbon emissions growth slows, but hits record high, 3 December 2019, Stanford University via phys.org.
COVID-19 pandemic
George Floyd protests
Cost-of-living crisis
Gaza war protests in the United Kingdom
As a result of the Gaza war, nationwide protests occurred across the UK. These demonstrations occurred as part of a broader movement of Gaza war protests occurring around the world. The march on 11 November 2023 was one of the largest in the UK in years, with some estimating it was the largest since the 2003 protest against the invasion of Iraq.
Riots and unrest
History by major political party
Conservatives Leadership elections for the Scottish Conservatives were held in February and August 2020. Douglas Ross is now the leader
In 2022, Rishi Sunak became the first British Asian and the first Hindu to become the UK prime minister and conservative leader.
In 2024, Kemi Badenoch became the first black leader of any major UK political party and the fourth woman to lead the Conservative Party.
Labour
As both the Labour leader (Jeremy Corbyn) and deputy leader (Tom Watson) had resigned or announced their intention to do so in late 2019, the party had both a leadership and deputy leadership contest in early 2020. The leadership contest was won by Shadow Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union Keir Starmer with 275,780 votes (56.2% of the vote share). Angela Rayner became the deputy leader, achieving 192,168 first preference votes (41.7% of the vote share) and winning a majority of votes after the third round.
On 16 March 2024 Vaughan Gething was elected to lead Welsh Labour, and became First Minister of Wales. He became Wales's first black leader. With Gething's win it meant that three of the four governments in the UK will have non-white leaders.
The landslide victory for Keir Starmer in the 2024 United Kingdom general election lead to Labour forming government for the first time since 2010.
Liberal Democrats After their leader (Jo Swinson) lost her seat at the 2019 general election, the Liberal Democrats announced early in 2020 that they planned to have new leader in place by the middle of July that year. The contest was delayed by six weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic with the winner being declared in late August, until then MP Sir Ed Davey and the party's president Mark Pack remained its acting leadership. The contest was won by Ed Davey with 63.5% of the vote.
The Liberal Democrats were victorious in by-elections in Chesham and Amersham, North Shropshire and Tiverton and Honiton. In North Shropshire it was thought to have been the largest majority ever overturned in a by-election.
Scottish National Party