As for the Conservatives, they are also enduring a slump in popularity at exactly the same time as Labour. Normally when one is up, the other is down, and vice versa.
That trough in support for the Tories imperils leader Kemi Badenoch, although her share price among Conservative MPs rose considerably in the final months of the year after a well received party conference speech and improved performances at Prime Minister’s Question Time.
Her party’s dismal poll ratings leave her vulnerable, just as Labour’s leave the prime minister vulnerable.
But it is Sir Keir Starmer’s future in office – or the potential lack of it – that will dominate so much political conversation in 2026.
Leading a government over the last 10 years in the UK has offered vanishingly little job security: Sir Keir is the sixth prime minister in a decade.
Brexit, the pandemic, flatlining living standards, conflict in Europe, the breadth of electorally viable political parties, the swirl of social media have all contributed, some at Westminster reflect, to the stamp of a much earlier sell by date on our leaders than ever before.
It will be quite a year ahead.
Top image credit: PA Wire
