-
2010 Election
The 2010 election occurred on the 6 May 2010, with Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown trying to defend his position against Conservative David Cameron. The turnout was 65.1%, 3% higher than the previous election. The Conservatives won 306 seats, Labour 258 seats and the Lib Dems 57 seats. Since David Cameron did not get the 326 seats required to form a majority, he formed a coalition with Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg. -
Period: to
Politics Timeline 2010-2014
-
David Cameron becomes Prime Minister of a Coalition government
David Cameron became PM of a coalition government on May 11, 2010, after Gordo Brown resigned, as there seemed to be no possibility of a ‘Lib-Lab’ coalition. -
Ed Miliband becomes Leader of the Labour Party
Ed Miliband became Leader of the Labour Party on the 25 September 2010, after Gordon brown failed to win the 2010 election. At age 40, he became the youngest ever leader of the Labour Party. -
Alternative Vote Referendum
On May 5, 2011, a referendum was held to determine whether the UK wanted to continue using the first past the post system or switch to the alternative voting system. The public voted no with 67.9%, and yes with 32.1%. The turnout was 42.2%, and was the only referendum ever held not to do with the EU. -
UK begins intervention in Libyan Civil War
On 17 March 2011 the UN security council approved UK intervention in the Libyan Civil War after weeks of lobbying. Two days later, the UK and US fired more than 110 Tomahawk missiles at targets in Libya. -
Same-Sex Marriage legalized
On 17 July 2013 same-sex marriage became legal in the UK, with the first marriages occurring on the 29 March 2014. -
House of Commons votes against UK intervention against Syrian government
On the 29 August 2013 the UK parliament voted against involvement against the Syrian government with a vote of 285-272. This defeat was a major embarrassment for David Cameron. -
Scottish Independence Referendum
On the 18 September 2014, a referendum was held to see whether the UK wanted Scotland to be an independent country. 44.7% voted yes, and 55.3% voted no, with a turnout of 84.59%. -
2015 Election
On 7 May 2015, David Cameron retained his position as Prime Minister and increased his majority from 306 seats to 330 seats, so the Conservative Party now had a proper majority. The Labour Party under Ed Miliband won 232 seats. The turnout was 66.4%, up 1.3% from the previous election. The third biggest party in this election was the SNP, who won 56 seats. -
Ed Miliband resigns as Leader of the Labour Party
Ed Miliband resigned as Leader of the Labour Party on the 8 May 2015, due to losing in the 2015 general election to David Cameron. He was then replaced by Jeremy Corbyn. -
Jeremy Corbyn becomes Leader of the Labour Party
On the 12 September 2015 Jeremy Corbyn became the new leader of the Labour Party after a lengthy selection process. Corbyn won the leadership election by a landslide with 59%. -
House of Commons votes in favor of UK intervention against ISIS
On 2 December 2015 the House of Commons voted whether or not to participate in air strikes against ISIS in Syria after a ten-hour debate. The vote ended with 397 for and 223 against. -
Brexit Referendum
This referendum was to decide whether the people of the UK wanted to leave the EU. It occurred on the 23 June 2016, with a turnout of 72.21%. 51.89% voted leave while 48.11% voted remain, so Britain was to leave the EU. -
Theresa May becomes Prime Minister
On 13 July 2016 Theresa May became Prime Minister after her predecessor David Cameron resigned after the disastrous 2016 Brexit referendum result. -
2017 Election
On Thursday 8 June 2017 a general election occurred where the conservative party led by Theresa May won the election but not a majority, winning 317 seats, so they had to form a coalition with the DUP. The Labour party came in second with 262 seats under Jeremy Corbyn, and the SNP came in third, with 35 seats. The turnout was 68.8%, up by 2.4% from the previous election. -
Theresa May commences airstrikes against Syrian government without House of Commons approval
On 13 April 2018 Theresa May decided to send RAF pilots to aid the US and France in airstrikes to be carried out against Syria because of their usage of chemical weapons. -
Theresa May resigns as Prime Minister
On the 7 June 2019 Theresa May resigned as Prime Minister due to her inability to push her Brexit deal through. -
Boris Johnson becomes Prime Minister
Boris Johnson was chosen to replace Theresa May after she resigned. Boris Johnson won the Conservative leadership election with 51.3% of the votes, and became PM on the 24 July 2019. -
Supreme Court rules that the proroguing of Parliament as unlawful
On the 24 September 2019, the supreme court ruled that the proroguing of Parliament was illegal, and that Boris Johnson misled the Queen when he asked her to prorogue the Parliament at the height of the Brexit crisis. -
2019 General Election
On Thursday 12 December 2019 a general election was held. Boris Johnson of the Conservative Party won with 365 seats, with Jeremy Corbyn of the Labour Party in second with 202 seats, with the SNP in third with 48 seats. The turnout was 67.3%, which was down 1.5% from the last election. -
eremy Corbyn resigns as Leader of the Labour Party
After Labour’s huge loss at the 2019 general election Jeremy Corbyn announced he would be stepping down as the leader but would remain in office until his successor was chosen. His resignation formally took place in April 2020, his successor being Sir Keir Starmer. -
Britain officially leaves the European Union
Britain officially left the EU on the 31 January 2020 at 23:00 GMT. This followed the referendum in 2016, where the vote was narrowly decided on leave. -
Boris Johnson announces first national lockdown
On the 23 March 2020, Boris Johnson announced the first national lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. People were ordered to stay home for all non-essential reasons. -
Kier Starmer becomes Leader of the Labour Party
Keir Starmer was elected leader of the Labour Party and assumed office on the 4 April 2020. He won the leadership election with 56.2%. -
Matt Hancock resigns as Health Minister
On 26 June 2021 Matt Hancock resigned as Health Minister after he was caught breaking social distancing protocol kissing one of his assistants, also showing he was having an extramarital affair. -
Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act becomes law
On 26 April 2022 the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act became law, giving more power to the police to deal with ‘unacceptable’ protests, among other things. -
Boris Johnson resigns as Prime Minister
In June 2022 Bois Johnson resigned as Prime Minister, officially stepping down on the 7 September after his successor was chosen. He resigned after mass resignations from his cabinet, protesting against the many scandals that he took part in, the main one being Partygate and the last one being the appointment of Chris Pincher as deputy chief whip to the party, despite being aware of the sexual misconduct allegations against him. -
Liz Truss becomes Prime Minister
On the 6 September 2022 Liz Truss became Prime Minister after winning the Conservative leadership election with 57.4% of the votes. -
Liz Truss resigns as Prime Minister
On the 20 October 2022 Liz Truss resigned as Prime Minister due to her disastrous mini budget that devalued the British pound dramatically in comparison to the euro and the dollar. -
Rishi Sunak becomes Prime Minister
On the 25 October 2022 Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister, after winning the Conservative leadership election by running unopposed. -
2024 Election
On the 4 July 2024 Keir Starmer became the new Prime minister by winning 411 seats. The Conservative Party under Rishi Sunak came second with 121 seats, and the Lib Dems under Ed Davey came third with 72 seats. The turnout was 59.9%, down 7.4% from the previous election.