IT’S been another memorable year in UK politics – but which party leader would you want pulling up a chair this Christmas?
From Keir Starmer and his stocking full of U-turns, to Kemi’s post-Budget comeback, and Nigel Farage’s Reform topping the polls, it’s been yet another action-packed year of political news.
So as you sit down to enjoy your Christmas dinners, there’s one question we want to know your answer to.
Out of Farage, Sir Keir, Kemi, the Lib Dem leader (and stuntman) Ed Davey and the Green Party’s Zack Polanski, who do you want at your kitchen table?
If you want them all to, er… get stuffed, you can always click the last option: none of them!
Sir Keir Starmer
If you sat Sir Keir Starmer on Santa’s knee a month ago, he’d have probably just asked to keep his job.
It’s been the year of the U-turn for the bespectacled PM who finds his Labour Party languishing in the polls.
Sir Keir started the year promising to “unleash” AI across government, then, in September, launched his so-called ‘Phase Two’ with a speech that could have been written by ChatGPT.
His first full year in office has seen him again fail to capitalise on a 170-seat majority, often outflanked by the loud left-wing cohort in his party.
Just this week, Sir Keir U-turned again on the hated inheritance tax hike for farmers, following months of furious protests, including by Jeremy Clarkson.
It was the latest in a string of reversals in 2025 following rowbacks on winter fuel payments, grooming gangs and benefits.
That’s not to mention the disastrous Autumn budget that saw Rachel Reeves hammer working Brits and pub landlords, who reacted by barring her from entering.
If Sir Keir was Mikel Arteta – boss of his beloved Arsenal – then there was no greater blow than losing his assistant manager, Angela Rayner.
He also tried some of his star players in new positions, where they immediately scored own goals.
David Lammy moved to Justice Secretary, and Hadush Kebatu walked free in error.
Shabana Mahmood became Home Secretary, and the boats kept coming through (unlike the Gunners) Britain’s leaky defence.
It’s not all doom and gloom, though. The troublesome Your Party cohort, including Jeremy Corbyn, finally got out of Labour’s hair and launched their own project. Wonder how that’s going?
Just a sidenote: If you want Keir round for tea, remember, he doesn’t eat meat. So you’ll have to find a vegan turkey.
Kemi Badenoch
There was half a chance that November 2, 2025 would be the last day of Kemi Badenoch’s reign over the Conservative Party.
That’s because, released from a 12-month immunity clause while adrift in the polls, there were fears that the knives could be out.
The Tories are currently tied with Labour in the polls at 19 per cent with both parties some way behind Reform UK.
For many in the party, it simply wasn’t good enough. Until something suddenly clicked.
Buoyed by Rachel Reeves’ budget from hell, Kemi has seized the initiative to hit back at Keir Starmer and Nigel Farage.
Insiders call it the “Badenoch bounce”. Even Geri Halliwell wanted a selfie.
Earlier this week, in a chat with The Sun, Kemi owned up to the errors of the previous Tory administrations.
She accepted there was too much tax and immigration and “not enough of a focus on delivering Conservative things” .
With some nerves in the regicide-happy party finally calmed, Kemi may regard her leadership as an overnight success.
And it only took her a year.
Just a sidenote: Do not try to give Kemi turkey sandwiches on Boxing Day. She thinks sandwiches are not “real food”.
Nigel Farage
“Nigel Farage for PM” could easily have been the punchline of a Christmas cracker joke just five short years ago.
He was, as he says, retired from politics.
Now it feels like a real possibility – with the ex-I’m A Celeb campmate taking Reform’s poll ratings from Down Under to a table-topping 26 per cent.
They’re also the biggest party by membership, overtaking Labour earlier this month.
Farage has always found a way to spin publicity from weekly press conferences, campaigns on key issues like grooming gangs, and refusing to take his place for Prime Minister’s Questions.
His party won a spate of councils in a turquoise typhoon in May, and lured ex-Tory frontbenchers including Nadine Dorries and Danny Kruger.
But can Farage really sustain his popularity for the next three years with a voter coalition that delicately balances both posh and bosh?
Just a sidenote: The only Reform pub in the country, in Blackpool, did a Christmas party earlier this month for £25 – the same price as a year-long membership.
Sir Ed Davey
For an election campaign that relied on stunts, isn’t it ironic that Ed Davey’s Lib Dems have had their growth stunted this year?
The party reclaimed their position as the third-largest party, ousting swathes of Conservative MPs across the country.
Yet this year they’ve been Parliamentary passengers, struggling to get their heads above the parapet of the Labour-Tory-Reform battlefield.
Sir Ed was at the helm of a marching band at his party’s conference in September, but has failed to lead a serious march in the polls. Whatever he tries, the Lib Dems remain around the 15 per cent mark.
Polling showed even soft-left voters had grown tired of their leader risking life and limb to get some airtime.
Three in five voters polled by the More in Common thinktank said Ed should hang up his wetsuit, while 47 per cent reckoned it made the party seem less serious.
Just a sidenote: If every Ed Davey appearance must include a stunt, why not invite him to double up as your local school fete Santa?
Zack Polanski
Where do you even begin with Zack Polanski?
The firebrand lefty is most famous for his bizarre stint as a hypnotherapist, where he claimed he could enlarge breasts with his mind.
The self-described “eco populist” has dragged his party to unprecedented highs in the polls and even had time to launch his own podcast.
He’s done particularly well among young people who are increasingly disillusioned with Labour.
But Polanski has faced claims that he does not know the gritty details of the policies he’s suggesting.
When he’s not dancing on TV, he’s promising to make Britain affordable with a wealth tax, nationalise basically everything, and establish “safe and legal” routes for would-be asylum seekers.
In his first Christmas message, he will call for the Government to spend £476million on “kindness” to Channel migrants.
It’s with the same trademark “kindness” that he claimed he would try to persuade Vladimir Putin to give up his motherload of nuclear weapons.
Just a sidenote: Zack Polanski is busy on Christmas Day, because he is broadcasting his speech at 3pm. Let’s see how he does in the ratings… He’s only up against the King.
So, which party leader would you invite to Christmas dinner?
Have your say in our exclusive poll.
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