The New Year has so far brought little cheer for Prime Minister Boris who faces more pressure over lockdown-flouting parties in No 10, this time implicating him directly. His political future hangs by a thread and even if he manages to overcome his immediate difficulties, he faces a tough year with a number of overlapping challenges. These include a Labour party rebuilding its credibility with the electorate, the challenge of making good on aspirational rhetoric about ‘levelling up the country’, a cost of living crisis which among other things is testing the country's environmental commitments and keeping Brexit on track by finally resolving the thorny question of Northern Ireland.
Here is the Public Affairs team’s full analysis, both of the Prime Minister’s immediate problems and the political dynamics around his potential defenestration as well as a more detailed look at some of the wider themes that look set to dominate the year ahead.