Dramatic changes to the UK’s political landscape began in 2010, when the Conservative Party gained power for the first time since 1997 in coalition with the Liberal Democrats.
After months of arguments, offers and confrontations, Scotland voted to remain in the UK in the Scottish independence referendum in 2014. Then followed the biggest political controversy of the decade – the vote to leave the EU in 2016.
It was a victory for then Ukip leader Nigel Farage, who became one of the most recognisable political figures of the decade, and a humiliating defeat for David Cameron, who brought an abrupt end to his six-year premiership with a hasty resignation.
He was followed into Downing Street by Theresa May, who failed to deliver on Brexit after losing the Tory majority, which in turn ushered in the premiership of Boris Johnson, who rounded out the decade with a decisive general election victory and a promise to take the UK out of the EU at the end of January 2020.
PM Gordon Brown and his wife Sarah meeting patients and staff at the Yeadon Health Centre in Yorkshire in 2010 (Stefan Rousseau/PA)Brothers Ed and David Miliband hugging after Ed won the Labour Party leadership contest in 2010 (Lewis Whyld/PA)PM David Cameron and US President Barack Obama in Ohio as they watch a basketball game in 2012 (Stefan Rousseau/PA)Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond after an agreement between the UK Government and the Scottish Government was signed for a Scottish independence referendum in 2012 (Andrew Milligan/PA)Nick Clegg, David Cameron and Ed Miliband during a reception at Buckingham Palace in 2013 (Lewis Whyld/PA)David Cameron helping with a reading lesson at the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Primary School in Westhoughton near Bolton in 2015 (Stefan Rousseau/PA)Ed Miliband speaking to the media and party supporters as he resigned as leader of the Labour Party in 2015 (Yui Mok/PA)Mayor of London Boris Johnson joining a street rugby tournament in Tokyo in 2015 (Stefan Rousseau/PA)Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn standing as the national anthem is sung during a service at St Paul’s Cathedral in London to mark the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain in 2015 (Jonathan Brady/PA)SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon reacting as results came in at a Scottish Parliament election count in 2016 (Danny Lawson/PA)Activists for the Vote Remain and Vote Leave campaigns face off in Winchester (Dominic Lipinski/PA)Ukip leader Nigel Farage at the Leave EU party, where he claimed victory for the Leave campaign in the EU referendum in 2016 (Stefan Rousseau/PA)David Cameron and his family before resigning as Prime Minister in 2016 (Hannah McKay/PA)New PM Theresa May, followed by her husband Philip walking into 10 Downing Street after meeting the Queen and accepting her invitation to form a new government (Stefan Rousseau/PA)US President Donald Trump walking with Prime Minister Theresa May prior to a joint press conference at Chequers in 2018 (Stefan Rousseau/PA)An anti-Brexit protester outside the Houses of Parliament in 2019 (Dominic Lipinski/PA)The father of a young girl expresses his anger over hospital waiting times to Prime Minister Boris Johnson in 2019 (Yui Mok/PA)John Bercow’s 10-year tenure as Speaker of the House provided a frustration for all Tory leaders, but especially Theresa May and Boris Johnson as they sought to push through laws to enable Brexit (Jonathan Brady/PA)Prime Minister Boris Johnson waving on the steps of 10 Downing Street in 2019 (Dominic Lipinski/PA)
