It was the year that Donald Trump caused chaos with tariffs, Elon Musk took a chainsaw to the US government, Angela Rayner was forced to resign, and Gary Lineker left the BBC. Here we take a look at some of the people who made the headlines in 2025.
January
In an effort to drum up trade, Chancellor Rachel Reeves visits Beijing for the first high-level economic meeting between Britain and China since 2019: critics dub it “operation kowtow”. Tulip Siddiq resigns as a Treasury Minister over her links to her aunt’s ousted government in Bangladesh. A court in Dhaka later convicts her of corruption, in absentia. Two months after being criticised in an independent report for his handling of abuse allegations, Justin Welby steps down as Archbishop of Canterbury.
“The golden age of America begins right now,” declares Donald Trump as he is sworn in as the 47th US president in a ceremony attended by the Silicon Valley elite. He announces moves to boost fossil fuel production and close the US-Mexico border, and declares an ambition to “take back” the Panama Canal. In a frenetic first week, he signs a mass of executive orders and offers millions of federal employees eight months’ worth of pay to resign, as part of his efforts to shrink the state. Israel’s cabinet approves a ceasefire deal in Gaza, leading to the release of 33 Israeli hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
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A previously obscure Chinese startup releases DeepSeek-R1, an AI chatbot that seemingly costs a fraction of the price of US rivals and can be downloaded for free. It shoots to the top of Apple’s charts and wipes $1 trillion (£742 billion) off the value of US tech stocks.
February
Keir Starmer launches a charm offensive in Brussels as he seeks to “reset” Britain’s relations with the EU. A panel of international medical experts claims that Lucy Letby, the nurse convicted of murdering seven babies, is a victim of a miscarriage of justice: her case is under assessment by the Criminal Cases Review Commission.
As head of America’s new Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), Elon Musk starts purging the federal workforce. He dismantles the country’s main aid agency, USAID, and boasts of having fed it “into the woodchipper”. Days later, he wields a chainsaw on stage at an event in Washington DC. Germany turns to the Right in its federal election, delivering victory to the conservative CDU and setting up its leader, Friedrich Merz, to become the nation’s next chancellor.
Scotland’s First Minister, John Swinney, is forced to deny that his government is planning to ban pet cats: a report had merely advised that cats might be contained in areas that are home to red-listed bird species. The Broccoli family yields creative control over the 007 franchise to Amazon MGM Studios. Beyoncé wins her first album-of-the-year Grammy for her country-inspired album, “Cowboy Carter”.
Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy heads to Washington to sign a minerals deal, only for his Oval Office meeting to end in an undignified, televised row. Vice president J.D. Vance accuses him of disrespecting America, by seeking to “litigate” disagreements in front of the media, and suggests that he show gratitude to the president. “You don’t have the cards,” yells Trump.
March
Convicted of embezzlement, Marine Le Pen received a five-year ban on running for office
Ukraine agrees in principle to a US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire – if Russia follows suit – prompting Washington to announce that it’s restoring the flow of military aid and intelligence to Kyiv cut off after the Oval Office row. But Russia does not follow suit.
The Duchess of Sussex’s lifestyle series, “With Love, Meghan”, debuts on Netflix, to dire reviews. At the age of 69, Donatella Versace steps down as creative director of the Versace fashion empire. Uncollected rubbish starts piling up in Birmingham after the city’s refuse collectors embark on an indefinite strike.
The far-right leader Marine Le Pen’s (pictured above) hopes of becoming France’s next president are dealt a major blow, when she is convicted of embezzlement and banned from running for office for five years. Israel launches air strikes on Gaza, ending the ceasefire. It says that Hamas had breached its terms by failing to release hostages and had rejected proposals to extend the truce. Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting, Friedrich Merz, announces plans to splurge on defence spending to help with Europe’s rearmament.
Rupert Lowe, the Reform UK MP for Great Yarmouth, is suspended by the party, amid claims that he’d made threats towards the party’s chairman, Zia Yusuf. Lowe, who had earlier described Nigel Farage as the “messianic” leader of a “protest party”, claims to be the victim of a smear campaign; the Crown Prosecution Service opts not to bring charges against him. Tory leader Kemi Badenoch formally abandons the net-zero target enshrined by Theresa May in 2019. A fire at an old substation near Heathrow brings Britain’s busiest airport to a shuddering halt for 24 hours.
April
On what he dubs “liberation day”, President Trump announces a slew of tariffs on countries and territories around the world, including two uninhabited islands near Antarctica. The price of US government bonds plummets, and he is forced to suspend most of the reciprocal tariffs for 90 days.
An all-female crew, including the pop star Katy Perry and Lauren Sánchez, the fiancée of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, fly to the edge of outer space in one of Bezos’ Blue Origin rockets. After the 11-minute flight, Perry, who had boasted of putting “the ass in astronaut”, kisses the Earth and declares that she’d not realised “how much love there was inside of you … how loved you are”. Tributes pour in from around the globe following the death of Pope Francis, at the age of 88.
Britain’s Supreme Court confers clear legal protection on single-sex services by ruling that the terms “woman” and “man” in the Equality Act 2010 refer only to a “biological woman” and a “biological man”. The government seizes control of the day-to-day running of British Steel following a breakdown in talks with the Chinese owner, Jingye, over the future of its Scunthorpe Steelworks.
Former Bank of England boss Mark Carney leads his Liberal Party to a fourth consecutive election victory, less than two months after succeeding Justin Trudeau as Canada’s PM. The family of Virginia Giuffre, who was preyed upon by the billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, announce that she has taken her own life, at the age of 41.
May
Nigel Farage declares “the end of two-party politics” after Reform UK makes sweeping gains in local elections in England. The Tories lose control of every local authority they were defending. A sustained cyberattack cripples the digital operations of Marks & Spencer. The retailer later estimates the direct costs of the attack at roughly £136 million.
The Court of Appeal rules that the decision to downgrade Prince Harry’s police protection after he stepped back from royal life in 2020 was legally justified. Harry responds angrily, describing the decision as a “good old-fashioned establishment stitch-up”. (The Home Office is now reviewing the situation.) The Belfast rappers Kneecap have gigs cancelled and are dropped by their US booking agent after videos emerge of them shouting “Up Hamas! Up Hezbollah!” at one gig, and telling fans at another: “Kill your local MP. The only good Tory is a dead Tory.” They say their words were taken out of context.
Unveiling measures to strengthen Britain’s borders, Keir Starmer says the country risks becoming “an island of strangers”. His critics say this echoes words used by Enoch Powell; he later apologises. On the second day of the conclave in Rome, Robert Prevost is elected pope. Pope Leo XIV is the first US-born leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.
A jury in Newcastle finds Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, guilty of criminal damage – for cutting down the Sycamore Gap tree by Hadrian’s Wall. Gary Lineker leaves the BBC without a payoff, days after apologising for reposting an anti-Zionist video that included an emoji of a rat. Keir Starmer signs a controversial treaty that officially hands control of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. The Shadow Justice Secretary, Robert Jenrick, releases a video of himself confronting fare dodgers at Stratford Tube station in east London.
June
First female head of MI6 Blaise Metreweli took up her new role
In its most audacious operation of the war so far, Ukraine launches a series of remotely triggered drone attacks on airfields deep inside Russia. Operation Spiderweb is said to have caused $7 billion (£5.2 billion) of damage to Russia’s long-range strike fleet.
The bromance between Trump and Musk ends in bitter recriminations after Musk describes the president’s signature One Big Beautiful Bill as a “disgusting”, “pork-filled” abomination, and urges senators not to vote for it.
Israel mounts a surprise strike on Iran, launching a wave of bombing raids that eviscerate the top ranks of its armed forces and kill some of its leading nuclear experts. Iran responds by firing ballistic missiles at Israel, a few of which penetrate its Iron Dome defences, killing dozens of people. Blaise Metreweli (pictured above) becomes the first woman to be appointed head of MI6. An Air India flight bound for London Gatwick crashes in Ahmedabad: the sole survivor is named as Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, from Leicester, who’d been sitting in seat 11A, and who’d escaped with relatively minor injuries.
Riots break out in parts of Northern Ireland after two Romanian-speaking teenagers are charged with raping a teenage girl in Ballymena, County Antrim. The charges are later dropped. Tanks roll through Washington as President Trump hosts a military parade on his 79th birthday. He goes on to launch the largest-ever strike by B-2 stealth bombers: seven are sent to drop bunker-buster bombs on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Trump claims the bombs “totally obliterated” the sites.
After an emotional debate in the Commons, Labour MP Kim Leadbeater’s assisted dying bill passes by 314 to 291 votes. Another antisemitism row erupts after the BBC broadcasts footage of the punk-rap duo Bob Vylan leading the crowd in chants of “Death, death to the IDF” at the Glastonbury Festival. Jeff Bezos marries Lauren Sánchez during a three-day multimillion-dollar shindig in Venice. Locals complain about the disruption; Greenpeace unveils a banner in St Mark’s Square reading: “If you can rent Venice for your wedding you can pay more tax.”
July
On the first anniversary of his premiership, Keir Starmer is forced to gut his flagship welfare reform bill to stave off a full-scale Labour revolt. Government borrowing costs rise after Rachel Reeves is seen crying during a session of Prime Minister’s Questions, in which Starmer initially fails to guarantee that the Chancellor will keep her job. The PM subsequently insists that he is “in lockstep” with her; she explains that she had had a “tough day” and had been dealing with “a personal issue”. Firebrand Coventry South MP Zarah Sultana announces that she is quitting Labour to co-lead a new left-wing party with Jeremy Corbyn, a project that quickly descends into factional infighting.
Gregg Wallace is sacked as a “MasterChef” presenter over multiple claims of inappropriate behaviour. He is later criticised for seeming to blame his misconduct on his late-diagnosed autism – a condition that, he says, has left him unable to wear underpants owing to his hypersensitivity to labels and tight clothing. The reunion many fans feared would never happen finally comes to pass when, 16 years after last performing together, Noel and Liam Gallagher stride onto the stage at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium – and bring the house down.
An Observer article blows the whistle on Raynor Winn’s popular 2018 memoir, “The Salt Path”, picking holes in its claim to be the true story of a wronged couple’s triumph against the odds. Owing to drought conditions, eight million people in England face restrictions on water use. Britain joins 27 other countries in condemning the “drip feeding of aid” to Gaza by Israel, amid warnings that “mass starvation” is spreading across the Strip. Six people are arrested during violent protests outside The Bell Hotel in Epping, a hotel housing asylum seekers.
US tech boss Andy Byron and his head of HR, Kristin Cabot, are caught in a romantic embrace by a “kiss cam” at a Coldplay concert. Their guilty reaction, captured on “jumbotron” screens, goes viral; Byron, a married father of two, resigns from his job. Cheering fans line the streets of London to salute England’s women’s football team as it parades through the city to celebrate its victory in the Euro 2025 championship. Hollywood star Sydney Sweeney is caught up in a political row over an American Eagle advert that praises her “great jeans”; critics claim the ad has overtones of eugenics. Sacha Baron Cohen unveils his muscular new physique on the cover of Men’s Fitness. “This is not AI,” insists the “Ali G” star. “I really am egotistical enough to do this.”
August
After President Macron declares that France will formally recognise Palestinian statehood at the UN General Assembly in September, Keir Starmer says that Britain will do the same unless Israel allows more aid into Gaza, commits not to annex the West Bank and agrees to a ceasefire. Channel 4 causes a stir with its documentary about Bonnie Blue, a 26-year-old who has won a huge following by posting clips of her extreme pornographic stunts. It is focused on one last year, in which she supposedly had sex with 1,057 men in 12 hours.
In one of the largest mass arrests in modern British history, more than 500 people are arrested in Parliament Square for holding up placards declaring their support for the proscribed group Palestine Action. Parts of the Cotswolds are brought to a near standstill by the arrival of J.D. Vance for his summer holiday – along with his family and a huge security detail. Vance had earlier visited Foreign Secretary David Lammy at Chevening, where the pair went fishing (illegally, it turned out: Lammy had failed to get a rod licence).
President Trump hosts Vladimir Putin at a summit in Anchorage, Alaska, and offers the Russian leader a lift from the airport in his own presidential limousine. The three hours of talks fail to produce any breakthrough. In the year David Beckham celebrated turning 50 and was finally awarded a knighthood, there is gossip about a major rift in the family. The Beckhams’ eldest son, Brooklyn, and his wife the billionaire heiress Nicola Peltz, appear to confirm this when they post pictures of a “vow renewal” party to which his parents had seemingly not been invited.
Lucy Connolly, the childminder who became a right-wing cause célèbre after being jailed for posting inflammatory comments on social media during last year’s Southport riots, is released from HMP Peterborough. She strikes a defiant tone, promising to “continue to fight” for free speech. The pop star Taylor Swift lights up the internet when she posts a photo of boyfriend Travis Kelce on bended knee, in a garden bursting with roses, along with the caption: “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married.”
September
Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un flank China’s Xi Jinping at a huge military parade in Tiananmen Square. “Phase two of my government starts today,” declares Keir Starmer as he unveils another Downing Street mini-reshuffle, appointing Darren Jones to be the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister. In an immediate setback for the reset, Angela Rayner quits as deputy PM, housing secretary and deputy Labour leader after an investigation finds that she breached the ministerial code, by failing to get proper legal advice about the stamp duty due on the purchase of her flat in Hove. As a result, she had underpaid £40,000 in tax. Yvette Cooper is moved from the Home Office to the Foreign Office, and replaced in her old job by Shabana Mahmood, the former justice secretary.
After a summer of flag-waving, more than 100,000 people join Tommy Robinson’s Unite the Kingdom demonstration in central London; by video-link, Elon Musk urges the crowd to “fight back or die”. Israeli jets fire missiles into a compound in a residential district of Doha, the capital of Qatar, in a failed bid to eliminate Hamas’s negotiating team. Zack Polanski is elected leader of the Green Party, with 85% of member votes. Melvyn Bragg bows out of presenting Radio 4’s “In Our Time”, the show he has hosted since its launch in 1998. Misha Glenny is later named as his successor.
“Folks, it’s happening,” declares a triumphant Nigel Farage at Reform UK’s conference. “We are all ships rising on a turquoise tide headed ever-closer towards winning the next general election.” Danny Kruger subsequently becomes the first sitting Tory MP to join Farage’s party. America reels in response to the assassination of the 31-year-old political influencer and free speech champion Charlie Kirk, shot dead while answering a question about mass shootings at a public event at Utah Valley University. Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, hints at his leadership ambitions ahead of the Labour Party conference, sparking a backlash from MPs, closely followed by a backtrack.
The publication of a “birthday book” given to Jeffrey Epstein leads to the resignation of Peter Mandelson as UK ambassador to Washington: it included a tribute from the Labour peer to his “best pal”, describing how much he looked forward to visiting Epstein at “one of his glorious homes he likes to share with his friends (yum yum)”. Sarah Ferguson is also caught up in the scandal when it emerges that she had described Epstein as her “supreme friend” in an email to him in April 2011, after she had publicly disowned him. Donald Trump is treated to the full array of pomp and pageantry on his second state visit to the UK.
October
Prince Andrew had a change of name, to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor
An attack on the Heaton Park synagogue in Manchester on Yom Kippur leaves two people dead and three more seriously injured, prompting police to step up patrols in areas with large Jewish populations. President Macron faces growing pressure to step down following the resignation of Sébastien Lecornu, France’s fifth PM in two years, after just 28 days in post; Lecornu is reappointed four days later. Sarah Mullally is appointed as the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury – the first woman to take the job in its 1,428-year history.
The world’s first 100% AI actor, Tilly Norwood, causes a stir when she is unveiled at the Zurich Film Festival in a video that shows off her range in a series of clips. “That’s an AI?” exclaims actress Emily Blunt, when shown the video. “Good lord, we’re screwed.” Two weeks after unveiling his 20-point plan for peace in Gaza, Donald Trump declares that “the war is over”, and all the living hostages held in the Strip are released, along with some 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. However, Trump is not awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. It goes to the opposition politician María Corina Machado, who then dedicates it to him.
Rumours of a romance between pop star Katy Perry and former Canadian PM Justin Trudeau are confirmed when a photo appears of the pair caught in a clinch on Perry’s yacht. In a statement from Buckingham Palace, Prince Andrew (pictured above) says he will cease being called the Duke of York, as Virginia Giuffre’s posthumous memoirs are published. The head of MI5, Ken McCallum, voices his frustration over the collapse of the trial of two British men accused of spying for China between 2021 and 2023. The charges were dropped after the Crown Prosecution Service said it couldn’t get evidence from the government that it had viewed China as a national security threat.
Nicolas Sarkozy, the former French president, begins a five-year prison sentence for conspiring to raise campaign funds illegally; he is released three weeks later pending his appeal. In a bold daylight heist, thieves steal eight pieces of the French crown jewels from the Louvre’s Apollo Gallery in Paris. The jewellery – worth an estimated £77 million – hasn’t been recovered, but four suspects are in custody.
November
With public anger about the Epstein affair not abating, King Charles initiates moves to strip his younger brother of all his titles and evict him from his 30-room mansion in Windsor. Millions of people tune in to watch Alan Carr win the inaugural UK series of “The Celebrity Traitors”. The self-described “democratic socialist” Zohran Mamdani wins New York’s mayoral election.
Donald Trump threatens to sue the BBC for up to $10 billion (£7.4 billion) for “deceitfully” editing footage of a speech he gave on 6 January 2021, the day of the Capitol riot. The furore prompts the resignation of two of the BBC’s most senior figures: director-general Tim Davie and BBC News CEO Deborah Turness. David Szalay wins the Booker Prize with his sixth novel, “Flesh”.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood unveils a string of tough measures, which she says amount to the most significant reform of the asylum system since the Second World War. After months of speculation, leaks and apparent U-turns – notably on raising income tax – Rachel Reeves finally delivers her second Budget. It is widely viewed as a failure, leading to renewed speculation about the Labour leadership. In her second report, Covid Inquiry chair Baroness Hallett condemns the slow response of Boris Johnson’s government: had it imposed a national lockdown even one week earlier, the report states, 23,000 lives could have been saved.
December
Time names “The Architects of AI” as its “person” of the year. Justice Secretary David Lammy announces plans to curb jury trials in England and Wales. The Trump administration publishes a stark new National Security Strategy warning that “decaying” European countries face the prospect of “civilisational erasure”. A terrorist attack on Bondi Beach, in Sydney, claims 15 lives. The health secretary, Wes Streeting, hits out at resident doctors for striking during a flu crisis. Film legend Dick Van Dyke celebrates his 100th birthday.
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Why is Trump’s alleged strike on Venezuela shrouded in so much secrecy?TODAY'S BIG QUESTION Trump’s comments have raised more questions than answers about what his administration is doing in the Southern Hemisphere
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Vance’s ‘next move will reveal whether the conservative movement can move past Trump’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
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Why recognizing Somaliland is so risky for IsraelTHE EXPLAINER By wading into one of North Africa’s most fraught political schisms, the Netanyahu government risks further international isolation
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Shots fired in the US-EU war over digital censorshipIN THE SPOTLIGHT The Trump administration risks opening a dangerous new front in the battle of real-world consequences for online action
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Hong Kong court convicts democracy advocate LaiSpeed Read Former Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai was convicted in a landmark national security trial
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Pakistan: Trump’s ‘favourite field marshal’ takes chargeIn the Spotlight Asim Munir’s control over all three branches of Pakistan’s military gives him ‘sweeping powers’ – and almost unlimited freedom to use them
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Is Europe finally taking the war to Russia?Today's Big Question As Moscow’s drone buzzes and cyberattacks increase, European leaders are taking a more openly aggressive stance
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Pushing for peace: is Trump appeasing Moscow?In Depth European leaders succeeded in bringing themselves in from the cold and softening Moscow’s terms, but Kyiv still faces an unenviable choice
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South Africa wraps up G20 summit boycotted by USSpeed Read Trump has been sparring with South Africa in recent months
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The $100mn scandal undermining Volodymyr ZelenskyyIn the Spotlight As Russia continues to vent its military aggression on Ukraine, ‘corruption scandals are weakening the domestic front’
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Trump pushes new Ukraine peace planSpeed Read It involves a 28-point plan to end the war
