In Pictures: Rain-soaked Rishi and wide-eyed Wes in year’s best political images

The PA news agency’s photographers provided unrivalled coverage of the world of politics this year as these first rate images show.

Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves during their visit to Panorama St Paul’s, which will become HSBC’s new headquarters, in the City of London (Stefan Rousseau/PA) (PA Archive)

Politics in the UK in 2024 was dominated by July’s general election as Labour swept to power ending 14 years of Tory rule.

But aside from the election and the hectic campaigning that preceded it, it was a dramatic year in Scotland where Humza Yousaf stepped down as first minister, and in Wales where Vaughan Gething was forced to quit as the country’s leader.

And it was a big year for women with Rachel Reeves becoming the first woman to hold the post of Chancellor of the Exchequer and Kemi Badenoch beating off the competition to take over as leader of the Conservative Party.

PA news agency photographers were there to capture all the big moments – and many of the quirky ones, too.