Three Prime Ministers in a matter of months? Four Chancellors? There have been few years quite as turbulent as 2022 but what have been the political highlights and lowlights?

Who was in the fast lane and who got engine trouble? Our political editor Paul Francis looks back at the key events and how Kent’s politicians have fared.

Unlock, unlock…the keys to Downing Street changed hands three times

It was hard to keep up with the bewildering rate at which Prime Ministers came and went. And all without a single vote being cast - or at least not by any ordinary voter.

Forced out of office after the ‘party-gate’ scandal in July, Boris Johnson went off to lick his wounds, leaving the Parliamentary party to pick a successor.

Tonbridge and Malling MP Tom Tugendhat threw his hat in the ring, running an eye-catching campaign positioning himself as ‘the change candidate.’

Asked in a TV hustings if he thought Boris Johnson was an honest man, he simply shook his head from side to side. Unfortunately, his parliamentary colleagues decided they didn’t want quite that much change and he was eliminated in the third round ballot.

But maybe his bid will prove to be a dry run for a second go when a vacancy arises. In one of the biggest political shocks, Liz Truss took the crown but support drained away when her blueprint for the economy took the country to the brink of a financial meltdown. She quit - just seven weeks later.

Candles In The Wind…When ‘partygate became ‘cake-gate’

After months of denials and insistence that no rules were broken by ‘gatherings’ at Downing Street and other parts of Westminster, it seemed the Metropolitan Police did not agree and issued penalty notices to those it said had breached the Covid-19 regulations.

Among them was the Chancellor and the Prime Minister. Their crime? To have attended - albeit briefly - a birthday party for one of the Prime Minister’s children cake cutting.

Only in Britain could a major upheaval in politics be traced back to a slice of cake.

Still, as Boris might have said: “Them’s the breaks” or maybe “them’s the cakes.”

Kent MP strikes a note of discord over populist PM

Boris Johnson was not universally liked by his MPs during his period as Prime Minister.

Among those underwhelmed was the veteran North Thanet MP Sir Roger Gale, who took it upon himself to declare that he had no confidence in the PM at every turn and wanted a leadership contest.

Except for one occasion: he relented in his demands in April because of events in Ukraine, saying a leadership contest was not what was needed and would prove to be a distraction.

It was a temporary lull and Sir Roger was soon back demanding a vote of no confidence in the aftermath and on-going inquiries around ‘party-gate.’

Who is he? The Kent MP who made a surprising - but ill-fated leadership bid

A crowded field of candidates vying to become the next Prime Minister became even more crowded when the Gillingham MP Rehman Chishti decided to enter the contest - to a loud chorus of ‘who is he’?

It was a bold move. And ended in quick fashion.

Strictly speaking, he didn’t actually stand as he failed to secure enough backers to even enter the race.

He ended his campaign optimistically though, thanking his, er, supporters for backing his bid.

Money, money, money: Kent County Council warns of bankruptcy

It may be a rich man’s world but when it comes to the parlous state of council budgets, an increasing number of town halls were reaching a point of no-return.

Kent County Council leader Cllr Roger Gough warned in an incendiary letter to the Chancellor and Prime Minister that the authority’s financial position was so bleak that without a significant injection of cash, it would possibly go bankrupt.

A Tory council warning it could go bankrupt in a year or so? Yes, you read it correctly. This kind of thing is usually associated with profligate councils outside the Conservative shires and duly received a considerable amount of attention.

Like Oliver, the council may have to go cap - or bowl - in hand to its Westminster paymaster to ask for more.

Failing to make the grade

Kent County Council issues a public apology in the wake of an Ofsted report into its SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) services for vulnerable children.

The report found that significant weaknesses identified in 2019 had not been improved in nine areas.

The Ofsted verdict was particularly damning around communications with parents, saying: “Parental confidence in the local area’s ability to meet their children’s needs is at an all-time low."

Channel crossings break an unwelcome record

Thousands of would be asylum-seekers continued to cross the channel to reach the UK. But there was outrage over the use of Manston Airport site for a detention centre.

Squalid conditions; overcrowding and the spread of infection created unwelcome headlines for the government, which was already on the back foot over its failure to find alternatives to the processing centre in Thanet.

A new set of measures announced by the Home Office included more money and help for the French authorities and their efforts to break up criminal gangs.

Dover MP Natalie Elphicke, who had loyally backed the government, decided it was not enough and broke ranks to speak out against the new steps.

The Trains Not Stopping in Kent

Any hopes that Eurostar services would be resumed sooner rather than later were dashed when the company said it was unlikely to be able to bring back stopping services at Ashford International and Ebbsfleet stations.

MPs, councillors and travellers continued to express disappointment at the failure to nail a date. But outgoing chief Jacques Damass told MPs: “It is only the fact that Eurostar has capacity-limited trains and significantly reduced its timetable from 2019 levels, that we are not seeing daily queues in the centre of London similar to those experienced in the Channel ports.”

The Comeback Kid

It doesn't take much for Nigel Farage to threaten to return to frontline politics.

The trigger for his latest hint? A claim that there was a Tory plot to reverse Brexit and for the UK to strike a deal that would make it…like Switzerland.

Perish the thought.

The Wheels Come Off Scooter trial

Electric scooters vanished from Kent's streets after county transport bosses unexpectedly announced a controversial trial of the divisive vehicles would not be extended.

The pilot scheme launched in Canterbury in November 2020 for an initial 12-month period but, despite public safety fears and a pedestrian being knocked down, had twice been extended.

That was too much for the politician in charge at County Hall David Brazier, who appeared not to have kept his colleagues in the loop.

Countryside retreat: the Garden of England forces government backdown

Kent MPs led a revolt over the government's house-building targets, exacting a climbdown on a bid to build 300,000 new homes a year.

Ministers said the figures were 'advisory' rather than mandatory and back-pedalled over other plans. The government also told councils planning policy need only be considered as advisory rather than compulsory when targets for councils were considered.

Ashford MP Damian Green, among the rebels, argued that developers be stopped from 'landbanking':

So permission should be time-limited or become increasingly and painfully expensive over time if the option to build is not exercised, If we instituted this measure, it would do more to help young people become homeowners than anything proposed by the target-obsessed.”

Here's to a more stable and peaceful 2023.