Delayed Flight: the top ten political moments of 2012

There is an art to the well-timed political intervention. Who can forget Geoffrey Howe’s famous resignation speech in 1990 in protest at Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s stance on the single currency? It had such an impact, many feel it led directly to Thatcher’s resignation a few weeks later. Or how about the occasion Robin Cook quit his Cabinet post in protest against the UK’s military intervention in Iraq? None of the ‘interventions’ – perhaps ‘moments’ would be better – on our list are really comparable with these watershed events, but they all made headlines this year neverthel...