It ended as it began. With Downing Street under grey leaden skies. Someone’s idea of a cosmic joke. Only this time the rain had eased to a light drizzle rather than a torrential downpour. Across 14 years of Tory rule, John Crace has seen it all: a bucket-load of sleaze and scandals, myriad questionable policy decisions, and an ever-revolving door of ‘impressive’ candidates trying to get themselves to the top of a sinking ship. With a bumpy start, Keir Starmer, Rachel Reeves and the Labour Party have taken the reins while Kemi Badenoch and the Tories slink off to regroup in opposition. Many proclaim that the United Kingdom’s political landscape has changed – but are those fabled sunny uplands finally in view? Selected from Crace’s much-loved Guardian column, ‘The Bonfire of the Insanities’ lights up a new chapter of governmental absurdity with mordant wit and caustic humour.