Government and politics

Question 1

Which politician served as Chancellor of the Exchequer for the entire duration of
David Cameron’s time as Prime Minister?

Answer 1

George Osborne

Question 2

Which politician served as Home Secretary for the entire duration of David
Cameron’s time as Prime Minister?

Answer 2

Theresa May

Question 3

What does the letter R represent in the name of the government agency HMRC?

Answer 3

Revenue

Question 4

What does the letter L represent in the name of the government agency DVLA?

Answer 4

Licensing

Question 5

Najla Bouden served from 2021-23 as Prime Minister of which country, making
her not only that country’s first female Prime Minister but the first in the Arabicspeaking world?

Answer 5

Tunisia

Question 6

Taking office in December 2022, Dina Boluarte is the first female President of
which Latin American country?

Answer 6

Peru

Question 7

Among the British military aid to Ukraine in the ongoing war have been 200 of
which type of anti-tank missile, that share their name with an athletics event?

Answer 7

Javelin

Question 8

Among the British military aid to Ukraine in the ongoing war have been 14 of
which type of tank, that share their name with a Space Shuttle?

Answer 8

Challenger

Question 9

The term ‘hanging chads’, referring to punch card ballots where the hole had not
been fully punched, entered popular discourse following the disputed result in
which crucial swing state in the 2000 US Presidential election?

Answer 9

Florida

Question 10

Launched in 2018 in response to rising fuel prices, the Yellow Vest Protests are a series of weekly populist demonstrations in which European country?

Answer 10

France

Question 11

Launched in response to Covid-19 vaccine mandates and restrictions, the Freedom Convoy was a 2022 populist, right-wing protest movement led by truckers who blockaded various roads and border crossings in which Commonwealth country?

Answer 11

Canada

Question 12

Which Russian business oligarch who brought a civil case against Roman Abramovich seeking over £3 billion in damages, was a critic of Vladimir Putin, and was granted political asylum by the UK in 2003? He was found dead at his home in Sunninghill, near Ascot, in 2013.

Answer 12

Boris Berezovsky

Question 13

Which journalist and human rights activist, known for her reporting of the war in Chechnya and criticism of Vladimir Putin, was murdered in an elevator at her home in Moscow in 2006, and has an annual human rights award named after her?

Answer 13

Anna Politkovskaya

Question 14

Which Liberal MP, acquitted of conspiracy charges in 1979, was played by Hugh
Grant in the 2018 BBC drama A Very English Scandal?

Answer 14

Jeremy Thorpe

Question 15

Currently held by the Plaid Cymru Member Elin Jones, the Llywydd is the equivalent in the Welsh Senedd of which position in the House of Commons?

Answer 15

Speaker

Question 16

The practice of gerrymandering is named after the politician Elbridge Gerry, who
served as US Vice President under which President?

Answer 16

James Madison

Question 17

Currently held by the Green MSP Alison Johnstone, what is the two-word name
for the post in the Scottish Parliament that is the equivalent of the Speaker of the
House of Commons?

Answer 17

Presiding Officer

Question 18

Which Labour MP who attempted to fake his own death in 1974 was played by
Matthew McFadyen in a 2023 ITV drama whose title was his surname?

Answer 18

John Stonehouse

Question 19

Elbridge Gerry had earlier been the governor of which US State, where the term
gerrymandering was coined in 1812 following a redrawing of the electoral map
that produced one contorted district said to resemble a salamander?

Answer 19

Massachusetts

Question 20

The Chinese campaign against sparrows was ended in 1960 when they were
replaced as one of the Four Pests by which insects, an outbreak of which has
recently been reported in France?

Answer 20

Bed bugs

Question 21

Which US President was assassinated in 1881 by Charles Guiteau?

Answer 21

James Garfield

Question 22

In which UK city was the 2022 Conservative Party Conference held? After the
scrapping of the Manchester branch of HS2, this city is now to be the northern
terminus of the project.

Answer 22

Birmingham

Question 23

In which UK city was the 2023 Conservative Party Conference held? While at the
conference, Rishi Sunak announced that the branch of the HS2 project intended
to connect to this city was being scrapped.

Answer 23

Manchester