The IQ Briefing — February 2026: Who's Up, Who's Down, What It Means

Welcome to The IQ Briefing — our twice-weekly intelligence snapshot on who is gaining and losing real power in UK politics. Every issue covers the key Influence Score movements, what drove them, and what they signal about the weeks ahead.

This week's headline movements

The Influence Score is updated every Sunday and Thursday. This issue covers the period ending 19 February 2026. Full rankings and historical data are available on The IQ Network.

What to watch over the next fortnight

• —The Spring Statement — fiscal positioning will sharpen Cabinet dynamics and clarify which Treasury relationships matter most.
• —Local election candidate selections — early indicators of which MPs are building credibility within their local parties.
• —Opposition front bench signalling — watch for language shifts that preview future positioning.
• —Backbench activity — the PLP committee structure is where quiet influence is built between big events.

Intelligence note

Short-term media fluctuations rarely move the Influence Score significantly. We weight structural factors — parliamentary position, financial network, institutional relationships — more heavily than news cycle volatility. A politician who dominates a week's coverage but holds no bloc, no budget, and no institutional base will not score highly regardless of their column inches.

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The IQ Briefing is published every Sunday and Thursday. Subscribe free to receive each issue in your inbox alongside the Influence Score update. Full network analysis — individual politician profiles, historical trend data, and network mapping — is available on The IQ Network.