From the Trumpian Conservative, to a self-professed socialist, and a Jacinda Ardern fan, there's a range of passionate UK political party leaders.
The December 12 election is expected to be a pivot point for the United Kingdom as its Parliament attempts to escape the paralysis brought on by Brexit and the ruling party not having a majority.
How Britain - and consequently, most of its major trading partners - heads forward will largely be in the hands of the new Government and its leader.
So, who leads the key British political parties and could soon have major influence over the country?
Boris Johnson - Conservative Party
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is currently predicted by most polls to retain the Prime Ministership he won when elected the Conservative Party leader in July.
A controversial former Foreign Secretary and London Mayor famous for his mop hair and indifference about humiliating himself, Johnson was a journalist and political column writer before entering politics.
But he was fired from a job at The Daily Telegraph when he fabricated a quote and also got into hot water when he supplied information to a friend who wanted to beat up another journalist.
Johnson - whose populist style and bravado is commonly compared to that of US President Donald Trump - first attracted international attention for his work on the successful 2012 London Olympics. Images of him stuck dangling on a zipline with UK flags in his hands were plastered around the globe at the time.
He also was a prominent supporter of the Leave campaign during the 2016 referendum on whether Britain should exit the European Union. During his time as Foreign Secretary under Prime Minister Theresa May, he rebelled against her Brexit deal, arguing it was too soft and left Britain as a colony. Commentators have suggested Johnson - who has amassed significant personal popularity with the public - contributed to May's downfall with his revolt.
But when he took her job, he failed to create cross-party political consensus and instead alienated many of his colleagues frustrated with the lengths he was going to achieve Brexit. That included unlawfully requesting the Queen suspend Parliament.
Despite his efforts, he was unable to get a newly negotiated Brexit deal across the line by the then-deadline of October 31.
While his supporters have played up Johnson as an every-day common man, relaxed with the public, and happy to put himself out there, others others suggest it is a front, masquerading an elitist who is all talk and little action.
Voters will soon decide who they believe.
Jeremy Corbyn - Labour Party
Elected to Parliament in 1983 after working as a trade union representative, Jeremy Corbyn is widely recognised for his efforts to maintain socialist ideals during a period of attack on the ideology in the late-20th century.
He refused to shift right in the 2000s as Labour did under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, regularly voting against his own party. There was considerable contention between him and the party when Blair announced Britain's involvement in the Iraq War following 9/11, becoming a key supporter of the Stop the War coalition.
That inner-party division continued even when he managed to cause a major upset by winning Labour's leadership in 2015. Party membership skyrocketed, however, with Labour distinguishing itself from the more centrist Conservative Party.
The 2017 election was a mixed bag for the 70-year-old, who was able to increase Labour's share of the vote and stop May obtaining her predicted majority, but wasn't able to gain enough support to form a Government. However, his hold on the left-wing side of the party led him to retain the leadership.
In recent years, Corbyn has been troubled by accusations of anti-Semitism against many of his MPs - some of whom have resigned over their previous comments. He's been criticised for not quickly dealing with what many deem a culture of anti-Semitism in the party, but maintains it has been handled.
Corbyn voted Remain in the referendum but has refused to stake a position on Brexit recently, instead saying he would stay neutral. This has been slammed by many in his party who want to see it take a clear stand against Brexiteer Johnson. Despite a series of humiliating Brexit defeats for Johnson after he became Prime Minister, Labour has never been able to capitalise. The ambivalence of the party on Brexit instead saw the Liberal Democrats - strong supporters of the Remain movement - attract much of Labour's support in mid-2019.
Corbyn remains unpopular with the general public and has historically-low approval ratings. But Labour is slowly reversing its favours, with a slight lift in the polls in the last two weeks.
What remains to be seen is whether the public will elect a party with a leader not willing to give a clear view on the most disruptive issue Britain has faced since World War II.
Jo Swinson - Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats' first female leader as well as the party's youngest ever, 39-year-old Jo Swinson rose to power in July, just days before Johnson became Prime Minister.
Swinson's a career politician, having entered Parliament in 2005 after a stint as a public relations manager. Opposed to the Iraq War, an early supporter of action on climate change, and a vocal proponent of a 'wellbeing index', Swinson quickly made a name for herself as the 'Baby of the House'.
But she also received praise for being willing to support policies from politicians on both sides of the political spectrum. For example, while acting as an Under Secretary of State for Employment Relations and Consumer Affairs during the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition of the early 2010s, she supported zero-hour contracts and cautioned against minimum wage rises out of concern for job losses. She also opposed gender quotas within businesses. In 2018, she supported erecting a statue of former Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, saying the controversial figure had transformed the fortunes of women. Despite this, she said she wasn't a Thatcherite.
Swinson's path to the Liberal Democrats' leadership came after she lost her seat in 2015. She won it back in 2017 and soon afterwards became the party's deputy leader.
A vocal anti-Trump figure, Swinson was pivotal in attracting attention to protests demonstrating against the US President's state visit to Britain. She also spoke out against populism sweeping the globe.
In July 2019, following the resignation of Vince Cable, Swinson became the party's leader and immediately began work to form a Remain alliance, opposing Brexit. That opposition is her party's biggest weapon in differentiating itself for other parties and core to its 2019 election manifesto.
Following her victory, there was a jump in membership for the Liberal Democrats - referred to as the Swinson surge - as well as a brief rise for the party in the polls. However, the Liberal Democrats have begun falling behind the Conservatives and Labour in the polls over the last few weeks. Swinson has ruled out a coalition with the Conservatives or a coalition with Labour while Corbyn is leader.
For New Zealanders, Swinson may be best known for her frequent praise of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. In November, Swinson called Ardern her "favourite world leader", while back in 2018, Swinson wrote a column for The Guardian about Ardern taking her daughter Neve to the United Nations.
"A Prime Minister combining leading her country with new motherhood is an incredibly inspiring symbol for many women," she wrote.
In 2018, Swinon became the first MP to bring a baby into the British House of Commons chamber during a debate.
While Swinson may not be able to mimic Ardern's meteoric rise to power, she could be about to become one of Britain's most influential women.
Nigel Farage - Brexit Party
A former Conservative who left the party to become a founder of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) in 1993, Farage is arguably the world's most famous Eurosceptic.
During his time as the leader of UKIP between 2006 and 2016 as well as a member of the European Parliament, Farage frequently spoke out against the European Union and the Euro currency.
However, despite a long history in European politics and being named Briton of the Year by The Times in 2014, 2016 was the year Farage became a global icon.
An essential member of the Brexit movement and seen in the media daily throughout the 2016 referendum, Farage is also a close friend of Trump's, appearing at many of the now-President's rallies in the lead up to the United States 2016 election. Trump even mooted at one point that Farage could be the UK's ambassador to the US.
Since Brits voted to leave in 2016, Farage has been pushing for a strong, clean Brexit and criticised parliamentary leaders for going soft and against public will. He is a key figure for the Leave means Leave Brexit lobby group. In 2017 he began hosting his own radio show and is a regular for outlets like Fox News.
Farage would go on to create the Brexit Party, which in 2019 swept the European Parliament election.
Going into the British election, the party is led by Farage, but he isn't standing as a candidate. The Brexit Party also won't contest seats held by Conservative Party MPs - a strategic move to bolster the chance of a right-leaning, Brexit-friendly Government.
Farage is a divisive figure, but his party's success in the European Parliament has proven he has cut through. Whether that translates to this year's election is a different story, however.
Nicola Sturgeon - Scottish National Party
The First Minister of Scotland, Sturgeon worked as a solicitor in Glasgow for several years until she entered the Scottish Parliament.
The independent governance of Scotland has been a focal point for the leader throughout her career. She says she was first inspired to enter politics by Thatcher as she didn't believe it was right that Scotland was managed by a Conservative politician it hadn't elected.
In 2004, Sturgeon supported Alex Salmond for the leadership of the Scottish National Party and became his running mate. When Salmond won the election, Sturgeon became the deputy leader but led the party in the Scottish Parliament until 2007 as Salmond was then an MP in the British House of Commons.
Under Salmond and Sturgeon's leadership, the party pushed for Scottish independence, something Sturgeon became the face of. However, that was rejected in a referendum in 2014 and Salmond stood down, giving Sturgeon an avenue to power.
Scotland was heavily in favour of the United Kingdom staying within the European Union and following the 2016 referendum result, Sturgeon said she would again attempt to get Scottish independence across the line.
That's still bubbling away in the background, but will likely be affected by whoever becomes Prime Minister, and consequently, how Brexit turns out. She remains popular, being named Politician of the Year for a record fifth time this year.
