The hashtag is a play on "omnishambles, " from the BBC TV series "The Thick of It, " a satire of British government.

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There is no guarantee omnishambles, or any of the other shortlisted words, will make it on to the pages of the Oxford English Dictionary.

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Second, it reflects the first sign of Downing Street trying to get onto the offensive after spending most of the year on the back foot, from the omnishambles Budget onwards.

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But it was omnishambles that most impressed the judges.

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Omnishambles was first heard at the end of an episode in the third series of The Thick of It, during a characteristically foul-mouthed rant by spin doctor Malcolm Tucker, played by Peter Capaldi.

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Perhaps most importantly, it gives the government the chance to try to break out of the awful run of bad news that has hung around its neck since the economy fell into recession and the Budget collapsed into omnishambles.

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Labour leader Ed Miliband, whose phrase "squeezed middle" - referring to those hit hardest by falling living standards - was word of the year in 2011, made the first recorded use of omnishambles in the House of Commons in April.

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