After a night of stormy weather, a ferry has run aground on
Scotland's coast, with passengers remaining on board rather than evacuating in stormy weather. Extensive flooding has occurred in
Carlisle as well as other locations in Britain and many homes are without power.
20 January –
Carolyn Leckie, a Member of the
Scottish Parliament, is jailed for seven days for non-payment of a fine arising from a protest at
Faslane nuclear base.
24 January –
Hoaxer Christopher Pierson, who sent emails to relatives of people missing in the
2004 Indian Ocean tsunami from an
AOL account purporting to be from the
Foreign Office and claiming to confirm that the relatives were dead, is jailed for six months.
Four Britons returned to the UK after being detained at
Guantanamo Bay for up to three years are released from police custody without charge.
Rodney Marsh, the former England national football star, is dismissed from his position as a pundit on
Sky Sports because of a joke he made live on air concerning the
2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
Prime Minister
Tony Blair issues a public apology to the eleven members of the Conlon and McGuire families who were wrongly convicted for the Guildford and Woolwich
IRA pub bombings of 1974 when seven people were killed. The surviving members of the families were released in 1989 when the scientific evidence against them was discredited.
The British survey ship HMSScott produces the first sonar survey of the seabed site of the
2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Some images appear to show a landslide 100 metres high and 2 kilometres long.
10 February
The House of Commons passes the
Identity Cards Bill at its third reading by 224 votes to 64, with a majority of 160. Most of the Conservative Party MPs abstain. 19 Labour MPs and 11 Conservative MPs defy the whip and vote against the bill, which now moves on to the
House of Lords.
Hare coursing: As the final Waterloo Cup event in England starts in
Altcar, four anti-coursing protesters are arrested. The event is expected to attract up to 10,000 spectators over its three days.[8]
Yusuf Islam, formerly known as
Cat Stevens, receives substantial damages from two British newspapers, The Sun and The Sunday Times, which alleged that the United States was correct to ban him from the country. The Sun has published, and The Sunday Times will publish, acknowledgements that he is not, and never has been, involved in or supported terrorism, and that he abhors all such activities. They also highlight that Islam was recently presented with the
Man for Peace award by a group of Nobel Peace Laureates.
The
European Court of Human Rights deciding about the so-called
McLibel case rules in favour of environmental campaigners Helen Steel and David Morris and their claim that their trial was unfair. The pair said their human rights were violated when their criticism of
McDonald's was ruled
libel. The case has taken fifteen years.
17 February
Irish police arrest four people in
Cork and three in
Dublin in raids concentrating on the financing of the
Provisional IRA. Over £2,300,000 is seized in Cork, and £60,000 in
Northern Bank notes believed to be from the £26,500,000 robbery in
Belfast just before Christmas. Among the people arrested are reported to be a
Sinn Féin councillor and someone working in the banking industry.
The
BNFLnuclear plant at
Sellafield, in the United Kingdom, reports that 30 kg (66 lb) of
plutonium is "unaccounted for". This amount of missing plutonium would be sufficient to make seven
atomic bombs. The UK
Atomic Energy Authority states that the discrepancy in the record keeping is merely an
auditing issue, and that there was no "real loss" of plutonium.
The
Hunting Act, the ban on hunting with dogs in
England and Wales, comes into force. Opponents intend to challenge the new law and carry on hunting.[9]
Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) recover a sum of money at a sports and social club in
Belfast frequented by members of the PSNI. It is thought perhaps to be a diversion, but is being investigated.
A top Irish businessman and associate of the
Taoiseach,
Phil Flynn, steps down from a number of positions pending the outcome of a
Garda Síochána investigation into Chesterton Finance, of which he is a non-executive director. He stepped down as chairman of a government body overseeing decentralisation, as well as giving up a position on the board of
Vhi Healthcare and as chairman of the
Bank of Scotland (Ireland).[10]
A man is arrested by Gardaí near
Passage West in
Cork after he was discovered attempting to burn
sterling banknotes.
Gardaí release two men who were being questioned in Dublin, as well as a
Sinn Féin member in Cork. A suspected
Real IRA member arrested at
Heuston Station has been remanded in custody, as have four people arrested in Farran in
County Cork.
21 February – The
Royal Navy announces that it will allow same-sex couples to live in family quarters if they are in
registered partnership.
23 February – Three British soldiers are found guilty of abusing
Iraqiprisoners; on 25 February they are jailed for periods between five months and two years, and dismissed from the army. More British soldiers face the possibility of conviction.
3 March –
Sinn Féin suspends seven members over their alleged involvement in the murder of Belfast man,
Robert McCartney, who was killed on 30 January.
16 March – The
Office for National Statistics reports that employment is at a record high of nearly 28,600,000 and that the number of unemployment benefit claimants has fallen to 813,300 – the lowest for thirty years. However, it also reveals that nearly 1,000,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost in eight years of Labour government. Critics claim that "real" job losses have been masked by an expansion of the public sector, with Shadow Chancellor
Oliver Letwin describing the figures as "truly disturbing" and pointing out that 150,000 new jobs were created during the final three years of
John Major's
Conservative government.[12]
Former Prime Minister
James Callaghan dies at his home in
Ringmer, East Sussex, shortly before his 93rd birthday, making him the oldest ever former Prime Minister.
15 April – Eight days after its going into receivership, administrators at carmaker
MG Rover make redundant virtually all of the workforce, with over 6,000 job losses.
3 May – The last MORI poll before the general election puts Labour five points ahead of the Conservatives on 38%, with most observers predicting a Labour victory with a significantly reduced majority.[16]
A bomb explodes outside the British consulate in New York.
6 May –
Conservative Party leader
Michael Howard announces that he plans to resign "sooner rather than later" after being defeated in the general election.
9 May – The
Sellafield nuclear plant's Thorp reprocessing facility in
Cumbria is closed down due to the confirmation of a 20 tonne leak of highly radioactive uranium and plutonium fuel through a fractured pipe.
12 May –
Malcolm Glazer gains control of
Manchester United F.C. after securing a 70% share, ending more than thirty years of ownership by the Edwards family.
17 May –
George Galloway, newly-elected Respect Party MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, appears before the
United States Senate to defend himself against charges that he profited from
Saddam Hussein's regime, launching a tirade against the Senators who had accused him and attacking the war in
Iraq.[3]
21 May –
Arsenal become the first team to win the
FA Cup on penalties, after they defeat
Manchester United in a shootout that follows a nil-nil draw.
25 May –
Liverpool F.C win their fifth European Cup, defeating A.C Milan on penalties following a 3–3 draw after extra time in
Istanbul. Liverpool's victory is notable for a remarkable comeback from 0–3 down at half time to level the match.[18]
27 May –
Mark Hobson is sentenced to life imprisonment at
Leeds Crown Court after admitting four charges of murder. On a killing spree in July last year, 35-year-old Hobson killed his girlfriend Claire Sanderson, her sister Diane Sanderson, as well as pensioners James and Joan Britton. The judge at the trial recommends that Hobson is never released from prison.
31 May –
Bob Geldof announces plans for a concert,
Live 8, similar to
Live Aid, which took place in 1985, to coincide with the
G8 Summit in
Edinburgh this July.
24 June – The
IRA apologises unreservedly to the family of fourteen-year-old Kathleen Feeney, whom they shot dead in
Derry in November 1973. The IRA had previously blamed the British Army for the killing.
26 June – After 23 years presenting the channel 4 game show Countdown,
Richard Whiteley dies aged 61 following treatment at Leeds General Infirmary.
28 June – In the
Solent, the Queen conducts a
Fleet Review of 167 naval, merchant and tall ships from the UK and 35 other nations to commemorate the bicentenary of the
Battle of Trafalgar.
Kenneth Regan and William Horncy are convicted at the
Old Bailey of murdering millionaire Amarjit Chohan and four members of his family so they could use his freight business as a cover for importing drugs. The bodies of three victims were found washed up off
Bournemouth and the
Isle of Wight in the months after they disappeared from their
Hounslow home in 2003.[20]
6 July
London is chosen as the host city for the
2012 Olympic Games, beating Paris in the final round of votes 54 to 50.[4][21]
11 July –
Littlewoods sells its 119 stores across the UK to
Associated British Foods in a £409,000,000 deal which will see them converted into
Primark clothing stores and will mean that the Littlewoods name will vanish from high streets and shopping centres next year after 83 years, although Littlewoods will continue trading as a catalogue and an online retailer.[22]
12 July – Southampton Institute of Higher Education becomes a university; on 15 August, it adopts the name
Southampton Solent University.
14 July – A two-minute silence is held across Europe at 12:00 BST to remember the victims of the London bombings.
15 July –
Nanjing Automobile Group of China completes a takeover of bankrupt British carmaker
MG Rover, and hopes to start producing cars at
Longbridge from next year, with some production also taking place in China.
12 August – Radical Islamic preacher
Omar Bakri Mohammed is barred from returning to the UK after Home Secretary
Charles Clarke cancels the indefinite leave to return Mohammed was given, after claiming asylum in 1986.
20 August – The
Ricoh Arena, a 32,500-seat multi-purpose stadium in
Coventry, is opened. Owned by the local council,
Coventry City F.C. are its key tenants and it is also likely to be used as a concert venue. Japanese electrical goods manufacturer
Ricoh purchased the stadium's naming rights in a multimillion-pound deal last year.[25]
The
High Court decides that Ian Huntley, serving life imprisonment for the
Soham Murders three years ago, should serve at least forty years in prison before being considered for parole. This ruling is set to keep Huntley behind bars until at least 2042 and the age of 68.
October
3 October – Actor and comedian
Ronnie Barker dies of heart failure in a hospice in Oxfordshire, aged 76.
5 October – Three perpetrators of the racially motivated murder of
Glasgow teenager
Kriss Donald, arrive in Scotland to face trial after a one-off extradition agreement negotiated with
Pakistan.[27][28]
17 October – The
Conservative Party begin voting on a new leader following the resignation of
Michael Howard, who stepped down after being defeated at the general election in May.
18 October – The landmark
Spinnaker Tower in
Portsmouth[31] opens. At 170 metres (560 ft) it is the tallest accessible structure in the UK outside London.
November
1 November – Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall arrive in the United States for a state visit, their first overseas visit since their marriage.
9 November – The Government loses a key
House of Commons vote on detaining terrorism suspects for ninety days without charge, in the report stage of the Terrorism Bill.
13 November –
Andrew Stimpson, a 25-year-old man from Scotland, is reported as the first person proven to have been "cured" of HIV.[3]
21 November –
Alfred Anderson, one of the last surviving
First World War veterans and the oldest man in
Scotland, dies at the age of 109. He was also the last known survivor of the 1914
Christmas truce. There are now only approximately twenty surviving British veterans of the conflict, all over 100 years of age.[33]
The
Safeway name disappears from Britain after 43 years with the rebranding of the last remaining store by its owner
Morrisons, which took over the supermarket chain in March 2004.
25 November – The footballing world mourns
George Best, the legendary former
Manchester United and
Northern Ireland player who dies from
multiple organ failure in London following a seven-week illness at the age of 59. Best, an alcoholic for more than thirty years, had been admitted to hospital in early October suffering from an infection brought on by anti-rejection drugs that he had been taking since a liver transplant in 2002.
30 November – Quadruple killer
Mark Hobson loses a
High Court appeal against his trial judge's recommendation that he should never be released from prison.
9 December – The last
Routemaster buses in regular service in London run, on route 159.
10 December –
Harold Pinter wins the
Nobel Prize in Literature "who in his plays uncovers the precipice under everyday prattle and forces entry into oppression's closed rooms".[36]
12 December – New Conservative Party leader
David Cameron's hopes of becoming the next UK Prime Minister are boosted when an
Ipsos MORI opinion poll puts his party two points ahead of Labour on 37%.[38]
19 December – The
Civil Partnership Act 2004 comes into force, granting same-sex couples similar
legal rights to those of married heterosexuals. The first
civil partnership in the United Kingdom under the normal application of the new rules[39] is registered at
Belfast City Hall between Shannon Sickles and Grainne Close.[3] The first partnerships in Scotland are registered on 20 December and in England on 21 December.
22 December –
Tony Blair makes a surprise visit to British forces in Iraq.
^The first legal civil partnership took place on 5 December between Matthew Roche and Christopher Cramp at St Barnabas Hospice,
Worthing,
West Sussex. The statutory 15-day waiting period after giving notice was waived as Roche was suffering from a terminal illness: he died the following day.
"'Gay wedding' man dies of cancer". BBC News. 6 December 2005. Retrieved 14 May 2006.