2005 in the United Kingdom

2005 in the United Kingdom
Other years
2003 | 2004 | 2005 (2005) | 2006 | 2007
Constituent countries of the United Kingdom
England | Northern Ireland | Scotland | Wales
Popular culture

Events from the year 2005 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

Events

January

February
  • 2 February
  • 6 February – Tony Blair becomes the longest-serving Labour Prime Minister, exceeding the combined record of Harold Wilson's two spells in power (1964–1970 and 1974–1976).[4]
  • 7 February – Ellen MacArthur attains the solo around the world sailing record, returning to Falmouth the following day. Although subsequently beaten, this remains a record for women (as of 2019).
  • 9 February
    • 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 HMS Scott 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.
    • Clarence House announces that The Prince of Wales is to marry Camilla Parker Bowles on Friday 8 April in a civil ceremony at Windsor Castle. She will be styled "HRH The Duchess of Cornwall", and (it is stated at this time) if the Prince becomes king, "HRH The Princess Consort".[5]
  • 11 February – Prime Minister Tony Blair heralds what is described as the "officially unofficial" start to the general election campaign with a whistlestop tour of marginal constituencies, unveiling six election pledges.
  • 14 February
    • 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.[6]
    • London's Mayor Ken Livingstone is censured by the London Assembly for comparing a Jewish journalist for the Evening Standard to a concentration camp guard. Livingstone refuses to withdraw his comments.
  • 15 February
    • 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 BNFL nuclear 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.
  • 18 February
    • The UK Food Standards Agency orders the withdrawal of over 350 food products from sale following the discovery that a batch of chilli powder used to produce a batch of Worcestershire sauce subsequently used to produce processed foods was contaminated with the possibly-carcinogenetic dye Sudan I.
    • 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.[7]
    • Mark Thatcher returns to court in Cape Town, South Africa, to answer charges about his involvement in an attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea.
    • Northern Bank robbery investigation:
      • 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 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).(Ireland Online)
      • 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.
      • Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams denies any involvement on the part of his party with money laundering in the country. The Irish Government Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform Michael McDowell has described the IRA as a colossal crime machine laundering huge sums of money.
  • 19 February – Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) confirm that £50,000 in unused Northern Bank notes found at Newforge Country Club, a facility for off-duty and retired police officers, is from the Northern Bank robbery. Police still consider it a diversion.
  • 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 Iraqi prisoners; 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.

March
  • 1 March – The New Forest in Hampshire becomes England's twelfth national park.
  • 2 March – Microsoft founder Bill Gates receives an honorary knighthood for contributions to enterprise in the UK and efforts to reduce world poverty.[8]
  • 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.
  • 11 March – The Prevention of Terrorism Act receives the Royal Assent. This permits the Home Secretary to make control orders restricting the liberty of named individuals.
  • 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.[9]
  • 24 March – The Constitutional Reform Act receives Royal Assent. This provides for the creation of a Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.
  • 26 March – Doctor Who is revived as a TV series by the BBC, having been discontinued in December 1989, starring former Cracker actor Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor and pop star Billie Piper as his assistant Rose Tyler.[10]

April

May
  • 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.
  • 4 May – Constantin Brâncuși's series of sculptures Bird in Space sold at Christie's auction house in London for the record amount of US$27,456,000.[2]
  • 5 May
  • 6 May – Conservative Party leader, Michael Howard, announces that he plans to resign "sooner rather than later".
  • 7 May – Ulster Unionist Party leader, David Trimble, resigns as UUP leader after losing his seat at 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 after securing a 70% share, ending more than thirty years of ownership by the Edwards family.
  • 17 May – George Galloway, 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.[1]
  • 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 was notable for a remarkable comeback from 0–3 down at half time to level the match.
  • 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.

June

July
Westminster Palace
  • 1 July – Tony Blair assumes the Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
  • 2 July – Live 8 concerts are held.[1]
  • 5 July – Riots in Edinburgh by anti-capitalist and anti-G8 protesters.
  • 6 July
    • The 31st G8 summit, hosted by the UK, begins at the Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire.
    • London is chosen as the host city for the 2012 Olympic Games, beating Paris in the final round of votes 54 to 50.[2]
    • Edinburgh 50,000 - The Final Push concert held in Edinburgh.
  • 7 July – A series of co-ordinated terrorist bombings strike London's public transport system during the morning rush hour. Three bombs exploded within fifty seconds of each other on three London Underground trains. A fourth bomb exploded on a bus an hour later in Tavistock Square. 52 civilians are killed and over 700 people were injured.[2]
  • 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.[15]
  • 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.
  • 17 July – The Duchess of Cornwall is granted a Royal coat of arms by the Earl Marshal of the College of Arms.
  • 18 July – Criminalisation of magic mushrooms
  • 21 July – Four attempted bomb attacks in London disrupt part of the capital's public transport. Small explosions occur around midday at Shepherd's Bush, Warren Street and Oval stations on London Underground, and on a bus in Bethnal Green. However, there are no injuries.
  • 22 July
  • 28 July
    • The IRA orders an end to its armed campaign, and will focus solely on democratic politics.[17]
    • Birmingham tornado of 2005: F2 tornado hits Birmingham at about 14:40. 19 people are hurt, some seriously.
  • 29 July – Two of the suspects of the attempted bombings in London on 21 July are arrested in North Kensington, the fourth suspect is arrested in Rome.

August
  • 11 August – British Airways grounds all flights as baggage handlers, loaders and bus drivers strike in support of 800 employees sacked by flight catering company Gate Gourmet. The strike is also affecting other airlines, causing chaos at London Heathrow Airport
  • 12 August – The 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.[18]
  • 21 August – Victory over Japan Day: A service is held at London's Cenotaph to mark the sixtieth anniversary of the end of World War II. Charles, Prince of Wales is in attendance, as are survivors of the Far East campaign.

September

October
  • 2 October – The first parkrun, described as the Bushy Park Time Trial, takes place in Bushy Park, London.
  • 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.[20][21]
  • 17–18 October – National Waterfront Museum in Swansea, designed by Wilkinson Eyre, opens.[22][23]
  • 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[24] 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.
  • 5 November – Britain's quadricentennial Guy Fawkes Night is celebrated, 400 years to the day of the Gunpowder Plot.[25]
  • 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.[1]
  • 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.[26]
  • 24 November
    • Pubs in England and Wales permitted to open for 24 hours for the first time.[27]
    • 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.

December

Undated
  • Summer – Guinness closes its Park Royal brewery in London.[33]
  • Internet access among the UK population has reached 70% (more than 40,000,000 people).

Publications

Births

Deaths

January
Malcolm Hardee

February
Brian Cookman

March
Audrey Callaghan
James Callaghan

April
Margaretta Scott

May
Martin Lings

June
Allan Beckett

July
Edward Heath
Richard Doll

August
Robin Cook

September
Alan Truscott with his wife Dorothy

October
Ronnie Barker

November
George Best

December
Belita Jepson-Turner

See also

References
  1. McGuinness, Ross (16 March 2009). "Metro". pp. 30, 31.
  2. Penguin Pocket on This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.
  3. "2005: Belfast stab victim McCartney dies". BBC News. 31 January 2005. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  4. "2005: Blair is Labour's longest-serving PM". BBC News. 6 February 2005.
  5. "Charles and Camilla to be married". BBC News. 10 February 2005. Archived from the original on 15 February 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  6. "Arrests as coursing event starts". BBC News. 14 February 2005. Retrieved 27 January 2008.
  7. "Ban on hunting comes into force". BBC News. 18 February 2005. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  8. "Knighthood for Microsoft's Gates". BBC News. 2 March 2005. Retrieved 3 May 2007.
  9. Waugh, Paul (16 March 2005). "One million blue collar jobs lost with Labour". Evening Standard. London. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved 11 November 2011.
  11. "Prince Charles marries Camilla". BBC News. 9 April 2005. Archived from the original on 21 January 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  12. "Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005 (s.10)". legislation.gov.uk. The National Archives. 1 June 2005. Archived from the original on 7 September 2010. Retrieved 21 January 2011.
  13. "Blair secures historic third term". BBC News. 5 May 2005. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  14. "Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005". OPSI. 2005. Archived from the original on 7 September 2010. Retrieved 4 October 2010.
  15. "Littlewoods shops sold for £409m". BBC News. 11 July 2005. Retrieved 14 November 2010.
  16. "St Edmundsbury Marks End of an Era". Skyscrapernews.com. 23 July 2005. Retrieved 21 August 2010.
  17. "IRA declares end to armed struggle". BBC News. 28 July 2005. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  19. "England win the Ashes". BBC News. 12 September 2005. Archived from the original on 2 February 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  20. Extradited three arrive in Glasgow | Herald Scotland
  21. BBC News | UK | Scotland | Glasgow and West | Kriss murder timeline
  22. "National Waterfront Museum Swansea now open". World Architecture News.com. 17 October 2005. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
  23. "National Waterfront Museum". City and County of Swansea. 21 February 2007. Archived from the original on 3 October 2011. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
  24. Skyscraper News
  25. "Guy Fawkes and Bonfire Night". bonfirenight.net. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  26. "Prince in tribute to war veteran". Scotland: BBC News. 21 November 2005. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  27. "Pubs open 24 hours". BBC News. 24 November 2005. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  28. "David Cameron is new Tory leader". BBC News. 6 December 2005. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  29. "The Nobel Prize in Literature 2005". Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  30. "Massive fire at Buncefield oil depot". BBC News. 11 December 2005. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  31. "Voting intention in Great Britain 1976–present". Ipsos MORI. Archived from the original on 23 September 2012. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
  32. 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.
  33. Fabb, Debbie (23 November 2007). "Last orders for Guinness?". BBC News. Retrieved 16 September 2010.
  34. Morton, James (13 December 2005). "Obituary: Dame Rose Heilbron". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 April 2020.

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