Events from the year 1979 in the United Kingdom.
Incumbents Monarch – Elizabeth II Prime Minister - James Callaghan (Labour) (until 4 May), Margaret Thatcher (Conservative) (starting 4 May)
Events
January 1 January – French carmaker Peugeot completes its takeover of the European division of financially troubled American carmaker Chrysler, which was agreed last year and includes the British operations of the former Rootes Group and the French Simca brand. The company’s cars continue to be sold under these brands, but are expected to be rebranded in the near future. 5 January – Lorry drivers go on strike, causing new shortages of heating oil and fresh food. 10 January – Prime Minister James Callaghan returns from an international summit to a Britain in a state of industrial unrest. The Sun newspaper reports his comments with a famous headline: "Crisis? What Crisis?" 15 January – British Rail workers begin a 24-hour strike. 22 January – Tens of thousands of public-workers strike in the beginning of what becomes known as the Winter of Discontent.
February 1 February – Grave-diggers call off a strike in Liverpool which has delayed dozens of burials. 2 February – Sid Vicious, the former Sex Pistols guitarist, is found dead in New York after apparently suffocating on his own vomit as a result of a heroin overdose. 21-year-old London-born Vicious was on bail for the second degree murder of his girlfriend Nancy Spungen, who was found stabbed to death in a hotel room on 12 October last year. 6 February – The Church of England Suffragan See of Wolverhampton is erected with Barry Rogerson becoming its first Bishop. 9 February – The England international striker Trevor Francis signs for Nottingham Forest from Birmingham City in British football's first £1 million deal. 12 February – Over 1,000 schools close due to the heating oil shortage caused by the lorry drivers' strike. 14 February – "Saint Valentine's Day Concordat" between Trades Union Congress and Government, The Economy, the Government, and Trade Union Responsibilities, marks an end to the Winter of Discontent. 15 February – Opinion polls show the Conservatives up to 20 points ahead of Labour, whose popularity has slumped due to the Winter of Discontent. With a general election due this year, a Conservative victory is now widely expected, just months after prime minister James Callaghan had decided against calling a general election which the opinion polls suggested Labour would have won. 22 February – Saint Lucia becomes independent of the United Kingdom. 26 February – Death of the last Muggletonian.
March 1 March Scottish devolution referendum: Scotland votes by a majority of 77,437 for a Scottish Assembly, which is not implemented due to a condition that at least 40% of the electorate must support the proposal. Welsh devolution referendum: Wales votes against devolution. Conservative candidate David Waddington retains the seat for his party in the Clitheroe by-election. National Health Service workers in the West Midlands threaten to go on strike in their bid to win a nine per cent pay rise.Those were the days 17 March – Nottingham Forest beat Southampton 3–2 at Wembley Stadium to win the Football League Cup for the second year running. 18 March – An explosion at the Golborne colliery in Golborne, Greater Manchester, kills three men. 22 March – Richard Sykes, UK ambassador to the Netherlands, is shot dead by a Provisional Irish Republican Army member in The Hague. 28 March – 1979 vote of no confidence in the Callaghan ministry: James Callaghan's government loses a vote of no confidence in Parliament by one vote, forcing a General Election. This is the first successful vote of no confidence in a British government since 1924 and will be the last for more than 40 years. 29 March – James Callaghan announces that the General Election will be held on 3 May. All of the major opinion polls point towards a Conservative win which would make Margaret Thatcher the first female British prime minister. 30 March – Airey Neave, World War II veteran and Conservative Northern Ireland spokesman, is killed by an Irish National Liberation Army bomb in the House of Commons car park. 31 March – The Royal Navy withdraws from Malta as ordered by Maltese President Anton Buttigieg.
April April – Statistics show that the economy shrank by 0.8% in the first quarter of the year, largely due to the Winter of Discontent, sparking fears that Britain could soon be faced with its second recession in four years. 4 April – Josephine Whitaker, a 19-year-old bank worker, is murdered in Halifax; police believe that she is the 11th woman to be murdered by the Yorkshire Ripper. 7 April – The last RT type buses run in London, on route 62. 23 April – Anti-Nazi League protester Blair Peach is fatally injured after being struck on the head probably by a member of the Metropolitan Police's Special Patrol Group.
May Undated - General Motors ends production of the Vauxhall Viva after 16 years and three generations. It is due to be replaced soon by a Vauxhall-badged version of the forthcoming new front-wheel drive Opel Kadett. 1 May – The London Underground Jubilee line is inaugurated by the Prince of Wales. 3 May – 1979 general election. 4 May – The Conservatives win the General Election by a 44-seat majority and Margaret Thatcher becomes the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe is the most notable MP to lose his seat in the election. Despite being 67 years old and having lost the first General Election he has contested, James Callaghan stays on until November 1980 as leader of a Labour Party now in opposition after five years in government. Among the new members of parliament is John Major, 36-year-old MP for Huntingdon. 8 May – Former Liberal Party leader and MP Jeremy Thorpe goes on trial at the Old Bailey charged with attempted murder. 9 May – Liverpool win the Football League First Division title for the 12th time. 12 May – Arsenal defeat Manchester United 3–2 in the FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium, with Alan Sunderland scoring a last-gasp winner in response to two United goals inside the last five minutes which had seen the scores level at 2–2. 15 May – Government abolishes the Price Commission. 21 May Elton John becomes the first musician from the west to perform live in the Soviet Union. Conservative MPs back Margaret Thatcher's proposals to sell off parts of nationalised industries. During the year, the government will begin to sell its stake in BP. 24 May – Thorpe Park at Chertsey in Surrey is opened; it becomes one of the top three most popular theme parks in the country. 25 May – Price of milk increases more than 10% to 15 pence a pint. 30 May – Nottingham Forest F.C. defeat Malmö FF, the Swedish football league champions, 1–0 in the European Cup final at Olympiastadion, Munich. The only goal of the game is scored by Trevor Francis.
June 7 June – European Parliament election, the first direct election to the European Parliament; the turnout in Britain is low at 32%. The Conservatives have the most MEPs at 60, while Labour only have 17. The Liberals gain a 12.6% share of the vote but not a single MEP, while the Scottish National Party, Democratic Unionist Party, Social Democratic and Labour Party and Official Ulster Unionist Party all gain an MEP each. 12 June – The new Conservative government's first budget sees chancellor Geoffrey Howe cut the standard tax rate by 3p and slashing the top rate from 83% to 60%. 18 June – Neil Kinnock, 37-year-old Labour MP for Islwyn in South Wales, becomes shadow education spokesman. 22 June – Former Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe is cleared in court of the allegations of attempted murder which have nonetheless ruined his career. 26 June – The eleventh James Bond film – Moonraker – is released in UK cinemas. It is the fourth of seven films to star Roger Moore as James Bond.
July 5 July – Queen Elizabeth II attends the millennium celebrations of the Isle of Man's Parliament, Tynwald. 12 July – Kiribati (formerly Gilbert Islands) becomes independent of the United Kingdom. 17 July – Athlete Sebastian Coe sets a record time for running a mile, completing it in 3 minutes 48.95 seconds, in Oslo. 23 July – The government announces £4 billion worth of public spending cuts. 26 July – Education Act repeals the 1976 Act, allowing local education authorities to retain selective secondary schools. 31 July – Seventeen people are killed in the Sumburgh air disaster when a Dan-Air Hawker Siddeley HS 748 fails to take off at Sumburgh Airport in the Shetland Islands, crashes into the sea defences and plunges into the sea. The cause is later identified as elevator failure.
August 1 August – Following the recent takeover of Chrysler's European division by French carmaker Peugeot, the historic Talbot marque is revived for the range of cars previously sold in Britain as Chryslers, also taking over from the Simca brand in France. 9 August – Establishment of a public naturist beach in Brighton is agreed. 10 August–23 October – The entire ITV network in the UK is shut down by a technicians' strike (Channel Television remains unaffected). 14 August A storm in the Irish Sea hits the Fastnet yacht race. Fifteen lives and dozens of yachts are lost. Disgraced ex-MP John Stonehouse is released from jail after serving four years of his seven-year sentence for faking his own death. 24 August – The Ford Cortina, Britain's best selling car, enters its fifth generation when a restyled version of the 1976 model is launched. 27 August Lord Mountbatten of Burma and two 15-year-olds, his nephew and a boatboy, are assassinated by a Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb while holidaying in the Republic of Ireland, the Dowager Lady Brabourne dying the following day in hospital of injuries received. Lord Mountbatten was a retired fleet admiral, statesman, cousin to Elizabeth II and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Warrenpoint ambush: eighteen British soldiers are killed in Northern Ireland by IRA bombs. 30 August – Two men are arrested in Dublin and charged with the murder of Lord Mountbatten and the three other victims of the bombing.
September 2 September – Police discover a woman's body in an alleyway near Bradford city centre. The woman, 20-year-old student Barbara Leach, is believed to be the 12th victim of the mysterious Yorkshire Ripper mass murderer. 5 September The Queen leads the mourning at the funeral of Lord Mountbatten of Burma. Manchester City F.C. pay a British club record fee of £1,450,000 for Wolverhampton Wanderers midfielder Steve Daley. 8 September – Wolverhampton Wanderers set a new national transfer record by paying just under £1,500,000 for Aston Villa and Scotland striker Andy Gray. 10 September – British Leyland announces that production of MG cars will finish in the autumn of next year, in a move which will see the Abingdon, Oxfordshire, plant closed. 14 September – The government announces plans to regenerate the London Docklands with housing and commercial developments. 21 September – A Royal Air Force Harrier jet crashes into a house in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire killing two men and a boy. 25 September – Margaret Thatcher opens the new Central Milton Keynes shopping centre, the largest indoor shopping centre in Britain, after its final phase is completed six years after development of the complex first began.
October October – Statistics show a 2.3% contraction in the economy for the third quarter of the year, sparking fresh fears of another recession. 1 October – Tuvalu (formerly Ellice Islands) becomes independent of the United Kingdom. 5 October – Scottish Gaelic service Radio nan Eilean established in Stornoway.