2005 in the United Kingdom

Events from the year 2005 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents Monarch – Elizabeth II Prime Minister – Tony Blair (Labour)

Events

January 1 January New Year's celebrations all over the UK fall silent for two minutes as a mark of respect for those who died in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The Freedom of Information Act 2000, the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 and the main provisions of the Child Trust Funds Act 2004 (introducing a Child Trust Fund with a government contribution for children that were born on or after 1 September 2002) come into force. New Chip and PIN legislation comes into effect. It makes retailers liable for fraudulent transactions if they have failed to sign up to the scheme. 2 January – Operation Garron, the U.K. military aid effort for the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, is launched. 5 January – Funeral of the Rt. Hon Sir Angus Ogilvy, husband of Princess Alexandra, The Hon Lady Ogilvy, takes place at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. 8 January The BBC broadcasts Jerry Springer - The Opera despite receiving at least 45,000 complaints. 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. 12 January – Britain's tallest self-supporting sculpture, the "B of the Bang", is unveiled in Manchester by Linford Christie. 13 January Pictures of Prince Harry wearing a Nazi military uniform at a private "fancy dress" party are published in the newspapers. Sir Mark Thatcher is fined 3,000,000 Rand (approximately £265,000), and receives a four-year suspended jail sentence after pleading guilty to supplying equipment to mercenaries for an attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea. 15 January – Conservative MP Robert Jackson, MP for Wantage, defects to the Labour Party. 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. 22 January – 61,000 people attended the concert in humanitarian aid of 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami victims at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, which raised over £1,250,000. Artists performing in the largest concert in Britain since Live Aid include Charlotte Church, Craig David, Goldie Lookin' Chain, Aled Jones, Badly Drawn Boy, Manic Street Preachers, Lulu, Eric Clapton, and Sting. 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. 26 January Closure due to flooding of Ellington Colliery at Ellington, Northumberland, the last remaining operational deep coal mine in North East England, and the last in the UK to extract coal from under the sea. 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. 29 January – Chris Smith, the former Culture Secretary, reveals that he has been HIV positive for seventeen years. 31 January – A murder inquiry is launched in Belfast after 33-year-old Robert McCartney dies in hospital from injuries sustained in a pub brawl.

February 2 February The Provisional Irish Republican Army issue a statement to the Republican newspaper An Phoblacht withdrawing from its commitment to the decommissioning of weapons and other deals related to the Northern Ireland peace process. Robert Kilroy-Silk officially launches the Veritas political party, on an anti-immigration platform, after quitting the Eurosceptic UK Independence Party following a failed leadership bid. 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). 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 (). 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 was said if the Prince becomes King, "HRH The Princess Consort". 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. 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-carcinogenic 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. 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 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). 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. 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. 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.