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.
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