Historical Dictionary of the Contemporary United Kingdom (Historical Dictionaries of Europe)

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EUROPE HISTORY HISTORICAL DICTIONARIES OF EUROPE, NO. 61

Kenneth J. Panton is professor of geography and dean of the Honors College at the University of Southern Mississippi. He is the co-author of Historical Dictionary of the United Kingdom (Scarecrow Press, 1998) and author of Historical Dictionary of London (Scarecrow Press, 2001). Keith A. Cowlard is head of educational partnerships at the University of Greenwich in London. He is the co-author of Historical Dictionary of the United Kingdom (Scarecrow Press, 1998).

Historical Dictionary of the

Historical Dictionary of the Contemporary United Kingdom presents the events, people, and trends of this 28-year period and explains the current state of the country—knowledge vital to understanding the society, politics, personalities, and actions that are shaping the country today. This book includes a chronology dating from 1979 to the present, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and more than 700 cross-referenced dictionary entries on significant people, places, events, institutions, and organizations, as well as the political, economic, social, cultural, and religious facets of the UK.

contemporary united kingdom

The last quarter of the twentieth century, from 1979 to 2007, has been especially eventful for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The year 1979 brought major changes when the political climate altered radically with the coming to power of the Conservative Party under Margaret Thatcher following the disastrous “Winter of Discontent,” a period characterized by economic woes and labor unrest. In 1997, the political climate shifted once again when the new Labour Party won a landslide victory and left-leaning centrist Tony Blair took office. The era witnessed conflicts both at home and abroad, the premature death of a princess, and, more positively, the reemergence of the UK economy.

PANTON & COWLARD

Historical Dictionary of the

contemporary united kingdom

For orders and information please contact the publisher

SCARECROW PRESS, INC. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200 Lanham, Maryland 20706 1-800-462-6420 • fax 717-794-3803 www.scarecrowpress.com

ISBN-13: 978-0-8108-5091-0 ISBN-10: 0-8108-5091-5 90000 9 780810 850910

KENNETH J. PANTON KEITH A. COWLARD

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HISTORICAL DICTIONARIES OF EUROPE Jon Woronoff, Series Editor 1. Portugal, by Douglas L. Wheeler. 1993. Out of print. See No. 40. 2. Turkey, by Metin Heper. 1994. Out of print. See No. 38. 3. Poland, by George Sanford and Adriana Gozdecka-Sanford. 1994. Out of print. See No. 41. 4. Germany, by Wayne C. Thompson, Susan L. Thompson, and Juliet S. Thompson. 1994. 5. Greece, by Thanos M. Veremis and Mark Dragoumis. 1995. 6. Cyprus, by Stavros Panteli. 1995. 7. Sweden, by Irene Scobbie. 1995. Out of print. See No. 48. 8. Finland, by George Maude. 1995. Out of print. See No. 49. 9. Croatia, by Robert Stallaerts and Jeannine Laurens. 1995. Out of print. See No. 39. 10. Malta, by Warren G. Berg. 1995. 11. Spain, by Angel Smith. 1996. 12. Albania, by Raymond Hutchings. 1996. Out of print. See No. 42. 13. Slovenia, by Leopoldina Plut-Pregelj and Carole Rogel. 1996. Out of print. See No. 56. 14. Luxembourg, by Harry C. Barteau. 1996. 15. Romania, by Kurt W. Treptow and Marcel Popa. 1996. 16. Bulgaria, by Raymond Detrez. 1997. Out of print. See No. 46. 17. United Kingdom: Volume 1, England and the United Kingdom; Volume 2, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, by Kenneth J. Panton and Keith A. Cowlard. 1997, 1998. 18. Hungary, by Steven Béla Várdy. 1997. 19. Latvia, by Andrejs Plakans. 1997. 20. Ireland, by Colin Thomas and Avril Thomas. 1997. 21. Lithuania, by Saulius Suziedelis. 1997. 22. Macedonia, by Valentina Georgieva and Sasha Konechni. 1998. 23. The Czech State, by Jiri Hochman. 1998. 24. Iceland, by Gu∂mundur Hálfdanarson. 1997. 25. Bosnia and Herzegovina, by Ante Cuvalo. 1997. Out of print. See No. 57. 26. Russia, by Boris Raymond and Paul Duffy. 1998. 27. Gypsies (Romanies), by Donald Kenrick. 1998. Out of print. 28. Belarus, by Jan Zaprudnik. 1998. 29. Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, by Zeljan Suster. 1999. 30. France, by Gino Raymond. 1998. 31. Slovakia, by Stanislav J. Kirschbaum. 1998. Out of print. See No. 47.

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32. Netherlands, by Arend H. Huussen Jr. 1998. Out of print. See No. 55. 33. Denmark, by Alastair H. Thomas and Stewart P. Oakley. 1998. 34. Modern Italy, by Mark F. Gilbert and K. Robert Nilsson. 1998. Out of print. See No. 58. 35. Belgium, by Robert Stallaerts. 1999. 36. Austria, by Paula Sutter Fichtner. 1999. 37. Republic of Moldova, by Andrei Brezianu. 2000. Out of print. See No. 52. 38. Turkey, 2nd edition, by Metin Heper. 2002. 39. Republic of Croatia, 2nd edition, by Robert Stallaerts. 2003. 40. Portugal, 2nd edition, by Douglas L. Wheeler. 2002. 41. Poland, 2nd edition, by George Sanford. 2003. 42. Albania, New edition, by Robert Elsie. 2004. 43. Estonia, by Toivo Miljan. 2004. 44. Kosova, by Robert Elsie. 2004. 45. Ukraine, by Zenon E. Kohut, Bohdan Y. Nebesio, and Myroslav Yurkevich. 2005. 46. Bulgaria, 2nd edition, by Raymond Detrez. 2006. 47. Slovakia, 2nd edition, by Stanislav J. Kirschbaum. 2006. 48. Sweden, 2nd edition, by Irene Scobbie. 2006. 49. Finland, 2nd edition, by George Maude. 2007. 50. Georgia, by Alexander Mikaberidze. 2007. 51. Belgium, 2nd edition, by Robert Stallaerts. 2007. 52. Moldova, 2nd edition, by Andrei Brezianu and Vlad Spânu. 2007. 53. Switzerland, by Leo Schelbert. 2007. 54. Contemporary Germany, by Derek Lewis with Ulrike Zitzlsperger. 2007. 55. Netherlands, 2nd edition, by Joop W. Koopmans and Arend H. Huussen, Jr. 2007. 56. Slovenia, 2nd edition, by Leopoldina Plut-Pregelj and Carole Rogel. 2007. 57. Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2nd edition, by Ante Cˇ uvalo. 2007. 58. Modern Italy, 2nd edition, by Mark F. Gilbert and K. Robert Nilsson. 2007. 59. Belarus, 2nd edition, by Vitali Silitski and Jan Zaprudnik. 2007. 60. Latvia, 2nd edition, by Andrejs Plakans. 2008. 61. Contemporary United Kingdom, by Kenneth J. Panton and Keith A. Cowlard, 2008.

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Historical Dictionary of the Contemporary United Kingdom Kenneth J. Panton Keith A. Cowlard

Historical Dictionaries of Europe, No. 61

The Scarecrow Press, Inc. Lanham, Maryland • Toronto • Plymouth, UK 2008

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SCARECROW PRESS, INC. Published in the United States of America by Scarecrow Press, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 www.scarecrowpress.com Estover Road Plymouth PL6 7PY United Kingdom Copyright © 2008 by Kenneth J. Panton and Keith A. Cowlard All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Panton, Kenneth J. (Kenneth John), 1945– Historical dictionary of the contemporary United Kingdom / Kenneth J. Panton, Keith A. Cowlard. p. cm. — (Historical dictionaries of Europe ; no. 61) Includes bibliographical references. ISBN-13: 978-0-8108-5091-0 (alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-8108-5091-5 (alk. paper) 1. Great Britain–History–Dictionaries. 2. Great Britain–History–Elizabeth II, 1952– Dictionaries. I. Cowlard, Keith A. (Keith Arthur), 1946– II. Title. DA34.P357 2008 941.08503–dc22 2007042960

∞ ™ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992. Manufactured in the United States of America.

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Contents

List of Illustrations Editor’s Foreword

vii Jon Woronoff

Acknowledgments

ix xi

Acronyms and Abbreviations

xiii

Maps

xix

Chronology

xxi

Introduction

1

THE DICTIONARY

17

Appendix: Members of the Cabinet, 1979–2007

501

Bibliography

515

About the Authors

587

v

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Illustrations

1. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Source: National Aeronautics and Space Administration. 2. The genealogical tree of the royal family. Source: Keith A. Cowlard. 3. Margaret Thatcher, prime minister, 1979–90. Source: Library of Congress. 4. John Major, prime minister, 1990–97, at Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in 1996. Source: U.S. Department of Defense. 5. Tony Blair, prime minister, 1997–2007. Source: Wikipedia Commons. 6. Gordon Brown, who succeeded Tony Blair as prime minister in 2007. Source: Wikipedia Commons. 7. The Houses of Parliament. Source: Keith A. Cowlard. 8. The Bank of England. Source: Bank of England.

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Editor’s Foreword

The United Kingdom, also known as Britain or Great Britain, is obviously a crucial player in Europe and the world, although not as much as when it ruled the British Empire (bits of which remain). Yet, given the accretions of the ages, which the British often tend to cherish rather than cast off, and the changing relationships between England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, it can be a very complicated place to understand, but it is certainly worth the effort. And greater understanding is even more important now that the United Kingdom seems to have finally (almost) turned the page on the past and reinvented itself once again. The last quarter century has witnessed not one but two minirevolutions, the first wrought by Margaret Thatcher and the second by Tony Blair, which have moved the nation in new directions and given it new roles while also already reaping some successes. This Historical Dictionary of the Contemporary United Kingdom considers primarily the historical, political, and economic aspects of what has been a “sea change” from many points of view but also looks into some social and cultural ramifications. This is done primarily through the dictionary section, with informative entries on many of the more prominent politicians and other actors, including the royals from the queen on down. Other entries deal with major institutions, important legislation, and crucial events. The chronology runs through the course of events, indicating the order in which things happened, and the introduction shows how things came together to create a very different place. The bibliography, which is definitely ample although obviously not inclusive, directs readers toward further sources of information. This third volume on the United Kingdom was written by the same team that produced the Historical Dictionary of the United Kingdom: England and the United Kingdom and the Historical Dictionary of the United Kingdom: Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, as well as the ix

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EDITOR’S FOREWORD

Historical Dictionary of London. They are Keith Cowlard and Kenneth Panton, both of whom worked at the Department of Geography at London Guildhall University. Presently Dr. Cowlard is head of Educational Partnerships at the University of Greenwich in London, and Dr. Panton has moved to the United States, where he is professor of geography and dean of the Honors College at the University of Southern Mississippi, although he still leads that university’s summer course in London. Both have written on geography and history, and they form an excellent team when it comes to explaining to those who want to know more about the intricacies of a very complicated country and society. Jon Woronoff Series Editor

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Acknowledgments

KEITH A. COWLARD I am indebted first to my staff and colleagues in the Division of Learning Enhancement, Access, and Partnership at the University of Greenwich who have had to put up with my often long periods of concentration and deliberation in the writing of this text. They have been wonderfully understanding, and they now know that my dedication to the book and consequent inaccessibility at times was nothing personal! I also acknowledge the help freely given by the staff at the University of Greenwich Library (particularly in their ability to find my interlibrary loans so quickly!) and also the staff of the archives at County Hall, Maidstone. A special thanks to Tim Berners-Lee, founder of the World Wide Web, without whose work the two authors living on separate continents and their editor in France would not have been able to communicate so readily nor share information so easily—a vital element when writing a contemporary text. I am, as always, hugely indebted to the steadfast support, advice, encouragement, and love of my wife, Margaret, to whom I owe it all— thank you my love. My children, Christopher and Katherine, were not, this time, so aware of the book, having set up homes of their own, but I have two grandsons, Daniel and Samuel, who keep me young and to whom the events and personalities of this contemporary period in British history will have so much impact—so I dedicate my part in this text to the future of the young.

KENNETH J. PANTON All books are a product of the labors of people other than the author. I am deeply indebted to those scholars and researchers (too many to name xi

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

here) who wrote the texts, collated the statistics, and designed the websites that provided fertile sources of facts, figures, and opinions that are incorporated in this dictionary. I am indebted, too, to my coauthor: the original plan was that I should write the book myself, but when an increased workload (the consequence of a move from a predominantly teaching to a predominantly administrative university position) threatened to kill off the project, Dr. Cowlard generously agreed to step in and shoulder a large part of the production burden. Jon Woronoff, the general editor of the Historical Dictionary of Europe series, was more understanding and more patient than I deserved and provided valuable advice every time I sought his help. Joe Cates suggested a number of the citations that were incorporated in the bibliography, and Scarecrow’s very talented army of editors, proofreaders, designers, and printers took the manuscript and turned it into its attractive published form. Dr. Cowlard and I shaped the content and accept responsibility for any shortcomings, but these individuals deserve our thanks for allowing us to use their knowledge and skills. In addition, there are several personal debts that I should acknowledge. One is to Donna Donegan, Paula Mathis, Yeoungjoo Napp, Stacey Ready, and Peggy Varnado—my colleagues in the Honors College at the University of Southern Mississippi. They are a very, very professional team, and they have been generous, understanding, and supportive while I have been writing. It has been a privilege to work with them. Paula and Kendall Yates helped enormously with the preparation of the illustrations, doing in a few moments what I was completely unable to do, and Dave Davies, my successor as honors dean, very generously allowed me to use his newly acquired photocopying facilities. I am also grateful to Debbie Watson, who made long, long hours in front of the computer much more bearable, as she produced a steady supply of shortbread to accompany the Ardbeg (she has no idea how much that was appreciated) and eventually agreed to marry me. And, finally, I owe a great deal to Mhorbhaine, who is both daughter and friend: I only hope she is as proud of me as I am of her.

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Acronyms and Abbreviations

£ A-Level AC AM AS-Level ASBO ASDA ATCSA BA BAA BBC BCCI BEA BNP BOAC British Telecom BSE BSkyB BT CAA CAP CBI CEMA CIRA CLMC

euro pound sterling advanced-level examination Aelod y Cynulliad (member of the National Assembly for Wales) assembly member (member of the National Assembly for Wales) advanced subsidiary-level examination antisocial behaviour order Asquith and Dairies Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act British Airways British Airports Authority British Broadcasting Corporation Bank of Credit and Commerce International British European Airways British National Party British Overseas Airways Corporation British Telecommunications, plc Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy British Sky Broadcasting British Telecommunications, plc Civil Aviation Authority Common Agricultural Policy (of the European Union) Confederation of British Industry Council for the Encouragement of Arts and Music Continuity Irish Republican Army Combined Loyalist Military Command xiii

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ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS

Cm CND CS-gas CSA DUP EC ECU EEC EETPU EMI EMS EOC ERM ESDA EU EUR EWS FA FD FSA FT FTSE GB GCE GCHQ GCSE GDP GLC GM Crops GMT HBOS HMRC HMS HMSO HSBC IBM

Command (Paper) Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament Corson-Staughton gas (2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile) Child Support Agency Democratic Unionist Party European Community European Currency Unit European Economic Community Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunications and Plumbing Union Electrical and Musical Industries, Limited European Monetary System Equal Opportunities Commission Exchange Rate Mechanism (of the European Monetary System) Electrostatic Detection Apparatus European Union euros English, Welsh and Scottish Railway Football Association fidei defensor (defender of the faith) Financial Services Authority Financial Times Financial Times/Stock Exchange Index Great Britain general certificate of education Government Communications Headquarters general certificate of secondary education gross domestic product Greater London Council genetically modified crops Greenwich Mean Time Halifax Bank of Scotland Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs Her (or His) Majesty’s Ship Her (or His) Majesty’s Stationery Office Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation International Business Machines Corporation

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ILEA ING INLA IPLO IRA ITV IVF JIC JP KBE LDDC LibDems Lloyds TSB LSE LVF MA MBE MEP MI5 MI6 MLA MoD MORI MP MRLP MSP mtoe MV NATO NATS NCB NDPB NF NHS NIEHS NORAID

• xv

Inner London Education Authority Internationale Nederlanden Groep Irish National Liberation Army Irish People’s Liberation Organization Irish Republican Army Independent Television in vitro fertilization Joint Intelligence Committee justice of the peace knight commander of the British Empire London Docklands Development Corporation Liberal Democrats Lloyds Trustee Savings Bank London Stock Exchange Loyalist Volunteer Force master of arts member of the Order of the British Empire member of the European Parliament Military Intelligence Section 5 Military Intelligence Section 6 member of the (Northern Ireland) Legislative Assembly Ministry of Defence Market and Opinion Research International member of Parliament Monster Raving Loony Party member of the Scottish Parliament million tons of oil equivalent energy merchant vessel North Atlantic Treaty Organization National Air Traffic Service National Coal Board Nondepartmental Public Body National Front National Health Service Northern Ireland Environment and Heritage Service Irish Northern Aid Committee

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NSA NTS NUM O-Level OFSTED OFT OPSI OS PBS PII Certificate PIRA plc PSBR PSNCR PUP QUANGO RBOS Real IRA RUC S4C SAS SDLP SDP SHA SIS SLDP SNCF SNH SNP SSP tcf TSO TUC UDA UDR UEFA

National Scenic Area National Trust for Scotland National Union of Mineworkers ordinary level examination Office for Standards in Education Office of Fair Trading Office of Public Sector Information Ordnance Survey Public Broadcasting Service public interest immunity certificate Provisional Irish Republican Army public limited company public sector borrowing requirement public sector net cash requirement Progressive Unionist Party Quasi-Autonomous Nongovernmental Organization Royal Bank of Scotland Real Irish Republican Army Royal Ulster Constabulary Sianel Pedwar Cymru (Channel Four Wales) Special Air Service Social Democratic and Labour Party Social Democratic Party Strategic Health Authority Secret Intelligence Service Social and Liberal Democratic Party Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français Scottish Natural Heritage Scottish National Party Scottish Socialist Party trillion cubic feet The Stationery Office Trades Union Congress Ulster Defence Association Ulster Defence Regiment Union of European Football Associations

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UK UKIP UKUP UNESCO

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United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland United Kingdom Independence Party United Kingdom Unionist Party United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization

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The United Kingdom from Space (Source: National Aeronautics and Space Administration)

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The United Kingdom (Source: US Department of State)

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Chronology

1979 3 May: The Conservative Party wins the general election, and Margaret Thatcher becomes prime minister. 30 May: The Irish National Liberation Army murders Airey Neave, one of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s strongest supporters in the House of Commons. 27 August: Lord Louis Mountbatten, admiral of the fleet and uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, is murdered by the Provisional Irish Republican Army. 1980 30 April: Iraqi-trained terrorists occupy the Iranian embassy in London, taking 26 hostages. 5 May: Soldiers from the Special Air Service storm the Iranian embassy, which had been occupied by terrorists; one hostage and five gunmen are killed. 17 June: Frances Pym, secretary of state for defence, tells Parliament that the United States will be allowed to base cruise missiles at the Royal Air Force’s Greenham Common and Molesworth airfields. 17 October: Queen Elizabeth II is the first British monarch to make a state visit to the Vatican. 10 November: Michael Foot succeeds Jim Callaghan as leader of the Labour Party. 8 December: Beatle John Lennon is killed by a gunman in New York. 1981 25 January: In a statement now known as the Limehouse Declaration, Members of Parliament Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Bill Rodgers, and Shirley Williams announce that they intend to break away from the Labour Party and form an organization, later known as the Social Democratic Party, that will seek to occupy the middle ground in British politics. 12 February: Rupert Murdoch buys The Times and the Sunday Times from Thomson British Holdings for £12 million and then relocates production at a new plant in east London, precipitating a largescale move of newspapers from their traditional Fleet Street home. 24 February: Following much media speculation, Prince Charles and xxi

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CHRONOLOGY

Lady Diana Spencer announce their engagement. 5 April: The decennial census is taken; tallies show that the United Kingdom has a population of 56.3 million, 0.8 million more than in 1971. 10 April: Bobby Sands, a Provisional Irish Republican Army supporter convicted of a firearms offense and held in the Maze Prison, is elected member of Parliament for the Fermanagh and South Tyrone constituency. 11 April: Riots in Brixton, an inner-London neighborhood with a large West Indian population, result in injuries to over 350 civilians and police officers, as well as damage to 150 buildings. 5 May: Bobby Sands, member of Parliament and of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, dies in the Maze Prison after refusing food for more than two months. 15 May: A second child (Zara Anne Elizabeth) is born to Princess Anne and her husband, Captain Mark Phillips. 13 June: Sixteen-year-old Marcus Sarjeant fires six shots from a starting pistol as Queen Elizabeth II rides through London on horseback to the annual Trooping the Colour ceremony. 2 July: The London Docklands Development Corporation starts work on redesigning land use in the largely derelict harbors that blight the eastern edge of Britain’s capital city. 3–12 July: Riots in Toxteth, Liverpool, result in injuries to more than 450 police officers as CS gas is used for the first time in the United Kingdom. 29 July: Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer take their marriage vows in St. Paul’s Cathedral, London. 10 October: A Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb explodes close to the Chelsea army barracks in London, killing 2 people and injuring 39. 25 November: The Scarman Enquiry into riots in Brixton on April 11 concludes that the police should recruit more members of ethnic minorities and that officers’ activities should be governed by a code of conduct; the report paved the way for the Police and Criminal Evidence Act of 1984. 1982 25 February: The European Court of Human Rights rules in favor of two Scottish mothers who argue that schools have no right to administer corporal punishment to children unless parents approve. 2 April: Argentina invades the Falkland Islands. 21 May: British troops land at San Carlos Bay and begin land-based efforts to recapture the Falkland Islands from the Argentinians. 14 June: Argentinean forces in the Falkland Islands surrender. 21 June: Prince William, the first child for Prince Charles and Princess Diana, is born. 2 July: Roy Jenkins is elected leader of the Social Democratic Party. 9 July: Michael Fagan, an unemployed father of four, gains access to Queen Elizabeth II’s bedroom at Bucking-

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CHRONOLOGY

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ham Palace and asks the monarch for a cigarette. 20 July: Eleven soldiers and seven horses die as the Provisional Irish Republican Army detonates bombs in Hyde Park and Regents Park, London. 20 October: The results of elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly are interpreted as a success for Sinn Féin, the nationalist party, which wins 5 seats, but even so, the assembly is dominated by the Ulster Unionist Party and the Democratic Unionist Party, which have 47 of the 77 representatives. 1 November: S4C, a Welsh-language television station, broadcasts its first programs. 4 November: Channel 4 makes its first broadcasts, giving the whole of the United Kingdom a choice of four terrestrial television channels. 30 November: A letter bomb sent by animal rights activists explodes at 10 Downing Street, the prime minister’s London home, injuring one member of staff. 6 December: The Irish National Liberation Army bombs the Droppin’ Well Bar in Ballykelly, Northern Ireland, killing 11 British soldiers and 6 civilians. 12 December: Thirty thousand women form a human chain round Greenham Common air force base in protest against the decision to house American cruise missiles at the site. 1983 17 January: With Good Morning, Britain, the United Kingdom gets its first breakfast-time television show. 9 June: Buoyed by the success of the Falklands War and aided by unpopular Labour Party policies, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher leads the Conservative Party to victory at the general election. 13 June: David Owen succeeds Roy Jenkins as leader of the Social Democratic Party. 2 October: Neil Kinnock succeeds Michael Foot as leader of the Labour Party. 7 October: The Conservative Party government announces plans to abolish the Greater London Council, a consistent critic of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s economic policies. 22 October: Annoyed by the decision to base American cruise missiles in Britain, more than 1 million people join a London protest march organized by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. 25 October: The United States invades Grenada, much to the annoyance of Queen Elizabeth II, the country’s head of state. 13 November: The first cruise missiles arrive at Greenham Common air base. 26 November: Ten tonnes of gold bullion worth £26 million are stolen from the vault of the Brinks Mat company at London’s Heathrow Airport; only seven tonnes are recovered. 17 December: A car bomb, detonated by the Provisional Irish Republican Army, kills 6 people and injures 90 others outside Harrods department store in London.

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1984 30 February: The British and French governments announce their intention to build a tunnel that will link the two countries. 12 March: Arthur Scargill, president of the National Union of Mineworkers, tells Britain’s coal miners to strike, beginning a tussle with Prime Minister Thatcher’s government that will change the landscape of industrial relations in the United Kingdom. 17 April: Woman Police Constable Yvonne Fletcher is shot dead outside the Libyan embassy in London. 30 May: Prince Charles raises a storm of criticism when, in a speech to the Royal Institute of British Architects, he refers to a proposed extension to the National Gallery as a “monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved and elegant building.” 26 June: After five years of determined haggling, Prime Minister Thatcher persuades European Economic Community leaders to reduce Britain’s financial commitment to the organization. 13 July: Robert Maxwell buys the Mirror Group of newspapers from Reed International for £113 million. 15 September: A second son (Harry) is born to Prince Charles and Princess Diana. 12 October: The Provisional Irish Republican Army detonates two bombs at the Grand Hotel, Brighton, where the Conservative Party is holding its annual conference; five people are killed, but Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher escapes unhurt. 1985 11 February: After a two-week trial, civil servant Clive Ponting is acquitted of breaching the Official Secrets Acts by leaking two documents that suggested government ministers may have lied in announcements relating to the sinking of the General Belgrano, an Argentinean cruiser, during the Falklands War in 1982. 3 March: The coal miners’ strike ends a year after it began. 11 May: Fifty-six football fans lose their lives in a fire at the Bradford City Club’s stadium. 29 May: Thirty-nine people die when English and Italian football supporters clash in the Heysel Stadium, Brussels, before the start of the European Cup Final match between Liverpool and Juventus. 6 October: Police Constable Keith Blakelock is butchered to death when riots break out at the Broadwater Farm housing estate in Tottenham, north London. 15 November: Much to the disgust of Ulster loyalists, the governments of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland sign an accord (known as the Anglo–Irish Agreement) that gives the republic’s politicians a role in the administration of Ulster’s affairs and guarantees that decisions about the province’s political status will be determined by a ma-

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jority vote of residents. 11 December: Canadian businessman Conrad Black buys the Daily Telegraph from Lord Hartwell for £30 million. 1986 23 June: The Northern Ireland Assembly is suspended because it is being used by unionist parties as a theater for protest against the Anglo–Irish Agreement signed the previous year by the governments of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. 20 July: The Sunday Times reports that Queen Elizabeth believes that the policies of Margaret Thatcher, her prime minister, are “uncaring, confrontational, and socially divisive.” 23 July: Prince Andrew, second son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, marries Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey, London. 1 September: Pupils at schools in England, Northern Ireland, and Wales begin work for examinations that will lead to the award of a general certificate of secondary education; the new structure replaces a system that has been in place since 1951. 27 October: The “Big Bang” brings radical change to London’s financial markets, ending the distinction between stockjobbers and stockbrokers, opening access to newcomers, and replacing the traditional “open outcry” trading at the stock exchange with computerized dealings. 1 November: Veterinarians detect the first case of “mad cow disease” in British cattle. 8 November: In Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, the Provisional Irish Republican Army detonates a bomb that kills 11 people who are attending a service honoring victims of the two world wars. 1987 5 February: A strike, called by newspaper trades unions in an effort to preserve jobs and stop proprietor Rupert Murdoch from making radical changes to production technologies, collapses after a year, opening the door to radical change in the industry. 11 June: Mrs. Thatcher leads the Conservative Party to victory at the general election, becoming only the second prime minister to win three successive campaigns. 19 August: Michael Ryan walks through the town of Hungerford, shooting indiscriminately with an AK-47 assault rifle; he kills 16 people, including his mother, and then turns the gun on himself. 29 August: Robert Maclennan succeeds David Owen as leader of the Social Democratic Party. 1988 23 February: Three lesbians rappel into the debating chamber of the House of Commons in protest against plans to introduce legislation that would prevent local government agencies from promoting homosexuality in schools. 2 March: Members of the Social Democratic Party

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vote to merge their organization with the Liberal Party; the new grouping will be known as the Social and Liberal Democratic Party. 24 March: Queen Elizabeth II gives royal assent to the Local Government Act, which contains a controversial clause (section 28) that prohibits public bodies from condoning homosexuality. 6 July: Gas leakages cause an explosion on the Piper Alpha oil rig, stationed in the North Sea 125 miles off Aberdeen; 167 people die. 16 July: Paddy Ashdown is elected leader of the Social and Liberal Democratic Party. 29 July: Queen Elizabeth II gives royal assent to the Education Reform Act, which imposes a “national curriculum” on all schools in England, Northern Ireland, and Wales. 8 August: Sarah Ferguson, duchess of York and wife of Prince Andrew, gives birth to Princess Beatrice, the couple’s first child. 20 September: In a speech delivered in Bruges, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher warns that she will oppose closer political integration of members of the European Economic Community, pointing out that “We have not successfully rolled back the frontiers of the state in Britain only to have them reimposed at a European level with a European superstate exercising a new dominance from Brussels.” 13 October: The law lords rule that the government has no power to prevent newspapers from reporting information received from former British secret service agents; the decision allows the press to publish claims by Peter Wright that Soviet agents had penetrated the country’s intelligence network. 21 December: Pan Am flight 103 from London to New York is ripped apart by an explosion as it crosses Scotland; all 259 passengers and crew die. 1989 30 March: A Scottish Constitutional Convention is formed and asserts that the Scottish people have a sovereign right to determine the form of government best suited to their needs. 15 April: Ninety-six soccer supporters are killed as crowds surge through turnstiles at the Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield. 26 May: Lord Chancellor James Mackay resigns from the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland, which had banned him from taking communion because he had twice attended requiem mass for Roman Catholic colleagues. 31 August: Princess Anne and her husband, Captain Mark Phillips, announce that they are to separate. 19 October: Patrick Armstrong, Gerard Conlon, Paul Hill, and Carole Richardson (the Guildford Four) have their convictions for terrorism quashed by the Court of Appeal after spending

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15 years in prison; evidence presented to the court suggests that the police had tampered with evidence presented at their trial. 16 October: The Social and Liberal Democratic Party renames itself the Liberal Democrats. 26 October: Nigel Lawson, chancellor of the exchequer in Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s cabinet, resigns after a series of well-publicized disagreements with Sir Alan Walters, Mrs. Thatcher’s personal economics advisor. 1990 19 January: Lord Justice Taylor delivers his report on the Hillsborough disaster (see 15 April 1989) to the home secretary; his 76 recommendations, when implemented, change the face of British football by replacing terracing (where supporters stand to watch games) with all-seater stadiums. 23 March: Sarah, duchess of York and wife of Prince Andrew, gives birth to Eugenie, the couple’s second child. 31 March: More than 200,000 people crowd into London’s Trafalgar Square to protest Prime Minister Thatcher’s plans to replace property taxes with a poll tax. 1 April: The Inner London Education Authority (the world’s largest) is disbanded and its responsibilities transferred to the 12 London Boroughs in its area. 11 April: Customs officers seize what they believe is the barrel of a “supergun” onboard a ship docked at Middlesborough and bound for Iraq; charges against two employees of Walter Somers, the equipment’s designers, are suddenly withdrawn in November without any explanation from the government. 20 July: A bomb, detonated by the Provisional Irish Republican Army, causes serious damage to the London Stock Exchange. 22 September: Alex Salmond succeeds Gordon Wilson as leader of the Scottish National Party. 8 October: Britain joins the European exchange rate mechanism. 13 November: Geoffrey Howe, after resigning from Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s government, tells the House of Commons that the prime minister has a “nightmare” vision of a Europe “teeming with illintentioned people scheming . . . to extinguish democracy.” 2 November: British Satellite Broadcasting merges with Sky Television to form British Sky Broadcasting; part of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, the new company becomes the largest provider of subscription television programs in the United Kingdom by the beginning of the 21st century. 22 November: Prime Minister Thatcher resigns. 27 November: John Major succeeds Margaret Thatcher as leader of the Conservative Party and prime minister. 1 December: Construction workers drill through

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the final wall of rock that separates the two ends of a channel tunnel that links Britain to France. 1991 7 February: The Provisional Irish Republican Army launches a mortar bomb at 10 Downing Street while the cabinet is in session; the missile lands in the garden and nobody is injured. 18 February: Bombs, placed in trash cans by the Provisional Irish Republican Army, explode at Paddington and Victoria railroad stations in London, killing 1 commuter (at Victoria) and injuring 39 others. 14 March: Six Irishmen, convicted of bombing public houses in Birmingham in 1974, have their sentences quashed by the Court of Appeal. 21 April: The decennial population census is taken; the count shows that the United Kingdom has a population of 57.8 million, 1.5 million more than in 1981. 5 July: As allegations mount that the Bank of Commerce and Credit International is involved in money laundering and other illegal activities, the Bank of England orders the institution to stop trading. 21 July: Prime Minister John Major introduces a “citizen’s charter” designed to improve standards of public service provision by making agencies more accountable to their clients. 24 September: Dafydd Wigley succeeds Dafydd Elis-Thomas as leader of Plaid Cymru. 5 November: The body of newspaper proprietor Robert Maxwell is found floating in the sea off Tenerife. 25 November: Winston Silcott, convicted of murdering Police Constable Keith Blakelock during racial riots in London in 1987, is released from jail when the Appeal Court rules that the evidence on which he was convicted was unreliable, and two other men found guilty at the same time as Silcott are released later; the court’s findings fuel doubts about the impartiality of the legal system. 1992 7 February: The Maastricht Treaty replaces the European Economic Community with the European Union. 28 February: A Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb explodes in a restroom at London Bridge railroad station, injuring 29 people. 19 March: Prince Andrew and his wife, Sarah Ferguson, announce that they are to separate. 9 April: The Conservative Party wins the general election, to the surprise of many observers. 10 April: An explosive device left in a van by the Provisional Irish Republican Army kills three people and destroys the Baltic Exchange (the world’s largest shipbroking market) in London. 13 April: Princess Anne asks the courts to dissolve her 18-year marriage to Captain Mark Phillips. 16 June: In Diana: Her True Story, biogra-

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pher Andrew Morton exposes the marital problems of Prince Charles and Princess Diana to a fascinated public. 18 July: John Smith succeeds Neil Kinnock as leader of the Labour Party. 16 September: On Black Wednesday, after intense speculation against the pound, Britain withdraws from the European exchange rate mechanism. 30 September: The U.S. Air Force leaves Greenham Common air base. 12 October: A small Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb explodes in a restroom at the Sussex Arms public house in London, killing one person. Three directors of the Matrix Churchill engineering company appear in court, charged with exporting machine tools for use with military equipment in Iraq; the charges are dropped when Alan Clark, a former government minister, admits that he attempted to conceal evidence of the transaction. 13 November: The Daily Mirror newspaper publishes excerpts from a sexually explicit telephone conversation between Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles. 20 November: Fire damages 100 rooms at Windsor Castle, causing damage that costs £40 million to repair. 9 December: Prince Charles and Princess Diana announce that they are to separate. 12 December: Princess Anne takes Commander Timothy Laurence as her second husband. 1993 1 April: A “council tax,” based on property values, replaces the much-maligned poll tax as a means of raising funds for local government in England, Scotland, and Wales. 24 April: A Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb is detonated in Bishopsgate, a street in the heart of the city of London; 1 man dies, 40 people are injured, and damage costs £350 million to repair. 27 May: Queen Elizabeth II and Mary Robinson, president of the Republic of Ireland, take tea at Buckingham Palace—the first time the heads of state of the United Kingdom and the Irish Republic have met formally. 1 June: The Guardian Media Group buys The Observer—the world’s oldest Sunday newspaper—from Lonrho for £27 million. 23 July: Nerves fraying, Prime Minister John Major is caught on British Broadcasting Corporation videotape describing euroskeptic cabinet colleagues as “bastards.” 7 August: For the first time, the public is able to tour Buckingham Palace, the sovereign’s London home; the funds raised help to pay for repairs to Windsor Castle, another royal residence, which was damaged by fire in November 1992. 15 December: In a statement that becomes known as “The Downing Street Declaration,” John Major (the British prime minister) and Albert

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Reynolds (the Irish Republic’s taoiseach) say that Northern Ireland’s constitutional future will be decided by a majority vote of the province’s citizens. 1994 16 January: British troops form the largest European contingent in a United Nations’ force that attempts to repel an Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. 27 January: After picketing the site for more than 12 years, women protestors leave Greenham Common air force base, which housed American-owned and -operated cruise missiles from 1983 until 1991. 22 February: The General Synod of the Church of England, after sometimes bitter debate, amends ecclesiastical law so that women can become priests. 24 February: United Nations troops, including a large British force, free Kuwait from Iraqi invaders. 6 May: Queen Elizabeth II and President François Mitterrand formally open the Channel Tunnel that links Britain to France; regular rail services between the two countries begin later in the year. 12 May: John Smith, leader of the Labour Party, dies after suffering a heart attack. 30 May: Ian Paisley, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, shocks moderate opinion by comparing James Molyneaux (head of the Ulster Unionist Party) to Judas Iscariot, alleging that he had betrayed the loyalist cause in Northern Ireland because he was willing to negotiate with the Republic of Ireland’s government. 31 May: Following the death of Labour Party leader John Smith, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown agree on a pact that guarantees the latter appointment to the post of chancellor of the exchequer if the former succeeds Smith and becomes prime minister after the next general election. 29 June: In a television interview, Prince Charles admits that he was unfaithful to his wife, Princess Diana, by committing adultery with Camilla Parker Bowles but claims that there were no indiscretions before his marriage had broken down irretrievably. 5 July: The Sunday Trading Act receives royal assent, allowing English and Welsh stores of more than 280 square meters to open for any six hours between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Sundays; previously, the law preventing shops from opening had been widely flouted. 10 July: The Sunday Times newspaper publishes allegations that Members of Parliament Graham Riddick and David Tredinnick accepted payment for asking questions in the House of Commons. 21 July: Tony Blair is elected leader of the Labour Party, succeeding John Smith. 26 July: A car bomb explodes outside the Israeli embassy in London, killing 14 people; 2 British-educated Palestinians are later found responsible and

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imprisoned for 20 years. 31 August: The Provisional Irish Republican Army announces its intention to cease “military operations” and participate in talks about Northern Ireland’s political future. 13 October: Loyalist paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland offer to end attacks against republican targets and to take part in discussions designed to bring permanent peace to Ulster. 20 October: The Guardian newspaper claims that Members of Parliament Neil Hamilton and Tim Smith received money from Mohammed Al-Fayed (owner of Harrods department store) in return for asking questions in the House of Commons; Smith admits accepting cash (though not in the way the paper described), but Hamilton launches a libel action that was withdrawn in 1996. 1995 26 February: Barings, Britain’s oldest merchant bank, collapses after trader Nick Leeson loses £770 million on the Singapore Stock Exchange. 29 April: The Labour Party votes to rewrite clause 4 of its constitution, dropping the commitment to nationalize industrial firms and service providers. 11 May: The Nolan Report on standards in public life makes 55 recommendations that lead to the introduction of a new code of conduct for members of Parliament. 21 May: Nineteen-year-old Stephen Churchill becomes the first victim of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease as “mad cow disease” strikes humans. 24 May: Harold Wilson, prime minister from 1964–70 and 1974–76, dies. 4 July: John Major retains the leadership of the Conservative Party (and the prime ministership), defeating challenger John Redwood. 3 September: The United Kingdom Independence Party is formed as a rallying ground for conservatives who want Britain to withdraw from the European Union. 8 September: David Trimble succeeds James Molyneaux as leader of the Ulster Unionist Party. 9 October: Alec Douglas-Home, who renounced his peerage in 1963 in order to become prime minister, dies. 31 October: Brothers David and Frederick Barclay buy The Scotsman and its sister newspapers from the Thomson Organization for a reported £87 million. 16 November: At the age of 95, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, undergoes a hip replacement operation. 20 November: In a television interview, Diana, Princess of Wales, admits committing adultery. 30 November: The Scottish Constitutional Convention publishes a blueprint for a Scottish Parliament. 1996 9 February: The Provisional Irish Republican Army ends its cease-fire, declared in 1994, by detonating a bomb in the Canary Wharf

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office district in London’s docklands. 15 February: The Scott Report, requested by Prime Minister John Major, castigates government ministers for failing to tell Parliament about decisions to relax restrictions on international arms sales and thus fuels criticism of Major’s already unpopular administration. 18 February: Edward O’Brien, a supporter of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, is blown up by his own bomb when it detonates while he is traveling on a bus in central London. 13 March: Thomas Hamilton walks into a school in Dunblane and shoots 16 children aged 4 to 6 dead, along with a teacher who tried to protect them. 27 March: The European Union bans the import of beef and beef products from the United Kingdom as concern grows that “mad cow disease” can infect humans. 30 May: The High Court of Justice grants a divorce to Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson after a four-year separation. 15 June: More than 200 people are injured, but nobody is killed, when the Provisional Irish Republican Army detonates a 3,300 lb. bomb in Manchester city center. 5 July: Dolly the sheep (the first mammal in the world to be cloned successfully) is born at the Roslin Institute in Scotland. 23 July: The Dearing Report on Higher Education in the Learning Society advocates the introduction of tuition fees for university students, a measure that would end the practice of providing free education for everybody deemed able to benefit from the experience, whatever their income. 28 August: Prince Charles and Princess Diana are divorced. 16 October: The report of the Cullen Inquiry into the shootings at Dunblane Primary School on 16 March recommends changes to school security procedures, more detailed vetting on people who work with children, and tighter control of handguns; in practice, many of the proposals had already been implemented. 15 November: The stone of destiny, on which Scotland’s kings sat during their coronation ceremony, is returned to Edinburgh, exactly 700 years after King Edward I carried it off to London; Scottish reaction is decidedly muted. 1997 21 February: The Court of Appeal quashes the convictions of four men accused of killing newspaper delivery boy Carl Bridgewater in 1978; the decision adds to doubts about the fairness of the English and Welsh legal system that lead the government to create a Criminal Cases Review Commission, with power to investigate possible miscarriages of justice. 27 February: Queen Elizabeth II gives royal assent to

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legislation banning ownership of handguns with a caliber of .22 or higher; as a result, the United Kingdom has one of the strictest controls on firearms of any country in the world. 11 March: Beatle Paul McCartney is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. 1 May: The Labour Party wins a landslide victory at the general election, and Tony Blair becomes prime minister. 6 May: The new Labour Party government gives the Bank of England responsibility for setting interest rates (previously, the decisions were made by the chancellor of the exchequer). 20 May: Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown announces the creation of a new body (now known as the Financial Services Authority) that will regulate the activities of Britain’s banking and other financial institutions in an effort to protect customers and reduce crime. 11 June: William Hague succeeds John Major as leader of the Conservative Party. 20 July: The Provisional Irish Republican Army confirms its cease-fire, a move that paves the way for representatives of Sinn Féin to participate in multiparty talks about Northern Ireland’s political future. 30 July: Prince Andrew gives up his career in the Royal Navy and takes a new job with British Trade International, which promotes United Kingdom businesses around the world. 31 August: Princess Diana and Dodi Al-Fayed (son of the owner of Harrods department store in London) are killed in a Paris automobile accident. 11 September: Sixty-two percent of the Scottish electorate vote on government plans to establish a domestic Parliament in Edinburgh, and of those, 74 percent cast their ballot in favor of the proposals. 18 September: A referendum held in Wales to establish support for the creation of a national assembly in Cardiff shows that only a small majority of those who voted support the proposal (50.3 percent are in favor and 49.7 against), but the government interprets that as a mandate to pursue the scheme. 19 September: Six people die and 150 are injured when a freight train and a passenger train collide at Southall on the western fringe of London. 1998 10 April: The governments of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland sign the Good Friday Agreement, which is later endorsed by most political groups in Ulster and thus provides a framework for ending sectarian violence in the province. 25 April: Elections are held for the Northern Ireland Assembly. 22 May: Referenda in

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Ulster and the Irish Republic demonstrate strong support for the Good Friday Agreement. 1 July: The new Northern Ireland Assembly holds its first meetings. 15 August: Twenty-nine people die when a bomb explodes in Omagh, a market town in Northern Ireland; the Real Irish Republican Army initially claims responsibility for detonating the bomb but later backtracks, saying that its involvement was minimal. 22 August: The Irish National Liberation Army announces a cease-fire. 1 September: For the first time since the late 1940s, students registering for university classes in the United Kingdom are required to pay tuition fees. 23 September: The European Court of Human Rights rules that the laws of England and Wales do not give children adequate protection against the use of corporal punishment in their homes. 29 October: The Jenkins Commission proposes that 15–20 percent of the membership of the House of Commons should be elected by proportional representation, but the government takes no action. Ron Davies, secretary of state for Wales, resigns his cabinet seat after admitting a “serious lapse of judgment”; the previous night, he had been robbed at knifepoint after going for a meal with a stranger whom he had met on Clapham Common, a favorite meeting place for members of London’s gay community. 17 November: The Newbury bypass—Britain’s most controversial and bitterly opposed road scheme—opens, 17 years after planners first propose a line for the route. 10 December: John Hume (leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party) and David Trimble (leader of the Ulster Unionist Party) are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize jointly in recognition of their efforts to end sectarian strife in Northern Ireland. 1999 1 January: The euro replaces the currency of 12 member states of the European Union, but Britain remains aloof, claiming that its economy would not benefit from inclusion in the “eurozone.” 21 January: Two men throw leaflets protesting British arms sales to Indonesia into the House of Commons while members of Parliament are meeting. 24 February: A government inquiry into the investigations that followed the murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence in 1993 finds that London’s Metropolitan Police is “institutionally racist” and condemns officers who made “fundamental errors.” 6 May: Elections are held to choose the members of the new National Assembly for Wales and of the new Scottish Parliament. 12 May: The National Assembly

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for Wales meets for the first time. Scotland’s Parliament meets for the first time since 1707. 8 June: Jonathan Aitken, who served as chief secretary to the Treasury in Prime Minister John Major’s cabinet, is found guilty of perjury and of perverting the course of justice; he receives an 18-month jail sentence. 16 June: Screaming Lord Sutch, leader of the Monster Raving Loony Party, commits suicide; his death is followed by tributes from leading politicians from all parties, who commend him for brightening up general election campaigns. 17 June: Cardinal Basil Hume, leader of the Roman Catholic community in England and Wales, passes away; in its obituary, the London Times notes that “Few churchmen in this century, inside or outside the Catholic Church, have died so deeply loved.” 19 June: Prince Edward (youngest child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip) marries Sophie Rhys-Jones, a public relations consultant, in St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. 6 September: Mirror Group plc and Trinity plc merge to form Britain’s largest newspaper production business. 9 August: Charles Kennedy succeeds Paddy Ashdown as leader of the Liberal Democrats. 9 September: The Patten Commission recommends the creation of a new police force for Northern Ireland. 5 October: Thirty-one people die and more than 200 are injured when two trains collide in west London during the morning rush hour. 11 November: Queen Elizabeth II gives royal assent to the House of Lords Act, which deprives all but 92 hereditary peers of the right to sit in Parliament. 31 December: The opening of the Millennium Dome turns into a shambles as many guests fail to turn up, some because their invitations did not arrive in time and others because of the poor transport links to the site in southeast London. 2000 12 January: Geoffrey Hoon, the secretary of state for defense, tells the House of Commons that the ban on homosexuals serving in the armed forces will be lifted with immediate effect. 31 January: Harold Shipman, a family doctor, is found guilty of murdering 15 patients, but later investigation reveals that he may have killed as many as 250. 12 February: The Northern Ireland Assembly is suspended amid interparty wrangling. 4 May: Ken Livingstone is elected mayor of London despite the best efforts of the British government to secure his defeat. 30 May: The Northern Ireland Assembly resumes deliberations. 18 June: Fifty-eight East Asians, who had been trying to enter Britain

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illegally, are found dead in the back of a truck arriving at Dover’s ferry port from Belgium. 3 July: The Greater London Authority, created by act of Parliament in 1999, assumes responsibility for strategic planning throughout the London metropolitan area. 23 July: The News of the World begins a campaign to “name and shame” pedophiles by publishing the names and addresses of all 110,000 people who have been convicted of child offenses in the United Kingdom but has to suspend the series following police and press reports that innocent people are being attacked as a result of mistaken identity. 3 August: Ieuan Wyn Jones succeeds Dafydd Wigley as leader of Plaid Cymru. 26 September: John Swinney succeeds Alex Salmond as the leader of the Scottish National Party. 11 October: Donald Dewar, Scotland’s first minister, dies following a brain hemorrhage. 17 October: Four people die when a train derails at Hatfield; in the following weeks, Railtrack (the private firm that owns the physical infrastructure of Britain’s railroad system) launches a £580 million program to improve safety, but the investment undermines the company’s financial stability and ultimately leads to its demise. 23 October: Michael Martin is appointed speaker of the House of Commons, becoming the first Roman Catholic to hold the post since the reformation. 27 October: Henry McLeish succeeds Donald Dewar as first minister in the Scottish Parliament. 21 November: Richard Desmond, a publisher of pornographic magazines, buys the Daily Express and the Sunday Express from United News and Media for £125 million. 30 November: Parliament approves the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act, which reduces the age of consent for male homosexual activities to 16 (the same as that for heterosexual and lesbian activities) in England and Wales. 31 December: Exhibitions close at the Millennium Dome; ticket sales over the year amounted to £189 million, meeting only a fraction of the £789 million cost of the project. 2001 24 January: Clare Furse is appointed chief executive of the London Stock Exchange, becoming the first woman to hold the post. 31 January: Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, a Libyan intelligence officer, is found guilty of causing the explosion that destroyed Pan Am flight 103 on 21 December 1988 and is sentenced to life imprisonment. 19 February: A case of foot and mouth disease is discovered at a slaughterhouse near London; by October, more than 2,000 infected animals have been identified and more than 7 million slaughtered in an ef-

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fort to control the spread of the outbreak. 25 March: To public scorn, the Post Office renames itself Consignia. 29 April: The decennial population census is taken and shows that the United Kingdom has a population of 58.8 million, 1.0 million more than in 1991. 7 June: The Labour Party wins the general election and retains its hold on government. 3 August: A car bomb explodes in west London just after midnight as people are leaving clubs and public houses; seven people are injured and the Real Irish Republican Army is held responsible. 19 July: Lord Archer, novelist and senior figure in the Conservative Party, is found guilty of perjury and given a 4-year prison sentence after revelations that he had lied to the courts 14 years earlier when he sought damages from the Daily Star newspaper, which alleged that he had had sex with a prostitute. 12 September: Iain Duncan Smith succeeds William Hague as leader of the Conservative Party. 7 October: British submarines unleash missile attacks on targets in Afghanistan, supporting U.S. efforts to get rid of the country’s Taliban government. 4 November: Policing in Ulster is reorganized, with the Police Service of Northern Ireland replacing the Royal Ulster Constabulary. 8 November: Jack McConnell succeeds Henry McLeish as first minister in the Scottish Parliament. 30 November: Beatle George Harrison dies in New York after a battle with cancer. 2002 29 January: An independent inquiry team, created by Margaret Becket (the secretary of state for agriculture) and led by Sir Donald Curry, proposes that agricultural subsidies in England should be redirected from crop production to countryside conservation. 9 February: Princess Margaret dies. 26 February: The British Overseas Territories Act gives full citizenship to inhabitants of all British Dependent Territories (with the exception of sovereign base areas on Cyprus) and redesignates those areas British Overseas Territories. 1 March: During a visit to Australia, Prince Philip adds to a long list of royal gaffes by asking a group of aborigines whether they still throw spears at each other. 15 March: Queen Elizabeth gives royal assent to the Scottish Parliament’s Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Bill, which outlaws hunting with dogs in Scotland. 30 March: Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, dies at Windsor Castle, only 4 months short of her 102nd birthday. 10 May: Seven people are killed and more than 70 injured when a train leaves the rails at Potters Bar station on the northern fringe of

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London. 18 May: The National Lottery is relaunched as National Lotto in an effort to reverse a £500 million decline in ticket sales over the past four years. 29 May: Tony Blair appoints Britain’s first black cabinet minister when he makes Paul Boateng chief secretary to the Treasury. 1–4 June: Celebrations marking the golden jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II’s accession to the throne climax with church services, fireworks displays, street parties, and other events through the country. 27 June: Alistair Darling, the minister for transport, tells the House of Commons that Network Rail (a not-for-profit company largely funded by the government) would pay £500 million to acquire the assets—and the £7.1 billion debt—of Railtrack, the private firm that had been responsible for maintaining Britain’s railroad infrastructure. 8 July: Loch Lomond and the Trossachs are designated as Scotland’s first national park. 22 September: The Countryside Alliance claims that 400,000 people attend a London protest against government plans to ban hunting with dogs in England and Wales; police estimates suggest that the number is closer to 200,000. 24 September: The government publishes a dossier that claims Iraq can deploy “weapons of mass destruction” within 45 minutes of an order being issued; the information is used to help justify an invasion of the country but is later discredited. 14 October: The Northern Ireland Assembly is suspended again, and direct rule of the province from London is reimposed by the Westminster government. 4 November: After two years of public scorn, Consignia gives up attempts to gain acceptance for its meaningless name and retitles itself Royal Mail plc. 7 November: The Adoption and Children Act receives royal assent, giving same-sex and unmarried couples the right to adopt children. In a referendum, more than 86 percent of Gibraltar’s electorate rejects a British government proposal that Spain should share sovereignty over the territory with the United Kingdom. 2003 5 January: Roy Jenkins, one of the founders of the Social Democratic Party, dies at age 82. 17 February: London starts to levy “congestion charges” on drivers who take their vehicles into the city center. 17 March: Robin Cook, a member of Prime Minister Tony Blair’s cabinet, resigns his post as leader of the House of Commons, arguing that he cannot support an invasion of Iraq unless it is made with the full support of the United Nations and the British people. 20 March: Some 46,000 British troops join an American-led invasion of Iraq. 3 April:

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Newsquest, owner of USA Today, buys the Scottish Media Group for £216 million, consolidating its position as Britain’s second-largest publisher after Trinity Mirror. 17 April: A government investigation led by John Stevens (a senior policeman) concludes that the security forces and the Royal Ulster Constabulary had not acted properly to prevent the deaths of republican sympathizers in Northern Ireland. 12 May: Clare Short, secretary of state for international development, resigns from the cabinet, accusing Prime Minister Blair of breaking promises about the handling of the Iraq War. 28 May: Newspapers report that, in a television interview in Abu Dhabi, Labour Party Member of Parliament George Galloway had compared Prime Minister Tony Blair and U.S. president George W. Bush to wolves because of the way they had attacked Iraq. 6 June: The Royal Mail announces that it will close its rail distribution network and rely solely on road transport. 13 June: The High Court of Justice rules that medical conditions suffered by Shaun Rusling are linked to his service with the Parachute Regiment during the Gulf War in 1991; the decision gives hope to other veterans who were refused war pensions by the Ministry of Defence, which insists that there is no such thing as Gulf War Syndrome. 21 June: Aaron Barschak dons a false beard, a pink dress, and a turban and gatecrashes Prince William’s 21st birthday party at Windsor Castle. 17 July: Dr. David Kelly, a Ministry of Defence employee, commits suicide after being hounded by reporters who believe he told Andrew Gilligan (a British Broadcasting Corporation journalist) that the government had “sexed up” a report claiming that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. 1 August: Tony Blair becomes the longest continuously serving Labour Party prime minister when he exceeds Harold Wilson’s term from 1964–70. 13 September: Jason Hatch dresses as Batman and clambers onto a ledge alongside a Buckingham Palace balcony; his antics are intended to draw attention to the aims of Fathers4Justice, a pressure group that advocates greater rights for single dads. 15 September: Dafydd Iwan succeeds Ieuan Wyn Jones as president of Plaid Cymru, the Welsh nationalist party, but Wyn Jones retains the leadership of the organization in the National Assembly for Wales. 10 October: The United Kingdom accedes to the 13th protocol of the European Convention on Human Rights, thus removing the death penalty from the list of sentences available to the courts. 23 October: Dr. Alison Elliot is the first woman to be appointed moderator of the General Assembly of the

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Church of Scotland. 24 October: Concorde makes its last flight from New York to London. 6 November: Michael Howard succeeds Iain Duncan Smith as leader of the Conservative Party. 8 November: Prince Edward and his wife, Sophie, celebrate the birth of Louise, their first daughter. 17 November: Conrad Black resigns his post as chief executive of Hollinger International, owners of the Daily Telegraph, following allegations that he received more than £4 million in unauthorized payments from company funds. Ken Livingstone, mayor of London, describes U.S. president George W. Bush as the “greatest threat to life on this planet.” 19 November: The Daily Mirror reveals that Ryan Parry, one of its reporters, used a false reference to get a job as a footman at Buckingham Palace and worked, undetected, for two months, leaving only days before U.S. president George W. Bush was scheduled to visit. 9 December: In an effort to make the acquisition of citizenship less bureaucratic, the government announces that, in the future, all successful applicants will have to take part in a ceremony at which they pledge loyalty to the United Kingdom and promise to respects its laws and freedoms. 17 December: Ian Huntly and Maxine Carr are convicted of offenses relating to the murder of schoolgirls Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells at Soham, Cambridgeshire; the deaths result in the introduction of a national code of practice for police record keeping and more thorough background checks on people applying to work with children. 2004 13 January: Harold Shipman, one of the world’s most prolific serial killers, hangs himself in his prison cell. 28 January: Lord Hutton, who had led an official inquiry into the suicide of Ministry of Defence employee Dr. David Kelly, refutes claims by Andrew Gilligan that the government had “sexed up” a dossier dealing with weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. 4 February: Nine visitors to the House of Commons heckle Prime Minister Blair while he answers questions about the war in Iraq. 25 February: Prosecutors drop charges against Katharine Gunn, who, while working at Government Communications Headquarters, leaked details of a U.S. request for British help in bugging the homes of United Nations diplomats in the weeks before the invasion of Iraq. 20 March: Two members of Greenpeace, an environmental organization, scale Big Ben in protest of the Iraq War. 24 March: Despite criticism at home, Prime Minister Blair holds meetings with Colonel

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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK)—variously and technically erroneously sometimes termed Great Britain, Britain, or even England—was formed in 1922 when the Republic of Ireland became an independent country. Correctly, Great Britain comprises the nations of England, Scotland, and Wales, while the United Kingdom is Great Britain plus Northern Ireland. Increasingly, however, the country is referred to as the UK or simply as Britain. The last quarter of a century, from 1979 to 2007, has been eventful for the United Kingdom. It has wrestled with a multitude of economic, military, political, and social problems; experienced radical shifts in the political stance of its governments and their policies; and sought to establish a new role in world politics without empire and within the newly expanding European Union (EU). Questions have arisen over the place of the monarchy in the modern UK, yet the constitutional monarch remains, and her parliamentary government system, though internally altered by reform of its upper house, continues to provide for strong and effective governance. The “Winter of Discontent” began at the start of 1979, characterized by economic woes and labor unrest, which presaged the emergence of a strong right-wing government under Margaret Thatcher that altered the political and economic nature of the country. And this was an exciting period, with many ups and downs. For example, 1997 saw the landslide victory for New Labour and the centrist but left-leaning government of Tony Blair. It, in turn, was just as radical in its effects on the nation. Conflicts raged throughout the period, and the UK did not flinch from becoming involved. Northern Ireland perplexed all governments, but by 2007, peace looked to be holding in the province, power-sharing government returned to Ulster, and the nation turned its attention to international terrorism. The Falklands, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq all 1


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witnessed the armed intervention of this small country, once proud leader of the largest empire in the world. Multicultural Britain continued to try to contain its constituent ethnic groups while dealing with infrequent urban riots and the unwanted social behavior of culturally dispossessed young people. By 2007, the United Kingdom appeared to be emerging in much better shape than it was at the beginning of the contemporary period. There was less anxiety, less introspection, and more economic assurance and confidence in its emerging regional and world roles. Decline in the contemporary period may be an exaggeration; early polarization followed by realignment and modernization may be more apposite terms to describe the UK of 2007. But the overwhelming British public response to the tsunami tragedy of late 2004 showed, too, the continued caring nature of the British people in the international arena—politicians may get the limelight, but the fundamental fairness and decentness of a nation’s psyche is its more lasting characteristic.

LAND AND PEOPLE Physically, the United Kingdom is a small country of more than 1,000 islands and rocks barely 94,525 square miles (244,818 square kilometers) in total area and situated on the continental shelf to the west of Europe. It is mostly low mountains and hills with few high peaks, the highest being Ben Nevis in Scotland at just 4,406 feet (1,342 meters) above mean sea level, and its lowest land is in the Fens of Lincolnshire, at 13 feet (4 meters) below mean sea level. However, its indented coastline gives it a long total coast length of more than 7,723 miles (12,429 kilometers), and within that, it contains a varied landscape. The north and west, including Scotland and Wales, is upland, and the south and east in England is largely rolling lowland, punctuated by limestone and chalk hills. The north and west was sculpted by ice, with molded mountains, scoured valleys, and deepwater lochs and firths, while the extreme south escaped the ice scouring but was affected by deposition in what is called the periglacial zone. The UK has a temperate climate, with the prevailing winds blowing from the southwest over the warm Gulf Stream, moderating the extremes. In such a small continental-shelf country, extremes of tempera-


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ture are thus rare, and the daily weather is variable, affected both by weather systems moving in from the Atlantic and (less commonly) systems moving off the continent toward the west, as well as by the local topography. Its indented coastline means that no settlements are more than 60 miles (96 kilometers) from tidal waters, giving the population the advantage of a generally pleasant, if variable, daily weather pattern, with summer maxima rarely rising above 92ºF (32ºC) and winter minima rarely dropping below 14ºF (-10ºC). Average annual rainfall, reaching 60 inches in the mountainous north and west but less than 30 inches in the more lowland south and east, is fairly regularly distributed throughout the year, but March through June tend to be the driest months and September through January the wettest. From May until July (the months of longest daylight), the mean daily duration of sunshine varies from five hours in northern Scotland to eight hours in southern England; from November until January, it averages one hour a day in the north and two hours in the south. In recent years, however, scientists have become increasingly concerned about the implications of global warming, forecasting that global climate change may cause much flooding around the coastline and that climate change will have widespread impacts on agriculture and wildlife habitats. Since 1979, winters in the UK have indeed been more often milder and the summers sometimes hotter than in the past, yet 2007 was a wet summer, with widespread flooding in the midlands and north of England. The land area of the UK remains predominantly natural or agricultural: woodland accounts for around 12 percent of the UK land area, while arable crops occupy another 27 percent, and permanent pasture 46 percent. Between 1990 and 1998, the area of woodland actually increased by 2.1 percent, despite the inexorable spread of the built-up areas, which occupy the remaining 15 percent of the country. The population total in the 2001 census for the United Kingdom was 59,231,900, up from 55,835,000 in 1979. This makes it the third-largest country in the EU, with a growth rate of just 0.23 percent per annum. The UK comprises four distinct national territories. The largest, England, has a land area of 50,300 square miles (130,276 square kilometers) and a population of 49,561,800, which is around 84 percent of the UK’s total population. Scotland’s land area is 30,400 square miles (78,735 square kilometers), with a population of 5,054,800 (about 9 percent of the total), and Wales occupies 8,000 square miles (20,719


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square kilometers) and houses 2,918,700 people (about 5 percent). Northern Ireland is around 5,500 square miles (14,244 square kilometers) with a population of just 1,696,600 (about 3 percent). Scotland is the least densely populated area, and in contrast to England, its population has decreased since 1979 and is projected to continue this trend downward in the future.

CONTEMPORARY POLITICAL HISTORY The United Kingdom is governed as a democratic constitutional monarchy, with succession to the throne by heredity through the male line and with the sovereign (since 1952, Queen Elizabeth II) occupying a largely but not exclusively ceremonial position. In reality, it is the government of the day, headed by the prime minister, that is vested with executive powers, and it operates under the constitutional authority of Parliament through the House of Commons, a 646-member elected body, and the review body that is the House of Lords. This system of an executive cabinet government, answerable to an elected parliamentary legislature, gives the United Kingdom a generally effective, stable, and strong government. The state of the nation in the winter of 1978–79 was crucial—the Labour government was barely able to cope with successive major union disputes (known then as the “English Disease”) amid the backdrop of a continued decline in industrial capacity, a world economy in recession, a weak currency, and falling confidence in the political standing of the United Kingdom in Europe and the international arena. Through nationalizations, the state by then owned and was forced to shore up most large industrial enterprises in the country, and under the Welfare State, it directly employed much of its own population, was responsible for its massive welfare support systems, and housed much of its people in its council housing. In consequence, the weakened government resorted to loans from the International Monetary Fund in order to support its creaking edifice. The turning point came that winter, the “Winter of Discontent”; unemployment was then around 1.6 million and rising. There were strikes in many public service industries (notably hospitals, railways, and water works), and rubbish remained uncollected on the streets as munici-


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pal workers downed tools. Ford Motor Company employees went on strike in the private sector, joined by truck and petroleum tanker drivers. Even the dead lay unburied, and the situation was made worse by bad winter weather, the worst for 16 years. Matters were then inflamed by the avuncular prime minister James Callaghan’s supposed remark (actually a headline in The Sun newspaper): “Crisis, what crisis?” Into this scenario walked Margaret Thatcher. In the general election of 1979, she campaigned on the slogan that “Labour isn’t working,” and the country gave her a majority of 43 in the House of Commons and brought the Conservative Party back into government under a rightwing reforming banner. The new prime minister began what she called a “rolling back of the state”; privatization replaced nationalization (the state industries were sold off to private companies), welfare dependency was to be replaced by self-help stakeholder capitalism (shares in the new privatized monoliths were sold to the public, and council house tenants were given the right to buy their properties), labor union power was to be broken, and dependency was to be replaced by work and enterprise. In the international arena, the new government secured a solution to the Southern Rhodesia problem, creating the new state of Zimbabwe, and moved on to tackle the EU specter by negotiating a partial refund of the country’s large contributions to the union. The free market economy policy had consequences. By the end of 1981, unemployment had soared to over 3 million, a result of continued heavy industry decline and a reluctance of the government to raise support for unprofitable economic sectors—or for the unemployed. Consequent union action was met with implacable political opposition, and the power of the big unions was broken. The Scarman Enquiry into the inner-city riots of the 1980s reported that unemployment and social malaise, not racism, were the root causes, but a prime minister who “did not believe in society” remained unmoved. The rising tide of dissatisfaction with the Thatcherite experiment was quelled by the success of the country in the Falklands War; the Iron Lady was lauded and rewarded with a second general election victory in 1983. The Falklands provided a crucial catalyst that revitalized the Thatcher government. Buoyed up, Thatcher took on the Coal Miners Union in a bitter dispute that lasted more than a year and ended in bitter defeat for one of the last great nationalized industries, a symbol of the old heavy industry backbone of the United Kingdom. Abroad, she


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embraced the special relationship with the United States with enthusiasm, working with President Ronald Reagan to help end the cold war and see the fall of communism in Eastern Europe. Broad privatization policies coupled with financial and information technology developments and the polarization of politics and society characterized these Thatcher years. The Labour Party, under its new leader, Neil Kinnock, began the painful process of modernizing itself, too late for the 1987 general election, Margaret Thatcher’s third successive victory, but enough to lay the groundwork for the later emergence of New Labour. Still Thatcherism bounded forward. The Greater London Council, housed in County Hall opposite the Houses of Parliament and a left-wing thorn in the government’s side, was abolished, and then perhaps the most tide-turning decision was made—the introduction of a poll tax. Throughout history, British poll taxes have been bitterly resented and widely flouted and have eventually led to the fall of their proponents, and so it proved; for Callaghan’s Winter of Discontent, read Thatcher’s poll tax. But the “lady was not for turning,” and riots ensued in 1990. At the same time, the economy was not as buoyant as previously, boom was replaced by bust, and the unpopularity of the prime minister and her increasingly dictatorial disposition led to her demise as leader and her replacement by the gray man of politics, John Major. Recession set in, and Black Wednesday, 16 September 1992, when the United Kingdom was forced to withdraw its currency from the European exchange rate mechanism (ERM), turned the economic and European miracles of Thatcher on their heads. The euroskeptic factions in the Conservative Party, still smarting from Major’s accession to the Maastricht Treaty, started an internecine war that was to herald the later massive decline in the party’s fortunes; the new government weakly replaced the hated poll tax with a new council tax, and the humiliating withdrawal from the ERM undoubtedly dealt a final body blow to the Conservative government. Meanwhile, Labour was changing its spots. In 1992, a fourth consecutive general election defeat led to Kinnock’s replacement by the reforming John Smith, who died in 1994 and was replaced by a young Scottish barrister, Tony Blair. Blair’s zeal for reform in the party led to the emergence of New Labour, with the wider national appeal of the middle ground of politics at a time when the Conserva-


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tive government was mired in allegations of sleaze, vote selling, and lassitude. The general election of 1997 brought Labour a landslide victory, with a majority of 179 seats in Parliament, and gave a clear mandate to the new government, which initiated a wave of modernization. Interest rates became the remit of the Bank of England, at a stroke removing the liabilities of economic decisions on this front (a lesson from the ERM debacle) from the government of the day, a new London Assembly was announced, reform of the ancient House of Lords was begun, and a round of devolution referendums was undertaken in Scotland and Wales. Social measures included reform of the privatization moves that the previous government had imposed on the National Health Service and increased welfare payments. The help of the private sector was sought in expanding other social sectors and Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown began to build what he called “prudence” into economic policy in the (ultimately successful) hope that, at last, Labour could wrest the accolade of “best handler of the economy” from its rivals. In the international arena, Blair, too, encouraged the “special relationship,” first with President Bill Clinton and then with President George W. Bush. The United Kingdom sent troops to Bosnia to halt the ethnic cleansing atrocities there, handed Hong Kong back to the Peoples’ Republic of China when its crown colony lease expired, and produced the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 to begin the decommissioning of paramilitary arms in Northern Ireland and push the peace process forward, something that appeared to bear fruit in 2005 when the Irish Republican Army (IRA) announced a cessation of its armed struggle. European skepticism remained, however, and in 1999, Britain declined to join the euro (the single currency for Europe) but accepted the European social chapter with its workplace reforms and the European Convention on Human Rights as the government worked toward greater involvement with the continental mainland. In 2003, London joined Washington in the Iraq War to secure the region against the use of weapons of mass destruction and to remove Saddam Hussein from power—an action that perhaps belied the skeptical view of the United Kingdom’s standing in the world or at least characterized the aspirations of its leader, Tony Blair, on the world stage and his view of a history in which the UK is best placed and best suited in providing a bridge between the United States and Europe.


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In 2007, Gordon Brown replaced Tony Blair as prime minister and, at his first meeting with President George W. Bush at Camp David in July, insisted that this “special relationship” was still strong, believing with Winston Churchill (the first UK prime minister to visit Camp David) that it was founded on the “joint inheritance of liberty, a belief in opportunity for all and a belief in the dignity of every human being.”

CHANGES, TRENDS, AND ISSUES Population Change The UK is still viewed in terms of an essentially Celtic and AngloSaxon heritage, yet it has always been the recipient of waves of migrants from outside its boundaries, and its inhabitants are ethnically and genetically very mixed. Throughout the contemporary period, this multifaceted ethnic mix of the “British” continued to evolve. The 2001 census revealed that this cultural diversity was becoming even more pronounced in the contemporary period than in previous decades: 4.6 million of the 59 million inhabitants were from nonwhite ethnic backgrounds (around 8 percent—and itself a growth of 53 percent between 1991 and 2001), and they were now more concentrated geographically, with 45 percent living in the capital, London, which had more than 7 million inhabitants and remained the center of politics and power in the UK. The population in the contemporary period was aging (in 1971, the median age was 34.1, but by 2002, that had risen to 38.2) and living longer (in 1971, there were 52 people over the age of 65 for every 100 children under 16, but in 2002 there were 80), presenting immediate problems for medical and social care and an impending crisis for the maintenance of pension facilities as the proportion of working people to retired people changed. Of the 59 million inhabitants of the country, a full 19.8 million were aged over 50, and by 2006, 16 percent were over 65. Life expectancy continued to improve: in 1971, British males aged 65 could expect to live to around 76 and women to 80, but by 2002, the figures were 81 and 84. Women continued to have their first babies at later ages (by 2005, on average, at nearly 30 years of age), and by 2002 there were just 1.66 ba-


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bies born to each fertile woman, below the replacement rate for the national population. As house prices rose, more of the younger population were opting to remain resident in the parental home for longer periods: 60 percent of men and 40 percent of women between 20 and 25 years of age still lived with their parents in 2005. Immigration has continued to figure as a central issue. In the 1970s, there were urban riots with racial connotations that were instrumental in bringing about legislation to outlaw all kinds of discrimination, including racial and ethnic, up to the 2000 Race Relations Act and legislation in the 1990s to limit the growing numbers of asylum seekers. As a result, the UK now has the most restrictive immigration laws of any country in the European Union, but even so, its espoused “multicultural society” came under increasing strain after the London suicide bombings of July 2005 and the attempted bombings of 2007. There were other social problems too. The 2001 census (the most recent of these decennial surveys) showed that, in England alone, 7 million dwellings (about one third of the total) failed to meet basic standards and that fully 23 percent of Britain’s children still lived in poverty compared to the EU average of 18 percent—disquieting figures that belie the prosperous developed exterior shown by the UK to the world. Economic Change In 1979, the British economy was in trouble, unemployment was at record levels, and interest rates were high. The time saw the death throes of the large heavy industries that had forged the manufacturing and industrial strength of the British Empire in the 19th century: iron, steel, coal, and shipbuilding were all in decline and the labor unions associated with those industries facing an uncertain future, beset also by international recession and its impact on manufacturing order books. The Winter of Discontent and the power then exerted by the unions helped to discredit the postwar consensus and the planned, corporatist state, allowing Margaret Thatcher to begin to replace nationalized industries with her policy of privatization and to fight the unions in an effort to lessen their control on the workforce; significantly, she fought the National Union of Coalminers in 1984 and won. Her urban development policies loosened the grip of public-planning controls and fed the market economy, with the regeneration of London’s docklands and


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the production of the supersonic Concorde as exemplars of the way forward. The Big Bang of 1986 opened up the financial markets but was followed by Black Wednesday, the ERM debacle of 1992, and, eventually, by the introduction of Gordon Brown’s policy of “prudence.” Service industries have now replaced the heavy industries as the market leaders in the economy and employed, in 2001, 70 percent of the workforce. However, the labor market as a whole remained strong throughout most of the period. In 1979, there were 22.5 million employed workers, a figure that rose to 26.9 million by 1989 (much due to the expansion of the female workforce), then fell to nearer 25 million in 1992 as the recession took hold. Since 1997, there have been higher employment rates again (28 million jobs in 2001) and low unemployment rates (5.2 percent in 2001), with major rises particularly in employment in the public services (in 2002, one in five jobs was in financial or business services). Yet in 2001, fully 28 percent of the British population reported having no savings of any kind, there were 67 million credit cards in use (a greater number than the population of the UK), and personal indebtedness was rising—clearly, good habits of personal economics and prudence had yet to be widely promulgated. By 2007, the UK economy was one of the strongest in Europe (and the fourth largest economy in the world), with low inflation, high growth, low unemployment, and low interest rates—the exact opposite of the conditions in that troubled winter of 1978–79—and the population was more affluent than ever before. In 2005, the National Statistics Office attempted to “value the United Kingdom”; using data from personal, property, land, commercial, and public assets, it arrived at a figure of £4.983 billion. Social Change Social class divisions were always major features of British life, weakened through the 20th century by the changes wrought by wars and social legislation but boosted under the premiership of the Conservative Margaret Thatcher and altered again under New Labour. The fox-hunting political debates and the “Right to Roam” opening up of the countryside (in the Countryside and Rights of Way Act of 2000) showed the divisions clearly, while the changes to the House of Lords perhaps best characterized the continued decline of the aristocracy and the inexorable rise of common UK people.


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Thatcherism supposedly created a generation of “Thatcher’s children”—market-oriented, individual–focused, and mercenary go-getters without remorse for the poor or, especially, the indolent—yet the British have an ingrained disciplined passion for fairness, and that, too, is changing. Yuppies joined lager louts in the enterprise culture that personified Thatcher’s Britain. The selfish values embodied in Thatcherism were said in 2005 to be the root cause of the rise in aggression and bullying in Britain’s schools, as “Thatcher’s children” themselves had children whom they then imbued with their parents’ attitudes. From the 1980s, the gulf between “Thatcher’s children” and the large numbers of young people without jobs widened abruptly, leading to social and behavioral problems that manifested themselves eventually in the imposition of antisocial behavior orders by the courts in an effort to contain the breakdown of civilized behavior in some sections of society. In many ways, the lives of women and men in the UK have become increasingly similar as more women enter the workforce and now outnumber men after the age of 22. Yet differences remain: women still earn less than men, fewer are managers, and girls do better at school than boys. Men are more overweight, yet increasingly, excess drinking and smoking are becoming more “young female” problems. While Margaret Thatcher was, significantly, the first female prime minister, more women now work, and the campaigning women of Greenham Common and the Miners’ Strike showed just how things had changed since 1979. The monarchy throughout this period continued to show its human side. By 2007, of all the royal children, only the youngest, Edward, had not suffered a marriage breakdown, and the prince of Wales’s marriage to his long-term “companion” Camilla Parker Bowles in 2005 excited little real widespread public support, perhaps with the public still in awe of his first wife, Diana, Princess of Wales. The queen, having lost both her sister and mother in a matter of weeks early in 2002, continued in good health and celebrated her jubilee that same year; on a personal level, she maintains a dignified position, but in general, public support for the monarchy is declining. Through much of its history, particularly since Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, England has maintained a staunchly anti-Catholic stance, and under the 1701 Act of Settlement, the royal family, the monarchical succession, and even the establishment have been barred to those “reconciled to the Bishop of Rome.” During the contemporary period, religious fervor has mellowed, and the Church of England has weakened in


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public support at places of worship—in 1999, only 8 percent of the British adult population attended a Christian church. Perhaps this new attitude was best characterized by the fact that the funeral of Pope John Paul II on 8 April 2005 was attended by both the British prime minister and the archbishop of Canterbury (the first in history to attend a Pontiff’s funeral), as well as by the prince of Wales, who, in deference to the funeral, postponed his own wedding to Camilla Parker Bowles. That the probable next monarch and therefore “defender of the faith” and titular leader of the Church of England should do such a thing would have been anathema in earlier centuries and even in the mid-20th century (Lord Callaghan, prime minister until 1979, did not attend the two papal funerals that occurred during his period in office). Secularism and skepticism continued to grow in the contemporary period, but it is perhaps also instructive of social attitudes to religion that, at the 2001 census, 390,000 people entered that their religion was “Jedi” (a reference to the Star Wars movies) in the mistaken belief, promulgated on the Internet, that if sufficient people did so, the authorities would have to recognize this new “faith”! Political Change Labour Party prime minister James Callaghan, who died at age 92 on 26 March 2005, represented the traditional, gentle, consensual, publicoriented nonconfrontational style of British politics at the start of the period. Affectionately known as “Sunny Jim,” after a long-drawn-out economic crisis (when inflation peaked at 25 percent) and the Winter of Discontent, he was replaced in May 1979 by the Conservative Party and Margaret Thatcher. The result was a “sea change” in politics, a phrase actually coined by the departing Labour prime minister. Consensus was in terminal decline, and the political parties began to drift toward polarization, the Conservatives becoming more right wing and Labour more left wing than before. Politics in these isles changed abruptly. What eventually became “Thatcherism” was a more triumphal, abrasive, free-market-oriented, and confrontational form of politics, and the press began to refer to the prime minister as “the Leaderine” and the “Iron Lady,” a highly ideological leader. Her initial success was, perhaps, the result of the decline in the size of the working classes and the growing desire for material


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possessions, homes, and capital ownership—and also the antics of the public sector unions in the lead-up to the Winter of Discontent that allowed her emergence to power and broad public acceptance of the new way. The concentration of power and wealth in the capital began to change under New Labour with the devolution of political authority to the constituent nations of the UK, if not to the English regions. While Thatcher was committed to the ultimate sovereignty of Westminster and eschewed devolution, New Labour embraced it, and the British identity fundamentally shifted. During the general election of 2005, the Conservative Party tried to divest itself of its past and rebrand its future by quietly dropping its sobriquet “Tory,” ostensibly to give the party its proper name but mindful also of the fact that the term derived originally from toaraidhe, an Irish word for outlaw or robber. The election of David Cameron as Conservative leader in January 2006 presaged a further move of the party toward the center ground of British politics and away from Thatcherism, though by 2007, party members were already beginning to question the wisdom of such repositioning. New Labour, on the platform of the “Third Way” (after conservatism and socialism), has begun the reform of the unelected House of Lords, and slowly, the establishment is beginning to update itself (for example, in the changes to security in the Houses of Parliament as a result of a number of security lapses and terrorist threats). Slowly, too, education and the health service are being updated. However, the ceremonial of the centuries will remain in place, for the British have an inordinate affinity to all that is quaint, historic, and long established, and anyway, it brings in the tourists. The post-1997 period can, perhaps, be seen as the beginnings of a return to consensus, together with a centering of the political stance of the major political parties. This is a Britain that is again trying to build itself a new role, now into the 21st century but, as ever, with a large baggage left over from previous centuries. International Issues Before this period started, the UK had already divested itself of its empire, created the Commonwealth of Nations, and was attempting to come to terms with a much-diminished world role. Vestiges of empire,


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however, continued to become issues. The Falklands War was fought over remote islands with an affinity to the UK thousands of miles from the homeland. Grenada was an incident to dent the relationship with the United States, but the Iraq War, in a region previously controlled by the UK, put the “special relationship” back on course. The arguments continued into 2007: Is the UK a real player on the world stage, buoyed by the special relationship with the United States, or is it the obedient follower or “lap dog” for the growing American world role? The Iraq War continues to create controversy: Was the intelligence on weapons of mass destruction faulty, and did the government manipulate it to fit the political path chosen? But perhaps the special relationship and Atlantic brotherhood goes much further back; why else would the Great Hall of the National Archives in Washington display a copy of the Magna Carta (the ancient English defense against arbitrary and unjust rule) alongside the American Constitution? The international role also changed closer to home during this period. The arguments over the European Union and the issue of national sovereignty merged with issues over the euro and the place of the pound sterling in the national consciousness; are we really “Europeans,” and how integrated do we really want to be? Thatcher tried hard to resist European integration, Blair appeared to embrace it more (though with typical British reticence to take the final step), and Brown remains, as ever, cautious. The UK has never been really fully committed to Europe, but it cannot afford to go it alone; a fine line has to be trod, and the British are adept at walking fine lines. Northern Ireland continued to dog successive governments, the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 giving the best hope for peace, but the subtle changes in American support for Sinn Féin and the IRA during 2005 presaged the real first movement for lasting peace in these troubled regions. It was announced in that year that the IRA was to disarm and cease armed conflict, and in 2007, power-sharing government returned to the province. “British” What is “Britishness”? Have globalization, a large immigrant population, the Internet, and the dominance of American culture in the UK diluted the distinctive national characteristics? The rise of the Internet


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with English as its lingua franca does affect the British, who have embraced the new technology with both hands: in 2005, nearly 12.9 million households (52 percent of the total) were online with the Web. Three quarters of all adults in the UK also owned a mobile (cellular) phone in 2001. A survey by National Statistics showed in 2002 that 48 percent of people living in England would describe themselves as “British,” compared to just 27 percent in Scotland and 35 percent in Wales—indicative, perhaps, of the abiding national identities in the constituent nations of the UK. It has also been difficult to absorb some of the immigrant population, even in the second generation, as the rise of certain city neighborhoods toward status as virtual “ghettoes” and the occurrence of race riots in major cities shows. Surveys among young Britons show that they regard the union flag and fish and chips to be the essential characteristics of the UK. Citizenship classes became compulsory in English schools in 2002, and New Labour has begun to develop a more overt line on the assertion of Britishness in those wishing to reside in the country, including a questionnaire on “British knowledge.” That this should have happened in the recent period is instructive, for it shows the growth in the longing for new directions and new national vision. The referendum on the new European Treaty, altering the constitutional basis of the EU, never materialized after other EU countries rejected it; Tony Blair had declared then that “It is time to resolve once and for all whether this country, Britain, wants to be at the centre and heart of European decision-making or not; time to decide whether our destiny lies as a leading partner and ally of Europe or on its margins.” There is no need to hold one’s breath for a definitive answer because issues like those of the European Treaty, asylum seekers, terrorism, immigration, Northern Ireland, the Iraq War, the rising nationalist tendencies in Scotland, or the European Union continue to excite controversy and polarize opinion, yet the United Kingdom still continues in its own unique inimitable way, redolent perhaps of a relaxed and confident “Olde England” of previous centuries, that “green and pleasant land” of William Blake’s poem “Jerusalem.” In 2000, the British Council conducted an ambitious survey of the attitudes toward Britain and the British exhibited in 28 countries across the globe. The Middle East, Africa, and South Asia were very positive in their opinions of the UK, while generally those in western Europe


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and East Asia were more circumspect. Young people found the UK “influential, stable and well-administered, with strong traditions, tolerance and a developed sense of heritage and identity.” They also saw British products and goods as reliable but perceived the British people as generally “cold, condescending and unwelcoming of outsiders.” Thus the strengths of the UK are seen as the economy and institutions, the weaknesses personal qualities and social relations. Most respondents recognized the queen, Tony Blair, and the Spice Girls as British, but they also considered, somewhat alarmingly, that Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean) and Hugh Grant were models of the quintessential “Briton.” Perceptibly, the UK at the end of this period does seem to be shaking off some of the introspection, angst, and uncertainty that characterized the beginning. Thatcherism and New Labour each brought new, albeit different, approaches to the country and to its larger worldview. In the longer term, the staple characteristics of Britain in previous centuries— the empire, the monarchy, and the dominance of Protestantism—are either no longer in existence or no longer resonate as they once did, and many new challenges await. The contemporary UK is always in flux, constantly changing, and yet still seeking a new purpose and a new role in the world.

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The Dictionary

– A – A-LEVELS. See GENERAL CERTIFICATE OF SECONDARY EDUCATION (GCSE). ABERDEEN. After oil was discovered under the North Sea in the late1960s, Aberdeen (which lies between the River Dee and the River Don on the northeast coast of Scotland) developed as the major British service center for the infant industry. During the 19th century, fisheries and shipbuilding combined with engineering, food processing, papermaking (the self-sealing envelope was invented in the city), fertilizer production, quarrying, and textile manufacturing to provide diversified employment opportunities as the settlement expanded into the major retail, administrative, and educational center in northern Scotland. Over the first 70 years of the 20th century, however, the economy suffered as factory industries declined in the face of competition from cheaper, more accessible locations and fisheries faced problems caused both by declining stocks and by political decisions to limit access to traditional grounds. The area’s salvation was the discovery of oil and gas reserves in the North Sea in 1969. Between 1971 and 2001, the city’s employed population leaped from under 95,000 to around 150,000, and Aberdeen became a major focus of the world energy industry. In the process, the urban area was transformed as concrete skyscrapers rose above stolid Victorian office blocks, national and international firms replaced local employers, and new transport links were rapidly developed. However, the oil industry is very sensitive to world trends, so the city council has made considerable efforts to maintain a range of 17


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employment opportunities, promoting investment in such growth areas as information technology and renewable energy while enhancing the retail and cultural infrastructure in an effort to attract new businesses. National and local authorities and private firms have also made considerable investment in harbor facilities (by providing terminals for international passenger ferries and container ships, for instance) and in provision of science and technology parks. At the time of the 2001 census, Aberdeen had a population of 212,000, and its citizens enjoyed earnings above the British average as well as unemployment rates below the average. See also MET OFFICE. ABORTION. Abortion was legalized in England, Scotland, and Wales in 1967. (Efforts to extend the legislation to Northern Ireland have met strong opposition both from the Protestant and from the Roman Catholic churches in the province.) The Abortion Act, which was steered through Parliament that year by David Steel (who later became leader of the Liberal Party), allowed abortions to be carried out if the woman’s life or her physical or mental health were at risk or if the child would suffer severe mental or physical handicaps. In most cases, the operation could only be performed if the fetus was under 28 weeks old, although some exceptions were made (as, for example, when an abortion was necessary to save a woman’s life). The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act (1990) reduced the time limit to 24 weeks. Since the late 1960s, the number of abortions has increased rapidly as the procedure has become more morally acceptable. Only 24,000 terminations were carried out on legal residents of the United Kingdom in 1968, but by 2006 the number had risen to over 200,000 (the rate doubled from around 6 abortions for every 1,000 women aged 15–44 in the late 1960s to more than 12 per 1,000 in the first few years of the present century). About 80 percent of the women who have abortions are unmarried, and some 20 percent are teenagers. Nearly 9 in every 10 of the fetuses are aborted after less than 13 weeks’ gestation. ACT OF PARLIAMENT. Legislation enacted by the United Kingdom Parliament or the Scottish Parliament is known as an act of Parliament. In both cases, it is initially presented to the Parliament as a bill


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(that is, a proposal for a change in the law or for a new law) and must receive the royal assent before it reaches the statute books. The first act is said to be the Statute of Merton, which was approved by the English Parliament in 1235. See also CONSOLIDATED FUND; CONSOLIDATION BILL; HER MAJESTY’S STATIONERY OFFICE (HMSO); ORDER IN COUNCIL; STATUTORY INSTRUMENT. Details of individual acts of Parliament may be found under the following entries: ANTI-TERRORISM, CRIME AND SECURITY ACT (ATCSA; 2001); CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM ACT (2005); DATA PROTECTION ACTS (1984 and 1998); ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION; FOX HUNTING; FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (2000); HUMAN FERTILISATION AND EMBRYOLOGY ACT (1990); HUMAN RIGHTS ACT (1998); OFFICIAL SECRETS ACTS (1911–89); PARLIAMENT ACTS (1911 and 1949); PREVENTION OF TERRORISM ACT (2005); PREVENTION OF TERRORISM ACTS (1974–89); RIGHT TO ROAM; TERRORISM ACT (2000); TERRORISM ACT (2006). ADAMS, GERARD “GERRY” (1948– ). The president of Sinn Féin and the principal spokesman for the nationalist cause in Northern Ireland, Gerry Adams was born in Belfast on 5 October 1948, the son of Gerald Adams and his wife, Annie. He was educated at St. Mary’s Christian Brothers School in the city, then found work as a barman, joining the republican movement in 1964. In 1971, he was interned, suspected of being a leader of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) on the militant Ballymurphy housing estate in West Belfast, but he was released the following year so that he could take part in talks with Willie Whitelaw, the secretary of state for the province. By 1973, the security services believed that he was one of a triumvirate shaping the PIRA’s campaign of violence, so he was arrested again. This time, after attempting to escape from custody, he was given an 18-month prison sentence. In 1978, he was formally charged with membership of the PIRA, by that time an illegal organization in the United Kingdom, but after seven months in custody was allowed to go free when Lord Lowry, the lord chief justice, ruled that there was insufficient evidence to support a conviction. In the years that followed, Adams adopted an increasingly political stance. In 1979, he told a public meeting that unification of Ireland


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could not be achieved by military means alone, and in 1983, he won the West Belfast constituency at the general election (but failed to take his seat in the House of Commons because that would have meant swearing allegiance to the British monarch). In 1986, following a split in the republican movement, he was elected president of Sinn Féin, and by 1988, he was holding private talks with John Hume, the moderate leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party. Hume became convinced that Adams wanted to find a way of ending the violence that had plagued Ulster since the late 1960s, and their discussions ultimately led to a cease-fire in 1994. The peaceful conditions that followed the end to hostilities in turn provided a foundation on which the 1998 Good Friday Agreement could be built, facilitating a return to normal life, and on 26 March 2007, he sat down with Ian Paisley (leader of the Democratic Unionist Party and formerly an implacable foe) to work out an arrangement for power sharing in a new Northern Ireland Assembly. Adams’s critics have accused him of abandoning fundamental republican principles by agreeing that Sinn Féin should participate with its opponents in institutions appointed to govern Northern Ireland, but there have been no serious challenges to his leadership. He has consistently claimed that he was never a member of the PIRA. However, in 2005, Michael McDowell, the Irish justice minister, publicly rejected those assertions, and it is difficult to see how Adams could have risen to power while holding the factionalist republican movement together without being an integral part of the organization’s inner circle. ADJOURNMENT DEBATE. Adjournment debates follow motions that the House of Commons “do now adjourn.” The device is used to enable consideration of a subject that does not have a substantive or specific motion attached to it; governments employ it to permit discussion of topical but general subjects, and backbenchers take advantage of it to raise an issue (such as a local constituency matter) with a specific minister. Debates lasting for half an hour are held at the end of each day’s business, with provision for others on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. Votes are rare. AFGHANISTAN. On the morning of 11 September 2001, terrorists hijacked four planes in the United States. Two of them were flown into


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the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, a third smashed into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and the fourth crashed in rural Pennsylvania. More than 3,000 people died, and intelligence sources suggested that members of the Al-Qaeda organization based in Afghanistan were responsible. President George W. Bush responded by warning the Afghan government that it could expect military reprisals if it refused to hand the movement’s leaders over to the American courts, and his action was strongly supported by Prime Minister Tony Blair. As the Islamic fundamentalists, or Taliban, who provided Afghanistan’s leadership resisted the U.S. demands, Blair embarked on a hectic schedule of visits to foreign leaders, seeking political backing for a war against terrorism and asking for commitment of troops to a coalition army. His efforts earned him great respect in the United States and were backed by a large majority of the British public, with polls showing that as many as 75 percent of voters supported military action. By early October, with the Afghans still refusing to bow to American pressure, President Bush ordered an aerial bombardment of strategic locations in the country, and Britain participated by firing cruise missiles from two nuclear-powered submarines, HMS Triumph and HMS Trafalgar, which were stationed in the Arabian Sea. Up to 1,000 soldiers were reported to be ready for ground operations, but opposition to the war mounted as the air strikes increased and as journalists reported on the extent of civilian casualties. Opinion polls at the end of the month showed that public opinion was moving against Blair, and newspaper reports were suggesting that London and Washington were at odds, with United Kingdom leaders accusing the Americans of failing to consult their allies and of paying insufficient attention to humanitarian issues. In mid-November, as surveys indicated that only about half of voters still supported the war, groups opposed to the continued military action held a protest demonstration in London, and Britain was incurring the annoyance of the United States by refusing to extradite suspected terrorists unless the Americans gave an assurance that nobody would face the death penalty. At several times during the invasion, politicians and defense chiefs announced that several thousand British troops were prepared for deployment inside Afghanistan. Initially, only about 100 troops (all of


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them members of the Special Air Service) were publicly committed to active service, but in early December, with a new, pro-Western Afghan government in power, Tony Blair announced that the United Kingdom was willing to head a peacekeeping force in the country. The Afghan leadership objected, and the opposition at home complained of the cost, but the first contingent of troops moved in on 20 December. By late 2006, Britain had some 6,300 soldiers in the country, most of them based in the Helmand and Kandahar Provinces in the south of the country and regularly involved in skirmishes with Taliban supporters. Press reports indicated that commanders wanted further support in order to carry out their policing job effectively, and early in 2007, the government responded by sending an additional 1,400 troops. In addition, the Royal Air Force had a fighter squadron based in the country along with cargo planes, helicopters, and surveillance aircraft. By the late summer of 2007, some 70 members of the armed forces had died while serving in Afghanistan. AGRICULTURE. At the end of World War II, British farms were small both in area and in economic scale. In the wetter, more mountainous west of the country, cattle and sheep predominated, and in the drier, flatter east, cereals were most important, but many farmers practiced a form of mixed agriculture, keeping a few livestock and growing a few acres of wheat or barley. However, postwar government policies placed a heavy emphasis on production of cheap food, so businesses increasingly capitalized on their advantages, becoming more specialized and more mechanized as they attempted to keep incomes up and costs down. At the same time, unprofitable small units were amalgamated as investors sought economies of scale. The process, aided by generous subsidies, continued after the United Kingdom joined the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1973, but by the early 1980s, critics were suggesting that priorities had to change. Politicians were pointing out that the EEC’s Common Agricultural Policy was accounting for well over half of the organization’s total budget and leading to problems of overproduction. Environmental groups were arguing that the relentless drive to maximize financial returns was resulting in habitat destruction, as when centuries-old hedgerows were


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grubbed up so that fields could be enlarged. Health campaigners were questioning the long-term effects of large-scale use of fertilizer and pesticide on consumers, and town dwellers increasingly viewed the countryside as a place for recreation as well as for farming. Rural incomes rose in the early 1990s but, later in the decade, plummeted to levels well below those of 20 years earlier, as world commodity prices tumbled and currency exchange rates affected exports. The discovery of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease) in cattle led to a reduction in beef consumption from 1986, and the industry suffered a second time 10 years later, when scientists confirmed that humans who had eaten meat from the infected cows could contract Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (a progressive brain disorder that leads to dementia and for which there is no cure). Then in 2001, in an attempt to contain an outbreak of foot and mouth disease, the government ordered the slaughter of over 7 million cattle, sheep, and other animals. With the industry in disarray, Margaret Beckett, the secretary of state for agriculture, established a “policy commission,” headed by Sir Donald Curry, to examine rural land use and make recommendations for change. The commission reported early in 2002 (see CURRY REPORT), proposing that farmers should be considered custodians of the countryside rather than producers of low-cost food and that national agricultural policies should focus on environmental priorities and on food quality. The government accepted most of the suggestions and, later in the year, announced that it would provide £500 million to facilitate their implementation. In 2006, some 45.4 million acres of Britain’s land surface was devoted to agriculture, with 60 percent under grass (or used as rough grazing land) and 25 percent under cereal crops. Livestock farmers were rearing 173.1 million chickens, 34.7 million sheep, 10.3 million cattle, and 4.9 million pigs. The workforce numbered 484,000 (about 1.8 percent of employed adults), but a further 3.16 million (some 12.1 percent of the total) had jobs in processing and other aspects of the agri-food industry. See also FORESTRY. AIR TRANSPORT. The United Kingdom covers a relatively small area, so domestic air operators can compete successfully with road and railroad transport only on flights between London, Northern


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Ireland, and Scotland. However, because the country is an island, international travel is dominated by the airlines, which employ about 180,000 people directly, with an additional 370,000 workers in the supply chain. About 90 percent of the British population has flown at least once, with UK carriers transporting some 90 million travelers annually (one quarter of them on business trips) and moving imports and exports valued at around £100 billion. British Airways, one of the world’s largest airlines, dominates the passenger schedules but, since European routes were deregulated in 1993, has experienced growing competition from low-cost operators, notably Easyjet and Ireland’s Ryanair. In addition, a large vacation traffic flies to Mediterranean resorts with such charter companies as Britannia and Monarch. The industry is regulated by the Civil Aviation Authority, formed in 1972, and the largest airports are owned by the British Airports Authority (established in 1966 and now the manager of several facilities outside the United Kingdom, including Indianapolis). Heathrow and Gatwick, both near London, are the busiest hubs, with annual movements numbering some 477,000 and 263,000 planes, respectively. However, both are close to capacity, so the greatest growth in business is at smaller centers, particularly Stansted and Luton (both of which have a large charter business) and Edinburgh. In 2003, faced with predictions that passenger traffic through Britain’s airports would increase 250-fold by 2020, the government published a white paper on the future of air transport. New runways were proposed for Birmingham, Edinburgh, Heathrow, and Stansted and new terminal facilities for eight regional bases. See also BRANSON, RICHARD CHARLES NICHOLAS (1950– ); CONCORDE. AITKEN, JONATHAN WILLIAM PATRICK (1942– ). During the early 1990s, several members of the government were accused of dishonesty and immoral conduct. Jonathan Aitken, who at the time was touted as a future prime minister, was one of the principal targets of the critics (as were Jeffrey Howard Archer, who was jailed for perjury in 2001, and Neil Hamilton, who figured in the Cash for Questions scandal). Born in Dublin on 30 August 1942, the son of Sir William and Lady Penelope Aitken, he enjoyed a privileged education at Eton College and Oxford University, where he studied law. After graduating, he worked as a journalist, serving as a foreign corre-


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spondent in Biafra, the Middle East, and Vietnam; then in 1974, he won election to the House of Commons as the member of Parliament representing the Thanet East constituency for the Conservative Party. He failed to gain any significant political posts during the 1980s, partly because of his public contempt for Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (he told an Egyptian newspaper that she “probably thinks Sinai is the plural of sinus”) and because he abruptly ended a relationship with her daughter, Carol. However, under John Major, he was made minister of state for defence procurement in 1992 and entered the cabinet as chief secretary to the Treasury in 1994. Allegations that Aitken had broken the rules surfaced in 1993, when The Guardian (one of the UK’s leading quality newspapers) claimed that, at a time when one of his responsibilities was to oversee a defense deal with Saudi Arabia and in breach of government guidelines about accepting gifts, he had spent a weekend at the Ritz Hotel in Paris at the expense of the Saudi royal family. He responded by asserting that his wife, Lolicia, had paid the bill, and that profession of innocence was accepted by his colleagues following an official inquiry. However, toward the end of 1995, The Guardian and the Granada Television company repeated the allegations, adding that Aitken had procured prostitutes for Arabs visiting Britain and that he had known that a company of which he was a director had sold arms to Iran despite a United Nations embargo. Promising to “cut out the cancer of bent and twisted journalism with the simple sword of truth,” Aitken issued libel writs against both accusers, but his case collapsed when evidence was produced in court to prove that Mrs. Aitken had not paid the Paris hotel bill. In 1998, he was charged with perjury and with perverting the course of justice. Pleading guilty, he was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment and, shortly afterward, declared himself bankrupt. After he was released in 2000, he returned to Oxford to study theology, saying that he had become a born-again Christian while serving his sentence. In 2004, he indicated that he would like to return to political life. At the time, Conservative Party leader Michael Howard indicated that he would not be made welcome but in 2007 Iain Duncan Smith (who led the party from 2001–3) invited him to lead a study of prison reform for the Centre for Social Justice, which provides advice on social issues to David Cameron, who succeeded Howard in 2005.


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THE ALLIANCE. In September 1981, the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party formed an alliance to work with the same platform of centrist policies and avoid competing against each other at elections. They felt that they were breaking the mold of British politics, but it was not to be. At the 1983 general election, the Alliance won just 23 parliamentary constituencies despite receiving 25 percent of the popular vote, only just short of the 27 percent polled by the Labour Party, which took 209 seats. At the 1987 general election, it lost ground, returning 22 members of Parliament with 22 percent of the vote, and by 1988, the parties had decided to merge as the Social and Liberal Democratic Party (which in 1989 became the Liberal Democrats.) ALLIANCE PARTY OF NORTHERN IRELAND. Alliance was formed in 1970 in an effort to provide a nonsectarian, multiethnic base for Northern Ireland voters who wanted to keep Ulster within the United Kingdom rather than cede the province to the Irish Republic. However, although it had succeeded in getting more than 70 candidates elected as local government councilors by the late 1970s, it has never won a general election contest in any constituency. Like other nonpartisan groups in Ulster, Alliance has limited popular appeal because motions in the Northern Ireland Assembly can pass only if they have majority support both from unionist and nationalist representatives—a rule that limits the influence of centrist parties. Moreover, since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to the province in 1998, the major political parties have worked hard to claim the middle ground previously occupied by Alliance, so in 2005, some three decades after its peak, it retained only 30 council seats. Nevertheless, although some analysts had predicted that it would not perform well at the elections to the Assembly in 2007, it won seven seats after mounting a strong advertising campaign. ANDREW, PRINCE (1960– ). The first child to be born to a reigning monarch in 103 years, Andrew is the second son and third child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. Born in Buckingham Palace on 19 February 1960 and christened Andrew Albert Christian Edward, he was educated by a governess and at Heatherdown Prepara-


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tory School in Ascot before following in the footsteps of his father and his brother, Prince Charles, to Gordonstoun School in Scotland. After a period at Lakefield College in Ontario, Canada, he entered the Royal Naval College Dartmouth, earning his helicopter pilot’s wings in 1981. During the Falklands War, he flew several missions from HMS Invincible and helped with casualty evacuations. While he was in his late teens and early twenties, the prince earned a reputation as a playboy with a string of girlfriends (notably Koo Stark, who had been an actress in erotic movies), but on 23 July 1986, he married Sarah Ferguson in Westminster Abbey, London, and was created duke of York, earl of Inverness, and Baron (see PEERAGE) Killyleagh. The couple had two daughters—Princess Beatrice Elizabeth Mary (born on 8 August 1988) and Princess Eugenie Victoria Helena (born on 23 March 1990). However, by the time of Eugenie’s birth, the press was reporting rumors that the marriage was in trouble, and on 20 and 21 August 1992, the Daily Mirror newspaper published photographs taken clandestinely that showed the duchess enjoying herself in the company of John Bryan, her American financial advisor. On 19 March the following year, the Yorks announced that they were separating, and on 17 April 1996, divorce proceedings were initiated. Despite the problems, the couple remained close (the year after the divorce, Sarah and her children moved back into the family home at Sunninghill Park), and stories of an impending remarriage surfaced regularly but never had a fairy-tale ending. Andrew, widely considered the wronged party in the marital dispute, continued his active Royal Navy career until 1997, when he took a desk job at the Ministry of Defence. In 2001, to the astonishment of the press, he was made a roving ambassador for British Trade International, a government body that promotes exports and investment in the United Kingdom by foreign interests. The surprise reflected the prince’s apparent return to a playboy lifestyle (earlier in the year, for example, he had incurred his mother’s wrath after being photographed surrounded by topless women while sunbathing on a boat off the coast of Thailand). However, since then, he has visited many parts of the world on tours designed to showcase British goods and services. He has also served as honorary colonel-in-chief of army regiments in the UK and Canada and is patron or supporter of more than 100 charitable


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organizations, including the British Deaf Association, City Ballet of London, and the National Maritime Museum. A fair golfer, he plays off a handicap of six. See also ANNUS HORRIBILIS; ROYAL FAMILY. ANGLICAN CHURCH. See CHURCH OF ENGLAND. ANGLO–IRISH AGREEMENT. On 15 November 1985, the governments of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland signed an understanding (sometimes known as the Hillsborough Agreement after the castle near Belfast where it was negotiated) that they hoped would help to reduce sectarian violence in Northern Ireland. The accord marked a major shift in British attitudes toward the problems in Ulster because it granted the republic’s politicians a formal role in the administration of the province’s affairs through an Anglo–Irish Intergovernmental Standing Conference. Also, it guaranteed that decisions relating to the territory’s political status, either as part of the UK or as part of a united Ireland, would be determined by a majority vote of residents. Initially, these moves were seen as the most important step toward resolution of the Troubles since the 1920s, but they provoked bitter opposition from loyalists. The politicians had thought that the agreement would encourage unionist leaders to accept a devolved, powersharing arrangement for the government of Northern Ireland’s domestic affairs and thus foster peace, stability, and reconciliation, but the first meeting of the conference, held in December, took place amid considerable public disorder, and the Northern Ireland Assembly, by the time it was dissolved in June 1986, had become little more than a platform for opponents of the agreement. See also HUME, JOHN (1937– ); MOLYNEAUX, JAMES HENRY (1920– ); PAISLEY, IAN RICHARD KYLE (1926– ); TRIMBLE, WILLIAM DAVID (1944– ); ULSTER UNIONIST PARTY (UUP). ANNE, PRINCESS (1950– ). Anne is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Born in Clarence House, London, on 15 August 1950, she was educated at Benenden School and accompanied her parents on several public engagements before undertaking duties on her own. An accomplished horsewoman, she was a member of the British equestrian


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team in the early 1970s, winning the European Three-Day Event in 1971, earning silver medals in individual and team events at the same competition in 1975, and taking part in the Montreal Olympic Games the following year. Mark Phillips, her first husband, was a fellow competitor in many of the competitions. They married on 14 November 1973 and had two children—Peter Mark Andrew (born on 15 November 1977) and Zara Anne Elizabeth (born on 15 May 1981)— but the press carried increasingly frequent stories of discord in the relationship during the 1980s, and in 1989, the couple separated. Divorce followed in 1992; then on 12 December the same year, Anne married her second husband, Commander Timothy Laurence, a naval officer and former royal equerry. As a young woman, the princess earned an unenviable reputation for a short temper and brusqueness in her dealings with the media, but she gained much respect for her calmness during an abortive attempt to kidnap her while she drove through London with her husband in 1973, and more recently, she has been considered one of the most hardworking of the royal family. President or patron of more than 200 charitable organizations, she carries out some 500 engagements every year and is particularly active on behalf of the Save the Children Fund. In 2002, the public engagement that attracted most attention was her appearance in court, charged with allowing one of her dogs to attack two boys in Windsor Great Park. She was fined £500 and ordered to train the dog better, but the following year, one of the queen’s corgis had to be destroyed after another of Anne’s pets savaged it. See also ANNUS HORRIBILIS; PRINCESS ROYAL. ANNUS HORRIBILIS. On 24 November 1992 in a speech in London’s Guildhall, Queen Elizabeth II opined that: “1992 is not a year I shall look back on with undiluted pleasure. In the words of one of my more sympathetic correspondents, it has turned out to be an annus horribilis” (the phrase is Latin for “horrible year”). In March, her second son, Prince Andrew, Duke of York, had separated from his wife, Sarah Ferguson, and soon afterward, the Daily Mirror had published pictures of the duchess sunbathing topless on a French beach while John Bryan, her American financial advisor, kissed her feet. In April, the queen’s daughter, Princess Anne, had divorced her husband, Captain Mark Philips, after a 19-year marriage.


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In June, biographer Andrew Morton had published a book that exposed the marital differences of her eldest son, Prince Charles, and his wife, Diana, alleging both that Charles had committed adultery with long-time friend Camilla Parker Bowles and that Diana was a deeply disturbed young woman who had attempted suicide on several occasions. Then in November, just a few days before the speech, a fire damaged more than 100 rooms at Windsor Castle, one of the queen’s residences, and suggestions that the state should pay the repair bill—an estimated £60 million—caused a public outcry. ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOUR ORDER (ASBO). As public concern about crime and antisocial behavior became an electoral issue during the 1990s, governments found themselves under increasing pressure to deal with claims widely voiced in newspapers that quality of life in many areas (and particularly in larger cities) was being lowered by the activities of youthful gangs and unneighborly neighbors. In 1998, the Crime and Disorder Act made provision for the Magistrates’ Courts (see JUSTICE OF THE PEACE (JP); LEGAL SYSTEM, ENGLAND; LEGAL SYSTEM, NORTHERN IRELAND; LEGAL SYSTEM, SCOTLAND; LEGAL SYSTEM; WALES) in England and Wales to curtail those activities through the issue of ASBOs to people whose actions caused alarm, distress, or harassment to other members of the community. The law was strengthened by the AntiSocial Behaviour Act (2003), then extended to Northern Ireland by an order in council in 2004 and introduced to Scotland by separate legislation of the Scottish Parliament the same year. Breach of an order can result in imprisonment. Almost any activity can be the subject of an ASBO, though usually the prohibitions are issued for relatively minor nuisances that are frequently repeated, such as hoax calls to emergency services or the defacing of public property with graffiti, and surveys suggest that they are widely supported by voters, even though legal authorities have pointed out that there is no clear definition of antisocial behavior, so the laws give courts very wide powers. Some commentators claim, too, that an ASBO is a badge of pride rather than a symbol of shame to certain young people, and others suggest that they are ineffective because nearly 50 percent are breached.


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ANTI-TERRORISM, CRIME AND SECURITY ACT (ATCSA; 2001). Parliament enacted the ATCSA legislation in the wake of AlQaeda’s attacks on U.S. targets on 11 September 2001. The principal provisions gave the home secretary power to detain foreigners who were believed to be terrorists and whose presence in the United Kingdom was a threat to the state’s security. The new law was controversial because it applied only to people who were not British citizens, because the detention had no time limit, and because the detainees (as well as their attorneys) were excluded from appeal proceedings on the grounds that some of the information presented would be useful to the country’s enemies. In 2004, the lords of appeal in ordinary ruled that the act contravened the European Convention on Human Rights because it discriminated on grounds of citizenship, and the following year, the Prevention of Terrorism Act replaced detention with “control orders” that restricted suspects’ freedom of movement. See also PREVENTION OF TERRORISM ACTS (1974–89); TERRORISM ACT (2000); TERRORISM ACT (2006). ARCHER, JEFFREY HOWARD (1940– ). A highly successful novelist, Archer was one of several senior members of the Conservative Party who earned a reputation for dishonesty and immoral conduct during the 1990s (see also AITKEN, JONATHAN WILLIAM PATRICK [1942– ]; CASH FOR QUESTIONS). Born in London on 15 April 1940, he grew up in Weston-super-Mare (a seaside resort on the southwest coast of England), then, with an athletically distinguished but academically mediocre school career behind him, worked in a bar, visited San Francisco, and attempted to find niches in the British Army and the police force before going to Oxford University, where he studied for a one-year diploma in education. He never graduated but, in the summer of 1966, married fellow student Mary Weedon (an outstanding chemistry undergraduate, who, according to some observers, had considerable influence on her husband’s blockbusters). While at Oxford, Archer got involved in charity fund-raising ventures, persuading The Beatles to help on one occasion, cultivating influential friends, and developing a talent for self-promotion that got him elected as member of Parliament (MP) for Louth, a Lincolnshire constituency, in 1969; he later claimed that he was the


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youngest MP ever, although he was not even the youngest at the time. Using income from Arrow Enterprises, a company that he had set up to raise money for good causes, he invested heavily in Aquablast, a Canadian concern, and, when that firm’s fortunes failed in 1973, found himself on the verge on bankruptcy and needing a new source of finances so that he could pay his creditors. Resigning his parliamentary seat at the 1974 general election, he turned to writing, publishing (that same year) Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less, the first of several books that have sold well over 125 million copies worldwide. Archer’s fame as an author, coupled with his continued success as a fund-raiser for charity, ensured his return to the Conservative Party fold. He was a regular at social functions arranged by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher during the 1980s, became deputy chairman of the party in 1985, and then in 1992 was created Lord Archer of Weston-super-Mare. In 1999, the Conservatives selected him as their candidate in London’s mayoral elections, but press revelations that he had used the services of a prostitute and lied to the courts forced him to withdraw from the race. In 1987, the Daily Star, a tabloid newspaper, had claimed that Archer had had sex with call girl Monica Coghlan (who was killed in a car accident in 2001), but the publishers had to pay £500,000 in damages after Archer got his friend, Ted Francis, to provide him with an alibi. Twelve years later, Francis admitted the deception in a radio interview, claiming that he had decided to own up because he did not want his former friend to become mayor. Archer was charged with perjury and with perverting the course of justice. Following revelations that he had had several mistresses and that Ms. Coghlan was not the only prostitute to provide him with services, he was found guilty and given a four-year prison sentence in 2001 but was released on probation in 2003. In a television interview three years later, he indicated that he had no wish to return to politics and that he intended to concentrate on his writing career. ARMED FORCES. In recent years, the three branches of the United Kingdom’s military force—the British Army, the Royal Air Force, and the Royal Navy—have served in several major conflicts, notably the Falklands War (1982), the Gulf War (1991), Afghanistan


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(2001– ), and the Iraq War (from 2003). In addition, the army in particular has assisted with United Nations peacekeeping efforts (as in the Balkans), attempted to maintain stability in Northern Ireland, and provided garrisons at numerous locations around the world (including Gibraltar). Since the mid-1980s, however, funding for defense has fallen from about 4.4 percent of the country’s gross domestic product to around 2.5 percent. That reduction in funds, which has been particularly pronounced since the collapse of the Soviet Union (and the consequent end of the cold war) in 1992, has resulted in amalgamation of combat units (in 1992, for example, the Royal Dragoon Guards was formed by merging four cavalry groups), manpower reductions (in the case of the army, by about one third over the period), and privatization of many support activities (such as naval dockyards). In 1998, a year after it took power from the Conservatives, the Labour Party government published a Strategic Defence Review in which it argued that priority should be given to measures designed to facilitate the rapid deployment of troops to trouble spots around the world and that those measures would require fuller cooperation between the three services. The plans included an increase of 3,300 soldiers in the regular army, a reduction in the Territorial Army (the British equivalent of the United States’ National Guard) from 57,000 men and women to 40,000, and a restructuring of mechanized brigades. The air force would acquire new missiles and new fighter aircraft, but two squadrons would be disbanded, and the navy (which would change its emphasis on open-ocean warfare to shoreline operations in conjunction with the other branches of the armed forces) would receive new aircraft carriers, frigates, and submarines. The principles of that review were reemphasized after the attacks on the United States by Al-Qaeda in 2001, but economic considerations have continued to affect decision making (in 2004, for instance, the army suffered a further reorganization when the 26 infantry regiments were reduced to 12), and critics claim that the cumulative effect over the years has been to starve combat units of cash, thus increasing the danger to servicemen and decreasing the effectiveness of front-line troops. See also GAY RIGHTS; HOON, GEOFFREY WILLIAM “GEOFF” (1953– ); MET OFFICE; SPECIAL AIR SERVICE (SAS).


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ARMS TO IRAQ AFFAIR. See IRAQI SUPERGUN AFFAIR; MATRIX CHURCHILL AFFAIR; SCOTT REPORT. ARMY. See ARMED FORCES; BRITISH ARMY. ASHDOWN, JEREMY JOHN DURHAM “PADDY” (1941– ). Paddy Ashdown was leader of the Liberal Democrats from 1988 until 1999. The son of Lieutenant Colonel and Mrs. John Ashdown, he was born in New Delhi (where his father was a colonial administrator) on 27 February 1941. The eldest of seven children, he spent much of his childhood in Northern Ireland but was educated in the south of England at Bedford School (where his Irish accent earned him his “Paddy” nickname) before joining the Royal Marines in 1959. By 1972, he had risen to the rank of captain and seen service in the Far East, the Persian Gulf, and Ulster. A gifted linguist, he also gained a first-class honors degree in Mandarin at the University of Hong Kong. In 1972, Ashdown joined the diplomatic service as first secretary with the British mission to the United Nations in Geneva, then from 1976–81 gained experience with industrial concerns (including the Westland Helicopter Group) in Yeovil, a market town in southwest England, before spending two years with Dorset County Council, developing initiatives to help unemployed young people. At the 1979 general election, Ashdown stood as a candidate at Yeovil, then considered a safe Conservative Party seat, and, although he lost, got a record vote for a Liberal Party candidate. Three years later, he stood again and won. In the House of Commons, he was appointed trade and industry, then education, spokesman for the Alliance formed by the Liberals and the Social Democratic Party, eventually taking over leadership of the group in 1988. As support for Conservative governments waned, he advocated electoral cooperation with the Labour Party as a means of achieving power and held talks with Tony Blair (the Labour leader), which he hoped would result in a coalition government. However, although Blair when he became prime minister in 1997 appointed the Jenkins Commission to consider proposals for electoral reform (one of Ashdown’s prerequisites for continued support), Labour’s large parliamentary majority provided little incentive for change.


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Ashdown handed over the reins of his party’s leadership to Charles Kennedy in 1999. He was knighted in 2000, created Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon the following year, and then from 2002–6 served as the United Nations’ high representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina with responsibility for implementing the terms of the 1995 Dayton Peace Accord (in the early 1990s, Ashdown had been a strong advocate of international military intervention in the Balkan ethnic conflicts, arguing that it would save lives by bringing civil unrest to an end). In 2007, according to the British Broadcasting Corporation, when Gordon Brown succeeded Tony Blair as prime minister, he offered Ashdown the cabinet post of secretary of state for Northern Ireland, but the invitation was declined. In 1992, The Sun (a tabloid newspaper) called Ashdown “Paddy Pantsdown” after revelations that he had had an affair with his secretary, but the salacious details did nothing to dent the reputation of a man much admired by the British public. ATTORNEY GENERAL. The attorney general is the government’s senior law officer in England and Wales. The post, which dates from the late 13th century, is held by a distinguished lawyer who is a member either of the House of Commons or of the House of Lords. The duties involve advising the government on legal matters, exercising supervisory authority over prosecutions, and representing the monarch and the government in criminal courts and in civil cases that are considered to involve matters of public interest. Until 1998, the attorney general’s powers extended to Ulster, but under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, responsibility for that part of the United Kingdom was transferred to an advocate general for Northern Ireland. Recent occupants of the post include Sir Michael Havers (1979–87), Sir Patrick Mayhew (1987–92), Sir Nicholas Lyell (1992–97), Sir John Morris (1997–99), Lord Williams of Mostyn (1999–2001), Lord Goldsmith (2001–7), and Lady Scotland of Asthal (2007– ). See also LEGAL SYSTEM, ENGLAND; LEGAL SYSTEM, WALES; LORD ADVOCATE; SOLICITOR GENERAL. AUSTRALIA. James Cook first explored eastern Australia in 1770 and claimed the area for Britain. For most of its history since then, the


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area has been ruled as a colony of the British crown, but in 1942, the Australian Parliament passed legislation breaking most of the constitutional ties to the mother country. In 1986, the Australia Act severed the last of those judicial and legislative links, ending the right to make appeals from Australian courts to the judicial committee of the Privy Council and removing the British Parliament’s power to pass laws relating to states that were part of the Commonwealth of Australia. Queen Elizabeth II remained head of state, independent of her position in the United Kingdom, and some Australians have campaigned for this last vestige of colonial overlordship to be removed, but 54 percent of those who voted at a referendum in 1999 opposed plans to make the country a republic. In recent decades, Australia has forged increasingly close economic and political links with the countries of the Pacific basin, but cultural and social ties with the United Kingdom remain strong, partly because about 1.2 million of the country’s 20 million people are British-born. Because of the historic links, Australia is a more important trading partner for the UK than its comparatively small population would suggest, forming the fifth largest market for British goods going to locations outside the European Union (Britain actually sells more to Australia than to China or India). See also COMMONWEALTH REALM. AWKWARD SQUAD. After the millennium, many of the largest trade unions in the United Kingdom elected leaders who were more left wing than their immediate predecessors. Reverting to less conciliatory negotiating positions more typical of the 1980s, the newcomers condemned the management style of “big business” and the large salaries earned by senior executives, criticized the invasion of Iraq in 2003 (see IRAQ WAR), and opposed many of New Labour’s social and economic reforms—stances that earned them the sobriquet “Awkward Squad” from tabloid newspapers.

– B – BACK TO BASICS. In 1993, during the Conservative Party’s annual conference, Prime Minister John Major announced the start of a


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“Back to Basics” campaign that was intended to resurrect support for an ailing government by creating a culture of high standards in public life and by concentrating on policies relating to education and to law and order. In part, those priorities were chosen in order to divert attention from the economic failings that had led to the withdrawal of the British currency from the European Monetary System on Black Wednesday the previous year, but the initiative was widely interpreted as a moral crusade and collapsed because senior members of the party became increasingly embroiled in behavior condemned as the sleazy, immoral antithesis of conduct expected of members of Parliament. Among other transgressions, Tim Yeo (the minister for the environment) was forced to resign after fathering a child as a result of an extramarital affair; Neil Hamilton was accused by newspapers of accepting payments for asking questions in the House of Commons (see CASH FOR QUESTIONS); and Jonathan Aitken was faced with allegations of perjury and of procuring prostitutes for visitors from Arab countries. BACKBENCHER. In the House of Commons, those members of Parliament (MPs) who act as spokespeople for their political parties sit on benches placed on the floor of the house. The other MPs, ranked in tiers behind them, are known as backbenchers and, for the most part, are expected to vote as their leaders direct. They have little political influence unless the government commands a very small majority and has to curry favor with supporters in order to remain in power or when it is in a minority and has to win assistance from members of other parties. However, they are in close contact with people in the constituencies they represent and so are an important means of channeling information on public opinion to policymakers. See also CROSSBENCHER; FRONT BENCH. BANK HOLIDAY. Traditionally, British banks have closed on certain days of the year (such as Easter Monday), thus depriving businesses of their normal financial facilities. As a consequence, many firms also shut down, giving employees a day’s respite from work. The first legislation relating to bank holidays—the Bank Holidays Act passed by Parliament in 1871—gave residents of England, Ireland, and Wales four holidays each year and residents of Scotland


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five. Now, England and Wales have eight holidays—1 January, Good Friday, Easter Monday, the first and last Mondays in May, the last Monday in August, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day (the day after Christmas). If a bank holiday date falls on a weekend, it is moved by royal proclamation to the next weekday for that year only. Northern Ireland has the same holidays as England and Wales in addition to St. Patrick’s Day (17 March) and the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne (on 12 July 1690, an attempted invasion by forces loyal to the deposed King James VII and II was repelled, ending the Jacobite challenge to King William III’s rule in Ireland). Scotland also has eight bank holidays (1 and 2 January, Good Friday, the first and last Mondays in May, the first Monday in August, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day), but these have never assumed the importance accorded to bank holidays in other parts of the United Kingdom, largely because Scottish local government authorities schedule additional public holidays on dates that vary from place to place, so the official holidays are often ignored. Moreover, in 1996, Scotland’s financial institutions decided to schedule their closures on the same days as those of banks in other parts of the country, so dates designated as “bank holidays” in Scotland are often neither bank holidays nor public holidays. On several occasions, commentators have pointed out that the UK has fewer public holidays than other parts of Europe (Spain has 17 public holidays annually, for example) and have called for an increase in their number, but commercial and industrial concerns have objected because of the likely financial impact on business. BANK OF CREDIT AND COMMERCE INTERNATIONAL (BCCI). On 5 July 1991, the Bank of England, which acted as the regulator of British banking activities, ordered BCCI to stop trading as allegations mounted that the firm’s senior executives were involved in money laundering, support for the Abu Nidal terrorist group, tax evasion, and other illegal activities. The bank, which was founded in 1972 in Pakistan by Agha Hassan Abedi, had operations in 72 countries, with headquarters in London. Its closure affected some 6,500 British depositors directly but had wider implications because 35 local government councils had invested nearly £90 million in the institution.


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The following year, Lord Justice Bingham, who had been appointed by Chancellor of the Exchequer Norman Lamont to conduct an inquiry into the affair, reported that the Bank of England had failed to be inquisitive and alert enough to spot widespread fraud (the bank responded by forming a special investigations unit). Touche Ross, the firm’s liquidator, reported a deficit of £5.6 billion at the time of closure and, in 1993, began efforts to win compensation for those who had lost money. A suit against Price Waterhouse and Ernst and Young (BCCI’s auditors) ended with a £175 million settlement in 1998, and even though efforts to sue the Bank of England (on the grounds that it failed to exercise its regulatory duties properly) collapsed in 2005, plea-bargaining arrangements in the United States and negotiations that led to the dropping of claims by the Emir of Abu Dhabi ultimately resulted in the recovery of about 75 percent of the creditors’ money. Agha Hassan Abedi, who suffered from heart problems, died in Karachi in 1995. See also FINANCIAL SERVICES AUTHORITY. BANK OF ENGLAND. The Bank of England, created by Scotsman William Paterson in 1694, is Britain’s central bank, charged with ensuring that prices remain stable, issuing bank notes, managing reserves of foreign currencies and of gold, maintaining the country’s financial stability, supervising the consolidated fund (the account that receives income payable to the government and from which government expenditures are made), and supporting the government’s economic policies. In 1997, Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown added to those duties by making the bank responsible for setting interest rates, a task that traditionally was carried out by his predecessors. The move was widely welcomed by business leaders (because it transferred authority from politicians to experienced financiers), by economists (because empirical evidence and theory both suggested that the more a central bank was independent of government, the more it was likely to reduce inflation without causing unemployment), and by politicians (because they would no longer have to bear personal responsibility for raising interest rates). The Bank of England was also responsible for regulation of the whole United Kingdom banking industry until 1998, when the duties were transferred to the Financial Services Authority. See also BANK OF CREDIT AND


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COMMERCE INTERNATIONAL (BCCI); BLACK WEDNESDAY; CURRENCY; ECONOMY; STERLING. BANKING. The structure of modern British banking was shaped during the 19th century (as stock-issuing firms replaced private companies) and in the early 20th century (when a series of mergers eliminated many small banks and replaced them with larger concerns that offered a wider range of services). The Bank of England was nationalized in 1948, and a further wave of mergers followed in the 1960s, so by the early 21st century, five major banks—Barclays, Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS), the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC), Lloyds Trustee Savings Bank (Lloyds TSB), and the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBOS)—dominated the industry, providing nearly one quarter of the market capitalization of firms on the Financial Times/Stock Exchange Index-100 (the share index of the 100 most capitalized companies listed on the London Stock Exchange). The number of outlets maintained by the “Big Five” fell by some 4,000 between 1997 and 2005, as competition from Internet banks enforced rounds of cost cutting, but even so, the nationwide network of branches operated by these firms is an important source of finance for local businesses. Also, through control of subsidiaries that specialize in mortgage and insurance policies, the large banks have an important influence on the housing market and on domestic spending. Interest rates are set by the Bank of England, and control of the system is exercised by the Financial Services Authority. A number of British-based banks is owned by foreign interests (for example, Abbey was Britain’s sixth-largest bank when it was bought by Grupo Santander of Spain in 2004). In addition, most of the world’s leading banks have offices in London, which is a major international financial center, and Edinburgh has developed into one of the largest foci of investment and retail banking in Europe, housing the headquarters of HBOS (the United Kingdom’s largest mortgage provider) and RBOS (the world’s fifth-largest bank). Barclays (the world’s biggest financial services provider), HSBC (the world’s third-largest bank), and Lloyds TSB are London based. See also BANK HOLIDAY; BANK OF CREDIT AND COMMERCE INTERNATIONAL (BCCI); BARINGS BANK; BUILDING SOCIETY; CITY OF LONDON; CURRENCY; STERLING.


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BARINGS BANK. Barings Brothers and Company was founded in 1762 and was the oldest merchant bank in the United Kingdom, when on 26 February 1995, it collapsed as the result of the activities of one rogue trader, Nick Leeson, who was based in Singapore and specialized in the Japanese Futures Market. Leeson traded in derivatives (contracts that specify the right or obligation between two parties to receive or deliver future cash flows or exchanges of securities or assets on the basis of some future event). This kind of investment was popular in the more risky and therefore more profitable areas of international trading, but Leeson made poor and unauthorized investments and, because of bad judgment, woeful oversight by the bank’s management, and unfortunate market events (for example, an earthquake in Kobe, Japan, precipitated a large fall in the Nikkei Index), incurred a £770 million loss and bankrupted Barings. In May 1995, 21 of the bank’s executives resigned, and in December, a Singapore court jailed Leeson for six and a half years when he pled guilty to charges of deceiving Barings’ auditors and cheating the Singapore exchange. The bank was later bought by Dutch bank Internationale Nederlanden Groep NV (ING) for £1. See also FINANCIAL SERVICES AUTHORITY. BARON. See PEERAGE. BARONET. See SIR. THE BEATLES. The Beatles were the first British group to have a significant impact on the development of rock and roll. The four members—George Harrison (1943–2001), John Lennon (1940–80), Paul McCartney (1942– ), and Ringo Starr (1940– )—played together from 1962 and, managed by Brian Epstein, earned a place in the British top 30 the same year with Love Me Do, their first single. A string of hits (most of them penned by Lennon and McCartney) followed as young people responded both to the sound and image of working-class teenagers with a Liverpool accent who wore suits and flaunted long hair. American reactions were similar. I Want to Hold Your Hand topped U.S. music charts in 1963, and a television appearance on 9 February 1964 was the most watched program to that date.


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Commercial success brought recognition through the award of membership of the Order of the British Empire in 1965, but the down-to-earth, untarnished aura proved impossible to maintain. Lennon’s remark that “We are more popular than Jesus” raised hackles (particularly in the American south), and Epstein’s death from drug overdoses in 1967 shook the loyalty of fans, who became increasingly aware that the musicians were growing apart. Business difficulties added to personal problems, and in 1970, they released their last single (titled ironically Let It Be). Over eight years, they had sold more than 250 million records and profoundly influenced popular culture on both sides of the Atlantic. After the group broke up, all four members pursued solo careers. Lennon, an outspoken critic of violence, became an icon for antiwar movements with songs such as Imagine (1971) but died outside his New York home at the hands of a gunman in 1980. Harrison, the most reserved of the group and a devotee of eastern mystical religions, released several albums, topping the charts with My Sweet Lord in 1970 but losing a $600,000 court case in the United States after allegations that he had plagiarized the melody. He was stabbed by an intruder in his home at Henley-on-Thames in 1999 and died in Los Angeles on 30 November 2001 after a lengthy battle with cancer. Drummer Ringo Starr (whose real name is Richard Starkey) released a series of successful singles and appeared in several television productions (most notably as Mr. Conductor in Thomas the Tank Engine, which was a hit series with PBS in 1984–86). During the late 1980s and early 1990s, he suffered from alcoholism and financial problems (the consequence of an over-lavish lifestyle), and his performances suffered, but more recent reports suggest that he has recovered from both, and reviews indicate that the quality of his music has improved. Paul McCartney is the most successful of the four. From 1971–81, he led the pop group Wings (which included his American wife, Linda), and in 1991, he worked with composer and conductor Carl Davis to write Liverpool Oratoria, his first classical piece. He was knighted in 1997. His wife, who had built up a very successful business promoting vegetarian foods, died of breast cancer in 1998, and in 2002 at age 60, he married 34-year-old Heather Mills. The couple had a daughter the following year but separated in 2006. See also MERSEY, RIVER.


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BECKETT, MARGARET MARY (1943– ). Margaret Beckett was appointed foreign secretary on 6 May 2006, becoming the first woman to occupy the post and only the second female holder (after Margaret Thatcher) of one of the four great offices of state. The daughter of Cyril and Winifred Jackson, she was born in Ashtonunder-Lyne on 15 January 1943 and educated at Notre Dame High School in Norwich and at Manchester College of Science and Technology, where she trained as a metallurgist. She first entered the House of Commons as the Labour Party representative for Lincoln in 1974, lost the seat at the 1979 general election, and then spent four years working as a researcher with the Granada Television company before winning the Derby South constituency in 1983. For the next decade, Beckett worked her way through the party ranks, becoming deputy leader under John Smith in 1992 and interim leader for the two months following Smith’s death in 2004. Then when Tony Blair became prime minister in 1997, she served successively as president of the Board of Trade (1997–98), leader of the House of Commons (1998–2001), and secretary of state for environment, food, and rural affairs (2001–6). Her appointment as foreign secretary was a surprise even to herself; she admitted to The Times that she “replied in one word, with four letters.” She left office in June 2007, when Blair resigned his post in June 2007 and was not reappointed to the cabinet by Gordon Brown (Blair’s successor). Critics complained that Beckett was a less effective foreign secretary than either Robin Cook or Jack Straw, her immediate predecessors, suggesting that she was too isolationist, too Old Labour, and too willing to kowtow to Blair. However, her supporters pointed out that the prime minister adopted a very high profile in foreign affairs, making it difficult for Beckett to have an impact, and that she was regarded by colleagues as an effective worker behind the scenes, unlikely to attempt to deprive the prime minister of the limelight or to precipitate the kind of scuffles with international allies that apparently led to Straw’s removal from the post. BELFAST. The city of Belfast is the administrative center of Northern Ireland. Located in the east of the province at the mouth of the River Lagan, it was settled during prehistoric times but developed in its modern form from 1611, when Baron (see PEERAGE) Arthur


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Chichester erected a castle and encouraged settlers to move into the area. By the end of the century, Huguenot refugees from France had established a linen industry, and a population of around 2,000 was earning a living by making sailcloth and fishing nets. The sources of employment diversified from the 1790s, when William Ritchie opened a shipbuilding yard, providing a pool of skills from which other firms could draw following the technical innovations of the industrial revolution. Harland and Wolff became internationally renowned, constructing vessels such as the Titanic, and a host of ancillary industries (rope making, for example) established themselves in the docks. The linen industry moved from homes to mills, increasing greatly in scale and encouraging entrepreneurs to invest in the manufacture of textile machinery. Other businessmen, sensing the opportunities presented by a burgeoning workforce, built a food-processing plant. In 1920, Belfast was chosen as the site for the new Ulster Parliament, adding to the number of administrative jobs available, but world economic conditions and local political circumstances caused problems throughout the 20th century. Export industries were seriously affected by the decline in international trade in the period between World War I and World War II; then from the 1950s, manufacturers felt the increasingly chill blast of foreign competition. Most of the textile mills, which relied heavily on female labor, were closed, and the engineering sector shed thousands of workers in an effort to cut costs. The strife between Protestants and Roman Catholics that marred the city during the Troubles from 1969 until the mid-1990s added to the problems, inhibiting commercial development and resulting in a reduction in the number of potential employees as families left for safer homes elsewhere (between 1971 and 1991, Belfast’s population dropped from 417,000 to 279,000). From 1994, however, the reduction in hostilities has encouraged businesses to risk capital in the area and local authorities to promote urban regeneration. As a result, Belfast has been transformed. The waterfront along the Lagan has been cleaned up, with warehouses converted into retail and residential properties and new apartments built. The Victoria Square area has benefited from a £300 million facelift, and the environs of St. Anne’s Cathedral have spawned


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cafes, bars, and clubs. Much of the focus has been on improving shopping facilities, but sports grounds, parks, offices, and housing have all been modernized, and new hotels (including a five-star Hilton) have been built to accommodate an increase in the number of visiting business people and tourists. As a consequence, the population of the city center has begun to rise again as young people have returned to the area, attracted by the varied nightlife. BELFAST AGREEMENT. See GOOD FRIDAY AGREEMENT. BELFAST TELEGRAPH GROUP. The Telegraph has the largest circulation of all Northern Ireland’s daily newspapers, with some 95,000 copies distributed each day. Founded in 1870, it was a broadsheet evening paper for most of its life but, in 2005, following a period of falling sales, underwent a program of redesign and expansion that included the introduction of a tabloid morning edition. Weekend sister papers changed at the same time, with Ireland’s Saturday Night converting from broadsheet to compact and Sunday Life relaunching with greater emphasis on “lifestyle” content. The publications are owned by Independent News and Media, which acquired them from Trinity Mirror plc for £300 million in 2000. They support the continuation of Ulster’s links with the United Kingdom but attempt to market themselves to all sections of the Northern Ireland community. BIG BANG. The Big Bang on 27 October 1986 brought radical change to London’s financial markets, breaking down the gentlemanly partnerships that had restricted access to newcomers, ending the distinction between stockjobbers and stockbrokers, and replacing the traditional open-outcry trading at the London Stock Exchange with computerized dealing from offices. The moves, which reflected Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s policies toward an expansion of free markets, were intended to secure London’s position as a pivot of international financial business and resulted in a significant influx of foreign firms, many paying very high salaries to their young employees and thus providing an injection of cash into the urban infrastructure of bars, clothing stores, coffee shops, and restaurants. See also BLACK MONDAY; HOWARD, MICHAEL (1941– ).


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BILL. Bills are prototype laws submitted to the United Kingdom Parliament the Northern Ireland Assembly, or to the Scottish Parliament. Bills considered by the British Parliament may be introduced in either the House of Commons or the House of Lords, but in practice, most appear first in the lower house. Each item of proposed legislation presented to members of Parliament (MPs) for consideration has a formal “first reading” and then is debated at a “second reading,” when a vote is taken. If it passes that hurdle, it goes to the “committee stage,” where a group of representatives from all of the main political parties look at the details clause by clause, making whatever amendments they think appropriate. After the committee members conclude their deliberations, the revised document returns to the Commons for its “report stage” (at which all MPs can suggest further changes) and “third reading.” If a majority of MPs vote in favor of the measure at that point, it is given “passage” and sent to the upper house. In the House of Lords, although there are some procedural differences, the bill advances on broadly similar lines. Eventually, amendments introduced in the Lords and approved by peers are sent back to the Commons for discussion, but even if the upper house rejects legislation (as happened in 2004 with the Hunting Bill, which proposed that hare coursing and hunting with dogs [see FOX HUNTING] should be criminal offenses), the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949 authorize the lower house to send bills for royal assent and thus make them law. In Scotland and Northern Ireland, the approval process is simpler because the Parliament has only one chamber. Although the detailed arrangements differ, in both cases bills are given a formal introduction before being considered in committee and by the full Parliament or Assembly. If approved, they go to the monarch for royal assent. The National Assembly for Wales does not have authority to pass bills but has committees that consider the implications for Wales of bills under consideration by the UK Parliament. See also CONSOLIDATION BILL; LETTERS PATENT; ORDER IN COUNCIL; PRIVATE BILL; PRIVATE MEMBER’S BILL; STATUTORY INSTRUMENT.


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BIRMINGHAM. Lying some 100 miles northwest of London, the Birmingham area was settled in prehistoric times, but the growth of the modern city dates from the late 18th century and the technological innovations wrought by the industrial revolution. A metalworking tradition (which created a pool of skilled labor) and the proximity of coal reserves (which could be used to provide steam power) were a considerable attraction for entrepreneurs keen to invest in mills and factories that would mass produce goods for a burgeoning population throughout the British Empire as well as at home. As a result, a diversified manufacturing complex evolved, with aircraft building, automobile construction, food processing, jewelry work, railroad engineering, tire production, wire making, and other trades. BSA motorcycles, Cadbury’s chocolate, Dunlop rubber, HP sauce, and Jaguar cars all became household names. Canals, railways, and roads were built to take raw materials in and carry finished products out (so the city became an important transport focus), and banks, stores, and similar services were established to meet the needs of an expanding workforce. During World War II, however, Birmingham was a major target of the German air force, with more than 2,400 residents killed and many businesses destroyed. Then in the 1950s and 1960s, profits in the traditional trades were threatened by the growth of foreign competition and by the introduction of new products, such as plastics. By the beginning of the 21st century, manufacturing was still an important component of the local economic scene, but it provided jobs for only 18 percent of the employed workforce (compared with 50 percent in 1971). The emphasis had changed from production of commodities to provision of services, such as finance, retailing, and tourism, and as the economy changed, the landscape and the social structure of the city altered as well. Slum areas were cleared and new houses built. A National Exhibition Centre was erected close to the airport during the 1970s, and an International Convention Centre opened in the downtown area 20 years later. The Bull Ring shopping precinct (built on the site of an agricultural market founded in 1154) was redeveloped in 2003 at a cost of £500 million and now provides 1.2 million square feet of retail space with 140 outlets. From the 1950s, immigrants from South Asia and the Caribbean moved to the area, so by the time of the 2001 census, 30 percent of


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the residents were nonwhite, and the city had some of Europe’s finest curry houses. That census also showed that Birmingham had 977,000 citizens (2.7 percent fewer that in 1991) and that the population of the metropolitan area (known as the West Midlands) numbered 5.3 million. See also BIRMINGHAM SIX. BIRMINGHAM SIX. On 21 November 1974, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) bombed two public houses in Birmingham, killing 21 people and injuring 182. The following year, six Irishmen—Hugh Callaghan, Patrick Hill, Gerard Hunter, Richard McIlkenny, William Power, and John Walker—were found guilty of the murders and given life sentences. However, subsequent investigations showed that forensic evidence of explosives handling may have been flawed and that interrogation records had been altered, so the men, who consistently maintained that they had confessed only after being beaten by the police, were released on 14 March 1991 by the Court of Appeal, which quashed their sentences. Two years later, they were awarded compensation ranging from £840,000 to £1.2 million. The Birmingham Six case mirrors those of the Maguire Seven and the Guildford Four because each time unsafe verdicts were obtained by questionable methods during a period of the 1970s when PIRA bombing of the British mainland, and hence public outrage, was at its height. Concerned about apparent shortcomings in the legal system, the government formed a Royal Commission on Criminal Justice in 1991; that committee’s recommendations, published in 1993, led to the passage of the Criminal Appeal Act (1995), which changed the grounds on which defendants could appeal against sentences, and in 1997 to the establishment of a Criminal Cases Review Commission, which was given powers to investigate possible miscarriages of justice in England, Northern Ireland, and Wales. See also BRIDGEWATER FOUR; TOTTENHAM THREE. BLACK MONDAY. On Monday, 19 October 1987, in all of the world’s major financial exchanges, stock values slumped by the largest one-day margins ever. In London, some £50 billion was wiped off the value of shares, and the Financial Times/Stock Ex-


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change (FTSE) Index plummeted by 250 points (10 percent). No analyst has presented a convincing reason for such dramatic events, though many believe that the crash may have been caused by international concern about the future of the U.S. economy coupled with the practice after the 1986 Big Bang of allowing computers to deal in stocks and futures automatically (a procedure known as program trading). BLACK WEDNESDAY. During the late summer of 1992, international speculators mounted a sustained attack on Britain’s currency. In response, the government raised the base interest rate to 15 percent, and the Bank of England made massive interventions in the financial markets in an effort to maintain the value of the pound, but the measures were unsuccessful, so on Wednesday, 16 September, sterling was withdrawn from the exchange rate mechanism of the European Monetary System. According to Treasury estimates, the net cost of the efforts to prop up the currency was £3.3 billion, a sum that destroyed the Conservative Party government’s reputation for competent management of the nation’s finances and weakened Prime Minister John Major at a time when he was already under attack from euroskeptic factions in his organization. See also LAMONT, NORMAN STEWART HUGHSON (1942– ). BLAIR, ANTHONY CHARLES LYNTON “TONY” (1953– ). In 1997, Tony Blair succeeded John Major as prime minister after leading the Labour Party to a landslide 179-seat general election victory. Born in Edinburgh on 6 May 1953 to Leo Blair (a lawyer and lecturer) and his wife, Hazel, he was educated at Durham Chorister School and Fettes College (Edinburgh) before studying law at Oxford University, where he was lead singer for a rock band known as Ugly Rumours. He joined Labour in 1975 and eight years later won a seat in the House of Commons representing the Sedgefield constituency. During the 1980s, the Labour movement was sharply divided between traditionalists (who favored state control of industry and public services) and modernists (who argued that the party would have to change if it was to win power). Blair allied himself with the reformers and rose quickly in the hierarchy, serving as the parliamentary


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spokesman on economic affairs (1984–87), trade and industry (1987–89), energy (1988–89), and employment (1989–92). Under John Smith, he became shadow home secretary (see SHADOW CABINET), taking a strong line on law and order issues—an approach more usually associated with the Conservative Party than with Labour. Following Smith’s death in 1994, the principal contenders for the party leadership were Blair and his close friend, Gordon Brown. According to press reports, the two men came to an agreement by which Brown would support Blair’s candidacy and be guaranteed the post of chancellor of the exchequer (and thus become guardian of the country’s finances) if Labour could wrest control of the Commons from the Conservatives. The tactic succeeded. Blair was appointed, and for three years, the two men worked to modernize Labour’s image. In particular, party members were persuaded to abandon the organization’s constitutional emphasis on “common ownership of the means of production” and to adopt an approach to government that combined strict control of spending with an emphasis on improvements to public services. That political reorientation, coupled with Blair’s youthful image and the ineffectiveness of a weakly led Conservative Party, split over policy toward the European Union while struggling to fend off allegations of corruption, touched a cord with voters, and carried Labour to power in 1997. With Brown at the economic helm, Blair introduced a series of measures designed to appeal to a broad electorate. The responsibility for setting interest rates was transferred from the Treasury to the Bank of England, enhancing the new government’s credibility with financiers in the City of London. Devolution of authority over Scottish affairs to a Parliament in Edinburgh and a more limited transfer of control over Welsh issues to an assembly in Cardiff proved popular with voters in the Celtic fringe, and the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which appeared to provide a basis for a cessation of hostilities in Northern Ireland, was greeted with widespread relief on the British mainland as well as in Ulster. The popularity of the proposals was evident in Blair’s high ratings in opinion polls and carried Labour to a second general election victory in 2001. However, the prime minister’s second term in office proved more controversial than the first. Tales of a rift with Gordon Brown appeared regularly in the press, unswerving support for


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United States’ president George W. Bush’s war against terrorism led to a split in the cabinet (see, for example, ROBIN COOK), disputes over the funding of hospitals were aired publicly, and allegations of overmuch reliance on spin doctors were common, tending to overshadow Blair’s increasing international stature and threatening a loss of public support for his party. As a result, although he led the party to a third general election victory in 2005, his parliamentary majority was cut to fewer than 70 seats. In 2004, Blair had said in a television interview that he would not fight a fourth general election. That announcement inevitably led to increasing speculation about the date of his retirement, with Brown considered the most likely successor, and weakened his position as he attempted to push controversial legislation on education and terrorism through Parliament and, according to opinion polls, became too authoritarian, too closely linked to President Bush, and too untrustworthy. Shortly before he left office on 27 June 2007, newspaper reports suggested that Queen Elizabeth II had doubts about his legacy, indicating that she believed he had overstretched the armed forces by getting involved in the Afghanistan conflict and the Iraq War, that he failed to understand countryside issues (by supporting a ban on fox hunting), that he had meddled unnecessarily in Britain’s heritage (by promoting reform of the House of Lords, for example), and that he placed too much importance on relations with the United States and too little on relations with the Commonwealth of Nations. On the other hand, the monarch and the prime minister apparently had a good working relationship, and the queen thought highly of his efforts to promote peace in Northern Ireland. When he gave up the prime ministership, Blair announced that he would work as an envoy representing the European Union, Russia, the United Nations, and the United States in the Middle East. However, political analysts suggested that he would not be trusted by many Palestinians because he was believed to be too supportive of Israel, and a spokesmen for President George W. Bush’s American administration said that he would have no authority to initiate peace negotiations because that was the prerogative of U.S. secretary of state Condoleezza Rice. See also BLUNKETT, DAVID (1947– ); CAMPBELL, ALASTAIR JOHN (1957– ); HUTTON INQUIRY; MILLENNIUM DOME; NATIONALIZATION.


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BLUNKETT, DAVID (1947– ). In his roles as secretary of state for education and employment and secretary of state for the Home Department under Prime Minister Tony Blair, Blunkett made a significant impact on life in the United Kingdom during the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Born in Sheffield on 6 June 1947 and blind from birth, he grew up in poverty, attending schools in Sheffield and at Rowton Castle in Shropshire. His first job was in the gas industry, but he continued his education in the evenings and won a place at Sheffield University, eventually graduating with a degree in political theory and institutions. As an undergraduate, he was heavily involved in local political issues and, in 1970 and still only 22, won a seat on Sheffield City Council as a representative of the Labour Party. In 1983, he was given a place on Labour’s National Executive Committee and, in 1987, was elected member of Parliament (MP) for the Sheffield Brightside constituency. In the House of Commons, Blunkett distinguished himself as the opposition spokesman on local government (1988–92), health (1992–94), education (1994–97), and employment (1995–97). Although initially on the party’s left wing, he espoused policies of social change, with an emphasis on improved public services, which appealed to Blair, who made him secretary of state for education and employment with a place in the cabinet following Labour’s general election victory in 1997. He became home secretary when Labour was elected for a second term in 2001. Throughout his time in office, Blunkett was a controversial figure. As education secretary, he advocated the introduction of tuition fees at universities, which traditionally had provided free education, and in doing so faced the wrath both of middle-class parents and of critics who argued that working-class teenagers (like Blunkett himself) would be prevented from realizing their academic potential. At the Home Office, he attempted to introduce stringent measures against illegal immigrants, limited rights to trial by jury, and promoted the introduction of compulsory identity cards for all citizens. As a result, his opponents referred to him as Big Blunkett, a disparaging allusion to Big Brother, the head of the totalitarian state that is the subject of George Orwell’s novel 1984. Controversy followed him to the end. In 2004, he was accused of giving preferential treatment to the Filipina nanny employed by Kim-


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berly Quinn (his former lover) when she applied for a residency visa and for giving Mrs. Quinn two first-class railroad warrants intended only for MPs’ spouses. A government inquiry failed to prove the visa allegation, and Mr. Blunkett repaid the cost of the rail tickets, but with his integrity in question, he resigned his post on 15 December. He was not left to languish on the backbenches for long because Prime Minister Blair recalled him to the cabinet after the 2005 general election and made him minister for work and pensions, charged with introducing pensions reform. Soon, however, he was in trouble again, this time as a result of irregularities in the conduct of his business affairs, and on 2 November, he resigned for a second time. BOROUGH. The word borough is derived from the Old English burh, which was originally used with reference to a “fortified place.” Over time, it was increasingly applied to settlements that had administrative or commercial privileges, but now the title is largely honorific in nature, though usages vary in different parts of the United Kingdom. • England: There are three types of borough in England: 1. London Boroughs. London is subdivided into 32 boroughs, which were formed in 1965 when local government in the metropolitan area was reorganized. Each is responsible for the provision of local services, including education, road maintenance, and waste collection. For their first 21 years, these boroughs were the lower of a two-tier system of local government in the capital, but when the Greater London Council was abolished in 1986, they became unitary authorities. Then, with the creation of the Greater London Authority in 2000, they once again became the lower element of a two-tier structure, with duties similar to those of boroughs in metropolitan areas. 2. Metropolitan Boroughs. In 1972, the Local Government Act created six metropolitan county councils to administer services in the largest urban areas outside London. Each of those counties was subdivided into metropolitan districts, all of which either inherited borough status (through section 245 of the legislation) or successfully petitioned Queen Elizabeth II for a royal charter granting that status (normally, the award is made on the advice of the Privy Council). When the metropolitan


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counties were abolished in 1986, the metropolitan boroughs became unitary authorities, although they cooperate on certain duties, including provision of emergency services, policing, and public transport. By 2007, there were 25 of them, but their administrative duties stemmed from their designation as districts rather than from their status as boroughs. 3. Nonmetropolitan Boroughs. The 1972 Local Government Act divided those areas of England that lay outside the major settlements into nonmetropolitan counties (sometimes known as shire counties) and divided those counties into nonmetropolitan districts (sometimes known as shire districts). The districts (which were given responsibility for such local services as provision of parks and trash collection) could, like their metropolitan counterparts, either inherit borough status from preexisting authorities or petition the monarch for a charter conferring that status. In 2007, 132 of the districts were boroughs, but as with the metropolitan boroughs, the title does not carry additional administrative duties or powers. • Northern Ireland: In 1972, the Local Government (Northern Ireland) Act divided the province into 26 administrative districts. Each of those districts could acquire borough status either by inheriting the charter of a former borough within its area of jurisdiction or by petitioning the monarch for the grant of a charter. Eleven had done so by 2007, though, as in England, the status made no difference to their responsibilities. • Scotland: See burgh. • Wales: The Local Government Act (1972) applied to Wales as well as to England, creating 8 counties subdivided into 37 districts. By 1996, 24 of those districts had acquired borough status, but in that year, local government was again reorganized, and 11 of the new authorities were termed county boroughs responsible for the provision of all services within their boundaries. BOUNDARY COMMISSION. There are two types of boundary commission. Local government boundary commissions in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales review the boundaries of administrative areas in an effort to keep them in line with demo-


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graphic changes and to ensure that the territories that councilors represent have broadly similar numbers of electors. In 2002, the English Commission was renamed the Boundary Committee, constituted as a statutory committee of the Electoral Commission, and given additional powers to review local government structures. The other three commissions retain their independence. There are four permanent parliamentary boundary commissions (one each for England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales) that are responsible for dividing the United Kingdom into parliamentary constituencies, which form a territorial basis for the election of members of Parliament (MPs). Those boundaries are reviewed approximately every 10 years so that all have a roughly similar number of voters and conform to the geographical areas devised by the local government boundary commission. MPs look with trepidation at the results of these alterations because they can alter the political complexion of constituencies drastically and even dispense with them altogether. Following changes in Scotland in 2005, there were 646 constituencies, with 529 in England, 59 in Scotland, 40 in Wales, and 18 in Northern Ireland. Further proposed revisions announced the following year would boost the number to 650, with all of the new seats located in areas of population growth in the southern half of England, but the plans require the approval of Parliament before they are implemented. BOVINE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHY (BSE). BSE is an infectious disease that affects the brains of cattle with fatal effect. Also known as mad cow disease because it influences the nervous system, making animals walk in an apparently drunken fashion, BSE is thought to be transmissible to humans in the form of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), which causes progressive dementia and usually results in the death of the victim. From 1986, an estimated 400,000 infected cattle entered the food chain. During processing, their nerve tissues were included with meat in hamburgers and similar products, and as a result, more than 160 people contracted vCJD. An explanation for the epidemic is still elusive, but at the time, epidemiologists believed that the disease spread because scrapie (a related illness affecting sheep) jumped species when sheep offal was


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included in protein supplements fed to cattle. The government reacted by banning such supplements in 1988, but as the ban was not enforced until three years later, the incidence of BSE continued to rise, peaking at 36,000 cases in 1992, so containment of the outbreak relied heavily on a decision to slaughter 4 million cows in herds where the disease was identified in even 1 animal. The first vCJD case appeared in 1995; the European Union (EU) prohibited imports of British beef in 1996 (with an impact of some £675 million a year on the agricultural economy), and the United States took similar action the next year. By 2005, 84 countries were refusing to accept British beef products, and although the EU eased restrictions in 2006, the ban on imports of live cattle remained. See also GREEN PARTY. BRADFORD FOOTBALL STADIUM TRAGEDY. On 11 May 1985, fire broke out during a soccer match at the Bradford City Football Club’s stadium when a cigarette dropped by a spectator ignited trash that had accumulated under the wooden grandstand over several years. Fifty-six people lost their lives as the flames spread rapidly, trapping fans who found that exit doors had been locked because club officials were trying to prevent visitors from entering the ground without paying an admission fee. Less than three weeks later, English football suffered again when 39 fans lost their lives in the Heysel Stadium disaster in Belgium. A government committee of inquiry led by Sir Oliver Popplewell investigated the two incidents (taking evidence from academics, the emergency services, sports associations, and other sources) and reported the following year. Many of the group’s recommendations were incorporated in the Fire Safety and Safety of Places of Sports Act (1987). They also led to a complete revision of the Home Office’s Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds (commonly known as the Green Guide and the basic reference on matters of crowd control, the design of entrances and exits, and related matters). See also HILLSBOROUGH DISASTER. BRANSON, RICHARD CHARLES NICHOLAS (1950– ). Branson is one of the United Kingdom’s leading entrepreneurs, heading some 150 companies, including Virgin Atlantic Airways. The son of attorney Edward Branson and his wife, Evette, he was born on 18 July


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1950 and educated at Stowe College in Buckingham. His schooldays hold few fond academic memories; nearsighted and dyslexic, he dreaded examinations, and never a conformist, he felt confined by the regulations governing his behavior. However, at the age of 17 and inspired by the university activism of the 1960s, he founded Student— a magazine with a national distribution supported by advertising from major companies (the first issue in January 1968 had a cover prepared by Peter Blake, who went on to design the Sergeant Pepper record sleeve for The Beatles, and later editions included interviews with rock stars Mick Jagger and John Lennon). In 1970, Branson used the publication to sell cut-price records, calling the venture Virgin Mail Order (the name was suggested by a friend, who said that everybody involved was a virgin in business). Virgin Mail Order grew into Virgin Retail and provided funds with which to launch Virgin Records. In 1972, he built a recording studio in Oxfordshire and, the following year, released Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells, which sold more than 5 million copies. Over the next 20 years, he signed up such stars as Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, and the Rolling Stones, ultimately selling the company to Thorn EMI for a reported £560 million in 1992. Virgin Atlantic, formed in 1984, was based on the principle that travelers will pay reasonable prices for reasonable service and, by the early 21st century, was Britain’s second-largest long-haul airline (after British Airways, with whom Branson had a lengthy feud because he believed that its proposed merger with American Airlines would result in a dominance of transatlantic services that would not benefit the consumer). Other commercial interests included hotels, nightclubs, publishing, railroad transport, and soft drinks. Branson has a talent for publicity. He captained Virgin Atlantic Challenger II, which, in 1986, captured the Blue Riband for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic by a ship. In 1987, he and Per Lindstrand became the first people to cross the same ocean in a hot air balloon (four years later, they crossed the Pacific as well). Then in 2003, when British Airways announced that it intended to retire its aging Concordes, he offered to buy the planes for £1.00 each and use them profitably. In 2000, he was knighted for his services to entrepreneurship. Branson has claimed on several occasions that investment in people is the essence of successful business and that he prefers to make


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firms grow from small beginnings rather than to take over existing concerns because takeovers normally lead to job losses. In 2006, he sold his cell-phone company, Virgin Mobile, to NTL: Telewest (a communications firm) for £962 million; founded Virgin Comics; and pledged to invest profits from Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Trains in research designed to produce environment-friendly fuels. Then early the following year, he announced the establishment of a Global Science and Technology Competition with a prize of £25 million to any individual who could design a scheme for reducing greenhouse gases each year for a decade. In 2007, the Sunday Times estimated his wealth at £3.1 billion. BRIDGEWATER FOUR. On 20 September 1978, 13-year-old Carl Bridgewater was shot and killed when he disturbed burglars while delivering newspapers to the remote Yew Tree Farm at Stourbridge (Shropshire). In November of the following year, three men— Michael Hickey, Vincent Hickey, and Jim Robinson—were found guilty of murder and a fourth, Patrick Molloy, of manslaughter. All four steadfastly maintained their innocence, and Molloy, whose confession provided the basis for the convictions, claimed that his statement had been obtained under duress. Supporters mounted a lengthy campaign to get the men released, and eventually in 1997, the Court of Appeal ruled that the police had fabricated evidence in order to extract an admission of responsibility from Molloy. The sentences were quashed, and the three surviving prisoners were freed (Molloy had died in prison in 1981). The case was one of several that, during the 1980s and 1990s, raised doubts about the fairness of the English legal system, leading the government to create in 1997 a Criminal Cases Review Commission that could investigate miscarriages of justice in England, Northern Ireland, and Wales. See also BIRMINGHAM SIX; GUILDFORD FOUR; MAGUIRE SEVEN; TOTTENHAM THREE. BRIGHTON HOTEL BOMBING. At 2:54 on the morning of 12 October 1984, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) detonated two massive bombs at the Grand Hotel in Brighton, where the Conservative Party was holding its annual conference. Five people died, including Sir Anthony Berry (the member of Parliament for


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the Enfield Southgate constituency), but Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was unhurt. Thirty-five-year-old Patrick McGee, one of the PIRA’s explosives exports, was found guilty of the murders on 10 September 1986 and given a life sentence but served only 13 years before being released under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. The incident led to a tightening of security and the introduction of additional police powers through the Prevention of Terrorism Acts of 1984 and 1989. BRITAIN. The name Britain is probably pre-Roman and may be derived from Pritani (sometimes spelled Prettanoi or Priteni), which means “tattooed people” and was the fourth-century BC Greek name for the people who lived on the islands at the northwestern fringe of Europe. The terms Britain and Great Britain were given political significance after the “union of the crowns” in 1603, when James VI of Scotland became King James I of England, because they avoided English and Scottish nationalist sensitivities while encompassing the Welsh. Nowadays, the word is used as a synonym for United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Great Britain, or (in some contexts) the British Isles. BRITISH AIRPORTS AUTHORITY (BAA). The BAA is one of the world’s largest transport firms, owning Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London Gatwick, London Heathrow, London Stansted, and Southampton Airports in the United Kingdom and, in 2005, acquiring a controlling interest in Budapest Ferihegy International Airport in Hungary. It also operates Indianapolis International Airport in the United States, Naples International Airport in Italy, and several locations in Australia as well as managing retail services at Baltimore–Washington International, Boston Logan, and Pittsburgh in United States. The company was formed in 1966 as a state-owned enterprise and was privatized two decades later as part of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s policy of reducing government control of commerce and industry. In 2006, BAA plc employed nearly 12,500 people and had a turnover of more than £2.2 billion, earned partly from landing and takeoff fees charged to airline operators but also from retail space (it is one of Britain’s largest landlords, renting nearly 11 million square


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feet to 900 firms in its UK airports alone). In June 2006, the business was acquired by the Spanish Grupo Ferrovial for £10.1 billion. See also AIR TRANSPORT; CIVIL AVIATION AUTHORITY (CAA). BRITISH AIRWAYS (BA). BA is one of the world’s major airlines, carrying some 30 million passengers to more than 300 destinations every year and generating £8 billion in revenue in 2006. The company was formed in 1974 through the merger of British European Airways and the British Overseas Airways Corporation. Initially state owned, it was privatized as part of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s denationalization policies during the 1980s (the process was begun in 1984 and completed in 1987). As its financial position improved, it embarked on a series of takeovers (British Caledonian Airways was acquired in 1987, for example) and adopted customer-orientated policies that resulted in a labor force increase from 35,000 in 1984 to 50,000 in 1990. However, economic recession during the early 1990s, coupled with fears of terrorism in the wake of the Gulf War, brought a drop in passenger numbers on several routes, and from 1993, deregulation of the European air-travel industry increased competition, particularly from such no-frills carriers as Easyjet and Ryanair. BA responded to the problems by acquiring stakes in foreign operators (notably USAir), making arrangements for small airlines (such as Loganair) to provide feeder services that flew in BA colors, franchising routes outside the United Kingdom (to Comair in South Africa, for example), and forming subsidiary companies (including British Asia Airways). However, an attempt to redesign the company’s livery proved controversial (Mrs. Thatcher used her handkerchief to hide a model plane decked out in the new corporate identity) and was abandoned, a proposed merger with American Airlines ran into problems with government agencies, vociferous critics (such as Virgin Atlantic Airline’s Richard Branson) complained about BA’s control over landing slots at Heathrow Airport in London, and attempts to reorganize employees’ working practices lowered morale. From 2001 to 2003, operating costs were cut by £1.5 billion, and 13,000 jobs were shed, but as the lucrative transatlantic traffic proved slow to recover from fears of flying generated by terrorist activities in the United States and as European travelers continued to favor the discount airlines, analysts predicted further cost savings through the


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first decade of the 21st century. Other factors also put pressure on finances. In the week of 10–17 August 2006 alone, the airline lost an estimated £40 million of revenue because terrorist threats caused the cancellation of 1,280 flights, and over same year, it mislaid 23 bags for every 1,000 passengers—the worst performance of any European carrier. Then in 2007, it was fined £121.5 million by the Office of Fair Trading and $300 million by the U.S. Department of Justice for colluding with Virgin Atlantic on the fixing of fuel surcharges for long-haul journeys. However, despite the difficult operating environment, BA has refused to go down-market, believing that customers will be willing to pay for full-service flights and that the levels of service will distinguish the airline from its competitors. See also AIR TRANSPORT; CONCORDE. BRITISH ARMY. The army has two components—the regular army (a full-time fighting force with some 104,000 men and women, including 14,000 officers) and the Territorial Army (a part-time force of 41,000 people). Since the government’s Strategic Defence Review of 1998, the Territorials have focused less on defense of the United Kingdom and more on support for the regulars in such operational areas as Iraq. The smallest of the full-time units in recent years have been the 12 corps, each of them (like the Army Physical Training Corps and the Intelligence Corps) with a specialized task, and the principal combat units have been the 51 regiments, all with proud traditions and some (such as the Grenadier Guards and the Royal Scots) able to trace their history back to the 17th century. Regiments were composed of about 650 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel and (with supporting units) were grouped into 16 brigades, primarily on functional grounds (they included the 7th Armored Brigade and the 39th Infantry Brigade, for instance). The brigades, in turn, were organized into five divisions. In 2004, however, the government announced a major reorganization that reduced the 26 line-infantry regiments to 12 in an effort to create a more agile, flexible, and deployable army. Complaints were loudest in Scotland, where two of the six regiments were disbanded and the other four were demoted to battalion status in a new superregiment known as the Royal Regiment of Scotland. Nationally, critics


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claimed that the restructuring was an attempt to save money rather than to create a more effective fighting unit. In recent years, the most significant deployment of fighting manpower has been to such areas of conflict as Afghanistan, Iraq, and Northern Ireland, but troops have also served under the United Nations’ flag in Bosnia, Cyprus, and Kosovo and have provided garrisons in Brunei, the Falkland Islands, Germany, and Gibraltar. British military advisors work in about 25 countries around the world, and soldiers are frequently involved in ceremonial occasions at home and abroad, as when they mount guard at Buckingham Palace. See also ARMED FORCES; SPECIAL AIR SERVICE (SAS); STEVENS INQUIRIES; ULSTER DEFENCE REGIMENT (UDR). BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION (BBC). The BBC was founded as a private company in 1922 but converted into a public service corporation in 1927, operating under a royal charter that guaranteed freedom from government interference in editorial matters. It began broadcasting television programs on a regular basis in 1936, faced competition from Independent Television from 1955, offered a second channel from 1964, and gave viewers their first color pictures in 1967. Its news-gathering staff is now one of the most extensive in the world, providing material not just for its television output but also for the BBC World Service (which broadcasts in 33 languages to an audience of 163 million radio listeners around the world), 5 national radio stations, an Internet website that (according to the Alexa Web Information Company) was the English-speaking world’s 13th most popular in 2006, a network of local radio stations, numerous magazines, and several interactive digital television services. The organization’s operating budget amounts to some £4 billion each year, with about 75 percent of the funding coming from the license fee that all owners of television sets are required to pay. In order to justify that fee, the BBC (unlike commercial broadcasters) is expected to cater to minority interests as well as provide popular entertainment. It is also expected to present news content in an unbiased fashion, a requirement that, according to many politicians, it regularly fails to meet despite consistent international praise for its efforts. In recent years, several writers have also claimed that the quality standards have declined as the corporation has attempted to compete for television ratings with British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) and the inde-


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pendent channels, but market surveys indicate that, for coverage of major events (such as the London bombings on 7 July 2005), viewers turn to the BBC rather than to its competitors (for example, 11.3 million people watched the last stages of the Football Association cup final on BBC in 2006, while only 700,000 watched the same game on Rupert Murdoch’s BSkyB). See also CAMPBELL, ALASTAIR JOHN (1957– ); HUTTON INQUIRY; MET OFFICE. BRITISH COUNCIL. The British Council was formed in 1934 as a means of promoting United Kingdom culture and science overseas. It operates in more than 100 countries, raising much of its income through the provision of English language classes and other educational services. In 2005, it caused controversy when an exhibition of photographs for display in Arab countries included pictures and text implying that Muslims living in Britain were victims of economic oppression and racial hatred. "Diplomatic hackles were raised again early in 2008 when the Council closed its offices in Moscow and St. Petersburg, claiming that the Russian authorities had mounted a campaign of intimidation against its staff." BRITISH DEPENDENT TERRITORY. For 19 years from 1983, areas outside the British Isles and over which the United Kingdom had sovereignty were known as British Dependent Territories. The second-rate status implied by the descriptor was much resented in some places, so in 2002, the 14 widely distributed parts of the world were retitled British Overseas Territories. See also CROWN COLONY; CROWN DEPENDENCY. BRITISH EMPIRE. See BRITISH OVERSEAS TERRITORY. BRITISH INDIAN OCEAN TERRITORY. The British Indian Ocean Territory is a British Overseas Territory lying midway between Africa and Indonesia in the Indian Ocean. It covers an area of about 21,000 square miles, but only 0.1 percent of that is the land forming the six main island groups known as the Chagos Archipelago. In 1966, Britain agreed to let the United States build a military base on Diego Garcia (the largest island) in return for a reduction in the cost of a Polaris missile system, so at American insistence, all 1,500 residents were forcibly moved, mostly to Mauritius and the Seychelles,


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between 1967 and 1973. In 2000, the islanders (known as Ilois) won a High Court of Justice ruling that their expulsion was illegal and that they were entitled to return to their homeland, but the United States continued to argue that a permanent population would threaten the safety of aircraft and ships based at Diego Garcia, which was an important base for military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq (see also GULF WAR). Under pressure from its ally, the British government in 2004 used the royal prerogative to issue an order in council overturning the court decision, but the Ilois contested the action, and in 2006, the court agreed with them, arguing that the use of the order was unlawful and that the government’s behavior was “repugnant.” The attempts to keep the former residents in exile were described by the Daily Telegraph newspaper as “one of the most shameful episodes in British postwar history,” and the publicity surrounding the affair caused considerable embarrassment to Prime Minister Tony Blair at a time when his popularity in opinion polls was at a low ebb. The United Kingdom has agreed to cede the territory to Mauritius when it is no longer needed for defense purposes, but Seychelles also claims parts of the area. BRITISH ISLES. A geographical (rather than a political) entity, the British Isles is an archipelago lying off the northwest coast of Europe and covering a land area of some 121,000 square miles. The two largest islands are Great Britain and Ireland, but there are many hundreds of smaller land surfaces. The Republic of Ireland holds sovereignty over most of the island of Ireland, with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland controlling the other territories. BRITISH NATIONAL PARTY (BNP). The BNP was formed in April 1982 as a breakaway group from the National Front, advocating policies of compulsory repatriation of ethnic minorities, an end to immigration, and opposition to all forms of racial integration between British and non-European peoples. Although it is one of the country’s largest extreme-right political parties, it has never won sufficient support to gain representation in Parliament. At local-government level, it has some 50 seats on urban councils, with the strongest electoral support coming from young working-class men in


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major cities and in the manufacturing towns of the north of England. See also UNITED KINGDOM INDEPENDENCE PARTY (UKIP). BRITISH OVERSEAS TERRITORY. In 1900, Britain ruled the most geographically extensive empire the world had ever seen and, as a result, controlled the destinies of an estimated 400–500 million people. Its lands had been acquired over a period of more than four centuries but, for the most part, gained their independence in fewer than 6 decades during the 20th century as political and economic climates changed. By 2000, only the few remnants that are listed below remained under colonial rule, primarily because they had a strategic importance or because they were island groups considered too small in population to form viable independent states. The overseas territories were never considered integral parts of the United Kingdom and thus have no representation in Parliament. The British monarch is head of state but appoints a governor to perform executive functions on his or her behalf. All of the populated areas have forms of domestic self-government, but the UK is responsible for defense and the conduct of foreign affairs. Since the passage of the British Overseas Territories Act in 2002, residents other than those on the military bases in Cyprus have been entitled to British citizenship, giving them the right to live and work in the United Kingdom and the European Union. Akrotiri and Dhekelia are sovereign military bases in southern Cyprus with about 3,500 personnel. Anguilla, first colonized in 1650, is an island in the eastern Caribbean with a population of 12,800. Its economy is based on fishing, financial services, and tourism. Bermuda, an archipelago lying in the Atlantic Ocean some 350 miles east of North Carolina, was first settled by shipwrecked English colonists in 1609. Its 65,000 people earn a living from tourism and services provided to international businesses. British Antarctic Territory includes Graham Land (on the Antarctic Peninsula) and the neighboring South Orkney Islands and South Shetland Islands. All have been claimed by Britain since the early 19th century, but Chile and Argentina also have territorial aspirations in the area. The only residents are scientists working with the British Antarctic Survey. British Indian Ocean Territory is the subject of a separate entry.


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The British Virgin Islands lie in the northeast Caribbean. Annexed by England in 1672, they have a population of about 21,500 and an economy based on tourism and provision of international financial services. The Cayman Islands lie in the Caribbean south of Cuba. They were ceded to England by Spain in 1670 and have a population of 42,000, with an economy based primarily on tourism and on a growing international business sector. The Falkland Islands are located in the south Atlantic some 300 miles east of the Argentinean mainland. The islands, numbering some 700, have been controlled by Britain since 1833 but are also claimed by Argentina (see FALKLANDS WAR). The population of about 3,000 earns a living from agriculture, fishing, and a small tourist industry. Gibraltar is the subject of a separate entry. Montserrat is a tiny island in the eastern Caribbean and has a population of about 9,000. From 1995, it was devastated by a series of volcanic eruptions that forced two thirds of the residents to leave and decimated the tourist industry. Those eruptions have continued spasmodically, deterring many people from returning. The Pitcairn Islands are the subject of a separate entry. St. Helena lies in the south Atlantic about 1,200 miles west of the coast of Africa. It is the principal island in a group that includes Ascension, Gough Island, Inaccessible Island, Nightingale Island, and Tristan da Cunha, which together form an overseas territory. The area has been British since the 17th century and has a population of about 7,400. Fishing and livestock bring a small income that is heavily supplemented by funds from the British government. South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands lie in the south Atlantic some 800–1,000 miles east of Tierra del Fuego. They have been controlled by Britain since 1908 but are also claimed by Argentina and were the first territories to be occupied during the Falklands War. They have no permanent residents (a small military base was closed in 2001, leaving the area to workers with the British Antarctic Survey). The Turks and Caicos Islands form two groups of islands in the western Atlantic about 200 miles north of Haiti. Occupied by the English in 1681, they now have a population of 19,500 and an economy based on tourism and offshore finance. See also BRITISH DEPENDENT TERRITORY; CROWN COLONY; CROWN DEPENDENCY.


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BRITISH SKY BROADCASTING (BSKYB). BSkyB is the principal nonterrestrial provider of subscription television programs in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1990 through the merger of British Satellite Broadcasting and Sky Television (with Rupert Murdoch’s News International the largest shareholder in the new company) and built audiences largely on the basis of its monopoly coverage of major league football matches in England. The station initially offered 5 channels to about 1 million homes but gained customers as additional services were added and now claims about 8 million subscribers in Britain and the Republic of Ireland, reaching 1 in every 3 homes. It introduced a digital service with 140 channels in 1998 and a high-definition service in 2006. See also BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION (BBC). BRITISH TELECOMMUNICATIONS plc (BRITISH TELECOM or BT). BT provides a telephone service for the vast majority of land lines in the United Kingdom, employing about 100,000 people. It is required by law to lay fixed lines to any British address at which a service is required and also to maintain a network of public call boxes. The company was formed in 1981 as a state-owned business when the government restructured the Royal Mail’s monopoly telecommunications service as an independent unit. Competition was introduced from the following year, and from 1984, the corporation was privatized as part of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s drive to end government involvement in the provision of commercial services. Since then, BT has broadened its markets (through development of broadband Internet services, for example) and has expanded its global interests, so it now operates in well over 150 countries and generates annual net profits of more than £1.5 billion. BRIXTON RIOTS. See SCARMAN INQUIRY. BROADWATER FARM RIOT. See TOTTENHAM THREE. BROWN, JAMES “GORDON” (1951– ). On 27 June 2007, after years of waiting in the wings, Gordon Brown succeeded Tony Blair as prime minister. The son of the Rev. Dr. John Brown and his wife,


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Elizabeth, he was born on 20 February 1951 and educated at Kirkcaldy High School, where he lost the sight of an eye as a result of an accident on the rugby field. From Kirkcaldy, he went to Edinburgh University, becoming in 1971 the first undergraduate to win election to the rectorship of the institution, earning his first degree in 1972, and completing a doctorate in 1982. Brown was appointed to a lectureship in politics at Glasgow College of Technology in 1976; then from 1980, he spent three years as a journalist with Scottish Television’s current affairs team before entering Parliament as the member for Dunfermline East. In the House of Commons, he was made Labour Party spokesman on trade and industry in 1985 and in 1987 was appointed shadow chief secretary to the Treasury (see SHADOW CABINET). When John Smith, the leader of Labour’s economics team, suffered a heart attack the following year, Brown was an effective deputy, demonstrating a quick wit and regularly winning exchanges with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s ministers. His performances led many commentators to predict a stellar future, but when Neil Kinnock resigned the party leadership after Labour’s defeat in the general election of 1992, the 41-year-old Brown was considered too young to step into his shoes. Smith took the post, with his junior colleague becoming shadow chancellor of the exchequer. Two years later when Smith died, Brown and Blair, close friends, were clearly the leading contenders for the succession. According to press reports, the two men met in a London restaurant and hammered out a deal by which Brown withdrew his candidacy in return for an assurance that he would be appointed chancellor if Blair became prime minister. Then, after a specified period, Blair would resign and allow Brown to take over. Neither individual has ever confirmed the arrangement, but the harmonious relationship between the two undoubtedly helped to shape Labour’s strategy for the 1997 election, gave voters confidence that Labour was a realistic alternative to a Conservative Party that had held office for a decade and a half, and influenced the legislative agenda after the party gained office with a healthy 179-seat majority. In the new government, Brown held the post of chancellor of the exchequer and was determined to exercise fiscal prudence, ridding the socialists of their “tax and spend” image (one of his first decisions was to take responsibility for setting the base interest rate from the government and give it to the Bank of England, a move that de-


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lighted financiers in the City of London). He has also stressed investment in public services, giving priority to health care and education. However, although he left income tax unchanged, his critics accused him of “stealth taxes,” and he was certainly much less enthusiastic about closer links with other European Union countries than were many of his colleagues. In the last years of Blair’s premiership, the friendship between the two men often appeared to lose its warmth as both built up strong power bases and Brown became increasingly frustrated at Blair’s apparent desire to hang on to power. Frequently, too, political opponents within the Labour Party threatened to contest Brown’s position as the “heir apparent.” However, when Blair announced that he would give up the prime ministership on 27 June 2007, the opposition fizzled out, so Brown assumed the mantle of party leadership (and, as party leader, became prime minister) without having to contest an election for the post. Supporters suggested that he would adopt a less presidential approach to government than Blair, paying more attention to the role of Parliament and making initial announcements about policy to the House of Commons rather than to the media. On the other hand, critics indicated that his dour demeanor would be an electoral disadvantage and that English voters would resent having a Scot who represented a Scottish constituency leading the government when Scotland had its own Parliament. To some extent, the critics were confounded only two days after his appointment when two unexploded car bombs were discovered in central London. Then, on 30 June 2007, a burning jeep was driven into the terminal building at Glasgow Airport. Brown was much praised even by the conservative elements of the press for his measured response to the attacks and also for the radical cabinet reshuffle that he instigated as soon as he took office, bringing newcomers such as Jacqui Smith (Britain’s first female home secretary) into senior positions in his government. However, by the end of the year his image had been dented by indecision about whether to call a general election, by allegations of illegal donations to the Labour Party that involved senior ministers and by an admission from Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs that sensitive information about 25 million people had been lost in the mail. As a result, public opinion polls were showing that Brown's popularity was declining, along with that of his party.


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BRUGES GROUP. In 1988 at a meeting in Bruges (Belgium), Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher told European Economic Community (EEC) leaders that she had not rolled back the frontiers of the state in Britain in order to watch them reimposed from Brussels (the EEC headquarters). Early the following year, a group of academics founded the Bruges Group as a rallying point for like-minded euroskeptics, with Lord (Ralph) Harris of High Cross as the first chairperson (when he died in 2006, Harris was described as the “high priest of the libertarian right” by The Guardian newspaper). The organization attracted many influential members of the Conservative Party and particularly those on its right wing as it argued for revision of the EEC’s Common Agricultural Policy, as well as for changes to the European Parliament and other institutions, so that European states could retain their national sovereignty but cooperate on economic matters. If those aims could not be achieved, it said, the United Kingdom should leave the community. The group exerted considerable influence over Conservative decision making, particularly while the terms of the Maastricht Treaty were being discussed in the early 1990s, but personality clashes in 1993 led to the departure of some of the most influential members, including Alan Sked (a lecturer in international history at the London School of Economics and a leading university-based supporter of the movement). From that point, its impact waned, and although it was given new energy from 1996 when Robert Oulds (a local government councilor from the Chiswick area of London) was made director, critics suggest that its role as a pressure group is now limited because so many other anti-Europe forums were created in the last decade of the 20th century. BUCKINGHAM PALACE. Queen Victoria adopted Buckingham Palace as the monarch’s official London residence in 1837 (before that it was the family home of the sovereign). In the early 17th century, King James VI (of Scotland) and I (of England) had gardens on the site with mulberry trees to feed silkworms, and when these fell into disuse, the area became well known for its prostitutes. The first house erected on the property was probably built in 1624 for Sir William Blake, but the present building dates from 1702–5, when John Sheffield, Duke (see PEERAGE) of Buckingham, constructed a three-floor mansion. The residence was purchased in 1762 by King George III, whose eldest son, King George IV, decided that


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a more imposing home was needed for the royal family and commissioned architect John Nash to design a major extension from 1826. When George died in 1830, Nash was dismissed and Edward Blore appointed to finish the project. The completed building has about 600 rooms, most of which are used either as offices or as accommodation for staff. Queen Elizabeth II and Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, occupy 12 rooms in the north wing, facing the 40-acre gardens, and the state apartments (including the ballroom, music room, and throne room) are reserved for formal events, such as banquets for foreign dignitaries. The palace was opened to the public for the first time on 7 August 1993, partly in order to raise funds for repairs to Windsor Castle, which had been damaged by fire the previous year (and partly, perhaps, to help enhance the then-declining public image of the royal family). By 2007, officials were claiming that areas of wall around the inner quadrangle of Buckingham Palace were in need of remedial treatment at a cost of £3 million. See also SECURITY BREACHES, ROYAL FAMILY. THE BUDGET. An annual national review and account of the financial year, the budget is a forecast of government expenditure and income for the coming 12 months and a proposal of changes to national taxes and revenues. Traditionally, it has been presented to Parliament by the chancellor of the exchequer in late March or the early days of April, just before the end of the tax year on 5 April. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s governments also made an “economic statement” to the House of Commons in the fall. From 1993–96, John Major’s administrations moved the budget date to November, with an “economic forecast” in June or July, but Tony Blair returned it to March, with an additional “prebudget report” (which is also known as the “autumn statement” and the “minibudget”) in November or early December. The prebudget report normally reviewed fiscal and financial changes since the previous budget, provided an overview of the national economy, and outlined proposals for tax changes to be made the following year, thus allowing time for the plans to be debated before they were formally presented to Parliament. For many years, chancellors have carried their budget papers to the Commons in a battered red briefcase first used by William Gladstone in 1860. However, in 1997, Chancellor Gordon Brown broke with


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convention and used a new case made by industrial trainees from his Scottish parliamentary constituency. See also PARLIAMENT ACTS (1911 and 1949);. BUILDING SOCIETY. Building societies operate in a manner similar to that of savings and loan organizations in the United States. They date from 1774, when the first society was founded in Birmingham, and are owned and organized by their members. In their initial form, they provided a means for manual workers to buy their own home by pooling savings; when each member of the syndicate had a house, the society was wound up. From the 1830s, however, permanent societies became more common, with new members joining as older ones left, and by the 20th century, these institutions were commonly used as a means of building up savings as well as a source of mortgages. During the 1980s, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s governments made numerous changes to the laws governing the British banking industry, and those contained in the Building Societies Act of 1986 allowed the societies to expand their services and operate like retail banks. As a result, many came under pressure to “demutualize” so that they could issue shares and allow members to make a profit (as an encouragement, members were promised a cash windfall of several hundred pounds if they agreed). The Abbey National Building Society demutualized in 1989, with others following, but many managements became concerned that carpetbaggers were investing in societies then campaigning for demutualization simply in order to make a quick profit, so most societies changed their rules in the late 1990s, preventing new members from getting windfalls, and the rate of conversion slowed. Even so, of the hundreds of societies founded in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, only about 60 were left by the early 21st century. The largest by far is the Nationwide, which, following its acquisition of the Portman Building Society in 2006–7, had £150 billion under management and was the country’s second-largest mortgage provider after Halifax Bank of Scotland plc. BURGH. In Scotland, the burghs provided the territorial basis of urban local government for more than 800 years, but they were swept away in 1975, replaced by a system of regional and district councils


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(see LOCAL GOVERNMENT, SCOTLAND). However, 66 settlements with the status of royal burgh (that is, a burgh that had been granted a royal charter) retained their title solely for ceremonial purposes. See also BOROUGH. BUTLER REVIEW. In February 2004, following revelations that Iraq did not possess weapons of mass destruction and amid criticism that the Hutton Inquiry (which investigated the suicide of Dr. David Kelly, a British member of the United Nations’ weapons inspection team in Iraq) was simply an exculpation of government ministers, Prime Minister Tony Blair was pressured into conducting a formal inquiry into the nature and reliability of intelligence used to justify an invasion of Iraq on 20 March 2003. The committee, headed by Lord Butler of Brockwell, reported on 14 July 2004, concluding that much of the information provided by the Secret Intelligence Service was “unreliable” and that data received from another (unnamed) country’s secret service was “seriously flawed” but that there was “no evidence of deliberate distortion,” even though judgments “went to (although not beyond) the outer limits of the intelligence available.” A week later, during a sixhour House of Commons debate on the review, Blair admitted to errors of judgment but claimed that the decision to launch a war was justified. See also JOINT INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE (JIC). BY-ELECTION. When a member of Parliament dies or vacates a seat in the House of Commons during the lifetime of a Parliament, a by-election is held in his or her constituency so that a replacement can be appointed. The result of the poll is more often seen as a reflection of local issues or a protest vote against the incumbent government than would be the case at a general election, and voter turnout is usually low, with more ballots cast for fringe political parties than at the national elections. See also ELECTORAL SYSTEM.

– C – THE CABINET. The cabinet is the United Kingdom’s principal policymaking body. Its members (all of whom are appointed by the


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prime minister) head the government’s largest departments, are members either of the House of Commons or of the House of Lords, and may be removed from office at any time (a change in cabinet membership is known as a “reshuffle”). They are collectively responsible for every decision made and are answerable to Parliament for those decisions, so individuals who disagree strongly with a particular policy are expected to resign, as Robin Cook (leader of the House of Commons and lord president of the council) did when Britain opted to support the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. While Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and John Major were in office, the cabinet met twice each week, but under Tony Blair, the meetings were reduced to one Thursday morning session that lasted for as little as half an hour—a practice implying that most decisions were made by committees (or by the prime minister) with little discussion of issues at full meetings of the ministers. According to some observers, that reflected a trend for prime ministers to adopt a role more akin to that of a U.S. president than to the traditional British model of “first among cabinet equals,” with the result that the role of the cabinet as a policymaking body was decreasing and the role of the prime minister was correspondingly enlarging. In 2007, Gordon Brown, the incoming prime minister, professed that he wanted a return to genuine cabinet government, but some critics suggested that was unlikely because intellectually he dominated his colleagues. See also CABINET OFFICE; GREAT OFFICES OF STATE; PRIVY COUNCIL; SHADOW CABINET. The names of individuals who served in cabinets appointed by Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher (1979–90), John Major (1990–97), Tony Blair (1997–2007), and Gordon Brown (2007– ) are listed in the appendix. CABINET OFFICE. Traditionally, the Cabinet Office has provided a secretariat for the prime minister by providing administrative support for cabinet committees. During Margaret Thatcher’s administrations, however, its role broadened, so it now coordinates strategy and policy across government departments. It operates as a number of units (for example, the civil contingencies secretariat focuses on creating an infrastructure that allows government to function in times of crisis, and the corporate development group concentrates on measures that will improve the efficiency of the civil service).


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The Cabinet Office, which is a government department in its own right, also supervises the work of the Office of Public Sector Information. Its organization is the responsibility of the cabinet secretary, who also acts as head of the civil service. The most recent holders of the post have been Sir Robert Armstrong (1979–88), Sir Robin Butler (1988–98), Sir Richard Wilson (1998–2002), Sir Andrew Turnbull (2002–5), and Sir Gus O’Donnell (2005– ). O’Donnell, the youngest of five children in a family with an Irish Catholic heritage, is an economist by training and has a reputation for informality. He has experience of work at the British embassy in Washington, D.C., the International Monetary Fund, the Treasury, and the World Bank. CAMERON, DAVID WILLIAM DONALD (1966– ). David Cameron succeeded Michael Howard as leader of the Conservative Party in 2005. The son of Ian and Mary Cameron, he was born on 9 October 1966 and educated at Eton College and Oxford University, eventually graduating with a first-class honors degree in politics, philosophy, and economics. He worked for the party’s research department from 1988–92 and served as a special advisor to the Treasury (1992–93) and the Home Office (1993–94) before moving to Carlton Communications (a media company) as head of corporate affairs. In 2001, he entered the House of Commons as the member of Parliament (MP) for Witney. Cameron’s rapid rise to the leadership surprised some observers, who felt that his “silver spoon” education, his aloofness, and his apparent lack of commitment to any core aspect of Conservative policy were unlikely to endear him to the electorate. However, many activists wanted a youthful leader who could appeal to younger voters and a rousing speech at the Tories’ annual conference helped rally waverers to his cause. Allegations that he may have taken illegal drugs while he was an undergraduate threatened his candidacy (he refused to deny the claims, arguing that what he did before becoming an MP was irrelevant to his suitability for the leadership), but he weathered the storm as his champions publicized his work for the disabled (his elder son, Ivan, suffers from cerebral palsy and epilepsy). As leader, Cameron’s initial tasks were to unite a party fragmented by differences over membership of the European Union and immigration, to reclaim some of the political middle ground commandeered


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by the Labour Party during the 1990s, and to counteract the public image of the Conservatives as an uncaring organization largely devoted to the welfare of the wealthy. Describing himself as a modern, compassionate conservative who was fed up with the “Punch and Judy politics of Westminster,” he emphasized that environment, international development, and quality of life were issues that concerned the modern electorate. Within months, some public opinion polls were suggesting that he was more popular than Prime Minister Tony Blair, but critics, including many within his own party, claimed that he valued style more than substance and resented the policy move from a traditional Conservative focus on the economy. By 2006, newspapers such as The Guardian and the Sunday Times were pointing out that a high proportion of the people Cameron had appointed as front-bench spokesmen for the opposition had attended prestigious English public schools and were thus unrepresentative of the British population. The following year, when Gordon Brown succeeded Blair as prime minister, the opinion polls showed that the Conservatives had lost their lead over Labour, and the British Broadcasting Corporation reported that some of the party’s MPs were seeking a vote of “no confidence” in Cameron but by the autumn he appeared to have regained the lost ground. CAMILLA, DUCHESS OF CORNWALL (1947– ). The long-time companion and confidante of Prince Charles, Camilla Parker Bowles was born in London on 17 July 1947 to Major Bruce Shand and his wife, Rosalind. Raised on a country estate in the County of Sussex (where she developed a passion for fox hunting), she was educated at Queen’s Gate School in London and attended finishing schools in Switzerland and France—an upbringing that honed self-confidence in an environment of wealth and privilege. She met the shy, somewhat retiring prince at a polo match in 1971 and, by all accounts, took the initiative in developing the relationship. She is a descendant of Alice Keppel, who had an affair with King Edward VII, Charles’s greatgreat-grandfather; apparently, during a dance in a nightclub, Camilla asked the prince, “My great-grandmother was your great-great-grandfather’s mistress so how about it?” They were seen together regularly until 1973, when, according to some accounts, Charles decided to concentrate on his naval career and, according to others, Camilla be-


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came convinced that he would never propose. While the prince was in the Caribbean and South America, she accepted an offer of marriage from Andrew Parker Bowles, an army officer, and had two children with him—Tom (born in 1975) and Laura (born in 1979). In 1981, Charles married Diana Spencer, but the friendship with Camilla continued. As his marriage soured, he increasingly turned to Mrs. Parker Bowles for support, but by that time, her relationship, too, was in trouble, and her husband had turned to a mistress. Diana, who referred to Camilla as “the rottweiler,” publicly accused her of enticing Charles away, claiming in a television interview in 1995 that “There were three of us in this marriage so it was a bit crowded.” On the other hand, Charles’s supporters claim that Diana became paranoid about his friendship with Camilla and that there was no impropriety until the marriage had irretrievably broken down. Whatever the truth of the matter, Charles admitted in 1994 that he had committed adultery. Mr. and Mrs. Parker Bowles divorced the following year, and Charles and Diana, who had formally separated in 1992, began divorce proceedings in 1996. Camilla was pilloried as a selfish, devious hussy by a public that wanted to believe in a fairy-tale princess, but she maintained a decorous silence, refusing to add to salacious gossip by telling her side of the story. Following Diana’s death in 1997, she kept a low profile, and despite much pressure from official and unofficial advisors, Charles made clear that he would not give her up. By 1998, the prince’s publicity staff was working hard to ensure a more favorable press coverage for Camilla, and in 1999, at a carefully staged event, the couple was photographed leaving the Ritz Hotel in London after attending a birthday party. Media reports suggest that Prince William, Charles’s eldest son, made the moves toward family reconciliation by inviting Camilla to tea. After Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, died in 2002, the prince moved into her former home in Clarence House, London, and Camilla Parker Bowles moved with him. Their relationship condoned, though not necessarily approved of, by Queen Elizabeth II, they eventually married in Windsor on 9 April 2004, with Camilla taking the title duchess of Cornwall and undertaking a formal program of royal duties that have included visits to Egypt and to the United States. See also CAMILLAGATE.


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CAMILLAGATE. In 1974, Richard Nixon was forced to resign the U.S. presidency following an investigation into wiretapping at the Democratic Party’s National Committee headquarters in the Watergate Hotel, Washington, D.C. Since then, journalists in the United Kingdom, as well as those in the United States, have used the suffix -gate as a shorthand way of referring to a political scandal. The Camillagate episode began in 1992 when the Daily Mirror, a tabloid newspaper, was given a tape recording of a sexually explicit telephone conversation between Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles (now Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall) that had taken place on 18 December 1989. The paper printed extracts from the tape on 13 November, and on 9 December, Charles and his wife, Diana, Princess of Wales, announced that they would separate. The full text of the conversation was published around the world on 13 and 14 January the following year. The source of the tape was never revealed. The Mirror’s editors claimed that they received it from a “very ordinary member of the public,” but columnists in other newspapers suggested that the security service was involved, and some journalists speculated that an amateur radio enthusiast had made a chance interception of a cellphone conversation. CAMPAIGN FOR NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT (CND). The CND pressure group was created in 1958 to agitate for worldwide nuclear disarmament. It was supported by many religious leaders, scientists, and students, who shouted its “Ban the Bomb” slogan at annual fourday marches from Trafalgar Square (in central London) to the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston, but declined in influence from 1960, when several of its less pacifist members (including philosopher Bertrand Russell) left to form the more militant Committee of 100, which advocated civil disobedience in furtherance of the disarmament cause. During the period of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative Party governments in the 1980s, CND revived; on 1 April 1983, for example, 70,000 members formed a 14-mile human chain that linked 3 weapons sites, including the American Cruise missile base at Greenham Common. Membership fell again after the breakup of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, but the group still


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claims to be Europe’s biggest, single-issue peace organization and since 2001 has focused increasingly on opposition to British and American policies on the Middle East, arguing that the Iraq War is illegal, immoral, and a crime against humanity. CAMPBELL, ALASTAIR JOHN (1957– ). Campbell choreographed Tony Blair’s relationships with the press from 1994 until 2003, leading some commentators to claim that the prime minister relied too heavily on spin doctors to enhance his government’s image. The son of veterinary surgeon Donald Campbell and his wife, Elizabeth, he was born in Keighley on 27 May 1957 and educated at the City of Leicester Boys School before going to Cambridge University, where he took a degree in modern languages. He ventured into journalism with a pornographic article for Forum magazine while he was still an undergraduate and in 1982 got a full-time job as a sports reporter for the Tavistock Times, a local newspaper based in southwest England. That job was followed by moves to the Daily Mirror and then, still only 28, to the news editorship of Sunday Today, but as the social pressures mounted, he gave way to alcoholism and suffered a nervous breakdown—experiences that, according to some observers, made him more self-disciplined but also more determined to climb the career ladder. After a period of treatment and recuperation, he returned to the Mirror group in 1986 as a political correspondent and then worked for Today, another left-wing paper, before accepting an appointment as Blair’s press secretary in 1994. In that role, he did much to create the image of New Labour, working with Peter Mandelson to orchestrate the campaign that resulted in the party’s victory at the 1997 general election. In Downing Street, Campbell exerted strong personal control over communications in order to portray the new prime minister and his government in the best possible light. His influence on Blair was considerable—so much so that he made enemies of some ministers (who believed that he had more power than they did) and of political opponents (who alleged that he manipulated the press rather than informed it). Famously short tempered, he was sometimes accused of briefing Blair against his cabinet colleagues but always vociferously denied the charges.


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In 2003, as passions rose, British Broadcasting Corporation television reporter Andrew Gilligan alleged that one of his sources in the Ministry of Defence had claimed that Campbell had “sexed up” a report on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction in order to justify an invasion of the country. Campbell demanded an apology, tempers grew more inflamed, and Dr. David Kelly (Gilligan’s informant) committed suicide. The Hutton Inquiry into the affair cleared Campbell of any serious involvement, but he was clearly shaken by the events and on 29 August 2003 announced his resignation. In the months that followed, he spent much time writing and promoting research into leukemia, but by early 2005, he was back in the political fold helping the Labour Party to plan its general election strategy. CAMPBELL, WALTER MENZIES “MING” (1941– ). Ming Campbell succeeded Charles Kennedy as leader of the Liberal Democrats on 2 March 2006 but was forced out of office only 18 months later by colleagues who claimed that he was too old to lead the organization into the next general election. A native of Glasgow and the son of George and Elizabeth Campbell, he was born on 22 May 1941 and educated at Hillhead High School and Glasgow University, where he was a contemporary of Donald Dewar and John Smith, both of whom were destined to hold influential posts with the Labour Party. He graduated with a law degree in 1965 and in his youth demonstrated considerable ability as a track athlete, representing the United Kingdom at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964, breaking the British record for the 100 meters in 1967, and for a while earning a reputation as the “fastest white man on the planet.” Campbell was appointed chairman of the Scottish Liberal Party in 1975 but failed on three occasions to win a House of Commons seat before topping the poll in the North East Fife constituency at the 1987 general election. From 1992, he earned increasing respect throughout the house for his measured views on foreign affairs, supporting such supranational organizations as the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN) but doing so with a critical eye (for example, he chided the EU for being overly autocratic and the UN for failing to solve humanitarian crises). Also, he said Britain’s relationship with the United States should be “one of mature partnership, not one of undue deference.” At home, he argued, the burden


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of taxation should fall most heavily on wealthy individuals and on businesses that negatively affect society, including those that pollute the environment. In 2003, Campbell succeeded Alan Beith as the Liberal Democrats’ deputy leader and in 2006, following Kennedy’s resignation, fought off much younger challengers to win the leadership itself. However, critics sniped incessantly at his performance. Some pointed out that many of his members of Parliament would defend small majorities in their constituencies at the next general election and complained that he was making little impact on the public imagination. Others suggested that he was too old, lacking the energy of the Labour Party’s Tony Blair and Gordon Brown or the Conservative Party’s David Cameron, that there were questions about his health (he fought a successful battle against cancer in 2002), and that he had failed to master domestic political issues in the way that he had mastered foreign policy. Campbell himself denied all of the assertions, pointing out that his doctors had given him a clean bill of health and hinting that some of the carping may have stemmed from his determination to “lead from the front,” Paddy Ashdown fashion, rather than adopt Kennedy’s more consensual style. However, by the fall of 2007, some opinion polls were showing that the Liberal Democrats might win no seats at all at the next general election and that Campbell, who looked much older than his 66 years, was a liability. On 15 October, after consulting with senior colleagues and finding little support, he resigned. CANADA. Britain’s interest in Canada stems from the last years of the 15th century, when English sailors began to explore the east coast of North America, and flourished in 1763 with the acquisition of French possessions in the area. In 1867, the British North America Act (usually known as the Constitution Act in Canada) combined the previously separate colonies of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and the province of Canada into a single dominion within the British Empire, and in 1931, the Statute of Westminster ended the London Parliament’s power to legislate most Canadian affairs, the principal exception being the right to alter the constitution. The British North America (No. 2) Act of 1949 removed most of the residual powers, but complete transfer of authority was delayed because Canada’s


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provinces could not agree on a procedure for effecting constitutional change, with Quebec particularly intransigent. However, in 1982, despite the objections of those members of Parliament who felt that Canadian governments had discriminated against aboriginal peoples and French speakers, the Canada Act gave Canadians complete autonomy. The legislation did not affect the position of Queen Elizabeth II, who continued as head of state independently of her role in the United Kingdom, with Prince Charles as the heir apparent. Unlike the situation in Australia, there is little agitation for the removal of the monarchy, with both major political parties (the Conservative Party of Canada and the Liberal Party of Canada) supporting the status quo. As a result of the long history of contact, there are strong cultural links between Canada and the UK and particularly between the east coast of Canada and Scotland; for example, at St. Ann’s in Cape Breton, there is a Gaelic College teaching classes in Scottish dance, language, and music, and there are several renowned Canadian pipe bands that sport provincial or local tartans. Commercial contacts are also strong. The UK is the second-largest foreign investor in Canada after the United States, with more than 650 British-owned companies operating, many in financial services. It is also Canada’s third-largest export market, with precious metals, machinery, and aerospace products the major commodities traded. Canada usually ranks about 11th as a foreign trading partner for the UK, taking British machinery and pharmaceuticals. CANAL TRANSPORT. Most of Britain’s canals were built during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, when unsurfaced roads were inadequate for the transport of raw materials and manufactured goods, such as the china made in Josiah Wedgwood’s factory at Stoke-onTrent. The railroads took much of their freight from the 1840s, and the roads added to the competition from the 1930s, but even so, canals were significant carriers of bulky goods until after World War II. Although the network was taken into state control in 1948, it suffered from lack of investment and, by 1965, stretched to only about 2,000 miles, half its length during its early-19th-century heyday. However, increased leisure time and greater affluence led to a resur-


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gence of interest in waterways as sources of recreation. Volunteer groups restored several derelict canals (such as the Kennet and Avon, which connects Reading with Bristol), providing facilities for hiking, fishing, and other activities, as well as for boating. By the 1990s, British Waterways (the public corporation that manages the network) was making a case for increased funding, citing the economic, environmental, and social benefits that could be derived from restoration work, and in 1999, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott committed the government to a £250-million program of improvements. The following year, British Waterways published Waterways for Tomorrow, outlining its plans for developing the use of canals. The main emphasis was on recreation, but planners expressed the hope that congestion on the roads and public concern about pollution would lead to an increase in commercial activity as well. Currently, the canals carry less than 1 percent of all the freight transported in the United Kingdom. CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. Judicial death by hanging was common in Britain from at least the 5th century and by the end of the 18th century was the ultimate punishment for more than 200 crimes (50 of which were related to poaching or theft). However, the 1965 Murder (Abolition of the Death Penalty) Act limited offenses punishable by death to piracy with violence, treason, and certain misconducts (such as mutiny) in the armed forces. Technically, execution was possible in Ulster until the passage of the Northern Ireland (Emergency Powers) Act of 1973, but it was never invoked. In 1998, the Crime and Disorder Act made treason and piracy noncapital offenses, and later the same year, Parliament ratified the sixth protocol of the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibited the use of the death penalty except during war or at times when war seemed imminent. The Human Rights Act, which also reached the statute books in 1998, removed capital punishment from the list of penalties available to military courts, and in 2003, the United Kingdom signed the European Convention on Human Rights’ 13th protocol, which outlawed the death sentence in all circumstances. The last person sentenced to capital punishment in the United Kingdom and its crown dependencies was Anthony Teare, who on


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10 July 1992 was condemned to death on the Isle of Man for murdering a young woman. He appealed to the Manx Court, which ruled the conviction unsafe and ordered a retrial. In 1994, Teare was found guilty for a second time, but by then, the laws had changed, and hanging had been removed from the island’s criminal code, so he received a life sentence. CARDIFF. The capital of Wales, Cardiff lies some 150 miles west of London on the north bank of the River Severn. It flourished during the 19th century when John Stuart, marquess (see PEERAGE) of Bute, risked the bulk of his considerable fortune on the development of harbor facilities for the export of coal mined in the Rhondda Valleys to the north. By 1887, Cardiff was the world’s largest coalexporting port, with ancillary industries, such as chemical production, shipbuilding, and steelmaking adding to the economic mix and turning the city into one of the major foci of the industrial revolution in Britain. During the 20th century, however, the export trade declined (the tonnage of coal dispatched fell from 10.5 million in 1913 to only 250,000 in 1963), the steelworks closed, and the companies that depended on them had to shut their doors. Cardiff’s designation as the Welsh capital in 1955 was the catalyst that changed the economic structure, proving a spur to the growth of services while manufacturing languished. The city became the base for the United Kingdom government’s activities in Wales, enhancing its traditional roles in the administration of justice, higher education, and local government and providing a wider range of employment than was possible in the traditionally male-dominated port industries. By contrast, the 2,700 acres of dockland became increasingly derelict, covered by buildings nobody wanted, until the process of decline was arrested by the creation of a development corporation in 1987. The corporation was given government permission to build a three-quarter-mile barrage that converted the tidal bay into a freshwater lake. In one of Europe’s largest urban regeneration schemes, it worked with public and private interests to build offices, leisure facilities, and some 6,000 new homes, creating 30,000 construction jobs and 17,000 posts in the firms that moved to the site. In the early years of the 21st century, about one third of Cardiff’s workforce was employed in public administration, health, or educa-


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tion provision and one fifth in financial services. Only 1 person in 10 had a manufacturing job, and the greatest growth was in media activities and call centers. At the time of the decennial census in 2001, the city had a population of 305,000 and provided a base for Cardiff University, the National Assembly for Wales, the National Museum of Wales, and Welsh National Opera. The Millennium Stadium, completed in 1999 at a cost of £130 million, is the first sports stadium in the UK to have a retractable roof and houses major rugby, football, and speedway events as well as pop concerts. CAREY, GEORGE LEONARD (1935– ). In 1991, George Carey became the 103rd archbishop of Canterbury and the first in modern times not to graduate from Oxford or Cambridge Universities. The eldest of the five children of George and Ruby Carey, he was born in Bow, one of London’s east-end suburbs, on 13 November 1935. The family was not wealthy (Carey senior was a hospital porter), and young George did not distinguish himself at school, but after a spell as an office boy with the London Electricity Board and service in the Royal Air Force, he decided to become a priest, gaining entry to the University of London and the London College of Divinity and graduating in 1962. After four years as a curate at St. Mary’s Church in Islington, North London, he taught at Oak Hill Theological College (1966–70) and St. John’s College, Nottingham (1970–75), before returning to pastoral duties as vicar at St. Nicholas Church, Durham. In 1982, he was appointed principal of Trinity College, Bristol, and in 1987 became Bishop of Bath and Wells. Normally considered something of a liberal in Anglican politics, Carey was a staunch supporter of environmental causes and championed the case for the ordination of women priests in the Church of England, but he also claimed that homosexuality was incompatible with biblical teaching and in 2004 castigated Muslim moderates for failing to denounce suicide bombers. When he retired in 2002, commentators suggested that his major achievement was to hold the church together at a time when it was threatened by conflicts between traditional and reformist elements. He was raised to the peerage as Baron Carey of Clifton the same year. Carey’s retirement has not been quiet. He has consistently opposed the blessing of gay partnerships in church and in 2004 condemned


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Islamic states for failing to promote democracy. Then in 2006, in a speech at Virginia Theological Seminary that several newspapers interpreted as an attack on Rowan Williams, his successor, he said that when he left his post, the Anglican Church was “in good heart,” but that by the time of his address, it was “difficult to say in what way we are now a communion.” CASH FOR HONORS. The last 18 months of Tony Blair’s tenure as prime minister were blighted by allegations that officials of the Labour Party, which he led, had promised peerages to wealthy individuals in return for large loans to the organization. The claims first surfaced in the late winter and early spring of 2006, as newspapers reported that members of the House of Lords Appointments Committee, which assesses the suitability of individuals nominated for life peerages, were concerned that several of the people proposed by Blair were on the list because of their willingness to offer financial support. Angus MacNeil, a Scottish National Party representative in the House of Commons, lodged a complaint with Scotland Yard, pointing out that under the terms of the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act of 1925, the sale of peerages was illegal. The police pursued inquiries with several members of the main political parties and in May arrested Desmond Smith, a former government advisor. Two months later, Lord Levy, one of Labour’s most active fund-raisers, was also arrested. Christopher Evans (the head of a successful biotechnology company) followed in September and Ruth Turner (director of government relations at 10 Downing Street) in January 2007. On 26 January 2007, Blair was interviewed by the police, who were following up an earlier interview that had taken place on 14 December the previous year. At the time, police representatives said that the prime minister was being questioned as a witness, but later in the year, Channel Four Television’s news team reported that the authorities had originally wanted to conduct the questioning under caution (implying that Blair was suspected of criminal activity). Blair had responded that in those circumstances, he would have to resign the prime minister’s post, so the police reconsidered. In late April, the police files were sent to the Crown Prosecution Service, which determines who should faces charges in English and


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Welsh courts, and in July, that body announced that it would take no action because the police had been unable to find direct evidence of agreements that peerages would be given in return for loans. Blair confirmed knowledge of the loans but denied that any lender had been offered a seat in the House of Lords in return for financial assistance. However, commentators suggested that his involvement in the investigation had undermined his authority as prime minister and contributed to his decision to resign the office in June 2007. CASH FOR QUESTIONS. In July 1994, the Sunday Times newspaper reported that two Conservative Party members of Parliament (MPs)—Graham Riddick and David Tredinnick—had each agreed to accept £1,000 in return for asking questions in the House of Commons. The financial inducement had been offered by a journalist posing as an investor in a drugs company. Betty Boothroyd (the speaker of the House of Commons) appointed a committee of inquiry that reported that while an offer of payment to ask a question was not of the same character as an offer of payment in return for voting in a particular way, it was nevertheless dishonorable. Three months later, The Guardian printed a claim that two other Conservative MPs—Neil Hamilton and Tim Smith—had accepted £2,000 in return for asking questions on behalf of Mohammed AlFayed (the owner of Harrods department store in London and father of Dodi Al-Fayed, who was killed with Diana, Princess of Wales, when their car crashed in Paris in 1997). Smith admitted accepting money (though not in the way the paper had described), but Hamilton launched a libel action, which was withdrawn in 1996. The following year, an investigative committee acting on behalf of MPs and headed by Sir Gordon Downey (a senior civil servant) reported that the Guardian’s specific allegations were unfounded but that even so there was “compelling evidence” that Hamilton had received cash payments from Al-Fayed’s employees. The “cash for questions” affair was one of several scandals that increased pressure on Prime Minister John Major’s government (see also, for example, AITKEN, JONATHAN WILLIAM PATRICK [1942– ]) and fed allegations of a climate of sleaze in politics. The incident led to the Nolan Reports on standards in public life and in turn to the establishment of a Register of Members’ Interests, on


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which MPs are required to note all sources of funds and gifts, and the appointment of a commissioner for public appointments, who monitors MPs’ activities. It also sounded the death knell for the prime minister’s Back to Basics campaign. CELTIC FRINGE. When the Romans invaded Britain in 43 AD, they pushed the native Celtic peoples northward and westward into the most topographically and climatically inhospitable areas, a process that continued during Anglo-Saxon times (c. 450–1066). The term Celtic fringe is used as a shorthand means of referring to the areas of Ireland, Scotland, southwest England, and Wales, where they found refuge. During the period of Conservative Party government from 1979 until 1997, voters in those parts of the country proved most resistant to the policies of Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and John Major, so the phrase was often used disparagingly by supporters of those administrations. CENSUS. Population censuses have been carried out in the United Kingdom every 10 years since 1801 (except for 1941 during World War II). In England and Wales, they are supervised by the Office for National Statistics, in Scotland by the General Register Office, and in Ulster by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. The early surveys were simple counts of the number of people in an area, but since 1841, detailed personal information has been collected on questionnaires that the head of every household is legally required to complete (failure to do so can attract a £1,000 fine). Over the years, however, questions and definitions change, causing problems for researchers. For example, the “ethnic origin” categories differed in 1991 and 2001, to the chagrin of scholars working on changes in the immigrant population. Also, the 2001 census inquired about religious adherence for the first time since 1851 (and some 390,000 respondents claimed that they were Jedi knights). The results of the counts are published at various scales from national level to “enumeration districts” that contain only a few homes. Much of the material published, including historical material, can be accessed through the Internet. CHANCELLOR OF THE DUCHY OF LANCASTER. The holder of this government post is responsible to the monarch, who is also


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duke or duchess (see PEERAGE) of Lancaster, for the efficient management of the duchy estates. However, those responsibilities are delegated to a deputy, so the post is in effect a sinecure. Prime ministers take advantage of the minimal duties to allocate other tasks. In John Major’s administration, for instance, William Waldegrave was given responsibility for implementation of the Citizen’s Charter, and under Tony Blair, Alan Milburn was placed in charge of the Labour Party’s 2005 general election campaign. CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER. Historically, the chancellor of the exchequer has had responsibility for managing the nation’s economic affairs, exercising control over monetary as well as fiscal matters. The office dates from the 13th century (the exchequer was a large cloth, patterned much like a chess board, on which counters were placed to indicate the monarch’s wealth) but took its present form in 1827, when the holder became second lord—and in practice, head—of the Treasury, with the prime minister as first lord. The chancellor’s official London residence is at 11 Downing Street, next to the home of the prime minister, but incumbents also have use of Dorneywood, a 45-room mansion in Buckinghamshire. Sir Geoffrey Howe (1979–83), Nigel Lawson (1983–89), and John Major (1989–90) occupied the post in Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s governments. Major, when he succeeded Mrs. Thatcher, appointed Norman Lamont (1990–93) and Kenneth Clarke (1993–97). Gordon Brown (1997–2007) was chancellor in all of Tony Blair’s cabinets and, when he became prime minister himself, offered the job to Alistair Darling (2007– ), a close friend and former Treasury colleague. See also THE BUDGET; GREAT OFFICES OF STATE. CHANNEL FIVE TELEVISION. Channel Five was Britain’s fifth national terrestrial television channel. It began broadcasting in 1997 and quickly earned a reputation for low-budget schedules that concentrated on soccer, movies, and late-night pornography (alliteratively and memorably described by Dawn Airey, then-director of programming and later the company’s chief executive, as a menu of “football, films, and fucking”). However, an increase in funds, a change in emphasis, and creative use of talent led to some highly praised documentaries (particularly on arts and science themes) and


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to the purchase of popular American series (such as Law and Order) that brought increased audiences. Branding itself as Five, the channel also won several niche markets (for example, by providing live, latenight coverage of U.S. baseball, basketball, football, and ice hockey events that appeal to young male viewers); these help it maintain advertising revenue, even though its overall market share is significantly lower than those of the other terrestrial broadcasters. CHANNEL FOUR TELEVISION. In the early 1980s, British residents could view programs on only three channels of their television sets, two of them broadcast by the British Broadcasting Corporation and one by Independent Television (ITV). However, in 1981, after a lengthy debate between proponents of commercial and public service broadcasting, Parliament approved the creation of a publicly owned channel—Channel Four—that would be financed through advertisements but would provide innovative, high-quality productions appealing to tastes and interests not generally catered for by ITV. On occasion, the efforts to appeal to minorities have brought criticisms of tastelessness—the programs The Truth about Gay Sex in 2002 and The World’s Biggest Penis in 2006 were typical of the broadcasts that annoyed conservative viewers—but Channel Four undoubtedly did much to broaden the limits of acceptability in latenight viewing. Also, by purchasing work from other producers rather than relying solely on its own programs, it injected vitality into the British filmmaking industry; for example, it commissioned Four Weddings and a Funeral in 1993, The Madness of King George in 1994, and Trainspotting in 1996, all of them box-office successes. By the early part of the 21st century, the schedule had become more mainstream, partly through the popularity of such imported American shows as ER and Friends, but the Broadcasting Act of 2003 required the channel to return to its roots, at least in part, by focusing on innovation, emphasizing creative educational programming, and reflecting a culturally diverse society. Channel Four broadcasts throughout England, Northern Ireland, and Scotland. In addition, it operates several subscription channels showing horse racing, light entertainment, movies, and quiz shows. Its counterpart in Wales is S4C (Sianel Pedwar Cymru, or Channel Four Wales), which includes Welsh language programs in its output.


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CHANNEL ISLANDS. The Channel Islands lie in the English Channel some 10–30 miles off the coast of France. Politically, they are divided into the Bailiwick of Guernsey (which consists of the inhabited islands of Alderney, Guernsey, Herm, Jetou, Lihou, and Sark) and the Bailiwick of Jersey (with Jersey the only inhabited island). Together, they have a land surface of approximately 75 square miles and a population of about 162,000 (2007). The bailiwicks are both crown dependencies, governing their domestic affairs but ceding responsibility for defense and foreign affairs to the government of the United Kingdom. Citizens hold British passports and accept the British monarch as their head of state but do not elect representatives to the House of Commons. Because the islands remain outside the European Union and regulate their own fiscal affairs, they have become a tax haven, with financial services the mainstay of their economy. Horticulture and tourism provide additional income. See also LANGUAGE; PRIVY COUNCIL. CHANNEL TUNNEL. Plans for a fixed link across the seas between France and England have been mooted since 1802 and include proposals for bridges, submerged tubes, and tunnels. Britain, however, was suspicious of the intentions of its European neighbors, so early schemes were never pursued, largely because of their potential impact on the security of the realm. In 1882, work actually began on a tunnel at Folkestone (on the English Channel coast some 70 miles southeast of London), but it was soon abandoned. Similar proposals made during the 1960s while the United Kingdom was negotiating entry to the European Economic Community were rejected on the grounds of cost, but in 1984, they surfaced again, and on 12 February 1986 in Canterbury Cathedral, the two governments signed an agreement to build a privately financed, three-tunnel, railroad link from Folkestone to Sangatte. Construction teams worked from both sides, meeting midchannel in December 1990, and an official opening ceremony was held on 6 May 1994, with regular services starting later that year. The tunnel (colloquially known as the Chunnel) is 31 miles long, with some 24 miles under the sea at an average depth of 150 feet, and cost an estimated £12 billion. It is used by Eurostar (a service that carries some 8 million passengers each year between London and


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Avignon, Brussels, Calais, Eurodisney, Lille, Paris, and French ski resorts), the Eurotunnel Shuttle (a vehicle transporting service, previously known as Le Shuttle, that runs between Folkestone and Calais), and freight trains operated jointly by the English, Welsh, and Scottish Railway and the Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français. The project has been controversial for most of its existence. On 18 November 1996, a fire on a train caused damage estimated at £200 million, and from 1999 until 2002, the route was much used by illegal immigrants attempting to flee a Red Cross refugee camp at Sangatte. Then in 2004, the entire board of Eurotunnel (the operating company) was fired by a meeting of angry shareholders following revelations that debts amounted to £6.4 billion and that anticipated traffic levels offered no hope of a speedy reversal of fortune. In August 2006, legal action in the French courts gave the company bankruptcy protection, and in May of the following year, shareholders approved the formation of a new firm to be known as Groupe Eurotunnel, which was backed by several major investment banks, including the American-based Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. CHARLES, PRINCE OF WALES (1948– ). Prince Charles is the eldest child of Queen Elizabeth II and Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Heir to the United Kingdom throne (as well as to those of Australia, Canada, and other commonwealth realms), he was born on 14 November 1948 and christened Charles Philip Arthur George Mountbatten-Windsor. Much of his early life was spent apart from his parents, as his father pursued a naval career and his mother undertook tours abroad, so his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, played a central role in his life, forming a bond that lasted until her death in 2002. At the age of eight, he was sent to Hill House School in London (becoming the first heir apparent to be educated alongside children from families outside the royal circle). From there, he went as a boarder to Cheam School in Berkshire, east of London (1957–62) and later to Gordonstoun School in Scotland (1962–67). A sensitive and introverted child, he hated being away from his parents, suffered from homesickness, and was bullied by more robust classmates, but a period at Timbertop School in Australia from January until Sep-


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tember 1966 seemed to give him some confidence, and he did sufficiently well in examinations to justify places at Cambridge University and University College of Wales, Aberystwyth. His studies were interrupted in 1969, when he was invested prince of Wales at a ceremony in Caernarfon Castle, but he returned to his anthropology and archaeology lectures soon afterward, earning a bachelor’s degree the following year. His formal education completed, Charles spent periods at the Royal Air Force College, Cranwell, and the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, before entering the Royal Navy in 1971. By 1976, when he left the service so that he could devote himself wholly to his civilian duties, he was in command of a coastal mine hunter. A thoughtful, contemplative man, the prince has frequently courted criticism because of his outspoken comments—as when in 1984 he condemned a proposed extension to London’s National Gallery as a “monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much loved and elegant friend”—but through the Prince’s Trust (a charity that he founded in 1976), he has helped more than 400,000 young people in poor inner-city areas to get job training and set up businesses. Also, he has used his high profile to promote Britain and British firms on international tours and has done much to encourage environmental conservation and organic farming. In recent years, most interest in Charles has centered on his marriage and his relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles. In 1977, he met Lady Diana Spencer, and by the summer of 1980, the media were speculating on the possibility of a wedding. As the press comment grew, the duke of Edinburgh told his son to make a decision quickly because a delay would damage Diana’s reputation. Charles, uncertain of his feelings but pressured into making a choice between marriage and ending the friendship, chose the altar. He proposed on 24 February 1981, and the couple was married on 29 July the same year. Within weeks, courtiers were talking of problems. When the new husband and wife returned from their Mediterranean honeymoon, they went straight to the royal home at Balmoral, Scotland, where the prince seemed happier alone in the countryside than in the company of his bride. Their first child, Prince William, was born on 21 June 1982 and their second, Prince Henry (usually known as Prince Harry), on 15 September 1984, but the appearance


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of a family did nothing to prevent marital disintegration. Diana, suffering from eating disorders and suspecting that Charles was conducting a clandestine affair with his old friend, Camilla Parker Bowles, became increasingly unhappy, and the pair drifted apart. By the late 1980s, tabloid newspapers were regularly chronicling accounts of their differences, and in 1992, they separated. Divorce followed in 1996, and on 30 August the following year, Diana was killed in a car accident in Paris. Opinion polls showed that many people blamed the prince for the breakup of the marriage and, indirectly, for Diana’s death, but in the years that followed, views mellowed, and the royal family’s press officers worked hard to improve Charles’s image, concentrating on his role as a single father and his deep affection for Camilla. In 1999, the heir to the throne and Ms. Parker Bowles were photographed leaving a birthday party at the Ritz Hotel in London and after that were seen together with increasing regularity. They were married on 9 April 2005, with Camilla taking the title duchess of Cornwall. See also ANNUS HORRIBILIS; CAMILLAGATE. CHIEF SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY. Since the post was created in 1961, the chief secretary has acted as a junior to the chancellor of the exchequer at the Treasury, with specific responsibility for such behind-the-scenes tasks as determining the extent of public-sector salary increases, negotiating with government departments over budgets, and planning reform of welfare payments. In 2002, Paul Boateng became Britain’s first black cabinet minister when he was appointed to the position by Prime Minister Tony Blair. Three recent holders of the office—John Major (1987–89), Norman Lamont (1989–90), and Alistair Darling (1997–98)—later won promotion to the post of chancellor of the exchequer (and Major went on to become prime minister). Jonathan Aitken, a Major appointee, was chief secretary in 1994–95 but had to resign in the wake of accusations of financial impropriety. CHIEF WHIP. See WHIP. CHILD SUPPORT AGENCY (CSA). Since the end of World War II, divorce rates in the United Kingdom have risen, and increasingly,


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couples are living together without going through the formalities of marriage. As a result, disputes between parents have increased, so by the early 1990s, courts were having difficulty coping with the number of cases listed for hearing. In response, the government created the CSA in 1993, charging it with the assessment, collection, and delivery of maintenance payments so that mothers and fathers who live apart would meet their financial obligations to their children. From its inception, the CSA experienced problems. Computer systems were implemented late and failed to handle the workload, which amounted to some 13 million payments a year. Some critics claimed that the effectiveness of the unit was reduced by an overcomplicated bureaucracy, and official estimates suggested that about 75 percent of all maintenance calculations were wrong. Other commentators pointed out that staff morale was low, so turnover was high, adding to the problems. Several reforms to working methods were implemented but did little to increase confidence in the working of the agency, so in a white paper published in 2006, the government announced plans to replace it with a Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission that would have stronger powers to ensure that financial responsibilities were honored. CHILTERN HUNDREDS. Members of Parliament (MPs) are barred both from resigning their seat in the House of Commons and from accepting a post that brings remuneration from the crown. Therefore, MPs who want to leave between general elections may apply for appointment as steward of the Chiltern Hundreds or steward of the Manor of Northstead, both of which are sinecure positions carrying only notional recompense. The device was first used by John Pitt in 1751; more recently, it has been employed by Neil Kinnock and Peter Mandelson, in 1995 and 2004, respectively, following their appointment as a British commissioner with the European Union. The seat vacated by the departing MP is filled at a by-election. CHURCH OF ENGLAND. The Church of England is the established (or state) church in England. Its head is the monarch, who holds the title of supreme governor and appoints the principal clerics (archbishops, bishops, and deans of cathedrals) on the advice of the prime minister. Geographically, it is formed of two provinces—Canterbury


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(which covers the southern part of the country) and York (which covers the north). Each province is headed by an archbishop, with the archbishop of Canterbury considered the more senior and the leader of the organization. Both of the archbishops, along with 24 senior bishops, have seats in the House of Lords and may take part in debates on any issues raised there. The provinces are divided into 43 dioceses (which send lay and clerical representatives to meetings of the General Synod, the church’s ruling body), and the dioceses in turn are subdivided into parishes. Each parish has a minister, who can be known as the priest, rector, or vicar, and is responsible for the pastoral care of everybody who lives in the area. There are some 25,000 licensed clergy, of whom 9,500 received a stipend. Attendances at Christmas Day services numbered some 2.6 million at the beginning of the 21st century, and the national census in 2001 indicated that 72 percent of respondents believed themselves to be Christian, but records show a history of declining interest in the formalities of worship and ritual. For example, the number of marriages in the Church of England fell from 111,200 in 1984 to 86,000 in 1994 and then to 54,700 in 2001. Also, average attendances at Sunday services fell from 1,063,000 in 2000 to 852,000 in 2006. Partly as a consequence, congregations are aging and, because they are smaller, put increasing pressure on running costs. In addition, internal disputes over the ordination of women priests (approved in 1994) and over moral issues (particularly homosexuality) have added to friction between evangelical and Anglo-Catholic factions, leading some commentators to suggest that church leaders may have difficulty preventing schismatic groups from breaking away. In 2007, church authorities announced that they anticipated a growing labor crisis, with the number of full-time clergy predicted to fall within 10 years to just 7,000—less than half the figure in the late 1950s. Some dioceses planned to solve the problem by using permanent clergy to lead teams of unpaid volunteers. See also CAREY, GEORGE LEONARD (1935– ); DEFENDER OF THE FAITH; WILLIAMS, ROWAN DOUGLAS (1950– ). CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. The Church of Scotland traces its roots to the mid-16th century, when the Scottish Parliament outlawed the celebration of Roman Catholic mass, declared that the pope had no authority in the country, and established a new church governed by


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committees rather than by an individual. The basic units of organization are the 1,200 parishes. Each has a church, whose affairs are managed by a Kirk Session of elders (elected representatives of the congregation) led by the minister. The parishes are grouped geographically into 45 presbyteries (with, in addition, one for England, one for Europe, and one for Jerusalem and Tiberias). All of the parish ministers in the presbytery’s area plus an equal number of elders meet regularly to establish policy relating to church affairs in the region. At the national level, the senior court is the General Assembly, which convenes annually in Edinburgh and has authority to make laws that govern the church’s activities. It is chaired by a moderator, who is appointed annually (in 2004, Dr. Alison Elliot became the first woman to hold the position). In 1921 and 1925, Parliament conceded sovereignty over spiritual matters to the General Assembly, so although the Church of Scotland is the established (or state) church in Scotland, the monarch has no authority over it (in England, the monarch is the supreme governor of the Church of England). In the 2001 census, some 42 percent of Scots claimed an affiliation to the church, but in 2007, formal membership numbered only some 571,000 (less than half the number of the 1950s), and only about 200,000 people attended services each Sunday—a drop of 19 percent since 2000. Declining congregations caused financial problems, leading church authorities to consider closing some of the 21 places of worship outside Scotland and to reduce social work activities, which include provision of homes for elderly supporters. CITIZEN’S CHARTER. A “programme for a decade” introduced by Prime Minister John Major in a white paper in July 1991, the citizen’s charter was intended to raise standards of public service provision by making providers more accountable to their clients through the introduction of compensation for travelers affected by the cancellation of railroad services, guaranteed time limits for National Health Service patient consultations, performance-related pay for government employees, publication of rankings showing schools’ success in preparing students for national examinations, and similar measures. The effort to ensure that market-oriented agencies worked to measurable standards may have helped Major win his small, 21seat majority at the 1992 general election and became one of his


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more enduring legacies, continued by the incoming Labour Party government from 1997. CITIZENSHIP. The British Nationality Act of 1948 conferred British citizenship on all British Commonwealth (see COMMONWEALTH OF NATIONS) subjects and recognized their right to live and work in the United Kingdom. However, concern about rising levels of immigration led to tighter controls over admission to the country during the 1960s and 1970s and then to a major revision of arrangements in 1981, when the British Nationality Act introduced multiple categories of citizenship, including British citizens, British Overseas Territory citizens (most of whom also have had full British citizenship since the passage of the British Overseas Territories Act in 2002), British overseas citizens, British nationals (overseas), British subjects, and British protected persons. Only members of the first category have a right of abode in the UK. Citizenship can be acquired by the following: 1. Lex Solis (Latin for “by the law of the territory”)—People who qualify under this category were born in the UK. 2. Lex Sanguinis (Latin for “by the law of blood”)—Individuals born outside the UK may be considered citizens if one parent is a British citizen by birth. 3. Naturalization—Citizenship may be acquired by application under the terms of legislation relating to nationality. Approval is at the discretion of the home secretary and is dependent on factors such as employment and evidence of good character. 4. Registration—Individuals who have indefinite leave to remain in the UK may apply for citizenship after five years’ residence in the country. (A variation of this clause allows Ghurka soldiers who served with the British Army and were demobilized after July 1997 to apply for citizenship. The amendment was made in recognition of Nepalese contributions to the defense of UK interests.) 5. Adoption—Children may become citizens by adoption if one parent is a British citizen and if the adoption order is made in a UK court. In 2003, the government announced that every successful applicant for citizenship would have to attend a public conferral ceremony


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(the first of these was held on 26 February 2004 in the presence of Charles, Prince of Wales) and make declarations that “I will give my loyalty to the United Kingdom and respect its rights and freedoms” and that “I will observe [the United Kingdom’s] laws faithfully and fulfil my duties and obligations as a British Citizen.” Plans were also laid for a test that would require applicants to demonstrate fluency in English and answer questions on British history and ways of life. In January 2005, a further announcement indicated that there would be a “Citizenship Day” every October in an effort to promote inclusive citizenship. CITY. In England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, a city is an urban area that has been known as a city since “time immemorial” (that is, since before the beginnings of legal history) or that has received incorporated city status (through the issue of letters patent or a royal charter) because it has a cathedral, a royal connection, or a university; because of its commercial status; or for other reasons. In Scotland, the designation was introduced by King David I in the 12th century and was originally applied to all towns with a cathedral, irrespective of their size. In modern times, the award of the designation is a royal prerogative, exercised by the monarch on the advice of ministers, and brings no privileges apart from the right to use the title. In 1992, Sunderland (an industrial community in northeast England) was awarded city status to mark the 40th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s accession to the throne. Two ancient seats of bishoprics—Armagh and St. David’s—followed in 1994; St. David’s has fewer than 2,000 citizens, indicating that settlements do not need large populations in order to win city designation. In 2000 to celebrate the millennium, Brighton and Hove, Inverness, and Wolverhampton were created cities following a competition that attracted 39 entries. Then, in 2002, the golden jubilee of the queen’s accession to the throne was marked by the addition of Lisburn, Newport, Newry, Preston, and Stirling to the list. However in 1998, Rochester lost its designation when it became part of the new Medway local government area. In 2007, there were 66 cities in the United Kingdom—50 in England, 6 in Scotland, 5 in Northern Ireland, and 5 in Wales. See also ABERDEEN; BELFAST; BIRMINGHAM; CARDIFF; CITY


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OF LONDON; EDINBURGH; GLASGOW; LIVERPOOL; LONDON; LONDONDERRY; MANCHESTER; NEWCASTLE-UPONTYNE. CITY OF LONDON. The City covers 677 acres (or just over 1 square mile) at the heart of the British capital and has a permanent population of only some 7,200 people, most of them residents in the Barbican housing development or security workers in offices. During the medieval period, the accumulation of wealth and prestige associated with the presence of royalty made London the richest city in England. Frequently, civic leaders loaned money to monarchs who wanted to pursue military campaigns or other expensive projects and in return were rewarded with trading privileges that allowed them to add to their wealth. Financial dealings are still the major commercial activity, employing about 300,000 people, the vast majority of whom commute from suburbs at the outskirts of the metropolitan area. About 40 percent of that workforce has jobs with foreign companies (there are some 250 nonBritish banks in the City of London). The impact of the financial institutions on the United Kingdom’s economy is enormous, accounting for about 2.5 percent of the country’s gross national product. The foreign exchange market is by far the world’s largest, with daily deals totaling more than those of New York and Tokyo combined (nearly twice as much trading in the American dollar takes place in London as in the United States). Also, the City is the world’s largest insurance market, accounting for nearly 25 percent of world marine insurance and a similar proportion of aviation insurance, and is the global center for forward trading in gold. Through the London Metal Exchange, it sets world prices for nonferrous metals. See also BANKING; BIG BANG; CORPORATION OF LONDON. CIVIL AVIATION AUTHORITY (CAA). The CAA regulates all aspects of air transport in the United Kingdom, including air space policy, consumer protection, and safety requirements. Formed in 1972, it is a public corporation answerable to the Department of Transport but must cover its costs by levying charges on the groups it regulates. In 2001, despite much protest in Parliament, responsi-


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bility for air traffic control was transferred to the National Air Traffic Service, but even so, that agency must get approval from the CAA before changing its charging structure. See also BRITISH AIRPORTS AUTHORITY (BAA). CIVIL LIBERTIES. Civil liberties are freedoms enjoyed by inhabitants of the United Kingdom and protected by law. They include rights to free speech, liberty, privacy, property ownership, and travel that may not be enjoyed in other parts of the world. In 1998, these rights were expanded by the passage of the Human Rights Act, which incorporated the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights (originally framed in 1950) into British legal systems. In addition, because the UK is a member of the European Union, British authorities must accept the implications of decisions by the European Court of Human Rights. For example, in 1998 the court ruled that legislation on corporal punishment in English and Welsh homes failed to protect children’s rights, and the government responded by modifying the law. Liberties may be curtailed by acts of Parliament or by the Northern Ireland Assembly, the Scottish Parliament, or the National Assembly for Wales; freedom of expression, for instance, is limited by the Public Order Act (1986), which makes incitement to racial hatred a criminal offense. However, pressure groups, such as Liberty (which was founded as the National Council for Civil Liberties in 1934) and Amnesty International, monitor proposed legislative change and mount campaigns against the implementation of measures that may impinge on existing freedoms. In recent years, much of the attention of these organizations has focused on antiterrorist legislation, such as the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act (ATCSA) of 2001, because they say it curtails the freedoms of suspects too drastically (the ATCSA provisions prevent individuals found guilty of crimes from attending appeal proceedings, for example). See also DIPLOCK COURTS; GAY RIGHTS; HOME SECRETARY; PREVENTION OF TERRORISM ACTS (1974–89); RIGHT TO ROAM; ROYAL ULSTER CONSTABULARY (RUC); SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC AND LABOUR PARTY (SDLP); TERRORISM ACT (2000); TERRORISM ACT (2006); THE TROUBLES; ULSTER UNIONIST PARTY (UUP).


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CIVIL LIST. The civil list is the funds raised through taxation that are used to fund the monarch’s duties as head of state, covering the cost of garden parties, official receptions, staff salaries, the upkeep of royal carriages, and similar expenses. The arrangement dates from the 17th century but took its present form in 1761, when King George III agreed to surrender the revenues from the crown estate in return for an annual grant from Parliament. From 1990–2000, Queen Elizabeth II received £7.9 million each year, with an additional £359,000 going to her husband, Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and low rates of inflation coupled with administrative savings allowed her to carry a surplus of £35.3 million into the new millennium. In 2001, the government confirmed that the yearly payments would continue at the same level until 2010, but by middecade, the annual royal expenses had risen to £11.2 million (about 70 percent of it on wages), necessitating transfers from the earlier surplus. Income from the crown estate, at the same time, amounted to £190.8 million. Smaller allowances are also made to other members of the royal family, but the queen reimburses Parliament for these from her own resources. See also PRIVY PURSE; ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. CIVIL PARTNERSHIPS. The Civil Partnership Act of 2004 gave legal recognition to gay unions by specifying rights and responsibilities very similar to those applying to heterosexual marriages. As a result, since December 2005, gay couples have received the same security benefits and paid the same inheritance tax as married couples. They are also treated as married if they want to adopt a child and may have the partnership dissolved by the courts if it breaks down. Both parties to the arrangement must be at least 16 years of age and unmarried. They indicate to the local registrar of births, marriages, and deaths that they want their relationship formalized, then wait for 15 days to allow objectors to show why the partnership should not be recognized (objections have to be made on legal not moral grounds). After that period, the registrar issues permission for the union to be registered. The first partnership was recorded on 4 December 2005 (the waiting period was waived because one party was dying of lung cancer). On the 21st, singer Elton John registered a partnership with David Furnish and Church of England vicar Christopher Wardale with


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Malcolm Macourt, a retired university lecturer. Not everyone approved. The more fundamental church groups opposed the arrangements, registrars in the Outer Hebrides announced that they would refuse to perform ceremonies celebrating the formation of partnerships, and Sir Iqbal Sacranie (the head of the Muslim Council of Britain) claimed both that the new legislation was potentially harmful and that followers of Islam would not be encouraged to take advantage of it. See also GAY RIGHTS. CIVIL RIGHTS. See CIVIL LIBERTIES. CIVIL SERVICE. Civil servants are employees of the crown and thus retain their jobs when governments change. Their primary duties are to give advice and information to ministers and to facilitate the provision of public services. In 1854, the Northcote-Trevelyan Report proposed changing the basis on which they were appointed from one of patronage to one of examination success, with promotion on merit and clear salary grading. The implementation of those recommendations effectively created a service for which workers are recruited and in which they are paid with money voted for the purpose by Parliament. Because they have permanent jobs rather than get their posts by election or gift, they are expected to be anonymous, impartial in decision making, and politically neutral. During the late 1970s, the service, which is organized from the Cabinet Office, was widely perceived to be expensive and inefficient, so Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher saw a reduction in the workforce as a vote winner and cut it from around 730,000 in 1979 to 594,000 in 1985. Then when the downsizing failed to increase administrative effectiveness, the government introduced its Next Steps Program (see EXECUTIVE AGENCY), specifying departmental productivity targets and stressing individual accountability. More recently, during Tony Blair’s administrations, more “special advisors” were recruited, leading some observers to allege that elements of the service had once again become patronage based and therefore not politically independent. In 2006, the civil service numbered some 563,000 people, about 10 percent of Britain’s public service personnel and 2 percent of the whole labor force.


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CLARKE, KENNETH HARRY (1940– ). Clarke, chancellor of the exchequer in Prime Minister John Major’s administration, attempted to win the leadership of the Conservative Party on three occasions and failed each time. The eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Clarke of Nottingham, he was born on 2 July 1940 and educated at Nottingham High School before winning a place at Cambridge University, where he studied law. He stood unsuccessfully at Mansfield in the 1964 and 1966 general elections before entering the House of Commons as the representative for the Rushcliffe constituency in 1970. Clarke was quickly recognized as a skillful politician, serving as parliamentary private secretary to the solicitor general (1971–72), assistant government chief whip (1972), and lord commissioner of the Treasury (1974). While the Labour Party was in power, he acted as the Conservatives’ principal spokesman on social services (1974–76) and on industry (1976–79). He was not initially a supporter of Margaret Thatcher but even so became one of the stars of her cabinet, holding several posts, including minister of health (1982–85), paymaster general, and employment minister (1985–87), chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and minister of trade and industry (1987–88), and secretary of state for health (1988–90). In 1990, when Mrs. Thatcher had clearly lost the confidence of many members of her party, Clarke advised her to resign and, despite supporting Douglas Hurd’s unsuccessful candidacy for the leadership, was retained in the cabinet by her successor, John Major, who appointed him secretary of state for education and science before promoting him to chancellor of the exchequer in 1994. In 1997, following the Labour Party’s landslide general election victory, Major gave up the Conservative leadership. Clarke mounted a challenge for the post but lost out to William Hague (despite being the public’s favorite) and, following Hague’s resignation in 2001, lost again, this time to the relatively unknown Iain Duncan Smith. In 2005, when Michael Howard stepped down, Clarke tried for a third time but at 65 was clearly considered too old by a party looking for a youthful leader. An affable politician with liberal views, a liking for beer, a passion for bird watching and jazz, and a relish for the rough and tumble of parliamentary life, Clarke is widely respected for his ability to deal with high-profile issues, as when he implemented a radical reorganization of the National Health Service in 1988. He was not given


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front-bench responsibilities after the 1997 defeat but returned briefly in 2004 to lead an attack on the Labour Party’s alleged politicization of the civil service. CLAUSE FOUR DEBATE. See NATIONALIZATION. CLEGG, NICHOLAS WILLIAM PETER “NICK” (1967- ). Nick Clegg was elected leader of the Liberal Democrats (LibDems) in December 2007, succeeding Menzies Campbell, to whom he was sometimes accused of disloyalty. The son of Anglo-Russian banker Nicholas Clegg and his Dutch wife Hermance, he was born on 7 January 1967 and educated at Caldicott and Westminster Schools in London, Cambridge University, the University of Minnesota, and the College of Europe in Bruges. For five years from 1994, he worked with the European Union then, in 1999, he was elected to the European Parliament, representing the East Midlands of England and taking opportunities both to promote liberalization of trade (particularly through greater competition in the European telecommunications industry) and to campaign against illegal logging and the use of animals to test the effects of cosmetics. In 2004, he turned to consulting and university teaching, but the following year, reappeared on the political scene by winning Sheffield Hallam for the LibDems at the general election. As early as 1999, Clegg, who speaks five languages fluently, was tipped as a potential high-flier by former party leader Paddy Ashdown. With a considerable talent for public relations (he took a role in a Sheffield pantomime, for example) and a reputation for forging strong links with community groups in his parliamentary constituency, he was made the party's spokesman on European issues in 2005 and on home affairs in 2006, articulating LibDem policies on civil liberties by opposing aspects of the Labour Party government’s antiterrorist legislation, campaigning against overcrowding in prisons and proposing a program on amnesty for illegal immigrants that was praised by The Economist. Undoubtedly, many of the people who voted for Clegg in the leadership election believed that his youthfulness, “green” credentials and concern for community welfare would win back voters who had been wooed into the Conservative Party fold by the modernizing agenda adopted by David Cameron after his appointment as leader


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of that organization. However, some journalists have suggested that he does not respond well to critical questioning, sometimes appearing hesitant, petulant, and exasperated in his responses. Other critics have expressed concern that he failed to give Campbell his full support and say that he might have alienated some potential voters by his claim in a radio interview that he does not believe in God. CLYDE, RIVER. Scotland’s major waterway, the Clyde rises in the hills of the Southern Uplands, flowing north and then west for 106 miles before meeting the Atlantic Ocean. Its upper reaches pass through sheep-grazing land, but the middle of its course, from Crossford to Hamilton, is liable to flood, and the alluvial soils that it has deposited in its broad valley are intensively farmed (the Clydesdale, one of the United Kingdom’s principal draft horses, evolved in this area, and production of greenhouse tomatoes is commercially important). During the 19th century, the final part of its route became the focus of a shipbuilding industry on which much of Britain’s maritime power was based (the luxury liners Queen Elizabeth, Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth II were Clydeside products), and Glasgow, located on both banks, emerged as a major manufacturing center and port, trading in particular with North America. Downstream, on the Firth of Clyde (the river mouth), holiday resorts such as Girvan, Millport, and Rothesay provided escapes for the burgeoning workingclass populations in industrial towns. A network of ferry services still links the major settlements downriver from Glasgow, but most of the shipyards have now closed, forced out of business by foreign competition, and holidaymakers prefer the summer sunshine of Spain and Italy to the less predictable climate of the west of Scotland. However, the waterway, free of the pollution caused by large ships and riparian industries, has become an important recreational resource, with fishing and yachting particularly important. COAL INDUSTRY. At the beginning of the 20th century, coal was Britain’s major source of energy, employing more than 1 million men in pits and mines in central Scotland, on the flanks of the Pennine Hills, and in southern Wales. Over the next 50 years, however, the industry suffered from lack of investment and from the effects of


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two world wars. In 1947, it was nationalized, and government funds channeled through the National Coal Board (NCB) led to technical advances, but even so, electricity, gas, and oil ensured that the market for fuels would be competitive. In 1984, an NCB plan to end production at uneconomic pits sparked off a year-long miners’ strike that brought violence and misery to the coalfields, encouraged many men to leave the industry, and failed to win any sympathy from Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who was determined to limit the power of the trade unions and make British industry more competitive. The closure program gathered momentum over the remainder of the decade, and in 1994, the industry was re-privatized, with UK Coal becoming the major employer. Over the next 10 years, annual output fell from around 50 million tons to 20 million tons and consumption from 70 million tons to 61 million tons. By 2006, some 6,000 employees worked 8 large deep mines, 4 small deep mines, and 34 opencast pits (at the start of the 1984 strike, 180,000 men had worked 169 deep mines alone), with most of the output used by an electricity-generating plant. Recoverable reserves were estimated at 216 million tons (and total reserves at over 1 billion tons), but imported coal is often cheaper than domestic coal, so costs along with government emphases on reducing pollutants emitted by power stations and increasing the proportion of energy produced from renewable sources combine to create uncertainty about the future of the industry. See also SCARGILL, ARTHUR (1938– ). COMBINED LOYALIST MILITARY COMMAND (CLMC). The CLMC was formed in 1991 as an umbrella organization coordinating the activities of three Protestant paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland—the Red Hand Commando, the Ulster Freedom Fighters (see ULSTER DEFENCE ASSOCIATION [UDA]), and the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). It was considered by many writers to be responsible for much of the violence in the province over the next three years, but on 13 October 1994, it responded to a Provisional Irish Republican Army initiative and called for a cease-fire. Reports suggest that the group disintegrated in 1996 when a section of the UVF broke away to form an independent unit.


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COMMAND PAPER. Government documents are placed before Parliament by the ministers who head government departments but formally are published by command of the sovereign and so are known as command papers. They include green papers, international treaties, reports of select committees, and white papers. Each is numbered in sequence and preceded by the abbreviation Cm. A list of all command papers published since 2001 is available at the website of the Office of Public Sector Information (www.opsi.gov.uk/ official-publications/command-papers). Document texts can be viewed at the website of the issuing department or may be obtained in print form from The Stationery Office at 51 Nine Elms Lane, London SW8 5DR. COMMON MARKET. In the United Kingdom, the European Union has been popularly known as the Common Market ever since its formation as the European Economic Community in 1957. COMMONWEALTH OF NATIONS. The British Empire was the largest and most successful imperial system of the 19th century. It reached its maximum territorial extent after World War I, but ambitions for independence in the colonies grew, and in 1926, the Imperial Conference declared that the United Kingdom and its (white) selfgoverning dominions would be equal and autonomous while remaining “freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations.” (The term commonwealth was adopted to expunge any associations with colonialism and empire.) However, the concept of a democracy running a subservient empire continued to be questioned, and eventually, the UK negotiated decolonization of the majority of its possessions, giving them the option of joining the commonwealth as independent states. In order to eradicate the stigma of imperialism, the word British was dropped from the organization’s title in 1949, and a permanent secretariat was established. It remains a remarkably diverse club—a loose collection of free and voluntary associates united by colonial heritage and the English language and dedicated to mutual assistance, liberty of the individual, opposition to colonialism and racial prejudice, and the encouragement of scientific, educational, and economic cooperation. Membership is restricted to countries accepting the aims


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of the commonwealth and, usually, having a past constitutional link with the UK or other member states. The only exceptions have been Mozambique (which entered the commonwealth in 1995 with support from African members but with no constitutional history of linkage to Britain or any of its former colonies) and Cameroon (which was accepted in the same year on the basis of a tiny part of its land area that was once a British trust territory). Though the organization’s significance has reduced in recent decades, as members have focused more strongly on regional links (as the UK has done with the European Union, for example), it remains a useful meeting place for developed and developing nations that have a congruent history. In 2007, it consisted of 51 independent states, which had approximately 1.8 billion citizens—about one quarter of the world’s population. In addition, it includes 14 British Overseas Territories and 10 other dependencies of Australia and New Zealand. Thirty members are republics, 16 are constitutional monarchies recognizing Queen Elizabeth II as their head of state, and 5 have their own monarchies. Since 1979, 13 new members have joined the commonwealth— Kiribati (1979), St. Lucia (1979), St. Vincent and the Grenadines (1979), Vanuatu (1980), Antigua and Barbuda (1981), Belize (1981), the Maldives (1982), St. Kitts and Nevis (1983), Brunei (1984), Namibia (1990), Cameroon (1995), Mozambique (1995), and Nauru (1999). In addition, Pakistan left in 1972 over recognition of Bangladesh’s independence, rejoined in 1989, was suspended in 1999, rejoined in 2004 and was suspended again in 2007. Nigeria (which joined in 1960) was suspended from 1995–99, and Fiji (which originally joined in 1970) left in 1987, rejoined in 1997, was suspended in 2000, reentered the fold in 2001 and was suspended again in 2006. Also, Zimbabwe was admitted in 1980 and suspended in 2002, then withdrew in 2003. See also COMMONWEALTH REALM; GOVERNOR GENERAL; HIGH COMMISSION. COMMONWEALTH REALM. Those independent countries that recognize Queen Elizabeth II as their head of state are known as commonwealth realms. In 2007, there were 16—Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu,


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and the United Kingdom. The most recent additions to the list are Antigua and Barbuda (1981), Belize (1981), and St. Kitts and Nevis (1983). Fiji was formerly a commonwealth realm but became a republic in 1987 following a military coup. Papua New Guinea was formed in 1975 through the union of British New Guinea and German New Guinea; all of the other countries are former British colonies, and all 16 are members of the Commonwealth of Nations. In each realm, apart from the UK, the queen is represented by a governor general, who is appointed on the advice of the country’s prime minister and, in some cases, its legislature. The governor general’s primary function is to carry out the monarch’s ceremonial and constitutional duties, but there may also be occasions when the holder of the post makes political decisions, as in 1975, when Sir John Kerr dismissed Prime Minister Gough Whitlam’s government in Australia. Problems may also arise when the monarch makes a speech that conflicts with the policy of one of her governments, as occurred when the Australian government took issue with aspects of an address delivered by the queen during a visit to Jordan in 1984. As a result of the complications, republican sentiments are regularly expressed in many of the commonwealth realms, but for many people, the concept of a politically neutral head of state is attractive. See also HIGH COMMISSION. COMMUNIST PARTY OF BRITAIN. See COMMUNIST PARTY OF GREAT BRITAIN. COMMUNIST PARTY OF GREAT BRITAIN. The Communist Party of Great Britain was formed in 1920. In its early days, it was strongly supportive of the Soviet Union, but the Russian invasion of Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968 encouraged a more independent political stance. In 1977, a pro-Stalinist faction broke away from the mainstream organization to form the New Communist Party of Britain (which does not contest elections), and in 1988, the remaining hard-line members seceded to form the separate Communist Party of Britain, which advocates a government formed by leftwing Labour Party supporters. In 1991, following the collapse of the communist governments in Eastern Europe, the party reconstituted itself as the Democratic Left,


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deciding not to fight elections and espousing socialist views through its New Times newsletter. Democratic Left itself disbanded in 1999 and reformed as New Politics Network, a think tank specializing in issues relating to mass participation in politics. Unlike its predecessor, it is politically independent. The Communist Party of Great Britain’s name has been assumed by a Leninist group that promotes revolution (rather than democratic change of government) and facilitates cooperation between socialist interests. See also MILITANT TENDENCY. COMMUNITY CHARGE. See POLL TAX. COMPETITION COMMISSION. The commission is an independent body responsible for investigating business mergers, the operation of markets, and the activities of certain industries. Created by the Competition Act of 1998, it replaced the Monopolies and Mergers Commission the following year and acts on the basis of referrals from bodies such as the Office of Fair Trading and from individuals such as the secretary of state for trade and industry. In the case of mergers, a referral is normally made if the new company will control more than 25 percent of the market for a product or service. The commission decides whether the proposed merger will substantially decrease competition and recommends action on the basis of its findings. Members are appointed by the secretary of state, work part time, and are supported by a staff of about 150. CONCORDE. Suggestions that Britain and France could cooperate over the production of a supersonic civil airliner were mooted in 1960, and contracts were signed in 1962. The British prototype, which first flew in 1969, was dogged by escalating costs, but eventually, the first commercial flight was made on 21 January 1976 from London to Bahrain. Journeys on the transatlantic route from London to New York took around three and a half hours, half the time needed by conventional jets, so flying by Concorde, at more than Mach 2 (twice the speed of sound), quickly became de rigueur for business executives and celebrities traveling between the United Kingdom and the United States.


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The plane became the flagship both of British Airways and of Air France but was hardly the commercial success once envisaged. Throughout its life, it was beset by problems, including the 1970s oil crisis, the crash of the Soviet Tupolev 144 (its only rival supersonic airliner) in 1973, pollution and noise restrictions that limited the exploitation of potentially lucrative routes, and recurrent economic crises that reduced the market for expensive airline seats. Then on 25 July 2000, an Air France Concorde taking off from Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris crashed in flames at Gonesse in France, killing all 109 people onboard and 4 others on the ground. The cause was a piece of metal lying on the runway that punctured the plane’s tires and fractured fuel tanks. Services were not resumed until 7 November the following year, and passenger numbers never recovered, so Concorde made its last flight with fare-paying customers on 24 October 2003. Only 20 Concordes were built, and of these, only 14 flew commercially (10 of them between 1978 and 1980 on a Braniff International route between Dallas–Fort Worth and Washington Dulles Airports), yet the plane’s revolutionary delta-wing and drop-nose shape remained a potent icon of advances in aerospace technology in the last quarter of the 20th century. CONFEDERATION OF BRITISH INDUSTRY (CBI). The CBI is the most significant organization representing employers in discussions with government and with officials of the European Union. Formed in 1965 and with members drawn from manufacturing industries, commerce, and the public sector, it attempts to make politicians aware of the needs of business and of the contribution that business makes to society. Its headquarters is in London, but it also has 12 regional branches that provide local services. CONSERVATION. See ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION. CONSERVATIVE PARTY. The Conservative Party is one of the major parties in British politics. It evolved from the Tory faction, which dominated the House of Commons for much of the late 18th and early 19th centuries (supporters of the Conservative Party are still referred to as Tories) and got its name in the 1820s because it advocated policies designed to retain traditional institutions but allow those in-


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stitutions to adapt to social and economic change. During the 20th century, it was often characterized as the party of business and of the rich, but even after the creation of the welfare state in the years following World War II, it performed well at general elections, winning enough of the popular vote to form governments from 1951–56, 1970–74, and 1979–97. In the modern era, Conservative fortunes have been shaped by Margaret Thatcher, who was elected leader of the party in 1975 and touched a chord with many sections of the population as she fulminated against the power of the trade unions and Britain’s decline as a world economic power. Promising to reduce government intervention in commerce and to give individuals more control over their own destinies by eliminating the worst effects of the “nanny state” (see THATCHERISM), she swept to victory at the 1979 general election and launched a program that progressively privatized state-owned industries, arguing that economic priorities should take precedence over social concerns (as during the miners’ strike of 1984–85). A strong supporter of President Ronald Reagan, she was much admired in the United States and earned considerable respect as a world leader, but even so, she ultimately lost the support of her parliamentary colleagues, who differed with her over domestic issues (notably the poll tax) and over policies toward European political and economic integration. In 1990, Mrs. Thatcher was forced out of office and replaced by the relatively unknown John Major, a moderate whose informal leadership style was considered capable of healing a party riven by internal differences and also likely to appeal to a country tired of Thatcherist hectoring. However, Conservative fortunes continued to decline as members bickered in public over Europe, fought off the political effects of economic recession, suffered as the press exposed a series of financial and other scandals involving ministers (see AITKEN, JONATHAN WILLIAM PATRICK [1942–]; ARCHER, JEFFREY HOWARD [1940– ]), and tried ineffectually to meet the challenge posed by a revitalized Labour Party led by the youthful and articulate Tony Blair. In May 1997, the Conservatives were decisively beaten at the general election, winning only 165 seats in a House of Commons that


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had over 600 members. Major was replaced by William Hague (at 36, the youngest leader of the party in modern times), but the new standard bearer proved to have neither the quick-wittedness of Blair nor the charisma necessary to hold a fragmented organization together. He orchestrated changes in the party’s internal structure (for example, by giving members a role in the election of the party leader), but his skeptical approach to membership of the European Union failed to win voters back to the Conservative fold, and the antipathy of many Tories to sectors of society underrepresented in the party, such as gays, was exposed at the annual conference in 2000, dismaying more liberal elements among the politically uncommitted in the British population. As a result, the 2001 general election brought no improvement in fortunes, with only a single additional constituency gained. Iain Duncan Smith stepped into Hague’s shoes, but opinion polls over the next two years continued to show that the party was failing to win the minds of voters and that lack of success was reflected in a further change at the top in 2003, when Michael Howard succeeded Duncan Smith as leader. Supporters argued that Howard’s legal mind would make him an effective debater in sparring matches with Blair—and he did have seven years of cabinet experience from 1990–97 under his belt—but in the months that followed, there was little evidence of any upswing in popular support for the Conservatives. The party remained divided over Europe, demoralized by lack of success and apparently unable to devise policies capable of unseating an entrenched Labour government that seemed more likely to be defeated by its own failings than by Conservative rhetoric. In addition, declining membership led to financial problems (some reports suggest that membership in 2001 was 325,000—about one third of its peak during the Thatcher era), and press estimates indicated that the average age of members was over 60, making recruitment of young people imperative if sufficient activists were to be available to fight future elections. By 2005 when Howard resigned, the mass of party supporters realized that change was needed and voted overwhelmingly for a much younger replacement in David Cameron, who faced the difficult task of uniting an organization split into dissident factions and with policies that most voters found unconvincing.


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Initially, it appeared that Cameron was making progress as the Conservatives overtook Labour in the public opinion polls. However, many party members continued to snipe, claiming that Cameron had more style than substance and that by embracing environmental and other issues more usually associated with centrist and left-wing groups, he was abandoning the traditional Tory emphasis on the economy. Within weeks of Gordon Brown succeeding Tony Blair as prime minister in June 2007, it was clear that the Labour decline in public opinion had been reversed, and the British Broadcasting Corporation reported that some Conservative Party members of Parliament were seeking a vote of “no confidence” in Cameron. See also BACK TO BASICS; BLACK WEDNESDAY; BRIGHTON HOTEL BOMBING; BRUGES GROUP; CASH FOR QUESTIONS; CLARKE, KENNETH HARRY (1940– ); DAILY TELEGRAPH; DEARING REPORT (1997); DRIES; EDUCATION; EUROPEAN UNION (EU); EUROSKEPTICISM; FINANCIAL TIMES (FT); HESELTINE, MICHAEL RAY DIBDIN (1933– ); HOWE, RICHARD EDWARD GEOFFREY (1926– ); LAMONT, NORMAN STEWART HUGHSON (1942– ); LAWSON, NIGEL (1932– ); LOCAL GOVERNMENT, ENGLAND; MAASTRICHT TREATY; MACKAY, JAMES PETER HYMERS (1927– ); MATRIX CHURCHILL AFFAIR; NOLAN REPORTS; NORTH–SOUTH DIVIDE; ONE NATION CONSERVATISM; PATTEN, CHRISTOPHER FRANCIS “CHRIS” (1944– ); POLITICAL PARTIES; PORTILLO, MICHAEL DENZIL XAVIER (1953– ); QUASIAUTONOMOUS NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION (QUANGO); RIFKIND, MALCOLM LESLIE (1946– ); SCOTT REPORT; WETS. Details of seats won in the House of Commons may be found in the entries for general elections of 1979, 1983, 1987, 1992, 1997, 2001, and 2005. CONSOLIDATED FUND. The fund—formally termed the “Account of Her Majesty’s Exchequer”—is the government’s central account at the Bank of England, holding revenues from taxation and other sources. Certain expenditures, such as judges’ salaries and contributions to the monarch’s expenses through the Civil List, are paid directly from the Consolidated Fund, but withdrawals to cover the cost of running government departments must be approved by act of


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Parliament. The fund dates from 1787, when Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger, as part of a series of financial reforms, consolidated three accounts into one. CONSOLIDATION BILL. Consolidation bills combine several acts of Parliament into a single piece of legislation, thus simplifying and refining the country’s laws. CONSTITUENCY. The United Kingdom is divided into geographical areas known as constituencies, each of which sends a single representative to the House of Commons. In 2007, there were 646 units; the largest (by size of electorate) was the Isle of Wight, with 103,480 voters, and the smallest was Na h-Eileanan an lar (the Western Isles of Scotland), with just 22,539. Constituency boundaries are reviewed periodically (see BOUNDARY COMMISSION) and alterations made because of population change or other factors (as in 2005, when the number of Scottish constituencies was reduced from 72 to 59 following the devolution of some powers from the British Parliament in London to a new domestic assembly in Edinburgh). Those constituencies where elections are likely to be closely fought are known as “marginals.” The others, where one party is likely to win an easy majority, are considered “safe.” Constituencies are also used as the basis of elections to the London Assembly (see GREATER LONDON AUTHORITY), the Northern Ireland Assembly, the Scottish Parliament, and the National Assembly for Wales, though the boundaries may differ from those used for elections to the Commons. Constituencies in local government are termed wards and are used as the territorial basis for electing “local councilors.” See also ADJOURNMENT DEBATE; BY-ELECTION; ELECTORAL SYSTEM; GENERAL ELECTION; JENKINS COMMISSION (1997–98); MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT (MP). CONSTITUTION. The British constitution, unlike that of the United States, is not a formal, codified document. Instead, it derives from a variety of sources, including the following: 1. Case law (in effect, the rule of precedent in decisions of the judiciary, who interpret statute law);


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2. Classic writings (for example, Walter Bagehot’s The English Constitution [1867] and Erskine May’s Treatise upon the Law, Privileges, Proceedings and Usage of Parliament [first published in 1844, regularly updated, and recognized as the authority on parliamentary procedure]); 3. Common law, which is based on custom and tradition; 4. Conventions adopted to ensure the smooth running of government (for example, it is understood that the monarch will not refuse royal assent to a bill approved by both houses of Parliament); 5. European Union (EU) law and treaties; 6. Historic documents and early laws, such as the Magna Carta, which was issued in 1215 and limited the powers of the king of England; 7. Parliamentary protocols, including the standing orders that govern the conduct of parliamentary business; and 8. Statutes, which are the extant totality of legislation, including acts of Parliament. The principal characteristics of the constitution are its flexibility (such major changes as devolution of powers from the Westminster Parliament to new assemblies in Scotland and Wales in 1999 were relatively easily accommodated, for instance), the importance it places on the rule of law, and its emphasis on parliamentary sovereignty and the unitary state (there is no British equivalent of the United States’ states’ rights). Critics suggest, however, that membership of the EU is resulting in an erosion of the tradition of parliamentary sovereignty because EU law must take precedence over British law, and that devolution implies that the country is no longer a unitary state. CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM ACT (2005). The Constitutional Reform Act created a Supreme Court of the United Kingdom that would assume the existing role of the law lords (see LORD OF APPEAL IN ORDINARY) and also take over some of the responsibilities of the Privy Council’s judicial committee. The legislation, if it had been passed in the form approved by the House of Commons, would have abolished the centuries-old post of lord chancellor, but


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the House of Lords insisted that it would not approve such a controversial measure, and a compromise was reached, retaining the office but removing from it the obligations to preside over debates in the House of Lords and serve as head of the judiciary in England and Wales. In effect, therefore, the act ended the lord chancellor’s dual role as government minister and judge, enhancing the independence of the courts. See also HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE; LORD CHIEF JUSTICE. CONTINUITY IRISH REPUBLICAN ARMY (CIRA). The CIRA is a republican paramilitary dissident group that broke away from the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) in Northern Ireland in 1986. It does not recognize either the PIRA cease-fire of 1994 or the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 and has continued to plant bombs in Ulster, albeit without causing any fatalities. In 2005, Michael McDowell, the minister for justice, equality, and law reform in the Republic of Ireland told the Dáil Éireann (the Irish Parliament) that the organization had fewer than 150 members, and the following year, the Independent Monitoring Commission (which reviews the activities of paramilitary groups in the province on behalf of both the British and Irish governments) reported that two dissident groups had broken away. In 2004, the United States designated the CIRA a foreign terrorist organization, a move that made American support for its activities illegal. COOK, ROBERT FINLAYSON “ROBIN” (1946–2005). One of the finest political debaters of his generation, Cook was appointed foreign secretary by Prime Minister Tony Blair following the Labour Party’s sweeping victory at the 1997 general election but resigned from the government in 2003 because he opposed military action against Iraq. The only child of schoolteacher Peter Cook and his wife, Christine, he was born in Bellshill (near Glasgow) and educated at Aberdeen Grammar School, the Royal High School of Edinburgh, and Edinburgh University, ultimately graduating with a master of arts degree in English literature. He entered national politics in 1974 as the member of Parliament for Edinburgh Central but represented the Livingston constituency from 1983.


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Cook held posts as opposition spokesman on economic affairs (1980–83), European issues (1983–84), trade (1986–87), health (1987–92), trade and industry (1992–94), and foreign policy (1994–97), building up a considerable reputation because of his ability to grasp issues quickly and to think on his feet—important talents for an ambitious politician in the cut and thrust of the House of Commons. He undoubtedly wanted to be chancellor of the exchequer, but in Blair’s first administration, that post went to Gordon Brown, partly because Cook, on the left wing of the Labour Party, may have ruffled the feathers of the business community if he had held the top economic post in the new government. Despite the disappointment, Cook entered the Foreign Office with a flourish, claiming that he would bring an ethical dimension to Britain’s global mission, but his promise proved to be an embarrassment when newspapers criticized him for approving the sale of fighter planes to Indonesia, and other well-publicized gaffes followed, as when he suggested that the United Kingdom (the former colonial power) could mediate between India and Pakistan in an attempt to solve their disputes over Kashmir. Also, his domestic life became the focus of public attention when the press learned of his affair with his secretary, Gaynor Regan. Tony Blair’s aide, Alastair Campbell, called Cook while he was on his way to the airport for a holiday with Margaret, his wife of 28 years, and told him to choose one woman or the other; Cook chose Gaynor and later married her. When Blair’s cabinet was reshuffled in 2001, Cook became leader of the House of Commons, a move that was widely interpreted as a demotion but which provided him with an opportunity to make sweeping reforms to parliamentary procedures and practices. On 17 March 2003, however, he returned to the Labour backbenches, claiming that he could not support a cabinet decision to commit Britain to military action in Iraq unless there was clear international and domestic support for an invasion. His resignation speech received a standing ovation from parliamentary supporters and was described by Andrew Marr, the British Broadcasting Corporation’s political correspondent, as one of the most brilliant in modern British politics. Some commentators speculated that Cook might return to front-line politics when Blair gave up the party leadership, but he suffered a heart attack and died while on a hill-walking vacation in Scotland on 6 August 2005.


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COOL BRITANNIA. A catchphrase for the youthful, forward-looking, dynamic image of Britain created by supporters of Tony Blair’s New Labour, cool Britannia was taken up enthusiastically by some sections of the media but ridiculed by others. The source of the term is unclear. It was originally used in 1967 as a song title by the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, punning on the patriotic anthem Rule Britannia, but its later incarnation may be derived from the name of one of Ben & Jerry’s ice creams (vanilla with strawberries and chocolate-covered shortbread), introduced in 1995, or from an article in the November 1996 edition of Newsweek that claimed London was the “capital of cool.” Other sources credit Mark Leonard, a member of the Demos think tank associated with the Labour Party. Quickly adopted by critics of the “warm beer and cricket” imagery much used by Prime Minister John Major, cool Britannia became an element in a national rebranding that attempted to place Britain at the leading edge of popular culture. However, even by March 1998, The Economist was claiming that many people were heartily sick of the phrase, and in November 2001, it was officially laid to rest by Tessa Jowell (minister for culture, media, and sport) in a speech that claimed the phrase was inappropriate because it failed to recognize British culture as “something amorphous, something changing and something complex.” Perhaps coincidentally, the following year was the golden jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II’s accession to the throne, and many of the celebrations focused on British traditions. CORNWALL, DUCHESS OF. See CAMILLA, DUCHESS OF CORNWALL (1947– ). CORPORATION OF LONDON. Local government within the City of London is organized by a corporation whose powers and procedures are shaped as much by precedent as by statute. It consists of a lord mayor (who serves for one year), two sheriffs (who are junior in status to the lord mayor only), aldermen (who have legal and administrative functions), and a Court of Common Council (an elected body representing residents). From the 13th until the 18th centuries, the aldermen carried out most duties, but the Court of Common Council has been the effective governing body for the last 200 years, meeting in the guildhall. Much of the work is done by committees with specific remits, such as the conduct of markets.


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COTSWOLD HILLS. A 60-mile-long range of hills that stretches from Bath northeast to Chipping Campden, the Cotswolds are composed of oolitic limestone, formed during the Jurassic age, and rise to just over 1,000 feet near Cheltenham. During the Middle Ages, the wool industry generated enormous wealth still evident in the architectural heritage (and particularly in the churches), but modern affluence is based on tourism. The limestone, use for building, has a rich, creamy color that mellows on exposure to the air and makes the villages very picturesque, attracting visitors throughout the year. However, traffic causes congestion on the narrow roads, and demand for second homes raises house prices, reducing the range of properties available to local young people. In 1966, the hills were declared an area of outstanding natural beauty, a designation that afforded them some conservation protection, but proposals from environmental agencies that they should be accorded national-park status have never been implemented. COUNCIL HOUSING. See SOCIAL HOUSING. COUNCIL TAX. Introduced on 1 April 1993 following the passage of the Local Government Finance Act the previous year, the council tax is the principal form of local taxation in England, Scotland, and Wales. It replaced the hugely unpopular poll tax (or community charge) and is levied by the local council, which allocates properties to groups according to their estimated market price, then charges each owner a set amount per pound sterling of value in order to raise the funds required to provide council services (such as garbage collection). Although it resembles the system of property taxes that the poll tax had replaced, it is based on the capital value of each property, not on the notional rental value, and thus is considered to be more equitable. However, critics point out that a high-value home is not necessarily an indicator of wealth (for example, elderly couples may have acquired their property in earlier times, when both partners were working), so the tax can be punitive. Northern Ireland maintains the older system of property taxes, with each house given a “ratable value” based on the income that would be earned if the property was offered for rent.


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COUNTRYSIDE ALLIANCE. Created in 1998 through the merger of the British Field Sports Society, the Countryside Business Group, and the Countryside Movement, the alliance encourages participation in fishing, hunting, and shooting and acts as a pressure group promoting the interests of people who live in rural areas of the United Kingdom. It was vocal in opposition to plans to ban fox hunting but also campaigns for greater emphasis on tourism in the countryside as well as for the retention of rural post offices and consumption of locally produced food. On 22 September 2002, it organized a “Liberty and Livelihood” march in London, claiming that 400,000 supporters attended and voiced their disapproval of bans on hunting with dogs. Police estimates indicated that the crowd was closer to 200,000. COUNTRYSIDE AND RIGHTS OF WAY ACT (2000). See RIGHT TO ROAM. COUNTY. See BOROUGH; LOCAL GOVERNMENT, ENGLAND; LOCAL GOVERNMENT, NORTHERN IRELAND; LOCAL GOVERNMENT, SCOTLAND; LOCAL GOVERNMENT, WALES; SHIRE COUNTY. COUNTY COURT. See LEGAL SYSTEM, ENGLAND; LEGAL SYSTEM, NORTHERN IRELAND; LEGAL SYSTEM, WALES. COURT OF APPEAL. See LEGAL SYSTEM, ENGLAND; LEGAL SYSTEM, NORTHERN IRELAND; LEGAL SYSTEM, WALES; LORD CHIEF JUSTICE; SENIOR COURTS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. COURT OF SESSION. See LEGAL SYSTEM, SCOTLAND; LORD PRESIDENT OF THE COURT OF SESSION. CRICKET. Cricket is the United Kingdom’s principal summer sport and the most popular spectator sport in the world apart from soccer. The game developed in southern England during the 18th century, and the rules were codified by the Marylebone Cricket Club in 1835. In England and Wales, the governing body is the England and Wales


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Cricket Board, which was established in 1997, taking over responsibilities previously exercised by the Cricket Council, the National Cricket Association, and the Test and County Cricket Board. At the domestic level, the game is played professionally by 18 county sides, split into 2 divisions, with each match lasting up to 3 days. Players from these county sides are selected to represent England in international matches, known as test matches, which last for up to five days, with most of the opponents representing countries in the Commonwealth of Nations. At a lower level, there are thousands of leagues for club, village, and school teams, with games lasting for a morning or an afternoon. Northern Ireland and Scotland have their own governing bodies and leagues, but they also have fewer professional players, so the game is less well developed in those areas than in other parts of the country. CROSSBENCHER. In the House of Lords, members of the main political parties sit on benches facing each other. Members with no party affiliation sit at right angles to those groups and are collectively known as crossbenchers. Most are life peers, many of whom were ennobled for reasons other than their contribution to politics and thus bring experience of business, education, or other aspects of British life to debates. See also BACKBENCHER; FRONT BENCH. CROWN. In the United Kingdom, the monarch is recognized by the courts as the head of state, with authority to sign acts of Parliament. The term crown is properly used to refer to the lawful embodiment of power vested in that head of state (thus, criminal prosecutions are pursued in the name of the crown). However, the word is also more generally employed as a synonym for government, monarch, or the state itself. CROWN COLONY. Territories outside the United Kingdom but under British control were known as crown colonies until 1981, when the British Nationality Act redesignated them British dependent territories. In 2002, a further change in the law (the British Overseas Territories Act) renamed them British Overseas Territories. See also CROWN DEPENDENCY.


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CROWN COURT. See LEGAL SYSTEM, ENGLAND; LEGAL SYSTEM, NORTHERN IRELAND; LEGAL SYSTEM, WALES. CROWN DEPENDENCY. There are three crown dependencies—the Bailiwicks of Guernsey and Jersey (in the Channel Islands) and the Isle of Man. All are possessions of the crown, which is represented locally by a lieutenant governor (though in 2005, the administration on Man proposed that the title should be changed to crown commissioner). Each dependency has its own form of Parliament but the United Kingdom is responsible for defense, foreign affairs, and security. These duties were exercised by the Home Office until 2001, when they were transferred to the Lord Chancellor’s Office, which was subsumed within the new Department for Constitutional Affairs two years later. None of the territories is represented in the British Parliament, so legislation passed there does not apply to them unless the dependency governments specifically agree to the measure. As a result, the three areas have developed distinctive economies, with a particular emphasis on the provision of banking and other financial services. See also BRITISH DEPENDENT TERRITORY; BRITISH OVERSEAS TERRITORY; CROWN COLONY. CROWN ESTATE. In 1761, King George III exchanged the revenues from his own lands for a guaranteed annual payment from Parliament (the arrangement was formalized in 1777 through the Civil List Act). Nowadays, that royal estate includes some 300,000 acres of agricultural property, 29 quarries, and a lengthy list of urban sites, including, for example, much of Regent Street, a prime retail area in central London. In addition, it owns the rights to all gold and silver mined in the United Kingdom and to all minerals (except hydrocarbons) taken from the continental shelf that surrounds the country. The total value of the portfolio was about £6 billion in 2007, with annual returns exceeding £170 million, all of which still accrues to the government. The estate, which provides employment for about 400 people, is managed by a board of up to 8 commissioners who are appointed by the sovereign and are expected to maintain and enhance the value of


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the holdings while giving due regard to requirements of good management. CULLEN INQUIRY. Lord Cullen, a senior Scottish judge, has led three independent inquiries into incidents that led to considerable loss of life. On 6 July 1988, gas leakages caused an explosion on Piper Alpha (a North Sea oil rig), killing 167 workers. Cullen’s inquiry team, which reported in stages over the next two years, found that Occidental Petroleum (the platform operator) had inadequate maintenance procedures. The reports made 106 recommendations for safety improvements on offshore bases, all of which were accepted by the industry. The United Kingdom Offshore Operators Association claims that $7.5 billion was spent on improvements in the 16 years following the incident, but some employees suggested that dangers were increasing again as operating companies attempt to cut costs and an enquiry by the government’s Health and Safety Executive found that, in 2007, nearly two-thirds of the rigs and platforms in the North Sea were either in a poor state of repair or guilty of non-compliance with safety regulations. On 13 March 1996, in an incident that came to be known as the Dunblane Massacre, Thomas Hamilton walked into a school in Dunblane, Scotland, and shot 16 pupils, aged 4 to 6, along with a teacher who tried to protect them. The Cullen Inquiry report, published in October of the same year, recommended changes to school security procedures, more detailed vetting of people who work with children, and tighter control of handgun ownership. In practice, as emotions ran high in the immediate aftermath of the event, many measures were taken before the official report appeared. On 5 October 1999, an eight-coach train operated by the First Great Western Company collided at Paddington in West London with a three-coach train run by Thames Trains (see PADDINGTON TRAIN CRASH). The impact occurred just after 8:00 a.m. at the height of the rush hour, so carriages were packed, and 31 people were killed. Cullen blamed Thames Trains for inadequate driver training, Railtrack (the company responsible for track and signaling) for failing to take any action when drivers complained about the visibility of signs, and the Railway Inspectorate (which is responsible for health and safety on the railroads) for shoddy inspection work. He made


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more than 70 recommendations designed to improve safety standards. See also LORD PRESIDENT OF THE COURT OF SESSION. CURRENCY. British currency is based on the pound (the £ sign for which derives from libra, the Latin word for pound). The coins and notes currently in use were introduced in 1971, when the United Kingdom converted to a metric system that made the pound equivalent to 100 pence (previously, it had been worth 20 shillings). Versions of the pound coin are produced for each of the country’s four nations, but the other coins—the 1-penny, 2-pence, 5-pence, 10pence, 20-pence, and 50-pence “pieces,” along with the 2-pound coin—are identical throughout the country. All of the coinage is issued by the Royal Mint based at Llantrisant (in south Wales), but notes (printed in denominations of £5 and up) are the responsibility of the Bank of England, which acts as banker to the state and advises the government on monetary policy. Scottish and Northern Irish banks issue their own notes (from a value of £1). The English notes are not legal tender—that is, a currency that must be accepted in payment of a debt—in Northern Ireland or Scotland, and the Scottish and Irish notes are not legal tender anywhere, but in practice, all are accepted throughout the country. See also BLACK WEDNESDAY; THE EURO; EUROPEAN MONETARY SYSTEM (EMS); EUROPEAN UNION (EU); STERLING. CURRY REPORT. In August 2001, following a serious outbreak of foot and mouth disease, the secretary of state for agriculture, Margaret Beckett, appointed Sir Donald Curry (himself a farmer) to head a “policy commission” charged with providing guidelines for policy on the agriculture industry in England. The commission’s report, published early the following year, argued that farming could have a profitable future in the United Kingdom but that sweeping changes would be necessary if that profitability were to be achieved. In 105 recommendations, the members argued that the emphasis on low-cost food production, which had shaped politicians’ thinking for half a century, should be superseded by a system of subsidies that gave priority to environmental and rural development. Also, they advocated better labeling of food for the consumer, greater emphasis on quality of produce than on quantity, improved education and


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advice for farmers, and introduction of measures designed to promote collaboration between producers. The report was widely welcomed, and in October 2002, the government produced a Strategy for Sustainable Farming and Food, which accepted 100 of the proposals and promised £500 million of new public funds to implement them. CUSTOMS AND EXCISE. See HER MAJESTY’S REVENUE AND CUSTOMS (HMRC).

– D— DAILY EXPRESS. The Express is the only serious rival to the Daily Mail for Britain’s middle-market newspaper readers, but its daily circulation of about 830,000 copies is well below the 2.3 million sold by its competitor. The paper was founded in 1900, changed from broadsheet to tabloid format in 1977, and introduced a Sunday version (the Sunday Express) in 1996. Its political views are right of center, though it supported the Labour Party at the 2001 general election. In 2000, Richard Desmond, a publisher of pornographic magazines, bought the Express from United Newspapers for £125 million, a move that precipitated the departure of many staff, including editor Rosie Boycott, who had transferred from The Independent three years earlier. The change of ownership failed to reverse the pattern of declining sales, which, according to some analysts, is a result of long-term underinvestment. DAILY MAIL. With a circulation of more than 2.3 million copies a day, the Mail is Britain’s biggest-selling middle-market newspaper and second overall only to The Sun. It first appeared in 1896, converted from broadsheet to tabloid format in 1971, launched a weekend version (the Mail on Sunday) in 1982, and introduced a Republic of Ireland edition in 2005. Editorial policy favors political and social conservatism (advocating a curb on immigration, longer sentences for lawbreakers, and reductions in taxation, for example), but writers have frequently criticized U.S. president George W. Bush for his conduct of the Iraq War. News and feature articles regularly focus on the activities of film, television, and sporting celebrities and astrological and paranormal themes.


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That mix attracts a high proportion of female readers and produces large sales in middle-class suburbia but leads to condemnation from left-wing critics. In 2001, for instance, a Guardian journalist called the paper a “thick, grey tombstone of a tabloid,” and in 2005, Ken Livingstone, mayor of London, claimed that “you can’t expect to work for the Daily Mail group and have the rest of society treat you with respect as a useful member of society.” The Mail is owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust, which also publishes more than 100 regional newspapers in the United Kingdom. See also DAILY EXPRESS; GAY RIGHTS. DAILY MIRROR. The Mirror is one of Britain’s biggest-selling daily newspapers but its circulation of about 1.6 million copies is much lower than the 5 million reached during the sales peak in the 1960s. It initially appeared in 1903 as a publication for women but, as a result of clever design and marketing, had become the United Kingdom’s first truly working-class tabloid before the beginning of World War II. By the 1970s, however, it was locked in a circulation war with Rupert Murdoch’s down-market Sun, and in 1984, it was sold by Reed International to Robert Maxwell. Maxwell floated the Mirror Group (which included the Daily Record, the Sunday Mirror, and other publications, as well as the Daily Mirror) as a public company in 1991, but following his death later that year, investigators discovered that the business’s debts exceeded its assets and that £400 million was missing from its pension fund. The discovery sparked a financial crisis that was not resolved until 1999, when the firm merged with Trinity plc to form Britain’s largest newspaper publishing company, but problems remain as profits fall in the face of a decline in advertising. The Mirror, not surprisingly in view of its long dependence on a working-class readership, has adopted a left-of-center editorial policy broadly supportive of the Labour Party, although it departed from that line in 2003, when it was the only tabloid opposing the Iraq War. In 2004, it gained some notoriety in the United States the day after George W. Bush was reelected president, appearing with the headline “How Can 59,054,087 People Be So Dumb?” The same year, it was hoaxed into publishing fake pictures of British soldiers abusing prisoners in Iraq, an error that led to the resignation of editor Piers Morgan; The Sun offered a £50,000 reward for the arrest and


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conviction of the culprits. See also ANDREW, PRINCE (1960– ); ANNUS HORRIBILIS; CAMILLAGATE; SECURITY BREACHES, ROYAL FAMILY. DAILY STAR. The Star is a down-market tabloid newspaper that provides its 770,000 readers with a daily diet of celebrity gossip, football, and topless girls, imitating the significantly more successful Sun. Its news content focuses on stories with an emotional content, such as immigration issues, and its editorials adopt a consistently right-wing tone. It is owned by Express Newspapers, first appeared on newsstands in 1978, and introduced a Sunday version (the Star on Sunday) in 2002. Circulation figures depend heavily on a young, working-class, male market, and experts have long predicted its disappearance, partly because of increased competition from weekly magazines targeted at the same demographic group. See ARCHER, JEFFREY HOWARD (1940– ); PAGE-3 GIRLS. DAILY TELEGRAPH. With a circulation of about 900,000 copies, the Daily Telegraph is Britain’s biggest-selling quality newspaper. Founded in 1855, it espouses right-of-center political views and thus finds a large readership among supporters of the Conservative Party. A sister paper—the Sunday Telegraph—was launched in 1961. In 1985, Lord Hartwell, the newspaper’s proprietor, was unable to find sufficient funding to modernize the printing operation, so he sold both papers to Hollinger, Inc., a company owned by Canadian businessman Conrad Black, for £30 million. Black updated production methods and in 1994 broke new ground for the United Kingdom press by making news and features available on the World Wide Web, but in 2003, he was accused of financial misconduct and removed from his post as chief executive. Press Holdings—a company owned by the reclusive Jersey-based David and Frederick Barclay (see also THE SCOTSMAN)—offered to purchase Black’s interest in Hollinger. The sale was delayed by court action involving Black and by counter bids from other potential buyers but was completed in 2004, with the Barclays reputedly paying £665 million for the business. See also GALLOWAY, GEORGE (1954– ). DARLING, ALISTAIR MACLEAN (1953– ). Despite his reputation as one of the least charismatic members of Parliament (MPs), Alistair


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Darling succeeded Gordon Brown as chancellor of the exchequer when Brown became prime minister in June 2007 following Tony Blair’s resignation. He was born on 28 November 2007 in London, where his father, Thomas, was working as a civil engineer, but is of Scottish lineage and received a privileged (although, by his account, unenjoyable) education at Loretto (a private boarding school in Musselburgh) before going to the University of Aberdeen, where he studied law. Darling entered the House of Commons in 1987, winning the Edinburgh Central constituency for the Labour Party at a time when Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative Party formed the government. His quick legal mind served him well, helping him to master the fine details of policy very quickly, and that talent was recognized by Labour leaders while he served as opposition spokesman on home affairs (1988–92) and the City of London (1992–96), then as shadow to the chief secretary to the Treasury (1996–97). His political skills were also finely honed. As Darling moved up the hierarchy, he became one of Tony Blair’s most trusted colleagues, but he managed to keep a foot in the Brown camp while the party’s two senior figures vied for power. Moreover, he was willing to modify his views in the interests of expediency. In the late 1970s, for example, he was known to oppose the formation of a Scottish Parliament, but when in the mid-1990s Labour adopted a policy of devolution of power to an Edinburgh assembly in an effort to court the Scottish vote, he was a strong supporter of the plan. Also, in 1994 he sponsored a Commons motion condemning newspaper proprietor Rupert Murdoch for adopting “predatory pricing, with the intention of forcing rivals out of the market” but dropped the attack when he learned that Blair was attempting to woo the media tycoon. When Blair became prime minister after the 1997 general election, Darling was made chief secretary to the Treasury and, although he held the post for only a few months, initiated a series of reforms designed to improve the regulation of the financial services industry in the wake of the collapse of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International and Barings Bank. In 1998, he was made secretary of state at the Department of Social Security, which in 2001 was reorganized as the Department for Work and Pensions. In that role, Darling was responsible for the management of about one third of the government’s total budget and said that he would like to be remembered


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as “the minister who began to eradicate poverty.” However, he was pilloried in 1999 when he proposed to raise senior citizens’ state pensions by only 75 pence a week. In 2002, Darling took over the Department of Transport, succeeding the much-criticized Stephen Ayers, who was considered by many people to be responsible for the collapse of Railtrack, the company that maintained Britain’s railroad infrastructure. Darling supervised the formation of Network Rail, Railtrack’s successor, and piloted major railroad safety legislation through Parliament before moving to the post of secretary of state for trade and industry in 2006. Darling’s appointment as chancellor of the exchequer—the second most powerful post in government—was unsurprising, partly because of his long experience in government but also because, as The Times commented, he is “calm, self-possessed, unruffled by crisis, gaffe-free and hugely competent.” However, his critics condemn him as boring and technocratic, suggest that he is more of a businessman than a politician, and claim that, as a Scot representing a Scottish constituency, he should not be in a position to influence policy relating to England. DATA PROTECTION ACTS (1984 and 1998). The 1984 Data Protection Act updated legal requirements relating to information held on British citizens (for example, by limiting both the time period for which organizations could retain it and the freedom with which it could be communicated to other individuals). The legislation also made provision for the appointment of a data protection registrar, who would ensure that the rules were implemented. That act was superseded by the Data Protection Act of 1998, which tightened the regulations further and changed the name of the watchdog to that of data protection commissioner. In 2000, following the passage of the Freedom of Information Act, the title was altered again, this time to information commissioner. DAVIES, RONALD (1946– ). Ron Davies was a vociferous advocate of devolution of political power within the United Kingdom, serving in Prime Minister Tony Blair’s cabinet as secretary of state for Wales, but his career disintegrated following newspaper allegations of homosexuality. The son of Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Davies, he was


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born on 6 August 1946 and educated at Bassaleg Grammar School, Portsmouth Polytechnic, and the University of Wales. He then worked as a teacher and further education advisor before winning the Caerphilly parliamentary constituency for the Labour Party in 1983. Davies quickly made his mark in the House of Commons, serving as an opposition whip from 1985–87, then as party spokesman on agriculture (1987–92) and on Welsh affairs (1992–97). A committed republican, he caused some controversy in the last of those roles when he claimed that Prince Charles was “not a fit person to continue the tradition of monarchy,” but even so, Blair made him secretary of state for Wales in his first administration after the 1997 general election, and in that capacity, Davies led the successful referendum campaign to establish a National Assembly for Wales. Early in 1998, Davies was a popular politician, a hero among many of the Welsh people for achieving some devolution of decision making from London to Cardiff, and Labour’s candidate for the position of first minister in the assembly he had played a large part in creating. However, later that year, he was robbed at knifepoint after going for a meal with a man he had met on Clapham Common, a popular meeting place for London homosexuals. The full details of the incident were never revealed, but the publicity forced him into resigning his post as Welsh secretary and withdrawing his candidature for the first ministership. He stood down from Parliament in 2001 but, two years later, hit the headlines again when the Sun, a tabloid newspaper, claimed that he had engaged in a sexual act with a construction worker at a public picnic site. Davies initially denied being near the place but later changed his story, though he refused to admit any wrongdoing. He left the Labour Party in 2004, citing his opposition to the Iraq War as a reason for going, and joined Forward Wales, a movement that advocates greater power for the Welsh Assembly. DEARING REPORT (1997). In 1996, at a time when public concern about the future of Britain’s universities was mounting, John Major’s Conservative Party government appointed a committee, headed by Sir Ron Dearing, to examine the purpose, shape, structure, size, and funding of British higher education. By the time the committee’s report on Higher Education in the Learning Society was pub-


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lished the following year, the Labour Party was in power, Tony Blair was prime minister, and policies for improvements to public services were high on the political agenda. Dearing made 93 recommendations designed to ensure that the universities would meet the needs of the United Kingdom over the following 20 years. The proposals covered all aspects of provision, including the composition and responsibilities of governing bodies, networking of computer systems, and the training of faculty, but political attention focused on plans to increase the proportion of young people earning degrees and on the implications for funding. Most controversially, the committee proposed that the practice of providing free education for everybody deemed able to benefit from the experience should end and that students should pay tuition fees. Undergraduates would be able to take out loans to pay those fees, and means-tested grants would cover the subsistence costs of the poorest students. Although the report was criticized by several leading academics (who claimed that it was a superficial analysis of a very complex system) and by left-wing politicians (who argued that tuition fees would discourage working-class teenagers from seeking qualifications and thus narrow rather than widen access), it marked the beginning of a period of great change in higher education as the government accepted the principle that students should pay if they wanted to learn. In 1998, fees of £1,000 a year were levied on all courses at all universities. However, students from low-income families were exempted from payment, and loans were made available to others unable to find the cash from their own resources. DEATH PENALTY. See CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. DEFENDER OF THE FAITH. In 1521, Pope Leo X conferred the title Fidei Defensor (defender of the faith) on King Henry VIII as a reward for opposing Martin Luther’s condemnations of the Roman Catholic Church. When Henry withdrew his allegiance to the Vatican and in 1531 declared himself supreme head of the Church of England, Pope Paul II revoked the award, but it was reconfirmed by the English Parliament in 1544 and is still held by British monarchs. Since 1714, it has been denoted on coinage by the letters FD. In recent years, Prince Charles has suggested that the title defender of


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faith (fiderum defensor) would be more appropriate in the United Kingdom’s modern, multicultural society. DEMOCRATIC LEFT. See COMMUNIST PARTY OF GREAT BRITAIN. DEMOCRATIC UNIONIST PARTY (DUP). The DUP is a staunchly loyalist political party based in Northern Ireland. It was formed in 1971 by Ian Paisley (then leader of the Protestant Unionist Party) and Desmond Boal (an Ulster Unionist Party member who represented the Shankhill area of Belfast at the Stormont Parliament). Since then, it has contested elections with considerable success, winning seats in all of the assemblies established in Ulster over the past three decades, as well as in the House of Commons and the European Parliament. For more than a quarter of a century, the party leadership consistently defended Northern Ireland’s position as part of the United Kingdom, opposing proposals that gave nationalist organizations, such as Sinn Féin, any role in the government of the province, but after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, it modified its position and took part in the protracted negotiations designed to lead to the establishment of a new Northern Ireland Assembly. At the 2005 general election, the DUP took four seats from the Ulster Unionists, making it the largest Northern Ireland party in the House of Commons, with nine members of Parliament. Then in 2007, it won 36 seats at the election for the Northern Ireland Assembly, becoming the biggest party in that body as well, and shortly afterward, Ian Paisley sat down with Gerry Adams (head of Sinn Féin, which had finished in second place with 28 seats) to discuss plans for sharing power. The new accord with former enemies did not please everyone, however, and Jim Allister, the DUP’s sole representative at the European Parliament and considered by many as a future leader of the group, resigned from the party in protest. For details of Commons representation won in years other than 2005, see the entries for general elections in 1979, 1983, 1987, 1992, 1997, and 2001. DERRY. See LONDONDERRY.


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DESERT SHIELD. See GULF WAR. DESERT STORM. See GULF WAR. DESPATCH BOX. Front bench spokesmen in the House of Commons and the House of Lords stand at—and often thump—the despatch box when they make their speeches. Each house has two boxes, one on the government side of the table that occupies the center of the debating chamber and one on the opposition side. Despite the name, the boxes contain bibles that are used when new members take an oath of allegiance to the sovereign, rather than official dispatches. DEVOLUTION. Although the United Kingdom is usually considered to be a unitary state (that is, a country whose government at all levels is controlled by a centralized authority), in practice certain responsibilities have been devolved to regional Parliaments since 1921. When Ireland was partitioned in 1921, a Parliament for Northern Ireland was established at Stormont near Belfast and given authority to regulate the domestic affairs of the province. The arrangement lasted until 1972, when that Parliament’s inability to control escalating levels of violence by loyalist and nationalist extremists led to the imposition of direct rule from London. Although control returned to Ulster politicians in 1973–74, from 1982–86, and intermittently from 1998–2002, efforts to get the competing factions to agree on the composition and duties of an alternative legislature were unavailing until 2007, when leaders of the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin agreed to work together in a Northern Ireland Assembly that represented all shades of opinion. In Scotland, devolution has been a political issue since 1707, when the country’s Parliament was dissolved and the people were given representation at a new Parliament formed in London. Members of the Scottish National Party have consistently advocated a complete break from England, and in 1973, the government’s Kilbrandon Commission recommended that the Scots should be given the right to elect a Parliament that would legislate on specifically Scottish issues. In 1979, Prime Minister James Callaghan’s Labour Party government held a referendum, committing itself to set up an


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assembly if at least 40 percent of the electorate—rather than 40 percent of those who voted—wanted one, but only 33 percent of those who went to the polling booths supported the proposal. Margaret Thatcher, Callaghan’s successor, was implacably opposed to any measure that might threaten the sovereignty of Westminster, but in the mid-1990s, Labour, conscious of its strong support north of the border and anxious to topple the Conservative Party government, made a commitment to hold a second referendum if it was voted into power at the 1997 general election. It kept that promise, publishing proposals for a Parliament with wide-ranging powers over the economy, education, health care, the legal system, and other matters not specifically reserved for consideration by the national Parliament at Westminster (those reserved matters included defense, foreign affairs, and other concerns relating to the United Kingdom as a whole). This time, 62 percent of the electorate turned out to vote at the referendum, and 74 percent cast their ballot in favor of the plans. The appropriate legislation was passed as the Scotland Act of 1998, and the first elections to the new body were held on 6 May 1999. The Scottish Parliament has 129 members, each elected for 4 years using a system of proportional representation. It is funded by a grant from the UK government but also has power to raise or lower income tax by up to 3 percent. The Parliament elects a first minister, who appoints a cabinet known as the Scottish Executive, which oversees policy formation and implementation. The Conservative Party government’s Kilbrandon Commission Report, published in 1973, proposed that Wales, like Scotland, should have its own Parliament, but a referendum in 1979 showed that only 12 percent of the electorate agreed. In 1997, the Labour Party resurrected the proposals during the general election campaign and, after taking power, published plans for a 60-member assembly, which, unlike its Scottish counterpart, would have no tax-raising powers. A referendum held later in the year produced only a tiny majority in favor of the scheme (50.3 percent of those who voted approved and 49.7 percent were opposed), but the government declared itself delighted and pushed on. The Government of Wales Act was passed by Parliament the following year, and the first elections to the National Assembly for


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Wales (more usually known as the Welsh Assembly) were held on 6 May 1999 using a system of proportional representation. The assembly’s powers are not as extensive as those of its Scottish counterpart, even though a further Government of Wales Act that received royal assent in 2006 granted authority to pass legislation rather than simply debate issues. In particular, the Welsh Assembly has specific areas of responsibility delegated to it by Westminster (whereas the Scottish Parliament has jurisdiction over all matters not specifically reserved for Westminster), and it has no authority to raise taxes. It is funded by a grant from central government and operates broadly on the Westminster model, with an elected first minister leading an executive. See also DEWAR, DONALD CAMPBELL (1937–2000); ENGLISH REGIONAL ASSEMBLIES; SCOTTISH CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION; WEST LOTHIAN QUESTION. DEWAR, DONALD CAMPBELL (1937–2000). Dewar was the architect of the Scotland Act (1998), which provided the legislative basis for the devolution of some parliamentary powers to a Scottish assembly based in Edinburgh. The only son of dermatologist Dr. Alasdair Dewar and his wife, Mary, he was born in Glasgow on 21 August 1937 and educated at Glasgow Academy before earning a law degree at Glasgow University. He first won election to the House of Commons as the representative for Aberdeen South in 1966 when he was still only 26 but lost the seat in 1970 and spent several years in the political wilderness before returning to Westminster as the member of Parliament for Glasgow Garscadden in 1978. A scholarly, bookish man with an eye for detail and a lawyer’s gift for analysis, he earned a reputation as the Labour Party’s front bench spokesman on Scottish affairs (1981–92) and social security (1992–95) before serving as opposition chief whip (1995–97). After Labour’s general election victory in 1997, Prime Minister Tony Blair made Dewar secretary of state for Scotland, charging him with presenting the case for devolution and then for shaping the legislation that would give Scotland its first domestic Parliament since 1707. When the elections for the new body were held in 1999, Dewar was returned as the representative for Glasgow Anniesland and subsequently appointed first minister by the governing Labour and Liberal Democrat coalition.


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Donald Dewar had little time to leave a mark on the legislature he had worked to create. A single man—his wife, Allison, left him in the 1970s for Derry Irvine, who was to become lord chancellor in Prime Minister Blair’s administration, and he never remarried—and a disheveled, unkempt figure, he was enormously hard working, and the long hours may have contributed to his death. He had major heart surgery in 2000 but returned to his post very quickly and, later in the year, suffered a brain hemorrhage, dying on 11 October. DIANA, PRINCESS OF WALES (1961–97). Diana, late wife of Prince Charles, was born at Sandringham on 1 July 1961. The third child of Edward Spencer (Viscount [see PEERAGE] Althorp) and his wife, Frances, she became Lady Diana when her father succeeded to the Spencer earldom in 1975. She was educated at Riddlesworth Hall (Thetford), at West Heath School (Sevenoaks), and in Chateau d’Oex in Switzerland but never distinguished herself academically. For a time after leaving school, she worked at a London kindergarten, but her social activities brought her into regular contact with the royal family, and romance with the prince blossomed. The couple was engaged on 24 February 1981 and married in St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, on 29 July of that year. Their first son (Prince William) was born on 21 June 1982 and their second (Prince Harry) on 15 September 1984. During the 1980s, Diana became widely known for her charity work. Support for victims of AIDS was a major interest (in 1987, when many people believed that the disease could be spread by casual contact, she was photographed holding the hand of a sufferer), and several observers claim that her well-publicized campaign against the use of landmines led to the international ban agreed upon in 1994. However, while the princess worked on behalf of others, her personal life became increasingly anguished. She suffered from depression after the birth of Prince William and reportedly made several attempts at suicide. Also, she developed bulimia nervosa, a dietary disorder, and grew further and further apart from her husband, whom she believed was uncaring and more in love with Camilla Parker Bowles, his long-time friend, than with her. Diana herself became sexually involved with other men, notably James Gilbey and James Hewitt.


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On 14 August 1992, The Sun, a tabloid newspaper, printed what it purported to be extracts from a telephone conversation between Diana and Gilbey, and on 9 December, Buckingham Palace announced that she and the prince would separate. Their divorce was finalized in August 1996, but even after that, she was pursued relentlessly by the press and, on 31 August the following year, was killed in a Paris car accident along with Dodi Al-Fayed (the son of Mohammed Al-Fayed, the owner of Harrods department store) while trying to escape the attentions of photographers. The full details of the incident were never revealed, but French investigators believe that her driver, Henri Paul, was drunk and exceeding the speed limit when the vehicle crashed. A three-year investigation, led by Lord Stevens (a former commissioner of London’s Metropolitan Police) and published in 2006, supported that conclusion and debunked the conspiracy theories that had been advanced as alternative explanations (see STEVENS INQUIRIES). The princess was buried at Althorp, the Spencer family’s Northamptonshire home, on 6 September. Mohammed Al-Fayed has contended that the deaths of Diana and of his son were planned rather than caused by accident but has produced no convincing evidence in support of his case. DIPLOCK COURTS. In 1973, concerned about the extent of intimidation of juries in the Northern Ireland justice system, the government created courts in which verdicts would be given by a judge sitting alone. The offenses that could be tried included terrorist activities (such as bombings), as well as serious crimes (murders, for example) that were not necessarily terrorist in motivation. The courts were much criticized by civil liberties groups and by jurists because they deviated from the standards expected of courts in other areas of the United Kingdom (by allowing the uncorroborated testimony of informants to be admitted as evidence, for instance, and by permitting witnesses to remain anonymous). In 2005, the government announced that the courts would be phased out as part of the Northern Ireland peace process. They got their name from Kenneth Diplock, a lord of appeal in ordinary, who in 1972 chaired a commission whose report led to their establishment.


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DIRECT RULE. The Government of Ireland Act (1920) confirmed that Northern Ireland was an integral part of the United Kingdom and provided legislative authority for the creation of a Parliament based at Stormont (near Belfast) that would govern domestic affairs, leaving other matters (such as defense) to the national Parliament in London. In 1972, however, the British government led by Prime Minister Edward Heath became increasingly concerned about sectarian violence in Ulster and, arguing that the Stormont had lost control, suspended the Northern Irish legislature and imposed direct rule of the area from Westminster. Attempts were made on several occasions to devolve power back to the province, but success was limited until 2007, when leaders of the staunchly unionist Democratic Unionist Party and the staunchly republican Sinn Féin agreed to work together in a new Northern Ireland Assembly. DISSOLUTION OF PARLIAMENT. Technically, the decision to end a Parliament is the royal prerogative of the monarch. In practice, however, that prerogative is exercised only on the advice of the prime minister. The Parliament Act of 1911 limits parliamentary terms to a maximum of five years, but dissolution can be requested at any time, so prime ministers choose the date most likely to bring them victory at the general election that follows 17 working days later. DOWNING STREET. The official home of the prime minister is at 10 Downing Street, London, only a few minutes’ walk from the Houses of Parliament. The cul-de-sac of brick houses was built by Sir George Downing in 1680, but all of the structures have been much modified since then. Number 10 has been the prime minister’s residence since 1732 (though early holders of the office often preferred to live in more spacious accommodation elsewhere), and Number 11 is the residence of the chancellor of the exchequer. Number 9 houses the chief whip (and provides access to Privy Council offices), and Number 12 is a base for the prime minister’s press and information secretariats. For security reasons, gates were placed across the entrance to the street in 1986, preventing public access, but since 2006, Number 10 can be viewed room by room on the


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World Wide Web at www.pm.gov.uk. See also FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY. DOWNING STREET DECLARATION. On 15 December 1993, the British prime minister (John Major) and the Irish taoiseach (Albert Reynolds) announced from the prime minister’s home in Downing Street, London, that they had agreed on the possibility of constitutional change in Northern Ireland. In particular, they said, the province could secede from the United Kingdom and join the Republic of Ireland if that was what a majority of voters in the area wanted. Also, the two leaders indicated a willingness to include representatives of loyalist and republican paramilitary groups in discussions about Ulster’s political future but only if those organizations first agreed to observe a cease-fire. The Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) responded on 31 August 1994 with an announcement that they would call a halt to the violence, thus allowing nationalist Sinn Féin politicians to take seats at the negotiating table, and the Combined Loyalist Military Command followed suit on 13 October. The cease-fire was broken on 10 February 1996, when the PIRA detonated a bomb at Canary Wharf in London Docklands, but by that time, the political parties were involved in talks, brokered by former U.S. senator George Mitchell, that led to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. DRIES. Members of the Conservative Party who staunchly supported the policies of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher were known as dries. Less moderate than the Wets, they favored anti–trade union legislation, privatization of publicly owned industries, strict monetarism, and the other elements of Thatcherism. DUKE. See PEERAGE. DUKE OF EDINBURGH. See PHILIP, PRINCE. DUKE OF YORK. See ANDREW, PRINCE. DUNBLANE MASSACRE. On 13 March 1996, Thomas Hamilton used a Browning semiautomatic pistol to kill a teacher and 16 children,


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aged 4 to 6, at Dunblane Primary School in Scotland. He then shot himself. The incident led to the Cullen Inquiry into the licensing and ownership of handguns in the United Kingdom and to legislation that banned private individuals from owning almost all handguns of .22 caliber or higher. In October 2005, papers released by the lord advocate (Scotland’s senior law officer) revealed that parents, police, social workers, and teachers had complained about Hamilton’s behavior toward children several years before the incident but that nothing had been done. See also HUNGERFORD MASSACRE. DUNCAN SMITH, GEORGE IAIN (1954– ). Duncan Smith succeeded William Hague as leader of the Conservative Party, holding the office from 12 September 2001 until 6 November 2003. He was born in Edinburgh on 9 April 1954, the son of Group Captain W. Duncan Smith and his wife, Pamela, and educated at HMS Conway (a Royal Navy cadet school in Anglesey) before attending the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. A spell in the Scots Guards from 1975 included tours of duty in Canada, Germany, Northern Ireland, and Rhodesia, but he left the armed forces in 1981 and turned to politics, fighting the Bradford West parliamentary constituency unsuccessfully in 1987 but winning Chingford in 1992. A quiet, retiring man rather than an aggressive debater, he took time to make his mark in the House of Commons, becoming noted for skeptical views about the value to Britain of membership of the European Union rather than for imaginative argument, but he did enough to impress Hague, who made him the Conservatives’ chief spokesman on social security (1997–99) and defense (1999–2001). Then when Hague relinquished the party leadership following the Labour Party’s 2001 general election success, Duncan Smith took his place, winning 61 percent of the votes in a poll of party members. The next two years were unhappy, both for the man and for his followers. Less articulate and less quick witted than Prime Minister Tony Blair, Duncan Smith made little impact in the cut and thrust of parliamentary exchange. Moreover, he had difficulty drawing together the activists on the pro-European and anti-European wings of the organization and failed to prevent colleagues from airing policy disagreements in public. Inevitably, the press speculated about his future, and on 29 October 2003, he lost, by 90 to 75, a vote of confidence


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held by Conservative members of Parliament. He resigned eight days later and was succeeded by Michael Howard. DUTCH ELM DISEASE. Outbreaks of Dutch elm disease occurred in the United Kingdom in the 1920s and again, more destructively, from the 1970s. All three of the country’s indigenous species—English elm (Ulnus procera), smooth-leaved elm (U. carpinifolia or U. minor), and wych elm (U. glabra)—are susceptible, so by the end of the century, more than 80 percent of the country’s 30 million elms had died. The disease is caused by a fungus carried by a bark beetle, which blocks the vessels that carry water through the plant. In southern areas, English elms survive only in a small area of East Sussex, thanks to a local council control zone, where around 50,000 still grow. Further north, the wych elm is more common, and the disease has been less destructive, partly for biological and partly for climatic reasons, but it continues to spread. In 2004, Spanish scientists revealed that all English elms are clones of the Atinium elm, which was probably introduced by the Romans during the first century A.D. to provide a support for grape vines, and have little genetic protection against Dutch elm disease. However, scientists at the University of Abertay in Dundee have reported that they have developed elms resistant to fungal infection, suggesting that it may be possible to reintroduce the native species to their traditional habitats.

– E – EARL. See PEERAGE. EARLY DAY MOTION. Most motions presented by backbenchers in the House of Commons are listed for debate on an “early day.” In practice, few are ever discussed, as time is limited, so members of Parliament (MPs) use the procedure as a means of expressing views, publicizing opinions, or canvassing support for personal projects. Those MPs who approve of a motion append their signature so that the popularity of the view expressed can be gauged.


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Every year, more than 1,000 of these early-day motions are presented to the house. They cover such disparate issues as condemnation of Canada’s policy of seal killing (a motion introduced by the Labour Party’s Tony Banks, a veteran campaigner against cruelty to animals) and criticism of Cambridge University’s decision not to allow graduates to wear national dress when they have their degrees conferred (a motion introduced by the Scottish National Party’s Mike Weir, who pointed out that Scotland’s national dress “has graced far greater stages than the Cambridge graduation ceremony”). ECONOMIC SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY. The economic secretary position is the most junior government position at the Treasury, ranking behind the chancellor of the exchequer, the chief secretary to the Treasury, the paymaster general, and the financial secretary to the Treasury. Tasks allotted to the office holder vary even during a single administration and, in recent years, have focused on foreign exchange matters, national debt management policy, and personal savings policy. For ambitious politicians, the office can be a stepping stone to greater responsibility. For example, Helen Liddell, who was Tony Blair’s first appointee to the job after he became prime minister in 1997, later served as secretary of state for Scotland (2001–3) and then from 2005 as high commissioner to Australia—a post usually offered to career diplomats. Patricia Hewitt, her successor in 1998, became secretary of state for trade and industry (2001–5) and then a much-criticized secretary of state for health (2001–7), and Ruth Kelly (2001–2) later occupied the posts of secretary of state for education and skills (2004–6), secretary of state for communities and local government (2006–7 ), and secretary of state for transport (2007–). THE ECONOMIST. The Economist is one of the world’s leading weekly publications dealing with business news and international affairs. James Wilson, a Scottish hat maker who believed in free trade and international horizons, founded the periodical in 1843. Now, half of its shares are owned by the Financial Times and the other half by independent investors. It is published simultaneously on Thursday evening at seven sites around the world, and sales total over 1 million


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copies (more than 50 percent of them going to North America). Readers everywhere get the same text, except in the United Kingdom, where the British news coverage is more extensive. Editorial policy is right wing on economic matters, opposing government intervention in commerce and the imposition of restrictions on trade (there was, therefore, strong support for U.S. president Ronald Reagan and for Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher), but the approach to social change is more liberal (the publication regularly takes a positive stance on gun control and condemns capital punishment). Bylines are rare, on the grounds that what is written is more important than the people who write it, and authors who do not present their thoughts in clear, pithy English find their contributions heavily edited. In recent years, The Economist has added special sections dealing with Asia, Canada, Europe, Latin America, science, and technology. It also provides up-to-date briefings on countries, major cities, and important news stories. The readership, according to Rupert PennantRea, editor from 1986 until 1993, consists of people with “higher than average incomes, better than average minds, but less than average time.” ECONOMY. With a gross domestic product (GDP) of about £1.3 trillion in 2006, the United Kingdom has one of the largest economies in the world. In the late 19th century, wealth was based primarily on manufacturing; Britain had become the first major industrial power, so it had a technological lead over other nations and found a ready market for its products in the colonies of a vast empire. However, during the 20th century, other countries, such as the United States and Japan, developed their own technologies; the colonies achieved independence and looked elsewhere for suppliers; and new products, such as plastics, provided competition for older commodities. As a result, output of railroad engines, ships, steel, textiles, and other manufactured goods declined, while employment in the service sector rose. By the beginning of the 21st century, services, notably banking and insurance, were contributing about 73 percent of GDP, and London was one of the world’s most important financial centers, with more foreign banks that any other city and a foreign exchange market


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larger than those of New York and Tokyo combined. In addition, Edinburgh had become a significant subcenter, the sixth largest in Europe. Manufacturing accounted for about 16 percent of GDP (with automobiles, chemicals, electronic goods, and fuels particularly important) and extractive industries (particularly natural gas and oil) about 10 percent. Agricultural output made a contribution of less than 1 percent and employed fewer than 2 percent of the working population, but even so, the country was able to supply three fifths of its food needs from its own resources. The Bank of England is the UK’s central bank, issuing currency and controlling interest rates, but banks in Northern Ireland and Scotland issue their own notes. Government influence over the economy is exercised largely by the Treasury, which is led by the chancellor of the exchequer, but major policy decisions involve the prime minister and the cabinet. On an international scale, the UK annually experiences a trading deficit. Exports (consisting largely of chemicals, food, fuels, manufactured goods, and whisky) go primarily to the United States and European Union partners, notably Germany, France, and the Republic of Ireland. Imports of fuel, foods, machinery, and other manufactured products come largely from China, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United States. See also AIR TRANSPORT; BIG BANG; BLACK MONDAY; BLACK WEDNESDAY; THE BUDGET; CANAL TRANSPORT; CITY OF LONDON; CONFEDERATION OF BRITISH INDUSTRY (CBI); ENERGY; ENGLAND; ENTERPRISE ZONE; ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION; THE EURO; FINANCIAL SERVICES AUTHORITY (FSA); FISHING INDUSTRY; FORESTRY; LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE (LSE); OFFICE OF FAIR TRADING (OFT); PRIVATIZATION; RAILROAD TRANSPORT; ROAD TRANSPORT; SPORTS; THATCHER, MARGARET HILDA (1925– ); TOURISM; TRADE UNIONS. EDINBURGH. Edinburgh is Scotland’s capital city and the second most important financial center in the United Kingdom. Lying some 350 miles north of London, it is located between the southern shores of the River Forth and the scarp slope of the Pentland Hills. Development began during the 11th century, when King Malcolm III built


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a hunting lodge on Castle Rock, the core of an extinct volcano. Then in 1128, King David I (Malcolm’s son) founded an Augustinian Abbey at Holyrood, a mile to the east and at the foot of the hill. As populations grew, the two foci expanded, and by the 15th century, Edinburgh was Scotland’s most important town, regularly hosting meetings of the country’s Parliament. However, space in the medieval city became an increasingly scarce resource as the citizenry tried to accommodate itself within the protection of the town walls. Houses grew upward, streets narrowed into twisting alleyways known as “wynds,” and rooms became densely overcrowded, facilitating the spread of infectious disease. In 1767, hoping to alleviate the congestion, city authorities held a competition to design a suburb north of the castle. The winning plan, presented by James Craig, appealed to Georgian tastes and resulted in a New Town characterized by wide streets and low-density living, which attracted the more affluent members of the community. During the 19th and 20th centuries, the railroads and the internal combustion engine facilitated the development of further suburbs to the west, south, and east. By the early 21st century, Edinburgh was a major service center with some 449,000 residents. As a financial focus, it ranked sixth in Europe behind London, Frankfurt, Paris, Zurich, and Amsterdam in terms of managed funds. Tourism supported about 10 percent of all jobs, and the population had risen by some 23,000 between 1991 and 2001, partly because of the establishment of a Scottish Parliament in 1999 (see DEVOLUTION). However, growth created problems, placing a burden on the city’s physical infrastructure, notably its transport provision, and forcing house prices upward. The city council, fearing that jobs would go elsewhere because of traffic jams and a lack of investment in public services, announced proposals to attract more biotechnology firms to the area, introduce a tram network, open new rail links, build low-cost housing, and replace many of its schools, but it needs the sustained financial support of the Scottish Executive if it is to achieve its aims. See also BANKING. EDUCATION. The United Kingdom spends about 4.5 percent of its gross domestic product on education—less than the Scandinavian countries, about the same as the United States, and more than Germany and Japan. There are two systems, one for England, Wales,


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and Northern Ireland, the other for Scotland, but all children attend school from the age of 4 or 5 until they are at least 16. The more able continue for a further two or three years in order to take examinations that will qualify them for university entrance or for skilled jobs. More than 90 percent of all pupils attend state-funded schools, some of which are associated with religious organizations, such as the Church of England. In England in 1988, through the Education Reform Act, the Conservative Party government introduced a national curriculum in order to ensure that specific subjects would be taught at all schools receiving public funding. Pupils’ performance would be assessed when they were aged 7, 11, 14, and 16, and an Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED) was established to inspect schools and teachers from 1992. The legislation also made provision for schools to receive their finance from central rather than local government if a majority of parents agreed. The Labour Party government, elected in 1997, retained the structure introduced by its predecessor but encouraged some schools to become centers of excellence, teaching the national curriculum but also concentrating on subjects (such as business studies and music) that were minor disciplines elsewhere. In addition, all schools were expected to meet targets for basic literacy and for numeracy. Although there are local variations in the structure of educational provision, most children attend a primary school until they are 11 years old, when they transfer to a secondary school. Almost 85 percent of pupils in state-supported establishments attend comprehensive secondary schools, which admit students of all academic abilities; the remainder goes to grammar schools, which cater to highability pupils and have an avowedly academic curriculum, or to secondary modern schools, which take less-able pupils and focus on more vocational subjects. At the age of 13, most students begin to specialize (concentrating, perhaps, more on the humanities that on the sciences), and at the age of 16 they take General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) examinations in their chosen subjects. About 25 percent of pupils then leave school and seek work, most with no or very few exam passes; the remainder continues in fulltime education, concentrating either on vocational qualifications or


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on three or four academic disciplines that will permit them to take the Advanced Level (A-Level) examinations necessary for university entry (about one third of 18- and 19-year-olds enter full-time higher education). In 2004, Ruth Kelly, the secretary of state for education, announced plans to require all 14-year-olds to choose an academic route, a vocational route, or a mixture of the two and to make GCSE and A-Level exams more rigorous. In 2005, she rejected the proposals of the Tomlinson Report, which would have replaced A-Levels with diplomas incorporating academic and vocational studies. In Northern Ireland, the Council for Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment was made responsible for testing pupils in 1994. It also advises the government on educational matters relevant to the province. About 95 percent of pupils attend a Protestant or a Roman Catholic school, but otherwise the structure of provision is similar to that in England. The educational system for Welsh children is also similar to that of their English neighbors. However, when the National Assembly for Wales assumed responsibility for academic standards in primary and high schools in 2000, it discontinued the testing of seven-year-olds. About one in four pupils attends a school where the Welsh language is the medium of instruction in more than six subjects. In most other schools, Welsh is taught as a second language. Scottish education emphasizes breadth rather than depth, with students deferring specialization until the age of 16 and transferring to university a year earlier than their English counterparts. Until 1999, pupils took Standard Grade examinations at the end of their fourth year of secondary schooling and Higher Grade examinations at the end of their fifth and sixth years. Students who wanted to move straight into the second year of a Scottish university could take a more difficult exam, known as the Advanced Higher. However, critics of the system complained that the academic gap between Standard and Higher Grade was too great to be covered adequately in two years, so in 2000, a different form of Higher, known as “Higher Still,” was introduced. Teachers’ organizations argued that implementation should be delayed in order to ensure that the necessary administrative procedures were in place, and they were proved right as computer failures and clerical errors led to the distribution of thousands of incorrect certificates and the remarking of 100,000 exam scripts.


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Research studies in 2004 suggested that the new system had enhanced opportunities, especially for the average and less able, but that it had done little to improve attainment. Even so, the proportion of young people entering higher education is about 10 percent above the UK norm. In particular, the Scots seem to be more successful at encouraging people from manual and lower-middle-class homes to seek postschool qualifications. See also DEARING REPORT (1997); INNER LONDON EDUCATION AUTHORITY (ILEA); POLYTECHNICS; PUBLIC SCHOOL; SPORTS; WELFARE STATE. EDWARD, PRINCE (1964– ). Prince Edward is the fourth and youngest child of Queen Elizabeth II and Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Born in London on 10 March 1964, he was educated (like his father and eldest brother) at Gordonstoun School in Scotland before going to Cambridge University, where he studied anthropology, archaeology, and history. After graduating with a bachelor of arts degree in 1986, he joined the Royal Marines but resigned his commission after a year, claiming that he was no Rambo, and joined Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Theatre Company as a production assistant. In 1993, he formed his own firm—Ardent Productions—but despite completing a popular television series dealing with the royal family, the venture was never a financial success. While he was preparing to launch himself into the business world, the prince met Sophie Rhys-Jones, a public relations consultant. The only daughter of Christopher Rhys-Jones, a car parts salesman, and his wife, Mary, she was born in Oxford on 20 January 1965, and educated at Kent College for Girls in Pembury. In the spring of 1994, tabloid press reports revealed that Sophie had moved into Edward’s apartments at Buckingham Palace, apparently with the queen’s approval (commentators suggested that she had acquiesced because she felt that the arrangement might help to prevent the problems that had bedeviled the marriages of the prince’s brothers and sister). The couple eventually married at Windsor Castle on 19 June 1999, with the queen recognizing the change in her son’s status by creating him earl (see PEERAGE) of Wessex. On 8 November 2003, the couple had their first child (Louise Alice Elizabeth Mary). A second (James Alexander Philip Theo Mountbatten-Windsor) was born 17 December 2007.


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The prince and his wife were regularly criticized in the press for exploiting their royal connections in order to promote their businesses and in 2002 gave up their jobs. Since then, they have concentrated on royal duties. Edward, in particular, has worked to promote the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme, a community service and outdoor activity program for young people, and the countess is an active supporter of charities founded to help victims of meningitis; in 2003, she was photographed in tears while she listened to an Edinburgh lawyer whose arms had been amputated below the elbow and whose legs had been amputated below the knee after she was attacked by the disease. ELECTION MANIFESTO. Before a general election, each political party prepares a document (or manifesto) that outlines the policies it will adopt if it forms the next government. The manifesto promises are not binding, but prime ministers often interpret an election victory as a mandate to implement the proposals, as, for example, when Margaret Thatcher aggressively pursued the privatization of publicly owned corporations following the Conservative Party’s victory at the election in 1983. ELECTORAL COMMISSION. The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act of 2000 created an Electoral Commission that would function independently of government in an effort to increase public confidence in democratic processes. Its principal tasks involve advising the government on changes to electoral law, monitoring donations to electoral campaign funds, promoting awareness of the electoral system, registering political parties, and reporting on the conduct of elections. In 2002, the Local Government Boundary Commission for England became one of its committees, giving it the added task of carrying out regular reviews of the territorial areas used for local elections. ELECTORAL REFORM. See JENKINS COMMISSION (1997–98). ELECTORAL SYSTEM. In the United Kingdom, all citizens aged 18 or over have the right to vote unless they are considered by doctors to be mentally incapable of making rational judgments, have been convicted


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of illegal electoral practices within the previous five years, are members of the House of Lords, or are serving a prison sentence. For elections to the House of Commons, the country is divided into geographical areas known as constituencies, each one of which chooses a single representative to serve as its member of Parliament (MP). The elections are conducted on a “first past the post” system, with the candidate who gets the most votes being declared the winner. In modern times, the vast majority of people who “stand” for election represent political parties, and the party with the largest number of constituency winners forms the government. That system has advantages as well as disadvantages. For example, it tends to produce strong governments that do not have to enter into coalitions with other parties in order to retain power, but it can also (as in 1951 and 1974) result in a party winning power with a majority of MPs but a minority of the popular vote. Local government elections throughout the UK (except in Northern Ireland) are fought on a similar basis, but those for the National Assembly for Wales and the Scottish Parliament involve an element of proportional representation. In Ulster, the single transferable vote system is used both for local elections and for elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly. See also BY-ELECTION; ELECTORAL COMMISSION; GENERAL ELECTION; JENKINS COMMISSION (1997–98). ELIZABETH II (1926– ). Queen of the United Kingdom and head of the Commonwealth of Nations, Elizabeth was born in London on 21 April 1926, the elder daughter of the duke (see PEERAGE) and duchess of York (later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother). Educated by Marion Crawford (her governess) and by private tutors, she spent most of her teenage years at Balmoral Castle (in Scotland) and at Windsor Castle (near Reading), while her parents endured the rigors of Second World War life in London. In November 1947, she married Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten (now Prince Philip), whom she had first met as a girl of thirteen when he was tasked with conducting her round the Royal Naval College Dartmouth. Prince Charles, their first child, was born on 14 November 1948. Princess Anne followed on 15 August 1950, Prince Andrew on 19 February 1960, and Prince Edward on 10 March 1964.


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In 1952, Elizabeth became queen on her father’s death. She was crowned on 2 June 1953 and almost immediately embarked on a series of overseas tours, visiting Australia, Ceylon, New Zealand, the West Indies, and Uganda on lengthy journeys that indicated she intended to take her commonwealth duties seriously. The same seriousness led to an outburst of anger in 1982, when the United States invaded Grenada, of which she is head of state, without notifying her of its intentions. Formally, the British monarch is expected to remain aloof from party politics, but as sovereign, Queen Elizabeth has twice had to choose a successor when a prime minister resigned. The first occasion was in 1957, when Anthony Eden gave up office in the wake of the Suez crisis. After seeking the views of leading political figures, she selected Harold Macmillan rather than Rab Butler, who had deputized when Eden was ill. When Macmillan gave up the job for health reasons in 1963, she chose Alec Douglas-Home. More recently, she apparently was at odds with Margaret Thatcher; on 20 July 1986, the Sunday Times, a respected broadsheet newspaper, reported that the queen believed that her prime minister’s policies were “uncaring, confrontational and socially divisive.” Those claims were denied by spokesmen for the royal family but nevertheless were widely considered to be accurate. Informally, the queen exercises considerable influence on political decision making. She has received weekly reports from a succession of prime ministers over the past half century and has developed very cordial friendships with a galaxy of world leaders, so she is extremely well informed and has no qualms about expressing her views in private conversations with her political advisors. At times, she will go further when she feels that her intervention is advantageous, as in 1993 when she invited Mary Robinson, the president of the Republic of Ireland, to tea at Buckingham Palace; the tête-à-tête was the first official meeting between the heads of state of the two countries. In the United Kingdom, opinion polls suggest that support for the concept of monarchy has declined in recent decades, but the queen herself has remained popular apart from a period in the late 1997, when she was perceived as cold and unfeeling as she failed to make any public statement of grief in the immediate aftermath of the death of her former daughter-in-law, Diana, Princess of Wales. In 2002,


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the golden jubilee of her reign was celebrated with parties, concerts, and parades throughout the country, and she undertook a strenuous program of engagements despite her age. Rumors that she may abdicate in favor of Prince Charles surface periodically but appear to have no foundation. See also ANNUS HORRIBILIS; CIVIL LIST; COMMONWEALTH REALM; INCOME TAX; PRIVY PURSE; ROYAL PREROGATIVE; SECURITY BREACHES, ROYAL FAMILY; WINDSOR CASTLE FIRE. ELIZABETH, THE QUEEN MOTHER (1900–2002). Her Royal Highness Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, was consort of King George VI and is credited with many of the initiatives that brought the royal family closer to the people of the United Kingdom. Born at St. Paul’s Waldenbury, Hertfordshire, on 4 August 1900, she was 9th of the 10 children of Claude Bowes-Lyon (earl [see PEERAGE] of Strathmore and Kinghorne) and his wife, Nina Cecilia, daughter of the Rev. and Mrs. Charles W. Cavendish Bentinck. She spent much of her childhood at Glamis Castle, the family home in Scotland, and worked with nurses to care for wounded servicemen when the building was used as a convalescent home for repatriated troops during World War I. Elizabeth met her future husband (then Prince Albert) in 1920 and married him on 26 April 1923 after he had proposed for the third time. Their first child, Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II), was born on 21 April 1926 and their second, Princess Margaret Rose, on 21 August 1930. The couple attended the public engagements and undertook the foreign tours required of members of the royal family, but there was no expectation that they would occupy Buckingham Palace because the prince’s older brother, Edward, was heir to the throne. However, when King George V died in 1936, Edward reigned for only 11 months before announcing his intention to abdicate because he wanted to marry Mrs. Wallis Simpson, an American divorcee. The new King George VI was devastated. A shy, retiring man who preferred the quiet of family life to the glare of the spotlight, he approached his new job with dread, and Elizabeth never forgave either Edward or his new wife. Biographers claim that it was she who was responsible for the decision not to give Mrs. Simpson the title of her royal highness, and even at Edward’s funeral in 1972, the two women did not talk to each other.


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During the 1930s, Queen Elizabeth was an ardent supporter of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s efforts to appease Adolf Hitler, but after World War II broke out, she and the king spent most of their days in London, visiting families who had lost their homes to German bombs and working to keep morale high (so much so that Hitler claimed she was the woman he most feared in the whole of Europe). Then when the conflict was over, she resumed her schedule of engagements, performing many of them on her own during the king’s illness in 1951 and 1952. After George’s death on 6 February 1952, she spent a lengthy period in mourning, much of it in Scotland at the Castle of Mey, her favorite home, but she did attend her daughter’s coronation in 1953 and then visited Rhodesia, Canada, and the United States. As the queen mother aged, the number of commitments reduced, but she appeared in public regularly until shortly before her death. Newspapers satirized her love of gin and tonic, her fondness for horse racing, and her addiction to large hats with lots of netting, but the satire did little to dent her public image. She was also known to have a wicked sense of humor. Most of her male courtiers were gay. On one occasion, she was ascending a staircase to attend a gala occasion, with her footmen lining the route and the avowedly homosexual Noel Coward at her side. Noting the playwright’s admiring glances at the attendants, she told him, “I wouldn’t if I were you, Noel. They count them before they put them out.” The queen mother died at the Royal Lodge at Windsor Castle in the early hours of 30 March 2002, only days after attending the funeral of Princess Margaret and four months short of her 102nd birthday. She was laid to rest in Westminster Abbey, London, beside her husband. EMPEY, REGINALD “REG” (1947– ). Sir Reg Empey assumed the leadership of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) in 2005. Born on 26 October 1947, the son of Samuel and Emily Empey, he was educated at the Royal School (Armagh) and at Queen’s University, Belfast, where he graduated with a degree in economics. Initially, he launched himself on a business career (he came from a family of retailers) but, while still in his twenties, became increasingly involved in politics, joining the hard-line Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party and serving


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as its chairman in 1975. In 1976, he migrated to the United Ulster Unionist Party, holding the post of deputy leader from 1977 until the organization’s dissolution in 1982, then transferring his allegiance to the UUP. In 1989–90 and 1993–94, he served as lord mayor of Belfast, and in 1998, he was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly, where he was given the post of minister of enterprise, trade, and investment. He was knighted in 1999. Empey was a member of UUP negotiating teams from 1991, supporting his leader, David Trimble, at the discussions that led to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. He contested the East Belfast parliamentary constituency at the 2005 general election and, although he came second, won 30 percent of the vote. That relative success at a time when UUP candidates were performing badly undoubtedly helped his candidature for the party leadership when Trimble resigned. Since his appointment, he has attempted to steer a middle way between those who are, at best, skeptical of the 1998 agreement and those who believe that Trimble’s conciliatory strategy in negotiations with nationalist sympathizers was justified. He has also received considerable credit for his efforts to support commerce and increase employment in Northern Ireland, particularly through his attempts to develop a gas pipeline between Ulster and the Irish Republic and his work to retain a significant shipbuilding presence in Belfast. See also FIRST MINISTER. ENERGY. The United Kingdom accounts for about 2.5 percent of world energy consumption, and the production industry contributes around 3.3 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, employing some 164,000 people directly. For almost 200 years, from the beginning of the industrial revolution in the late 18th century, coal was by far the largest source of power in Britain, but the discovery of oil and gas reserves in the North Sea during the 1970s heralded a revolution in the production and use of fossil fuels. In 1970, the UK produced 111 million tons of oil-equivalent energy (mtoe), with coal accounting for 84 percent of the total. By 1980, output at 210.5 mtoe had almost doubled, but coal’s share had dropped to 37.3 percent, the remainder coming from oil (41.3 percent), natural gas (16.5 percent), and hydroelectricity and other renewable sources (4.9 percent). By 2003, output had risen


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again, to 260.3 mtoe; oil was supplying 44.6 percent, natural gas 39.5 percent, coal only 6.8 percent, and other sources 9.1 percent. Consumption per head amounted to 166 British thermal units (less than half that of the United States), and the trade surplus in fuels was contributing £5 billion to the economy every year. In 2003, a government white paper argued that a considerable decrease in carbon dioxide emissions would be necessary in order to combat climate change and stressed the need to increase electricity output from renewable sources rather than from fossil fuels. The initial response was to build wind turbines, but these structures have generated furious opposition from environmental conservation and neighborhood groups that fear the “wind farms,” most of which are necessarily built in exposed areas, such as mountain ridges, will degrade upland environments and affect the tourist industry. The white paper was followed in 2006 by an Energy Review that specified four long-term aims of government policy—a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 60 percent before 2050, the maintenance of reliable energy supplies, the promotion of competitive markets, and the provision of adequate, affordable heating for every home. In part, those aims would be achieved by reduced and more efficient consumption of energy, but the government also proposed to ease planning restrictions on the construction of new nuclear power stations and plant-generating electricity from renewable resources while insisting that it would expect developments to come from the private sector rather than from investment by the state. ENGLAND. Of the four territories that make up the United Kingdom, England is by far the largest both in population and land area. It covers some 50,300 square miles (about the same as Louisiana and some 53 percent of the UK total). At the time of the 2001 census, it had 49,138,000 citizens, or about 83 percent of all UK residents. The north and west is largely hilly upland devoted to animal farming, but the south and east is flatter, with a higher proportion of cropland. During the 19th century, extensive coal reserves were mined to fuel textile factories and engineering works in cities such as Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, but as the economy has changed its focus from industry to services, southern settlements, such as Reading, have become more important. London


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is the major metropolitan area, partly because it has for long been the center of government, partly because the headquarters of so many financial institutions are located there, and partly because it is situated in the southeast of the country, close to major European markets. Because of its size, England dominates British politics, but the American tendency to use England as a synonym for United Kingdom annoys the Northern Irish, Scots, and Welsh, who have a strong sense of their own nationhood. The name is derived from the Angles, who arrived from the European mainland in the fifth century and settled. See also BOROUGH; CHURCH OF ENGLAND; CITY OF LONDON; COTSWOLD HILLS; CRICKET; CURRY REPORT; DEARING REPORT (1997); EDUCATION; ENGLISH DISEASE; ENGLISH REGIONAL ASSEMBLIES; ESSEX GIRL; ESSEX MAN; ESTUARY ENGLISH; FLAG; FOOTBALL; LEGAL SYSTEM, ENGLAND; LOCAL GOVERNMENT, ENGLAND; MERSEY, RIVER; PENNINE HILLS; SEVERN, RIVER; THAMES, RIVER. ENGLISH DISEASE. During the 1980s and 1990s, European journalists used the term English disease to describe the frequent outbreaks of hooliganism involving English (but not Northern Irish, Scottish, or Welsh) soccer (see FOOTBALL) supporters at matches both at home and abroad (see, for example, HEYSEL STADIUM DISASTER). The same phrase was employed in the 15th century when the French called syphilis the “English disease,” and the English retaliated by calling it the “French disease.” Later, during the Industrial Revolution, it was employed with reference to the high incidence of bronchial problems that resulted from a combination of damp climate and the ever-present smoke and soot in burgeoning cities; then in the 1960s and 1970s, it was applied to economic problems characterized by a high incidence of trade union strikes. ENGLISH REGIONAL ASSEMBLIES. In 2002, as part of its policy of decentralizing national decision-making processes (see DEVOLUTION), the Labour Party government published a white paper outlining proposals for the creation of assemblies that would have authority over aspects of economic development, environmental conservation, and social welfare in the regions of England. The plans


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were promoted strongly by John Prescott, the deputy prime minister, but he received little support from Tony Blair and other senior politicians. Critics of the scheme claimed that the new bodies would be costly to establish and that England needed a single parliament rather than several parliaments for different areas, so few commentators were surprised when, at a referendum held in the northeast in 2004, only 197,000 people voted in favor of the scheme and 700,000 voted against. Prescott expressed surprise but agreed that the overwhelmingly negative response meant that the plans would be shelved for the foreseeable future. ENNISKILLEN BOMBING. On Sunday, 8 November 1987, a Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) bomb exploded during a ceremony being held in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, to honor victims of the two world wars. Eleven people were killed and 63 injured. The violence was condemned by political and religious leaders around the world but may have had positive effects because it led to the development of several community initiatives and campaigns for peace in Ulster. Almost exactly 10 years later, after the nationalist and loyalist paramilitary groups in the province had agreed to a cease-fire, Gerry Adams, the president of Sinn Féin (the PIRA’s political wing), apologized for the atrocity. ENTERPRISE ZONE. In his budget speech in 1980, Chancellor of the Exchequer Geoffrey Howe announced that the government would create a series of enterprise zones in inner-city areas (such as the Isle of Dogs on the north bank of the River Thames in London) and in parts of the country (including Belfast, Glasgow’s shipbuilding complex at Clydebank, and the lower Swansea Valley in Wales) that were experiencing high unemployment rates as traditional heavy industries declined. From then until 1996, 36 zones were established, all offering relaxed planning controls and significant financial inducements to businesses prepared to locate within their boundaries. In each case, the designation lasted for 10 years. Critics claimed that enterprise zones did little to help regional economies because many of the firms that moved in were simply relocating from nearby sites in order to get the benefit of tax breaks. Others pointed out that several of the new businesses were


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footloose—call centers were a frequently quoted example—and thus able to move on when the designations ended. However, champions of the scheme, which was much copied in the United States, claimed that any injection of income and jobs into a declining area would be of benefit and that the investment—because it came from private rather than public sources—was more likely to be market oriented. The Labour Party government, elected in 1997, decided to terminate the enterprise zone project in 2006, when the last of the designated zones reached the end of their decade of tax relief. ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION. Since the end of World War II, conservation issues have become increasingly important, both politically and economically, because higher incomes, more widespread ownership of cars, and increased leisure time have enabled more people to visit the countryside and historic cities. That, in turn, has provided business opportunities, with outdoor recreation contributing £4 billion annually to the Scottish economy alone. In addition, pressure groups have heightened public awareness that road building, urban growth, and other developments are constricting wildlife habitats. Parliament has reflected both the demand for access to areas of scenic beauty and the concern for conservation by passing several measures designed to enhance enjoyment of the countryside and protect fragile sites. The Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981 has become the primary legislative measure for protecting vulnerable species (for example, it prohibits the deliberate killing or capture of any wild bird except in specific circumstances, as with game shooting) and is supplemented by measures, such as the 1992 Protection of Badgers Act, that provide additional protection for particular species. Historic buildings are protected from development by the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act of 1990, and other legislation, such as the Environmental Protection Act of 1990 and the Environment Act of 1995, has attempted to tighten control over pollution. Also, in 2000 the Countryside and Rights of Way Act opened up much privately owned upland, heath, and moorland to hikers in England and Wales (see RIGHT TO ROAM). Often, the plethora of bodies created to deal with conservation issues serves to confuse the public and inhibit integrated planning of resource use. For that reason, the government announced that in


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2007, a new authority, to be called Natural England, would absorb English Nature (which was formed in 1990 in an effort to improve wildlife conservation) and assume some of the responsibilities of the Countryside Agency (created in 1999 and charged with enhancing public enjoyment of the landscape) in an effort to provide a cohesive approach to conservation and recreation throughout England’s rural areas. In reality, however, overall planning is difficult to achieve, partly because such nongovernmental pressure groups as the Ramblers Association, the Royal Society for Protection of Birds, and the National Trust pursue individual—and frequently conflicting— agendas and partly because Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales have their own conservation policies. See also COTSWOLD HILLS; COUNTRYSIDE ALLIANCE; ENERGY; FORTH, RIVER; GENETICALLY MODIFIED CROPS (GM CROPS); GREEN PARTY; NATIONAL PARK; NATIONAL TRUST FOR SCOTLAND (NTS); NEWBURY BYPASS; WORLD HERITAGE SITES. ESSEX GIRL. Essex girl is Essex man’s companion—a sexually promiscuous, miniskirted young woman who favors white stilettoheeled shoes and large hoop earrings, speaks Estuary English, and is noted for her limited intellectual prowess. She was supposed to be most prevalent in the County of Essex, east of London, where working-class families were rehoused to facilitate slum clearance programs in the city’s east end during the 1960s and 1970s and where young entrepreneurs became wealthy while Margaret Thatcher held office as prime minister. After the Labour Party took control of government in 1997, the species became much less common, but websites are still full of Essex girl jokes, and the phrase is still used by journalists to refer to young women with money but little sophistication. ESSEX MAN. While Margaret Thatcher was prime minister, much of her support came from young men in their twenties and early thirties, who had grown up in working-class families but eschewed that background in favor of what they believed was a middle-class lifestyle. Stephen Morris, one of Mrs. Thatcher’s ministers, claimed that these individuals had a “great deal of money but very little taste.” The source of the term Essex man as a descriptor for the group is not


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known, though some writers claim that it was coined by Julian Critchley, a Conservative Party member of Parliament, in the early 1980s. Essex is a county north of the River Thames and east of London with large populations of former manual workers who have roots in the east end. See also ESSEX GIRL; ESTUARY ENGLISH. ESTUARY ENGLISH. Estuary English is a dialect form of the language originally spoken in and around London and particularly in areas along the estuary of the River Thames. Identified by David Rosewarne in 1984, it is distinguished primarily by its pronunciation (for example, by the use of the glottal stop) rather than by its vocabulary. It was initially stereotyped as the speech of Essex girl and Essex man but was quickly adopted by young people as a form of social identification. With its increasing popularity, its geographical spread widened, and it is now found in areas as far apart as southwest England and East Anglia. THE EURO. One of the provisions of the 1992 Maastricht Treaty required members of the European Union (EU) to work toward the establishment of a currency that would replace existing monetary arrangements and be known as the euro (designated as =C or EUR). The rationale was that a common coinage would simplify international commerce (by eliminating the problems caused by variations in exchange rates, for example) and thus increase trade between EU states. On 1 January 1999, 12 countries converted to the new system, initially as an accounting mechanism but then from 2002 as the basis for cash transactions. However, the United Kingdom opted to retain the pound, claiming that its economy would not benefit from inclusion in the “eurozone.” The Labour Party government has said that five tests must be passed before it will recommend acceptance of the currency. First, British business cycles and economic structures must be compatible with European interest rates on a permanent basis. Second, there must be sufficient administrative flexibility to deal with any problems that emerge. Third, the euro must create improved conditions for firms making long-term decisions to invest in Britain. Fourth, the new currency must have a positive effect on the UK’s financial services industry, and fifth, it must have the potential to promote economic


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growth, improve economic stability, and maintain a permanent increase in employment. In the opinion of Gordon Brown, the chancellor of the exchequer, those tests were not passed when they were applied in 1997 and 2003. All political parties have agreed that when the financial climate seems acceptable, the opinion of the British people would be sought in a referendum, but opinion polls in recent years suggest that any proposal to join the euro would be resoundingly rejected. Proponents of the currency claim that as about 60 percent of the UK’s export trade is with other members of the EU, British firms would benefit from membership because costs would be more transparent and losses through exchange rate variations would be eliminated. On the other hand, euroskeptics argue that acceptance of the euro would be a step toward a European superstate, removing Britain’s ability to determine its economic future by setting its own interest rates. Other analysts have suggested that the existence of the chancellor’s tests is an indication of the importance of economic factors in current political planning and that the willingness to publish the results reflects an openness in government. EUROPEAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY (EEC). See AGRICULTURE; BRUGES GROUP; COMMON MARKET; EUROPEAN MONETARY SYSTEM (EMS); EUROPEAN UNION (EU); SUNDAY TRADING; THATCHER, MARGARET HILDA (1925– ). EUROPEAN EXCHANGE RATE MECHANISM (ERM). See BLACK WEDNESDAY; EUROPEAN MONETARY SYSTEM (EMS); EUROPEAN UNION (EU); LAMONT, NORMAN STEWART HUGHSON (1942– ); MAJOR, JOHN (1943– ). EUROPEAN MONETARY SYSTEM (EMS). The EMS was created in March 1979 when some member countries of the European Economic Community agreed to link their currencies to a system known as the European exchange rate mechanism (ERM), thus reducing fluctuations in foreign exchange rates. The ERM, in turn, was linked to a European Currency Unit that could be used as a means of payment when goods produced in one country were sold in another. The immediate aim was to stabilize economies, but the


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long-term intent was clearly to establish a common currency throughout the community. Britain joined the ERM on 8 October 1990, with sterling pegged at 2.95 deutschmarks to the pound (fluctuations of more than 6 percent on either side of that benchmark would result in revaluation). At the time, the United Kingdom was experiencing high rates of inflation and had a considerable balance of payment deficit. In addition, the public sector borrowing requirement (PSBR; see PUBLIC SECTOR NET CASH REQUIREMENT) was growing, and the political climate was unstable because Margaret Thatcher’s position as prime minister was under threat. Many economists argued that in those circumstances, ERM membership would help maintain economic stability, and their view seemed to be justified for several months, but eventually, after a period of intense speculation against sterling, Britain was forced to withdraw on 16 September 1992 (see BLACK WEDNESDAY). Seven years later, Tony Blair’s Labour Party government decided, under the terms of an “opt out” clause in the Maastricht Treaty, to maintain the UK’s financial distance from its neighbors by retaining the pound rather than joining most of the other members of the European Union in adopting the euro. See also BACK TO BASICS. EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT. The European Union (EU) Parliament is part of the EU’s legislative structure. It has no power to pass laws—that is the prerogative of the Council of Ministers, which consists of government ministers from the member states—but it can amend or veto certain proposals and has a right to be consulted over other aspects of policy. Elections are held every five years, using systems of proportional representation that vary from country to country. The United Kingdom has 77 members of the European Parliament (known as MEPs)—64 from England, 7 from Scotland, 4 from Wales, and 3 from Northern Ireland. MEPs may sit both in the European Parliament and in the UK Parliament, but the practice is discouraged. EUROPEAN UNION (EU). On 25 March 1957, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and West Germany signed an agreement, termed the Treaty of Rome after the city in which the


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meeting was held, that committed them to a program of economic and political integration as members of an organization known as the European Economic Community (EEC). Initially, the United Kingdom remained aloof from the grouping because it feared a loss of sovereignty. By 1963, however, it had had a change of heart and applied for entry, but President Charles de Gaulle of France vetoed the application. A second application in 1967 met the same fate, but by 1973, attitudes had softened, and Prime Minister Edward Heath successfully negotiated British membership of the club. Two years later, a public referendum—the first in UK history—confirmed the popularity of the decision, with 67 percent of those who voted approving continuation of the arrangement. In 1992, under the terms of the Maastricht Treaty, the EEC was subsumed within a new European Union. The United Kingdom has had an uneasy relationship with its partners on mainland Europe, partly because it has a long history of rivalry with several of them, partly because of its strong sense of national identity, partly because of links with former colonial territories in the Commonwealth of Nations, and partly because of clashes between personalities. In the early 1980s, under Michael Foot, the Labour Party was calling for British withdrawal from Europe, and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was aggressively demanding what she saw as just treatment of UK interests. In particular, she felt that Britain was contributing too much to EEC coffers and asked that some of it be returned, claiming that “We are not asking the Community or anybody else for money. We are simply asking to have our own money back.” Her rhetoric prevailed, and the other EEC leaders agreed to give the UK an annual rebate on its contributions, which, by the first decade of the 21st century, amounted to more than £40 billion each year. Mrs. Thatcher was equally outspoken in an attack on proposals for a more centralized system of decision making, arguing that it was counter to the domestic policies she had pursued and telling EU leaders that “We have not successfully rolled back the frontiers of the state in Britain only to see them re-imposed at a European level, with a European superstate exercising a new dominance from Brussels.” Her wrath focused particularly on plans for monetary union, claiming that if the value of the pound was pegged to other currencies, it


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would be vulnerable to speculation. Those fears were later justified by the events that led to Black Wednesday in 1992, but at the time, both Nigel Lawson (the chancellor of the exchequer) and Geoffrey Howe (the foreign secretary) persuaded her that Britain should join the European exchange rate mechanism. Regretting the decision, she demoted Howe to leader of the House of Commons and increasingly turned for economic advice to Sir Alan Walters, a private advisor, rather than to her chancellor. Frustrated, both men ultimately resigned, and in a speech from the backbenches in the House of Commons, Howe excoriated the prime minister, saying that she had a “nightmare” vision of a Europe “positively teeming with ill-intentioned people scheming . . . to extinguish democracy.” The differences over European policy had, by this time, sharply divided Mrs. Thatcher’s Conservative Party. Howe’s speech added fuel to the flames, encouraging her opponents to redouble their efforts to get rid of her, and in November 1990, they succeeded. Her departure did nothing to unite entrenched factions, however. Her successor, John Major, attempted to reestablish friendly relationships with his European counterparts, saying that he wanted Britain to be where it belonged—“right at the very heart of Europe”—but his task was made difficult by continued intraparty bickering (at one point, his nerves frayed, he referred to the euroskeptics in his cabinet as “the bastards”). In an attempt to win support for his approach, he resigned the party leadership in 1995, then stood for reelection and heavily defeated John Redwood, his anti-Europe opponent, but in the long term, the tactic failed because, although Major promised to hold a referendum before committing Britain to a common European currency, the press relished the Conservatives’ continued backbiting over EU policies, and the publicity did much to contribute to their general election defeat two years later. In principle, Tony Blair’s Labour Party, which formed the government from 1997, was much more disposed toward Europe than its predecessors had been. However, Gordon Brown (the chancellor of the exchequer) was unwilling to let the country join the majority of EU members and adopt a common currency in 2002, claiming that a series of five economic tests would have to be passed before the pound would be replaced (see THE EURO). Moreover, there were political problems. Blair had promised that, even when economic


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conditions were considered satisfactory, a national referendum would be held before the UK entered the “eurozone,” but poll after poll showed that the public would decisively reject such a proposal. The Conservatives, sensing an opportunity to regain lost support, began a campaign to “save the pound,” and other evidence suggested that anti-European attitudes in some parts of the country were hardening (for example, the United Kingdom Independence Party, which advocates withdrawal from the EU, won three seats at the European Parliament elections in 1999). Blair’s woes deepened in 2005. The prime minister had won much praise from former communist countries in eastern Europe because he had championed their membership of the EU, but relationships cooled when his efforts to reduce the organization’s budget threatened to cut aid that had been promised to them. Then in an effort to persuade Jacques Chirac, president of France, to consider reform of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), he agreed to a £1 billion a year cut in the £3.5 billion rebate originally negotiated by Margaret Thatcher in 1984. Critics at home claimed that the sacrifice was foolish because Chirac made no commitment to reduce CAP spending; William Hague, the shadow foreign secretary (see SHADOW CABINET), paraphrased Winston Churchill with a claim that “Seldom in the course of European negotiations has so much been surrendered for so little.” Officials at the Treasury confirmed that Blair had not conferred with Gordon Brown before making the gesture (a lack of contact that the press suggested was indicative of a deteriorating relationship between the two men), and other commentators pointed out that the reduced rebate would mean that the government would have less to spend on education, health care, and other social services. Then in 2007, Blair received further criticism when he approved the outlines of a new EU treaty that appeared to reduce Britain’s freedom to form an independent foreign policy or to veto proposals relating to energy, immigration, transport, and other elements of the country’s economic and social infrastructure. Opponents demanded a referendum, but the prime minister argued that it was not necessary. British attitudes to the EU reflect a conflict of interests. For British businesses, access to a market of about some 450 million people (about one third more than that of the United States) is a


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major commercial attraction, particularly so because there are no tariff barriers between member nations. Also, as a member of a grouping of 27 countries, the UK has a political influence on the world stage that it could not have on its own. On the other hand, there is no doubt that many voters (even though they visit Europe in large numbers on vacation) resent the loss of sovereignty—and with that, the loss of national identity—that is implied by closer integration with continental neighbors. See also CIVIL LIBERTIES; COMMON MARKET; CONSTITUTION; THE EURO; EUROPEAN MONETARY SYSTEM (EMS); FISHING INDUSTRY; LEGAL SYSTEM; PARLIAMENT. EUROSKEPTICISM. Euroskeptics are uneasy about the United Kingdom’s membership of the European Union (EU), often advocating complete withdrawal from the organization. In most cases, their concerns reflect a belief that the sovereignty of the British Parliament has been diluted because EU legislation takes precedence over domestic law (see LEGAL SYSTEM). The more extreme opponents of European integration find expression in pressure groups such as the Bruges Group, formed in 1989, and the United Kingdom Independence Party, created in 1993. Of the main political organizations, the Conservative Party has the largest proportion of euroskeptics in its ranks, with public dissension over policy toward Europe contributing significantly to its heavy defeat in the 1997 general election. See also THE EURO; MAASTRICHT TREATY. EXECUTIVE AGENCY. Early in 1988, Sir Robin Ibbs, one of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s advisors, presented a report, Improving Management in the Civil Service: The Next Steps, which claimed that the civil service focused too much on policy and too little on delivery, lacked management skills, and was overconcerned about short-term goals at the expense of long-term planning. He recommended the creation of executive agencies that would concentrate on the provision of services rather than on the creation of policies relating to those services. Each agency would be headed by a chief executive and would be responsible to a government department, which would allocate resources, but would operate relatively independently of political control. Mrs. Thatcher’s cabinet, sensing an opportunity


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to reduce bureaucracy and cut costs, adopted the proposals and established the first agency (the Vehicle Inspectorate) later the same year. Since then, some 150 other bodies have been formed, and executive agencies have become the preferred means of delivering public services by the government, the Northern Ireland Executive, the Scottish Executive, and the National Assembly for Wales, although critics claim that in some cases, they have become too independent of control by the government departments to which they are nominally attached, with the result that policy and provision are not closely linked. All of the agencies, which have functions as disparate as those of the Court Service (which is responsible for the administration of courts of law in England and Wales) and the Ordnance Survey (Britain’s official mapmaker), are expected to generate income through the services they provide. In terms of manpower, they range in size from Jobcentre Plus (which employs around 100,000 people in major urban areas around the country) to the UK Debt Management Office (which has a workforce of about 50 people, who attempt to keep the cost of borrowing the money needed to carry out government services as low as possible).

– F – FALKLANDS WAR. The Falkland Islands lie at latitude 50 degrees south and longitude 61 degrees west in the south Atlantic, some 480 miles from Cape Horn. They are claimed both by Britain and Argentina, which knows them as Las Islas Malvinas. A population of dominantly British stock has occupied the islands since 1833, but on 2 April 1982, General Leopoldo Galtieri, Argentina’s leader, ordered his troops to take control of the territory. The small British garrison surrendered, the United Nations called on Galtieri to withdraw, and the European Economic Community imposed trade sanctions on Argentina, but the invading force stayed put. On 5 April, a naval task force left the United Kingdom, intent on establishing a 200-mile “exclusion zone” around the island by preventing any ships or aircraft from entering the area, and on 25 April, commando groups regained sovereignty of South Georgia, which lies


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about 850 miles east of the main island group. Then, on 2 May, the Argentinean cruiser Belgrano was sunk, with the loss of 321 lives (The Sun, a tabloid newspaper, hailed the event with the headline “Gotcha”). Two days later, the Argentinean air force replied by attacking the cruiser HMS Sheffield with Exocet missiles, killing 22 of the crew and forcing the survivors to abandon ship as fire spread. Four other British vessels were sunk during the conflict, including the MV Atlantic Conveyor, which was carrying a cargo of Chinook helicopters, but from 27 May, British forces began to win back strategic sites on the Falklands mainland, including Goose Green, Darwin, Tumbledown Hill, and ultimately, on 14 June, Port Stanley, the principal settlement, forcing an Argentinean surrender. By that time, about 700 Argentinean military personnel and 255 British personnel had been killed. Politically, the war did much to increase the popularity of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, even though it cost an estimated £1.6 billion to fight. Britain adopted a Fortress Falklands policy, strengthening its military presence and attempting to develop the islands’ economy. The official stance is that the islanders have a right to determine their own future, but as most are of British descent, it is very unlikely that they would vote to change the status quo. See also BRITISH OVERSEAS TERRITORY. FATHER OF THE HOUSE. In the House of Commons, the father of the house is the member of Parliament (MP) with the longest unbroken service. If two people have served for the same number of years, the honor goes to the individual who first took the oath of allegiance to the sovereign. Under the house’s standing orders, the only duty required of the holder of the title is that he or she should preside when MPs are choosing a new speaker, but because longevity brings institutional knowledge, the individual also normally sits on the Select Committee on Standards and Privileges, which considers alleged breaches of parliamentary conventions, and may be asked to speak in debates when historical precedents or perspectives are involved. The appellation was first used in the early 19th century, and because women have only recently been elected to Parliament in significant numbers, the father of the house has always been a man.


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FERGUSON, SARAH. See SARAH, DUCHESS OF YORK (1959– ). FINANCIAL SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY. The financial secretary is fourth in the hierarchy of government ministers at the Treasury, preceded by the chancellor of the exchequer, the chief secretary to the Treasury, and the paymaster general. Duties vary as priorities change and in recent years have involved supervision of the Office of National Statistics (which was formed in 1995 and publishes official data on the United Kingdom’s economy and society) and the Royal Mint (which manufactures the country’s coinage). The post, which was created in 1711 as junior secretary to the Treasury, is considered an important rung on the ladder for career politicians. For example, Nigel Lawson occupied the office from 1979–81 before becoming Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s chancellor of the exchequer from 1983–89, and Nicholas Ridley, his successor from 1981–83, went on to become secretary of state for transport (1983–86), for the environment (1986–89), and for trade and industry (1989–90). More recently, Paul Boateng, appointed by Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2001, became Britain’s first black cabinet minister when he was promoted to the chief secretary position in 2002, and Ruth Kelly held the job from 2002–4, immediately before becoming secretary of state for education and skills. FINANCIAL SERVICES AUTHORITY (FSA). The FSA was created by Gordon Brown, the chancellor of the exchequer, in 1997 and given enhanced powers by the Financial Services and Markets Act in 2000. Based at offices in London and Edinburgh, it is responsible for maintaining confidence in Britain’s financial system, increasing public awareness of finance markets, protecting purchasers of financial services, and reducing financial crime. In 1998, authority for banking supervision was transferred to the organization by the Bank of England, so since then, it has had regulatory control over the London Stock Exchange, building societies, and certain financial transactions (including mortgage and insurance provision.) The FSA’s supporters claim that it has boosted public confidence in the financial services sector of the economy in the wake of a series of widely publicized scandals, such as the collapse of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International in 1991 and


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of Barings Bank in 1995, but its critics argue that it is both averse to risk and imposing heavy administrative burdens on the firms whose dealings it regulates. FINANCIAL TIMES (FT). If the results of a survey of 1,000 academics, business executives, and other professionals carried out by Internationale Medienhilfe (a Swiss consultancy firm) in 2005 are to be believed, the FT is the world’s best newspaper. The publication was founded in 1888 as the London Financial Guide and was first printed on its distinctive pink paper five years later. It is now published from 22 locations around the world, with separate editions for Asia, mainland Europe, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The total circulation is about 462,000 copies a day, fewer than one third of them in Britain, with an emphasis on business news. One section of the paper covers international and national issues, and a second concentrates on finance markets and commerce. The FT’s political stance is right of center (it praised Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s monetarist policies in the 1980s, for instance), but unlike many supporters of the Conservative Party who form a large proportion of its UK readership, it favors British membership of the European Union. The FT Group, which includes online services as well as newspapers, is owned by the Pearson media company. FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY. In the 18th century, the Treasury was headed by commissioners who were known as lords of the Treasury. The first (or chief) lord of the Treasury was seen as the natural head of government, so the title became synonymous with that of prime minister. It remains so today; indeed, 10 Downing Street is technically the official residence of the first lord, not of the prime minister. The chancellor of the exchequer is the second lord of the Treasury. FIRST MINISTER. First ministers head the governments of Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, all of which exercise powers devolved from the British Parliament at Westminster. In Ulster, the first minister leads the Northern Ireland Executive. Candidates for the position, and those for deputy first minister seek


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election together. They must win an overall majority in a ballot of members of the Northern Ireland Assembly as well as majorities in separate polls organized by nationalist and unionist assembly members—an arrangement designed to ensure that representatives of the two major political groupings in the province will work together. David Trimble, the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, held the post from the formation of the assembly in 1998 until its suspension in 2002, with the exception of a period from July until November 2001, when he resigned and appointed Reg Empey acting first minister so that disagreements between parties in the assembly could be resolved. When the assembly met again in 2007, Ian Paisley of the Democratic Unionist Party was elected to the office, with Martin McGuinness of Sinn Féin as his deputy. Scotland’s first minister is the leader of the largest party in the Scottish Parliament but may have to form a coalition with other groups in order to achieve a majority in that body. Technically, the appointment is made by a vote of all members of the Parliament and confirmed by the sovereign. The holder of the post leads the Scottish Executive and thus plays a major role in the formulation of policy. For eight years after the Parliament was formed in 1999, the Labour Party had a monopoly of the post, which was occupied by Donald Dewar from 1999 until his death the following year by Henry McLeish from 2000 until his resignation in the wake of a financial scandal in 2001, and then by Jack McConnell. In 2007, however, the Scottish National Party won a narrow election victory and Alex Salmond was elected to the office. Wales’s first minister is a member of the major political party in the National Assembly for Wales and is elected by the members of that body. However, the Welsh Assembly has more limited powers than those of its Scottish counterpart, so it delegates much day-to-day decision making to the first minister and his cabinet. The position was first occupied by Alun Michael (1999–2000), who resigned after only eight months following a vote of no confidence and was succeeded by Rhodri Morgan. Both represent the Labour Party. See also FIRST SECRETARY. FIRST SECRETARY. The Government of Wales Act (1998) provided that the National Assembly for Wales should be led by a


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first secretary. In October 2000, the assembly changed the title to First Minister. FISHING INDUSTRY. Sea fisheries contribute about £1 billion to the British economy each year, but their business operations are severely constrained by the European Union’s Common Fisheries Policy, which attempts to conserve stocks by placing quotas on catches. As these quotas have reduced, vessels have been decommissioned, so in the early years of the 21st century, some 7,000 ships were operated by about 13,000 fishermen, whereas in the early 1990s about 21,000 men were at sea on 10,000 boats. The major species caught, by tonnage, are mackerel (which accounts for about 14 percent of the total), herring (10 percent), and haddock (9 percent). By value, the most prized are nephrops (also known as Dublin Bay prawn, langoustine, Norway lobster, and scampi and worth 16 percent of the total), cod (worth 9 percent), and haddock (worth about 8 percent). Most of the fish are landed at Scottish ports, particularly at Fraserburgh and Peterhead in the northeast and at Lochinver in the northwest. Fish farming also has an important economic role because it provides 3,000 jobs at 1,500 locations, most of them in areas with small populations where alternative employment is hard to find. The main species reared is salmon (Scotch salmon production is worth about £500 million annually, finding a ready market both fresh and smoked). Brown trout, carp, rainbow trout, and mussels are also farmed, albeit in smaller quantities. Many of the farms are owned by Marine Harvest, which was founded in Scotland in 1965 and is now the world’s largest fish-farming company, with interests in North and South America as well as Europe. However, the industry has its critics—some biologists claim that sea lice, which can plague farmed salmon, have infected wild stocks, for example—and it depends very heavily on environmental conditions (oil spills from seagoing vessels can decimate stocks reared at the mouths of Scottish lochs). Some 570 companies employ around 18,000 people in the processing both of wild catches and farmed fish. Demand for the product is rising, so the United Kingdom imports some £1.4 billion of fish and fish products every year. The main outlets (apart from the traditional fish and chip shops, which have declined as customers have turned to Chinese and Indian restaurants) are the supermarkets,


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which have almost put the high-street fishmonger out of business. A small proportion of the landings is used to make fish oil and animal feed. See also MET OFFICE. FLAG. The United Kingdom’s national flag combines the vertical red cross of St. George (the patron saint of England), edged in white, with the white saltire cross of St. Andrew (the patron saint of Scotland) on its blue field and the red saltire cross of St. Patrick (the patron saint of Ireland) on a white field. Wales is not represented because it was legally part of England when the first version of the banner was flown in 1606. The flag is commonly known as the “Union Jack,” but the derivation of the name is not clear. Some scholars claim that it is an abbreviation of the Latin Jacobus (or James) because it was created during the reign of King James VI of Scotland and I of England, others that it comes from the jack staffs where it flew with ships of the Royal Navy. It is always flown with the wider white diagonal bar above the red diagonal in the upper corner nearest the flagpole. Flown upside down, it is a sign of distress. England, Scotland, and Wales use their own flags at sporting and other events. The origins of the English “St. George’s cross”—a vertical red cross on a white background—are unclear, though St. George was made patron saint of England in the 13th century, and the emblem was much used by crusaders in the Middle Ages. Until comparatively recently, English supporters waved the union flag at international soccer matches, but as nationalism has loomed larger on the political agenda following devolution of powers from Parliament in London to the Northern Ireland Assembly, the National Assembly for Wales, and the Scottish Parliament, the flag with the St. George’s cross has become more evident. The Scottish flag, often called the “saltire,” is a white X-shaped cross on a blue background. According to legend, its use dates from the 9th century when St. Andrew, who was crucified on a saltire cross, appeared to Oengus II, king of the Picts, and assured him of victory in the next day’s battle with the Angles. The following morning, a white saltire appeared in the blue sky, and the Picts duly won. Wales’s flag is a red dragon, passant, on a horizontal field of green over white. The flag was formally adopted in 1959, but the dragon has been associated with Wales for so many centuries that the origin


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of its use as an emblem is not known. One story suggests that Merlin, the wizard in the King Arthur tales, told of a fight between a red dragon (symbolizing the native Welsh Celts) and a white dragon (symbolizing the invading Saxons). Initially, the white beast would control the struggle, but eventually, the red dragon would win. Northern Ireland does not have its own national flag, though some people use the Ulster banner, which features a red St. George’s cross on a white field. A six-pointed white star surmounted by a crown is superimposed on that background, and a red hand occupies the center of the star. The flag is derived from the Northern Ireland coat of arms, with the red cross of England and the crown symbolizing loyalty to the British monarch. The origin of the star is unclear, though some writers believe that the six points represent the six counties of Ireland that became part of the United Kingdom. The source of the red hand is also unknown, though there is a legend that two candidates for the kingship of Ulster agreed to race in boats to the Irish shore and that the first hand that touched land would win the kingdom. One man, falling behind and unwilling to lose, cut off his hand and threw it to the beach in order to claim victory. For many nationalists, however, the Ulster banner is unacceptable because it carries implications of overlordship, so it is never flown on public buildings nowadays. In addition to the national flags, there are two royal standards used by the sovereign, one in Scotland and one in the rest of the country. There is also a royal standard of Scotland, with a red lion rampant on a yellow background and with a red “double tressure flory counterflory” border that was used historically by the king of Scots. It is flown on Scottish royal residences when the monarch is absent and is adopted as an alternative to the saltire by many in the “tartan army” that follows the Scottish football team around the globe. Members of the royal family have their own flags, as do the merchant navy, the Royal Air Force, the Royal Navy, and other groups. FOOT, MICHAEL MACKINTOSH (1913– ). Foot led the Labour Party from 1980 until 1983, a period when, riven by internal dissent, it seemed incapable of mounting a serious challenge to Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative Party government. He was born in Plymouth on 23 July 1913, the son of solicitor Isaac Foot (a former


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Liberal Party member of Parliament [MP]), and educated at Forres School (Swanage), Leighton Park School (Reading), and Oxford University. His first attempt to win a seat in the House of Commons—at Monmouth in 1935—was unsuccessful, so while building up political experience, he turned to journalism, eventually editing the London Evening Standard from 1942–44 and the Tribune (a Labour weekly) from 1948–52 and 1955–56. Foot was elected MP for the Devonport constituency in 1945 and held the seat for 10 years before being ousted by the voters at the 1955 general election. (His defeat was a surprise that several writers have attributed to his pacifist views; Devonport had a large naval dockyard, and workers at the site almost certainly preferred a candidate who would support rather than threaten their jobs.) After five years in the wilderness, he returned to the Commons in 1960 as the MP for Ebbw Vale, a steelworking and mining area in south Wales, but it was only during the 1970s, as the Labour Party swung increasingly to the political Left, that he gained significant influence, serving as opposition spokesman on the power and steel industries in 1970–71 and on European affairs from 1971–74 before entering the cabinet as secretary of state for employment following Labour’s victory at the 1974 election. In 1976, Foot unsuccessfully challenged James Callaghan for the leadership of the party but lost by 176 votes to 137 and had to content himself with the role of deputy leader, though Callaghan sweetened the pill by appointing him lord president of the council and leader of the House of Commons. Callaghan’s resignation in September 1980 led to another leadership contest, and this time, Foot won, beating Denis Healey (the champion of the right wing) by 138 votes to 129. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s supporters were delighted, believing that Foot’s lack of government experience and avowedly socialist rhetoric would be considerable weaknesses in their opponents’ armory, whereas Healey, a former defence secretary and chancellor of the exchequer with a considerable following in the country, would have been a much more formidable adversary. In the event, the Thatcherites were proved right because the Labour Party entered the 1983 general election with a manifesto that Gerald Kaufman, one of its own supporters, famously described as


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the longest suicide note in history. In the months after the Falklands War, Foot’s passionate advocacy of unilateral nuclear disarmament proved unpopular with the electorate, as did his policies of withdrawal from the European Economic Community and increased state control of industry. Moreover, Foot, although sincere, was a lessthan-spellbinding speaker, and at a time when television was increasingly shaping voters’ perceptions of politicians, he made little effort to consider his public image (in November 1981, for example, he was condemned by the press for wearing a donkey jacket to a service in remembrance of war dead). Not surprisingly, the Conservatives won the election with a majority of 144 House of Commons seats over all other parties, its biggest since 1935. By contrast, Labour polled only 27.6 percent of the vote, its lowest since the 1920s. Within three days, Foot had resigned to be replaced by Neil Kinnock. Foot remained an MP until 1992, then returned to his writing. An erudite, literary man, he is the author of well-received biographies of politician Aneurin Bevan and novelist H. G. Wells. He is also a lifelong supporter and long-time director of Plymouth Argyle Football Club, which, on his 90th birthday in 2003, registered him as a player and presented him with squad shirt number 90. See also LOONY LEFT. FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE. Early in 2001, Britain’s agricultural industry suffered from an outbreak of foot and mouth disease— a crippling but nonfatal viral illness that attacks cloven-hoofed animals, causing fever, blistering of the mouth and feet, and weight loss. The first report, confirmed on 19 February, was of a sick pig that had been transported from a farm at Heddon-on-the-Wall in northern England to an abattoir near London. News of other cases followed rapidly, so by the end of March, veterinarians were diagnosing 50 cases every day at locations as far apart as Cornwall (in the extreme southwest of the country) and southern Scotland. In response, the government closed rural footpaths and banned the transport of cattle, sheep, and other susceptible animals in an effort to contain the spread of the virus. It also controversially ordered the culling of all beasts in infected flocks and herds and in areas around infected farms. By the time the outbreak was contained at the beginning of


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October, more than 2,000 cases of foot and mouth disease had been identified, and 7 million animals had been destroyed. The social and economic impacts were profound. Night after night, television viewers watched the carcasses of pedigree animals being piled onto bonfires. Many farmers who had spent decades building up their businesses saw their hard work destroyed and decided to leave agriculture for good. Tourist facilities in the countryside suffered badly as visitors stayed away, so bed and breakfast establishments, cafeterias, and stores lost income. Later estimates indicated that the cost to the country had amounted to about £8 billion. At the time of the outbreak, several commentators argued that healthy animals should be vaccinated against foot and mouth disease rather than killed, but the government disagreed because many countries would have refused to accept meat from vaccinated beasts (routine vaccination against the disease had been banned throughout the European Union in 1992) and that would have threatened an industry that earned the country an annual income of nearly £600 million. However, as economists counted the costs, it became clear that the cost of culling and the losses to the tourist industry far exceeded that sum, so government regulations were altered to allow vaccination if the disease appeared again. A further outbreak occurred at a farm in southern England during the summer of 2007, with initial investigations suggesting that it was caused by leaks in biosecurity at a nearby animal research station operated by the government and commercial interests. FOOTBALL. Football is the most popular winter team game in the United Kingdom, challenged only in southern Wales, where rugby dominates. It is cheap, requiring only a ball and four coats, which serve as goalposts. Also, it is a game at which the small can excel, so it suited the physique of city boys suffering from the inadequate diets so common in the years after the Industrial Revolution. The first recorded international football fixture took place between England and Scotland at Brewcastle (Cumbria) in 1599; the score is not known, but several Englishmen were taken prisoner, and one was disemboweled. In its modern form, the sport took shape during the 19th century. In 1863, a Football Association (FA) was established as the ruling


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body in England (the name soccer, much used in the United States, originated as student slang for association). Similar organizations formed in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland in 1873, 1876, and 1880, respectively, and the constituent parts of the UK have continued to govern their own affairs, managing domestic competitions and fielding separate teams at the international level. England’s football league, formed in 1888, is the oldest in the world. By the early 1990s, it had a system of four divisions, with promotion and relegation for the best and worst performers. However, the major clubs wanted a greater share of the revenue generated by the sport and in 1992 reached deals with British Sky Broadcasting (a satellite television channel owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation) and with Carling (a multinational brewery company) that allowed them to form their own 20-member premier league, which was generating well over £1 billion in revenues within a decade. The success of the venture undoubtedly helped English clubs in European competitions, and that, in turn, encouraged top-quality foreign players to join the teams and persuaded foreign investors to buy interests in the businesses (in 2003, Russian businessman Roman Abramovich paid £140 million for control of Chelsea, and two years later Malcolm Glazer, an American, paid £790 million for Manchester United). Each year, the bottom three clubs in the premier league are relegated and replaced by the top teams from the Football League, which has 72 sides in 3 divisions. In addition, there are knockout competitions, the most important of which is for the FA Cup, which has about 600 participating teams. The final match is held every May at Wembley Stadium in London. In the mid-1970s, Scotland’s league system was restructured, with two divisions replaced by three. Two decades later, an additional division was added, but the biggest clubs—particularly Glasgow Celtic and Glasgow Rangers—were unhappy with the arrangement, feeling, like their counterparts in England, that they deserved more of the income generated from television and other sources. As a result, in 1998, the major teams formed their own single-division premier league, which now has 12 participants. The remaining clubs, with additional sides, formed a three-division league system. At the end of each season, the bottom club in the premier league is normally relegated to the first division of the lower league and replaced by that divi-


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sion’s top. However, the arrangement caused controversy in 2003, when Falkirk was denied promotion because its stadium did not have the 10,000-person capacity required of premier league sides. A similar situation arose in 2004, when Inverness Caledonian Thistle won promotion, forcing the premier league clubs to drop the stadium limit to 6,000. In addition to the league, clubs compete in cup competitions on a knockout basis. In recent years, Celtic and Rangers have harbored ambitions of joining England’s premier league in the hope of increasing income, but discussions came to naught. Lackluster performances by Scotland’s national side have not deterred its vast band of traveling supporters, known as the tartan army, who follow the team around the world. Unlike the English fans, who have a reputation for violence, the Scots are known for friendliness, winning awards for their behavior, as at the 1992 European Championships, when they were given the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) trophy for good sportsmanship. Football in Northern Ireland is organized by the Irish Football Association. Thirty-nine clubs compete in a league competition (with 16 in the premier division, 12 in the first division, and 11 in the second division) and in knockout cup games. However, funding is limited, so the most talented players seek their fortunes outside the province, particularly with English teams. As a result, the success of domestic sides in European competitions has been very limited, but the national side has performed comparatively well (particularly so in view of the limited population base on which to draw), reaching the World Cup finals in 1982 and 1986 and beating England 1-0 in a World Cup qualifying match in 2005. Wales’s mountainous interior makes road travel difficult, particularly in winter, so Welsh soccer clubs have tended to seek competition in neighboring areas of England rather than in other parts of the principality. However, in the early 1990s, UEFA was insistent that clubs should play in domestic rather than foreign leagues, so a 19team League of Wales was formed, with only 1 division. Each year, the two clubs that prop up the table are replaced by teams from lower, regionally based leagues. Despite that arrangement, the major Welsh clubs—Cardiff City, Swansea City, and Wrexham—still play in the English league system and are therefore barred from the Welsh Cup, a competition that they once won regularly and that guaranteed them


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passage into the principal European competitions. As in Northern Ireland (and to a lesser extent Scotland), financial resources are very limited, so the best players in the League of Wales seek their fortunes in England. In addition, in south Wales rugby is the dominant sport, limiting recruits to the soccer clubs. Throughout the United Kingdom, thousands of children and young men regularly turn out for school, youth club, public house, and other sides. Women’s soccer, though much less popular, is increasing in importance, with many of the major professional clubs fielding teams. See also BRADFORD FOOTBALL STADIUM TRAGEDY; ENGLISH DISEASE; HEYSEL STADIUM DISASTER; HILLSBOROUGH DISASTER. FOREIGN POLICY. As late as the 1920s, Britain was the world’s most powerful nation, controlling an empire that housed some 460 million people—one quarter of the world’s population—and provided the raw materials for a burgeoning manufacturing industry. However, the economic costs of World War II drained the country’s finances, and once the conflict was over, colonies that had provided men and funds for the defense of the mother country wanted the reward of independence. In the years after 1945, the United Kingdom supervised the dismemberment of the British Empire and the creation of a multiracial Commonwealth of Nations, each state governing its own affairs. Unfortunately for the UK, though, the new governments could not be coerced into providing manpower for Britain’s armed forces in the way that had been possible with colonial administrations. Military strategists were unable to maintain the worldwide presence that had existed before the war and had to retrench, withdrawing all but small garrisons of troops from the more far-flung areas of the globe and accepting the realities of life as a second-class power during the second half of the 20th century. After initially rejecting opportunities for closer cooperation with France, Germany, and other countries on the European mainland during the 1950s, Britain joined the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1973. Since then, much foreign policy has developed in concert with partner states, but successive governments have resisted moves toward integration of political and financial systems. Thus, for example, in 1988, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher told the


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organization’s leaders that she had not rolled back the frontiers of the state in the United Kingdom only to see them reimposed by Brussels (the location of the EEC headquarters), and in 1999, the Labour Party government opted not to give up sterling and adopt the panEuropean currency known as the euro. Recent British governments have also maintained close links with the United States, supporting American policies on the Middle East and committing troops to U.S.-led military operations during the Gulf War in 1991 and Iraq War in 2003. At times, however, despite apparently warm friendships between the countries’ leaders, the transatlantic relationship has been as strained as that with the European Union. In 1982, for instance, many people in the United Kingdom felt that the United States should have been more openly supportive of British efforts to repel the Argentinean occupation of the Falkland Islands (see FALKLANDS WAR), and the following year, both Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Thatcher took issue with the invasion of Grenada. The Iraq War caused other tensions. Prime Minister Tony Blair earned much international esteem as he attempted to persuade world leaders to join a coalition of countries that would unseat the Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein, and install a prowestern administration in the country. However, at home, he was frequently pilloried as “George Bush’s poodle” because he failed to demonstrate any serious impact on American policy or to extract concessions on other matters in return for his support. Despite its loss of great power status, the United Kingdom continues to play an important role in world affairs through its permanent place on the United Nations Security Council and its membership of such international organizations as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the G8 group of industrialized countries. In particular, it has promoted measures designed to combat climate change and to reduce the debts of the world’s poorest nations. However, the legacy of empire remains in a number of territorial disputes, notably with Argentina over the Falkland Islands, with the Republic of Ireland over the continental shelf around the Atlantic island of Rockall, with Mauritius over the British Indian Ocean Territory, and with Spain over Gibraltar. See also AFGHANISTAN; AUSTRALIA; CANADA; FOREIGN SECRETARY.


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FOREIGN SECRETARY. The post of secretary of state for foreign affairs was created in 1782 as part of a reorganization of ministerial duties and in 1968 was widened in scope when the Commonwealth Office and the Foreign Office were merged. The holder of the post, which is one of the great offices of state, has a seat in the cabinet, responsibility for promoting British commercial and political interests abroad, and a 115-room official residence in the countryside at Chevening, southeast of London. Because the lengthy title is cumbersome, it is normally abbreviated to foreign secretary except when formality requires otherwise. Lord Carrington, who was in office from 1979–82, was Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s first appointee to the post; he resigned because he failed to predict the Argentinean invasion of the Falkland Islands (see FALKLANDS WAR) and later became secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (1984–88). Geoffrey Howe held the position for six years (1983–89) at a time when Britain’s international prestige under Prime Minister Thatcher was relatively high and was much discomfited when he was replaced by John Major, who succeeded to the prime ministership in 1990. Douglas Hurd (1989–95) held the post under both Thatcher and Major, bringing a statesmanlike authority to a turbulent period and helping to shape British diplomatic reactions to the breakup of the Soviet Union, the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990 (see GULF WAR), and the disintegration of Yugoslavia. He was followed by Malcolm Rifkind (1995–97), who was the first Jew to occupy the position since the marquess of Reading in the 1930s and thus had to contend with Arab suspicions that he was biased toward Israel on Middle East issues. Robin Cook (1997–2001) promised an ethical foreign policy under a new Labour Party government and was unhappy when he was demoted, according to The Observer newspaper, because he was too pro-European for Prime Minister Tony Blair. His successor, Jack Straw (2001–6), was similarly disgruntled when he was removed following pressure from United States’ defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who had taken offense at Straw’s comment that it would be “nuts” to bomb Iran. Margaret Beckett (2006–7) was widely considered less effective than either Cook or Straw because she was too willing to kowtow to Blair, but David Miliband, who was appointed when Gordon Brown took office as prime minister in 2007, made his mark early, writing to U.S. secretary of state


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Condoleezza Rice and asking for the release of five former British residents held in the American detention center at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba—a gesture that suggested Brown’s government might be more willing than that of Blair to risk raising U.S. hackles. FORESTRY. Only some 9,600 square miles of the United Kingdom land area is forested, and the population are a heavy consumer of wood products. As a result, timber and timber products are the country’s fourth-largest import by value, exceeded only by food, fuel, and motor vehicles. For centuries, Britain’s trees were felled for boat building, charcoal production, firewood, house construction, and other purposes, so by the end of World War I, less than 5,000 square miles of woodland remained. From 1919, successive governments pursued expansionist policies that placed a premium on fast-growing species, primarily for security reasons (ammunition boxes were made of wood, for example, and would be needed in another conflict). Low-grade agricultural land, particularly in the uplands of Scotland and Wales, was covered with conifer plantations in a monoculture that relied heavily on nonnative species, such as the North American Sitka spruce (Picea sitchenensis). However, since the 1980s, changing social and political attitudes have emphasized multiple uses of forested land, stressing the importance of maintaining biodiversity, enhancing recreational opportunities, and protecting wildlife habitats. As a result, more recent plantings have used a higher proportion of native trees, including the Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) and, particularly in England, broadleaved species, such as the ash (Fraxinus excelsior). Also, those plantings have been carried out more sensitively, with boundaries following hillside contours rather than marching across the countryside in straight lines. By the early 21st century, two thirds of the national forest was privately owned, and the remainder was managed on behalf of the state by the Forestry Commission (which has separate units dealing with England, Scotland, and Wales) and in Ulster by the Forest Service (which was created in 1998 as an executive agency attached to the Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland). About 167,000 people, many located in remote communities, are directly dependent on the timber industry for employment, producing sawn wood,


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panelboard, and related goods. About 530,000 others derive indirect benefit (for example, as store owners in forestry villages), and the industry contributes some £19 billion to the economy annually. Output, currently around 9.3 million cubic meters of wood, is expected to rise to about 16 million cubic meters in 2025. Nevertheless, Britain is unlikely to achieve more than 25 percent self-sufficiency in timber, partly because of the limited planted area and partly because high demand from a large population means continued heavy reliance on imports. See also DUTCH ELM DISEASE. FORTH, RIVER. The Forth is the principal waterway flowing from Scotland into the North Sea. It rises on the slopes of Ben Lomond at the southern edge of the Scottish Highlands and crosses the central valley, meandering for much of its 115-mile journey to the ocean. The final 50 miles where it widens is known as the Firth of Forth. The river is tidal as far as Stirling, which was the lowest crossing until a railroad bridge was opened at Queensferry in 1890 and road bridges at Kincardine (1936) and Queensferry (1964). Upstream of Stirling, the flood plain alongside the river has been cleared of peat and provides fertile land for arable crops and for grazing. Downstream, the banks are more industrialized, with one of Europe’s largest coal-fired electricity-generating station at Longannet, a major petrochemical complex and oil refinery at Grangemouth, and an oil rig construction yard at Dalgety Bay. There is also a naval shipyard at Rosyth and port facilities at Burntisland, Methil, and Leith. Formerly, small settlements such as Anstruther, Granton, and Pittenweem supported fishing fleets, but faced with European Union quotas and falling profitability, most skippers have gone out of business. The towns are the focus of a tourist trade, and the islands in the firth are important breeding areas for seabirds (Bass Rock, with 40,000 pairs of gannets, is the largest gannetry in the world). The major riparian communities are Stirling (in the west) and Edinburgh (in the east), but there are many small settlements on both sides of the river. In 2005, engineers reported that cables on the Queensferry bridge were suffering from corrosion and that the structure’s life expectancy could be only a further 20 years rather than the expected 80. The bridge carries 24 million vehicles each day, so, despite protests from environmentalist groups, in December 2007 the Scottish Exec-


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utive approved the construction of a second bridge at Queensferry at a projected cost of £4.2 billion. FORWARD WALES. In May 2003, John Marek contested and won the Wrexham seat in the National Assembly for Wales. Marek had earlier represented the Labour Party both in the House of Commons and in the assembly but had been increasingly critical of policy, both at national and local government levels, so he fought the seat as a representative of the John Marek Independent Party, which later in the year was renamed Forward Wales. The group advocates traditional socialist approaches to economic problems (opposing privatization of public services, for example), has attracted dissidents from other political organizations (such as the Green Party and Plaid Cymru), and is supported by the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers but lost its representation in the assembly when Marek was defeated at the 2007 elections. FOX HUNTING. Proposals to introduce legislation that would end fox hunting (and other blood sports that involved setting dogs on wild mammals) proved to be the most divisive issue facing Parliament in the early years of the 21st century. Advocates argued that there was no case for inflicting cruelty on animals, that the fox was not the pest some farmers claimed, and that, if numbers had to be controlled, the animals should be shot by trained marksmen. Opponents contended that some 200,000 people took part in hunts, which were a traditional rural activity supporting 1,000 jobs directly and a further 15,000 indirectly, and that killing foxes with dogs was less cruel than gassing, poisoning, or shooting them. About 20,000 foxes were being destroyed annually by the hounds. In 1992, 1993, and 1995, individual members of Parliament (MPs) had presented private member’s bills aimed at abolishing hunting. None of those measures reached the statute books, but in 1996 a Market and Opinion Research International (MORI) poll suggested that 73 percent of the population wanted an end to hunting, and the following year, the Labour Party promised that it would allow a free vote on the issue in the House of Commons if it won the general election that was scheduled for 1 May. After gaining power, it initially appeared to backtrack on the commitment, failing to provide


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support for a further private member’s bill presented by Michael Foster (the MP for Worcester) late in 1997, but in 1999—and to the surprise of many observers—Prime Minister Tony Blair announced that he intended to honor the guarantee and make fox hunting illegal (cynics suggested that the renewed interest may have stemmed from a reminder that the Political Animal Lobby—an international animal welfare pressure group—had donated £1 million to the Labour cause just before the election). In 2002, the Scottish Parliament passed a Protection of Wild Animals (Scotland) Bill, which banned most hunting with dogs, though it is still legal to use them to flush foxes for shooting—a traditional practice in broken, hilly country that would prove difficult for conventional hunts with horses. No compensation was paid to businesses or individuals who suffered loss of income as a result of the legislation. In the same year, Alun Michael, the minister for rural affairs, asked the House of Commons to consider proposals for licensing hunts, but backbench MPs clearly wanted to follow the Scottish lead and voted to approve an amendment introduced by Tony Banks (a veteran animal rights campaigner) to abolish all hunts with dogs in England and Wales. The House of Lords, which had many hunt supporters in its ranks, refused to accept the plans, but the bill was reintroduced in the House of Commons in 2004 and again approved (by 356 votes to 166). Predictably, the Lords continued to register dissent, preferring licensing to abolition, and when the two chambers failed to reach agreement, the government invoked the provisions of the Parliament Act of 1949 and passed the legislation (as the Hunting Act) without the Lords’ approval. In the final weeks of the debate, tempers rose on both sides. Large numbers of demonstrators chanted outside Parliament as the debates proceeded, and on one occasion, five members of the Countryside Alliance stormed into the House of Commons (see SECURITY BREACHES, PARLIAMENT). Angry hunt supporters claimed that Blair had buckled under pressure from urban backbenchers who knew little of rural life; the Countryside Alliance (along with other pressure groups) unsuccessfully challenged the ban in the courts; and the hunters insisted that they would continue to operate. In practice, the police found the law very difficult to enforce. They have no right


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of access to private property, so some farmers, in order to shield hunt enthusiasts from prosecution, deny officers permission to cross fields. Also, loopholes in the legislation can cause problems; hounds are allowed to participate in drag hunts, where they chase scent on a piece of cloth rather than a live animal, but if a fox is flushed “accidentally,” the kill is not illegal. The 2004 act was also intended to put an end to hare coursing (the practice of chasing hares with dogs) and deer hunting with dogs (a pastime particularly popular in southern England). Coursing and fox hunting are both still legal in Northern Ireland. FRANCE. For 900 years from the time of the battle of Hastings in 1066, England and France were bitter rivals, fighting for power in Europe and over colonial territories in Africa, Asia, and North America. In 1904, however, the British and French governments signed an entente cordiale (the phrase is French for “friendly understanding”) that committed them to resolving their differences. The centenary of the event was marked by events in both countries. Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip made a state visit to France, and President Jacques Chirac responded with a visit to the United Kingdom. In a speech in Paris, the queen warned that the neighbors could not afford to be divided while their security was threatened by terrorism and offered the toast “Vive la différence, mais vive l’entente cordiale” (“Long live the differences, but long live the entente cordiale”). Also, British military bands were invited to lead the Bastille Day celebrations in the French capital for the first time. The entente has helped to promote cooperation in several spheres. For example, about 1,700 British firms have significant investment in France, many of them in the retail sector, both directly and by acquisition. Similarly, some 1,700 French companies have invested in the UK, notably in public utilities, such as electricity supply, transport provision, and water distribution. Also, there are joint agreements on defense matters and a pooling of resources on cancer research. On the other hand, the old animosities still surface on occasion, as in 2005, when President Chirac claimed that the “only thing [the British] have ever given European farming is the mad cow” (see BOVINE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHY) and that only Finland had worse food than the United Kingdom. There have also been deep


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divisions over the Iraq War and the restructuring of the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy, but more recently, President Nicholas Sarkozy, who replaced Chirac in 2007, has said that he admires Tony Blair, the former British prime minister, and is attracted by some of his policies. See also CHANNEL TUNNEL; CONCORDE; EUROPEAN UNION (EU). FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (2000). The Freedom of Information Act received the royal assent in 2000, but its full provisions were not implemented until 2005. It gives citizens a right of access to all forms of recorded information and data held by public authorities, sets out exemptions from that general right (as when national security could be affected by disclosure, for example), and places obligations on the authorities to publish records relating to their work. The legislation, which applies to public bodies, such as schools and the post office (see ROYAL MAIL) as well as to government departments, is enforced by an information commissioner and applies only to England, Northern Ireland, and Wales. Separate regulations for Scotland were approved by the Scottish Parliament in 2002. FRONT BENCH. In the House of Commons and the House of Lords, members sit with others of their political party and face their opponents across the floor of the House. The leading members of each party are at the front of the group and are thus known as the front bench. Some historians, conscious of short tempers in more volatile times, claim that the two front benches are just over two sword lengths apart. See also BACKBENCHER; CROSSBENCHER.

– G – GAELIC LANGUAGE. See LANGUAGE. GALLOWAY, GEORGE (1954– ). A leading opponent of the Iraq War, Galloway was born in Dundee on 16 August 1954, the son of engineer George Galloway and his wife, Sheila, a factory worker. He was educated in his home city at Harris Academy and then earned a


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living doing manual work in a garden center and at a tire factory. Soon, however, he was making a name for himself in socialist political circles and, at the age of only 26, became chairman of the Scottish Labour Party. As he built up his political experience, he served as general secretary of the War on Want charity, increasing its income by 700 percent between 1983 and 1986 but gaining a reputation for arrogance, flamboyance, and fine living. Accused of exploiting his expenses account by using the best hotels while abroad on business, Galloway fought back and was cleared of dishonesty by an audit of the charity’s accounts. However, the same inquiry revealed other aspects of his character; in reply to one question he said that he “spent lots of time with people in Greece, many of whom were women, some of whom were carnally known to me”—an admission that inevitably made newspaper headlines. Galloway was elected member of Parliament (MP) for the Glasgow Hillhead constituency in 1986 and courted controversy in the House of Commons by advocating increased spending on social welfare, support for the Soviet Union, and independence for Palestine. He opposed the Gulf War in 1991 and subsequently visited Iraq on several occasions, complaining that United Nations’ sanctions were causing great suffering in the country. In 1994, he was filmed telling Saddam Hussein that he supported his courage, and in 1999, he was criticized for spending Christmas with Tariq Aziz, Iraq’s deputy prime minister. Then in 2002, he had a spirited exchange of views with Ben Bradshaw, a Foreign Office minister who accused him of being a mouthpiece for the Iraqi regime; Galloway called him a liar and then had to apologize for his unparliamentary language. In 1998, Galloway founded the Miriam Appeal, named after an Iraqi child who was flown to the United Kingdom for cancer treatment in an effort to draw attention to the suffering caused by a lack of medicines in the country (Galloway claimed that the only solution was to remove the United Nations’ sanctions). Again, critics claimed that he was using charity funds to subsidize a jet-setting lifestyle, and again an inquiry found no evidence to support the allegations. Then in April 2003, the Daily Telegraph—a respected, albeit rightof-center, broadsheet newspaper—published reports that Galloway had received £375,000 a year from the Saddam regime. He sued and


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the following year was awarded damages amounting to £150,000 by the High Court of Justice. A similar libel claim against the Christian Science Monitor was settled prior to trial. When the Iraq War began in 2003, Galloway referred to Prime Minister Tony Blair and United States’ president George W. Bush as “wolves,” then made matters worse by calling on British troops to disobey their commanders’ orders. On 22 October, he was suspended from the Labour Party, accused of bringing it into disrepute, and the following April, he represented the Trotskyist Unity Coalition at the elections for the European Parliament but failed to win a seat. Undaunted, he turned to Respect—an antiwar party—and won the Bethnal Green and Bow parliamentary constituency in east London at the 2005 general election, ousting Labour MP and Blair loyalist Oona King, who had held the seat for eight years. Only a few days after the election, a U.S. senate committee accused Galloway of financial improprieties in connection with oil dealings in Iraq. He responded in typically belligerent style, berating committee members at a hearing. (On balance, the American press commented negatively on his performance, but their transatlantic counterparts were significantly more upbeat, as when Anne Robinson, a television chat show hostess, claimed that Galloway had “put the pride back into British politics.”) The committee responded with a report alleging that Galloway had perjured himself at the hearing, but again, he rejected the claims. Early the following year, the MP incurred further displeasure when he appeared with 10 other individuals of varying degrees of celebrity on Big Brother, a reality television show. Galloway claimed that he had agreed to take part because he wanted an opportunity to present his political opinions to a large audience, but most of his comments were edited out, and viewers saw him pretending to be a cat supping milk from the lap of actress Rula Lenska. Embarrassed constituents claimed that, while taking part in the three-week “documentary,” he was missing important votes in Parliament. GANG OF FOUR. See JENKINS, ROY HARRIS (1920–2003); LIMEHOUSE DECLARATION; RODGERS, WILLIAM THOMAS “BILL” (1928– ); SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY (SDP); WILLIAMS, SHIRLEY VIVIEN TERESA BRITTAIN (1930– ).


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GAS. Until the 1970s, nearly all of the gas produced in the United Kingdom was manufactured at urban plants, but the exploitation of large natural resources in the North Sea from 1971 led to considerable increases in supply and consumption by the beginning of the 21st century. In 1980, total gas production amounted to some 1.4 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) and consumption to 1.7 Tcf. By the mid-1990s, domestic production was matching consumption, and by 2000, the country was a net exporter, producing some 3.8 Tcf and using 3.4 Tcf. Estimates suggested that demand for gas would rise by about 1.7 percent per annum between 2003 and 2013 and that the fuel’s share of primary energy supply would grow from 39.5 percent to 46 percent over the same period. In the middle of the decade, however, consumers were hit by a series of steep price rises, and in 2004, the country once again became a net importer of gas. British Gas, a state-owned monopoly, was responsible for provision to domestic and business users until 1986. However, as part of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s policy of privatization, the market was progressively opened up, a process completed by 1998. See also ABERDEEN; CULLEN INQUIRY. GAY RIGHTS. Although verbal and physical attacks on homosexuals remain relatively common, attitudes toward homosexuality have become increasingly relaxed since the 1960s and have been reflected in legislative changes that have given increasing rights to gays. Homosexual relationships were criminalized in the United Kingdom during the 19th century, though lesbianism was not outlawed, reportedly because Queen Victoria would not believe that ladies could indulge in such activities. Legal efforts to introduce a less restrictive regime began in 1967 with the passage of the Sexual Offences Act, which sanctioned gay sex between men over the age of 21 in England and Wales as long as the acts were carried out in private. Similar legislation followed in Scotland in 1980 and in Northern Ireland in 1982, but the armed forces were specifically excluded and continued to penalize gays of both sexes. During the 1980s, campaigners attempted to get the age of consent lowered so that it accorded with that for heterosexual sex (16 in England, Scotland, and Wales; 17 in Northern Ireland), but the spread of


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AIDS and a lack of knowledge of its causes heightened public resistance to change. The situation was exacerbated by tensions between Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s governments and left-wing local government authorities. In 1983, for example, the Daily Mail reported that Jenny Lives with Eric and Martin, Susanne Bosch’s picture book for young children, was available in a school library funded by the Inner London Education Authority and portrayed homosexuality favorably. The story, picked up by other newspapers, stoked antigay sentiment and undoubtedly contributed to a public mood that encouraged many voters to support a clause in the 1988 Local Government Act that prohibited local councils from “promoting homosexuality” (see also SECURITY BREACHES, PARLIAMENT). Known as Section 28, the clause caused much controversy and was eventually repealed in Scotland in 2000 and in England and Wales in 2003. Although widely interpreted as a setback for the gay rights cause, it also encouraged efforts by those intent on reducing discrimination against homosexuals to publicize their case more strongly. That case was accepted by young people in particular, partly because public figures, such as singer Elton John, increasingly made no secret of their sexual orientation. As early as 1984, Labour Party member of Parliament (MP) Chris Smith had “come out,” and in 1999, Conservative Party MP Michael Portillo admitted to homosexual dalliances while he was an undergraduate at Cambridge University in the 1970s. The armed forces continued to stand foursquare against change. In 1994, however, that policy was challenged in the courts by four members who had been discharged from their units because they were gay. The High Court of Justice ruled against them in 1995, and the Court of Appeal upheld the ruling, but the judges at the European Court of Human Rights accepted their case in 1999, and the following year, Geoff Hoon (the minister of defence) announced to the House of Commons that the military’s ban on homosexuals would be lifted. A further easing of restrictions on gays in the wider population followed shortly afterward. In 2000, Parliament approved a Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act that reduced the age of consent for homosexual sex to the same as that for heterosexual sex. Then in 2002,


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gays were given rights to adopt children despite warnings by some members of the House of Lords that vulnerable children were being used as “trophies in a gay rights campaign,” and in 2003, discrimination at the workplace on grounds of sexual orientation was made illegal. In 2004, the Civil Partnership Act allowed same-sex couples to register their relationship with local registrars of births, marriages, and deaths and gave them tax and pension rights similar to those of heterosexual married couples. See also CAREY, GEORGE LEONARD (1935– ); CHURCH OF ENGLAND; DAVIES, RONALD (1946– ); WILLIAMS, ROWAN DOUGLAS (1950– ). GENERAL CERTIFICATE OF EDUCATION (GCE). See GENERAL CERTIFICATE OF SECONDARY EDUCATION (GCSE). GENERAL CERTIFICATE OF SECONDARY EDUCATION (GCSE). General Certificate of Education (GCE) examinations were introduced in England, Northern Ireland, and Wales during 1951 as a means of identifying pupils’ achievements in school. The tests were set by a series of examination boards (schools could opt to follow the syllabuses of any of these bodies) and were graded by markers who had had no previous contact with the candidates, thus in effect establishing a national standard of performance. Initially, pupils aged 15 or 16 attempted Ordinary Level papers, but in 1986, these were superseded by GCSE exams. Most students take tests in English language, English literature, mathematics, and the sciences (which are known as core disciplines). In addition, they sit exams in optional subjects, such as geography, and may therefore obtain passes in as many as 14 or 15 academic or vocational areas of study. Tests may be taken either at foundation or higher level, with the more able students entered for the latter, and the student’s performance normally accounts for about 75 percent of his or her overall score. The remaining points are awarded for coursework, which is assessed by the teacher. Grades range from A* (or “starred A” awarded for a stellar performance) to G, with U—or unclassified— for a fail. At the age of 18, students take Advanced Level (or A-Level) exams; for nearly all pupils, success at these is a prerequisite for university entry. An A-Level course of study lasts for two years and has


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six components. Three of these are examined at the end of the first year and provide an Advanced Subsidiary or AS-Level qualification. The other three are examined at the end of the second year, providing an A2 qualification. Together, the AS and the A2 make up the ALevel. As with the GCSE, the exams are set by national boards and marked by teachers unknown to the candidates. A coursework component is included, and grades range from A to E, with U for failures. Most students take four subjects at AS-level and three at A-level. A minimum of two A-Level successes is required for university admission, but departments in most institutions expect candidates to have at least three. Since the GCSE exams were introduced, average grades have risen steadily, and several commentators have taken that rise as evidence of grade inflation. However, successive governments have argued that the higher scores simply reflect improvements in teaching. GENERAL ELECTION. The maximum life of a Parliament is five years (the limit was set by the Parliament Act of 1911). However, at any point within that period, the governing party can decide to hold a general election, at which all members of Parliament (MPs) must either retire or compete with other aspirants for one of the places available in the House of Commons. The date of the election is chosen by the government and is selected so as to maximize its chances of winning. July and August are unpopular because many families are on vacation, and winter months are avoided because dark nights and poor weather keep people away from polling booths. When the decision is made, the prime minister informs the monarch, who issues a royal declaration dissolving the sitting Parliament. The election is held 17 working days later. Each MP represents 1 of the 646 constituencies (or geographical areas) into which the United Kingdom is divided for electoral purposes (until 2005, there were 659 of those constituencies, but boundary changes in Scotland following devolution of powers from Westminster to a Scottish Parliament in 1999 reduced the number in that part of the country). All MPs must be at least 21 years of age and citizens of the UK, the Republic of Ireland, or the Commonwealth of Nations, but they need not live in the area they want to represent. Members of the House of Lords are disqualified from “standing” for


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election, as are convicted traitors, holders of certain offices of profit under the crown (such as judges), members of noncommonwealth legislatures, people found guilty of electoral malpractice within the previous 10 years, prison inmates serving terms of 1 year or more, and undischarged bankrupts. Before their names can go on the ballot paper, candidates must get signatures of support from 10 of the constituency’s residents and pay a £500 deposit, which is returned if they get 5 percent or more of the vote on polling day. Candidates almost always stand as representatives of political parties or pressure groups, and with few exceptions, voters cast their ballot for the party rather than for the individual. Expenditure on campaigning is strictly controlled. Voters at the election must be over 18 years of age, listed on the electoral roll (the register of qualified voters), resident in the constituency, and citizens of the United Kingdom, the Irish Republic, or the Commonwealth of Nations. Members of the House of Lords, individuals who have been convicted of electoral offenses within the previous five years, people considered mentally incapable of making a reasoned judgment, and prison inmates are barred from participating. Voting is not compulsory, and each individual can vote for only one candidate. The person who wins the most votes in a constituency represents it in the House of Commons until the next general election, and the party that has the most representatives in Parliament forms the new government. The House of Lords is an unelected body, so members are not required to contest seats at a general election. See also BOUNDARY COMMISSION; BY-ELECTION; ELECTION MANIFESTO; ELECTORAL COMMISSION; ELECTORAL SYSTEM; GENERAL ELECTION, 1979; GENERAL ELECTION, 1983; GENERAL ELECTION, 1987; GENERAL ELECTION, 1992; GENERAL ELECTION, 1997; GENERAL ELECTION, 2001; GENERAL ELECTION, 2005; JENKINS COMMISSION (1997–98). GENERAL ELECTION, 1979. The 1979 general election swept the Conservative Party into government after five years in opposition and gave the United Kingdom its first female prime minister. The Labour Party had won the previous contest in 1974 but, for much of


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its period in office, had been unable to command an overall majority in the House of Commons. James Callaghan, who succeeded Harold Wilson as prime minister in 1976, negotiated an agreement with the Liberal Party that enabled him to cling, somewhat precariously, to power for several months, but a series of industrial disputes during the winter of 1978–79 fueled public discontent with a cabinet that seemed unable to control the trade unions. In March 1979, the Scottish National Party (SNP) members of Parliament called for a vote of no confidence in the Callaghan government. The motion was carried by a margin of 1 vote (311-310), and in accordance with convention, a general election was called. The Conservative Party was led by Margaret Thatcher, who was not popular with the electorate, but aided by the Saatchi and Saatchi advertising firm, it convinced voters that it could curb the power of the unions and introduce measures that would keep inflation and thus prices under control. When the polls closed on 3 May, it had won 339 seats in the Commons, giving it a 43-vote majority over all other parties in Parliament. Labour won 269 seats, the Liberals 11, the Ulster Unionist Party 5, the Democratic Unionist Party 3, and Plaid Cymru 2. The SNP finished with two seats but lost nine, and the United Ulster Unionist Party and the Social Democratic and Labour Party each got one. The remaining seats were taken by an independent republican and an independent Ulster unionist. GENERAL ELECTION, 1983. The economic and social reforms introduced by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher after she took office in 1979 led to much unemployment and made her and her government deeply unpopular. However, the Labour Party failed to take advantage of that dissatisfaction, appointing left-winger Michael Foot to the leadership and approving a long list of socialist policies that appealed to only a minority of the electorate. Not surprisingly, both government and opposition were riven by dissent. The prime minister solved many of her problems by packing her cabinet with supporters, but Labour had greater difficulty maintaining a semblance of unity. In 1981, Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Bill Rodgers, and Shirley Williams broke away, forming their own Social Democratic Party (SDP), avowing moderation in


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politics, and approaching the 1983 general election held on 9 June in an alliance with the Liberal Party. Labour continued to cling to its left-wing philosophies, advocating abandonment of Britain’s nuclear deterrent, abolition of the House of Lords, and withdrawal from the European Economic Community—a list of proposals that Gerald Kaufman, one of the party’s most senior members, described as the “longest suicide note in history.” Mrs. Thatcher, however, entered the election buoyed by a positive public response to her handling of the Falklands War in 1982 and won a convincing victory. When the votes were counted, the Conservatives had taken 397 of the 650 seats in the House of Commons (an increase of 58 over their 1979 total), and Labour had taken 209 (a decrease of 60). The SDP–Liberal alliance proved popular, getting nearly as many votes as Labour (25.4 percent of the total, compared with Labour’s 27.6 percent) but earning only 23 members of Parliament (MPs), its thinly spread support suffering in a “first past the post” electoral system. The Scottish National Party clung on to its two seats, as did Plaid Cymru in Wales. In Northern Ireland, where the number of constituencies had increased from 12 in 1979 to 17 in 1983, the Ulster Unionist Party’s parliamentary group grew from 5 MPs to 11, the Democratic Unionist Party held on to its 3 seats, the Social Democratic and Labour Party retained its sole representative, and Sinn Féin (contesting Ulster seats for the first time since 1959) won 1 contest. Also, James Kilfedder (the independent unionist elected in 1979) stood again, this time as a representative of his own Ulster Popular Unionist Party, and kept his seat. GENERAL ELECTION, 1987. Margaret Thatcher’s triumph in 1987 made her only the second prime minister to lead her party to victory in three successive general election campaigns. (The first was Robert Jenkinson, earl [see PEERAGE] of Liverpool, in the early years of the 19th century. Tony Blair has since repeated the feat in 1997, 2001, and 2005). After her previous success, Mrs. Thatcher had faced a series of industrial disputes (see, for example, MINERS’ STRIKE [1984–85]), so she found little support in manufacturing areas of Scotland, Wales, and northern England, where unemployment remained high. However, opposition to her Conservative Party governments was split between the Labour Party, the Social


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Democratic Party/Liberal Party grouping that fought the election as the Alliance, Plaid Cymru (the Welsh nationalist party), and the Scottish National Party. Moreover, although Labour under Neil Kinnock was attempting to divest itself of its left-wing legacy, voters were still skeptical of trade union influences on its decision making. On election day (11 June), the Conservatives were returned with 42.2 percent of the popular vote (almost exactly the same proportion as they had gained at the previous general election in 1983), but they won only 376 seats (compared with 397 four years earlier) and had an overall majority of only 102 votes in the House of Commons (42 fewer than in 1983). Labour took 229 seats (an increase of 20), the Alliance 22 (a loss of 1), and Plaid Cymru and the Scottish nationalists 3 each (in both cases, 1 more than in 1983). In Northern Ireland, where the unionists presented an almost united front against the 1985 Anglo–Irish Agreement, the Ulster Unionist Party won nine constituencies (a loss of two), the Democratic Unionist Party won three (as in 1983), the Social Democratic and Labour Party also won three (an increase of two), and Sinn Féin and the Ulster Popular Unionist Party each retained a single representative. However, the “first past the post” electoral system continued to discriminate against parties whose support was widespread rather than concentrated (for example, the Green Party got more votes that the Democratic Unionists but failed to get any of its candidates elected). GENERAL ELECTION, 1992. The general election held on 9 April 1992 was the most closely fought for many years. Michael Foot, Geoffrey Howe, Nigel Lawson, David Owen, Margaret Thatcher, and others who had shaped British politics during the 1980s had retired from Parliament. The Social Democratic Party had merged with the Liberal Party (as the Liberal Democrats) and had elected Paddy Ashdown, a gifted linguist, as leader. Neil Kinnock still steered the Labour Party, but the Conservative Party now had John Major at its head and appeared to be losing public confidence. Moreover, Major, although considered to be a moderate, lacked charisma and suffered bad press as the economy stuttered. Labour, on the other hand, had shed its traditional left-wing image, and its leadership was distancing itself from former policies that advocated state control of industry and services.


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In the days before the election, opinion polls gave Labour a comfortable lead, but a rally in Sheffield, staged just a week before the poll in a style more akin to that of an American presidential roadshow than to a traditional British election meeting, led to newspaper criticism that Kinnock and his colleagues were taking victory for granted. Support ebbed away, but even so, most commentators were surprised when the Conservatives returned to power with 336 seats in the House of Commons, 40 fewer than at the previous election in 1987 but enough to give them an overall majority of 21. Labour won 271 seats (42 more than in 1987) and the Liberal Democrats 20 (2 fewer than the Alliance, their predecessors, had taken five years earlier). The Scottish National Party made a concerted effort to win constituencies north of the border and nearly doubled its 1987 vote but, even so, ended up with only three members of Parliament (MPs). Plaid Cymru, the Welsh nationalist party, picked up one seat, giving them four. In Northern Ireland, Sinn Féin lost its sole representative, but the Ulster Unionist Party held on to its nine seats, the Democratic Unionist Party to its seven, and the Ulster Popular Unionist Party to its one. The Social Democratic and Labour Party gained an additional MP, giving it a total of four. In the wake of Labour’s unexpected defeat, Kinnock resigned the party leadership and was replaced by John Smith. John Major soldiered on as prime minister, but a series of by-election defeats eroded his parliamentary majority and thus his freedom to introduce major social or economic change. GENERAL ELECTION, 1997. The 1997 general election held on 1 May saw the Conservative Party government summarily ejected from office after 18 years in power. The writing had been on the wall for some time as opinion polls had shown increasing disillusionment with an administration divided over policy toward the European Union and scarred by a series of financial scandals (see AITKEN, JONATHAN WILLIAM PATRICK [1942– ]; ARCHER, JEFFREY HOWARD [1940– ]; CASH FOR QUESTIONS) as well as growing support for a Labour Party led by the articulate, youthful Tony Blair. The Conservatives lost 171 seats, leaving them with only 165 and no representatives at all in Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales,


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although they had traditional allies among some of the Ulster parties. (Several senior Tory politicians, including Michael Portillo and Malcolm Rifkind, found themselves not just out of government but out of Parliament.) Labour gained 145 seats, giving it a total of 418 and an enormous overall majority of 179 in the House of Commons. The Liberal Democrats—the third major party in the British political system—also performed well, picking up 28 seats more than at the previous election in 1992 and returning 46 members of Parliament (MPs). The Scottish National Party doubled its representation to six, and Plaid Cymru held on to its four constituencies. In Northern Ireland, the Ulster Unionist Party gained 1 seat, giving it 10. The Democratic Unionist Party and the Social Democratic and Labour Party each lost two MPs, leaving them with two and three, respectively, and the United Kingdom Unionist Party and Sinn Féin (which occupied opposite ends of Ulster’s political spectrum) were successful in winning representation, the former getting one seat and the latter two. Unusually, there was one independent. Martin Bell, a British Broadcasting Corporation journalist, contested the Tatton constituency, where sitting MP Neil Hamilton was involved in allegations that he had accepted bribes to ask questions in the House of Commons. Labour and the Liberal Democrats withdrew their candidates as a gesture of support for Bell, who won comfortably but made comparatively little impact at Westminster and lost the seat at the next general election in 2001. GENERAL ELECTION, 2001. The Labour Party’s landslide victory at the 1997 general election virtually guaranteed a second term in office, so it approached the 2001 election with considerable confidence, particularly so because the Conservative Party (under William Hague) remained divided over policies relating to Britain’s membership of the European Union and seemed unable to present credible alternatives to government programs on domestic issues. With the result of the poll apparently a foregone conclusion, interest in the parties’ campaigns was muted, although John Prescott, the deputy prime minister, livened up matters by punching a demonstrator who had thrown an egg at him. Only 59 percent of the electorate voted on 7 June, and comparatively few seats changed hands. Labour returned to power with 412


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members of Parliament (MP), a net loss of only 6 since the previous election in 1997, and a 167-vote majority over all other parties in the House of Commons. The Conservatives gained 1 seat, giving them 166, and the Liberal Democrats gained 6, giving them a total of 52 and consolidating their position as a significant third force in British politics. The Scottish National Party lost one of its six constituencies, and Plaid Cymru lost one and gained one, leaving it with four. Martin Bell, the British Broadcasting Corporation television news reporter who had won the Tatton seat in 1997 and sat in Parliament as an independent, was unable to hold onto his place, but the Health Concern Party, fighting a local campaign opposing the closure of the accident and emergency facilities at Kidderminster hospital, won at Wyre Forest. Northern Ireland provided most of the electoral interest, with support moving away from the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), which had alienated its least conciliatory members by supporting the 1998 Good Friday Agreement that helped end sectarian violence in the province. The UUP lost five seats and picked up just one new one, leaving it with six MPs, but Ian Paisley’s more intransigent Democratic Unionist Party won three constituencies (giving it a total of five), and Sinn Féin won an additional two (doubling its representation to four, though none of its representatives took his seat at Westminster). The Social Democratic and Labour Party held on to its three seats, but the tiny United Kingdom Unionist Party lost its sole MP. GENERAL ELECTION, 2005. On 5 May 2005, Tony Blair became only the third prime minister in 200 years to lead his party to three successive general election victories (the other two were Robert Jenkinson, earl of Liverpool, in 1818, 1820, and 1826 and Margaret Thatcher in 1979, 1983, and 1987). Blair’s success was undoubtedly facilitated by the inability of the Conservative Party, his principal opponents, to present a united front to the electorate. John Major, William Hague, Iain Duncan Smith, and Michael Howard had led the organization successively but unsuccessfully after Mrs. Thatcher’s resignation in 1990, all of them failing both to unite proand anti-European Union factions or to threaten the Labour Party’s hold on the center ground of British politics.


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In 2004, parliamentary constituency boundaries in Scotland were redrawn, reducing the total from 72 to 59, so only 646 seats were available in the House of Commons compared with 659 at the 2001 election. Labour captured 356 of them (a loss of 47), the Conservatives 198 (a gain of 33), and the Liberal Democrats 62 (a gain of 10). The Scottish National Party added two (giving it a total of six), but Plaid Cymru (the Welsh nationalist party) lost one, leaving it with three. In Northern Ireland, the move toward the more intransigent political groups, evident at the previous election in 2001, continued. The Ulster Unionist Party lost five of its six seats (forcing leader David Trimble into resignation), the Democratic Unionist Party gained four (pushing its representation to nine members of Parliament [MPs] and making it the strongest unionist party in the Commons). Sinn Féin added one seat, giving it five MPs (none of whom attended debates because, before doing so, they would have to take an oath of loyalty to Queen Elizabeth II, the British head of state), and the Social Democratic and Labour Party gained one constituency but also lost one, thus retaining three representatives. The controversial George Galloway took Bethnal Green and Bow for his Respect Party, defeating Labour’s Oona King (who had won with a 10,000-vote majority in 2001), and the Health Concern group held onto Wyre Forest. Dai Davies, standing as an independent, won the last seat in a by-election at Blaenau Gwent in south Wales on 29 June (the poll was not held on the same day as those in other constituencies because Peter Law, the sitting MP, died of a brain tumor during the general election campaign). GENERAL SYNOD. The Synod is the governing body of the Church of England. Formed in 1970 so that bishops, clergy, and laity could all contribute to decision making, it formulates the rules that govern church life, controls relationships with churches of other denominations, and serves as a chamber where social and moral issues can be discussed. It has frequently been involved in controversy, as in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when debates about the ordination of women proved extremely divisive. Apart from the National Assembly for Wales, the Northern Ireland Assembly, and the Scottish Parliament, the Synod is the only body to which Parliament has


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delegated power to pass legislation that can become part of English law. Those powers relate solely to matters concerning the Church of England. GENETICALLY MODIFIED CROPS (GM CROPS). GM organisms, according to United Kingdom legislation, are organisms, other than human beings, that have been “altered in a way that does not occur naturally by mating and/or natural recombination.” In the United States, GM crops are common, but in Britain, their adoption has been prevented by public concern over health and environmental issues. The first GM food products sold in Britain were canned tomatoes offered on the counters of the Safeway and Sainsbury supermarkets in 1996. However, within months, pressure groups and public figures were voicing doubts about the safety of such commodities. In 1998, Prince Charles commented that the development of genetically altered foods “takes mankind into realms that belong to God, and to God alone.” English Nature, an executive agency charged with wildlife conservation, called for a moratorium on the introduction of some pesticide-tolerant GM crops because of fears that the new plants could become pernicious weeds or transfer their genes to wild species. Farmers found that trial plots of GM crops were destroyed by protestors, and loads of GM maize were dumped near the prime minister’s Downing Street residence in London. Monsanto, an American-based multinational, launched a £1 million campaign designed to convince consumers that the foods were safe, but it had little effect. Friends of the Earth held a press conference at the House of Commons, reporting details of a study that purported to show that rats fed with GM potatoes suffered from stunted organ growth, and newspapers published regular articles dealing with the issues. Opinion polls showed that a majority of the public felt that farmers should stop growing GM crops, and the supermarkets, including Wal-Mart-owned ASDA, withdrew GM products from their shelves. The concern was a major embarrassment to the government, which had tried to promote images of a “modernizing” Britain at the forefront of technological innovation. It now claims to have an open mind on the matter but, in a policy statement in 2004, suggested that there was no scientific case for a blanket ban on the cultivation of


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GM crops in the UK, arguing that proposed uses had to be assessed for safety on a case-by-case basis. Beet and spring oilseed rape were not acceptable because scientific evidence suggested that the associated herbicide could damage the environment. Maize growing would be allowed under certain conditions, but major companies said that they were unlikely to invest in plantings because the controls were too strict to make the crops economically viable. As a result, no largescale trials of GM crops are being undertaken, and no GM foods are available in stores. Critics, such as Peter Riley of the anti-GM campaign Five-Year Freeze, continue to oppose the new technologies, arguing that the government should “abandon its doomed obsession with GM crops and put together a coherent strategy to put the whole of UK farming on a sustainable basis.” GERMANY. Germany is the United Kingdom’s largest import partner, accounting for about 12 percent by value of all goods and services arriving from abroad, with road vehicles, electrical machinery, industrial machinery, and office equipment particularly important. The country also accounts for about 10 percent of Britain’s exports, a proportion second only to that of the United States, with oil and oil products dominating the trade. Political relations between the two countries are conditioned by joint membership of the European Union (EU) and for much of the 1980s and 1990s were marked by tension as Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher appeared reluctant to support plans for reunification of East and West Germany at the end of the cold war and opposed plans for fuller integration of European national economies. (In 1990, Nicholas Ridley, her secretary of state for industry, described monetary union as a “German racket designed to take over the whole of Europe.”) The ideological disputes rumbled on throughout John Major’s period as prime minister from 1990–97, and although relations warmed for a while after Tony Blair took office and worked with Chancellor Gerhard Schröder to improve European economic competitiveness, they cooled dramatically again when the two men differed radically over the need to depose Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi leader, in 2003 (see IRAQ WAR). Then in 2005, within days of succeeding Schröder as chancellor, Angela Merkel said that she wanted


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to build strong ties with Great Britain and appeared to support Blair’s efforts to reform EU trading policies on free market lines. In 2005–6, the two countries cooperated with France in an ultimately unsuccessful effort to ensure that Iran’s nuclear program would not have military implications, and in 2007, Blair and Merkel both stressed that the United States must do more to combat climate change. However, despite the thaw in relations since Merkel’s election, commentators suggest that differences over such matters as the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy and Britain’s refusal to adopt the euro are likely to cause regular bouts of disagreement between the governments of the two countries. GIBRALTAR. Gibraltar has long been a bone of contention between the United Kingdom and Spain. A British Overseas Territory covering a little more than two and a half square miles, it is located on the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula overlooking the Strait of Gibraltar, which links the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean, and was ceded to Britain by Spain in 1713. From the 1950s, Spanish governments have made strenuous efforts to reclaim the land, imposing border restrictions and impeding communication in an effort to persuade Gibraltarians to accept a change of sovereignty, but referenda in 1967 and 2002 demonstrated that an overwhelming majority of the population wanted to retain the association with the UK. In 2006, while maintaining its claim to the territory, Spain agreed to recognize Gibraltar’s international telephone dialing code, eased its border restrictions (which had caused lengthy delays to commuters and visitors), and permitted airlines to fly from the airport to Spanish destinations. In return, the UK agreed to compensate some 6,000 Spaniards who had lost their pensions in a British reprisal against a decision by General Francisco Franco, the Spanish dictator, to seal the border in 1969. Toward the end of 2006, Gibraltar’s government adopted a new constitution that strengthened the powers of the colony’s Parliament, giving it more autonomy from the United Kingdom and stressing Gibraltarians’ right to determine their own future. Because of its strategic location, Gibraltar is an important military base, with financial services and tourism providing the other major sources of employment.


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GLASGOW. Scotland’s most populous city straddles the River Clyde, lying some 20 miles from its mouth and about 45 miles west of Edinburgh. Although there is evidence of prehistoric activity in the area, the settlement evolved outside the mainstream of Scottish life until the 18th century, when it developed a thriving tobacco trade with Britain’s American colonies. Later, sugar from the West Indies and cotton from the United States underpinned the prosperity, providing an employment base that expanded further after the Industrial Revolution as chemical production, railroad engineering, shipbuilding, and other manufacturing industries attracted migrants from Ireland and the Scottish Highlands. The city’s population grew from 12,700 in 1708 to 500,000 in 1891, forming some of Europe’s most squalid slums as the newcomers crowded into a limited supply of accommodation and, as they did so, created ideal conditions for the spread of infectious disease. From the 1960s, as changing technologies and competition from abroad altered local as well as national economies, Glasgow’s civic authorities made strenuous efforts to clear away the negative elements of the industrial legacy. By the early 21st century, manufacturing was a relatively small component of the city’s economy, and 85 percent of jobs were in services, notably in business and finance (which accounted for 25 percent of all employment), communications (Glasgow has more call centers than any other part of the United Kingdom), retail (the city is Britain’s major shopping center outside London), and tourism (there are 2 million visitors each year), as well as in a growing hi-tech sector. New housing complexes stand beside the Clyde on former docks, conservation measures have preserved some of the best of the older properties, and the arts have a strong base (Scottish Opera and the Scottish National Orchestra are both located at the Theatre Royal, for example). However, the engrained social legacies are more difficult to alter. Religious bigotry still surfaces at soccer matches between the predominantly Protestant Rangers Football Club and the predominantly Roman Catholic Celtic Football Club, and in 1999, medical journals reported that women in Glasgow had the highest heart attack rates of any community in the world (and that men had the second-highest rates)—a result of heavy smoking (the city has more smokers than any other British town) and a diet traditionally high in fat but low in


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fruit. Male life expectancy is 69 years, making the city the only place in the country where the average man can expect to die before he is 70. See also THE HERALD. GOOD FRIDAY AGREEMENT. On Good Friday, 10 April 1998, following a series of talks chaired by U.S. senator George Mitchell, the governments of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland signed an understanding known as the Good Friday Agreement (or, less frequently, as the Belfast Agreement) that was designed to end the violence that had plagued Northern Ireland for three decades. The major provisions were that • Ulster’s constitutional position would be decided only on the basis of a majority vote by the province’s citizens. • A Northern Ireland Assembly would be created, with legislative powers devolved from Westminster. • All of the main political parties would be represented in a power-sharing executive. • The weapons used by paramilitary groups would be decommissioned within two years. • The Republic of Ireland would be involved in discussions on the future of the province through an Anglo–Irish Council. • Cooperation between authorities in Northern Ireland and the republic would be improved. • Members of paramilitary organizations who were being held in prison would be released within two years. • The Royal Ulster Constabulary would be restructured, and legislation would be introduced to improve human rights in Northern Ireland. • The military presence in Ulster would be withdrawn. • The Republic of Ireland would revoke all territorial claims to Northern Ireland. Most of the major political parties supported the agreement, which was endorsed a month after the signing by referenda on both sides of the border, with 71 percent of those who voted in Ulster and 94 percent of those who voted in the republic approving of the proposals. The accord was only reached through deliberately vague wording of some passages in the document, and not all of the provisions were


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implemented smoothly—for example, the Northern Ireland Assembly was suspended in 2002, the Provisional Irish Republican Army did not confirm decommissioning of its weapons until 2005, and many unionists still doubt the goodwill of republicans—but radical police reforms were introduced from 2001 (see POLICE SERVICE OF NORTHERN IRELAND), and a sharp decline in sectarian violence led to increased investment in commercial infrastructure throughout the first years of the 21st century. See also ATTORNEY GENERAL; LANGUAGE; LEGAL SYSTEM, NORTHERN IRELAND; PATTEN COMMISSION (1998–99); THE TROUBLES. GOVERNMENT. The United Kingdom is a democratic, constitutional monarchy. Parliament, its lawmaking body, operates on a bicameral system, with one chamber (the House of Commons) consisting of elected representatives of the adult population and the other (the House of Lords) consisting of members of the peerage who are not elected. By convention, the leader of the largest political party in the Commons becomes prime minister and forms a cabinet of party colleagues who carry out executive functions. Members of the cabinet, most of whom are termed secretaries of state, must also be members of either the Commons or the Lords (and in practice, most are from the former). They, in turn, may appoint more junior ministers who are allocated responsibility for specific areas within the department in which they are based. Collectively, ministers are known as “the government.” The sovereign is head of state but exercises only nominal authority. Because there is no equivalent of the American system of states’ rights, control is heavily centralized in Parliament, which meets in London, and cabinet ministers exercise considerable influence over the shaping of economy and society. They are, however, answerable to Parliament for their actions. Also, central government has devolved some authority over domestic matters to the National Assembly for Wales, the Northern Ireland Assembly, and the Scottish Parliament. Plans for English regional assemblies have been abandoned. See also LOCAL GOVERNMENT, ENGLAND; LOCAL GOVERNMENT, NORTHERN IRELAND; LOCAL GOVERNMENT, SCOTLAND; LOCAL GOVERNMENT, WALES.


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GOVERNMENT COMMUNICATIONS HEADQUARTERS (GCHQ). Britain’s signals intelligence service is based in a large, doughnut-shaped complex at Cheltenham, in western England (colloquially, its staff are referred to as “the jam” because they work inside that doughnut). The unit has evolved from the Government Code and Cipher School, which was founded in 1919, and has been answerable to the foreign secretary since 1922. Its existence was admitted by government only in 1983, and full details of its activities are still not made public for security reasons, but it is believed capable of intercepting fax communications, telephone conversations, and transmission of electronic data worldwide by utilizing listening stations in the United Kingdom and abroad and by liaising with similar agencies in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States. Despite the secrecy surrounding GCHQ, it has occasionally been involved in controversy. In 1983, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s government, without any consultation, banned its employees from joining trade unions. The order was contested in the courts, and two years later, the House of Lords (the country’s highest appeal court) ruled that, although the failure to consult workers about the decision was unfair, the ban could remain because issues of national security took precedence over negotiation rights. The restriction on membership was lifted by the Labour Party shortly after it won the 1997 general election. Further unwanted attention followed in 2003, when Katharine Gun lost her job after leaking information that American security agents had sought British help to bug the telephones of delegates to the United Nation. She was supported by an international campaign led by Daniel Ellsberg, who had leaked the Pentagon papers to the New York Times in 1971, and an attempted prosecution under the terms of the Official Secrets Act was dropped the following year when the prosecutor told the court that “there is no longer sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction.” GOVERNOR-GENERAL. In Commonwealth Realms (the 16 members of the Commonwealth of Nations that recognize the British monarch as their head of state), the sovereign is represented by a governor-general. Appointments are made by the crown after listen-


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ing to the advice of the realm’s prime minister, and the individual selected performs all of the monarch’s ceremonial and constitutional functions within the territory. Until the 1920s, governor-generals were British citizens, but nowadays they are more likely to be distinguished public servants from their own country. GRAND COMMITTEE. In the House of Commons, Grand Committees consider legislative proposals and other matters relating to Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. In the House of Lords, they consider the detail of bills. See also HANSARD. GREAT BRITAIN. In a geographical context, Great Britain is the main island of the British Isles, covering a land area of approximately 88,745 square miles. It is the largest island in Europe as well as the eighth-largest and (with some 57 million people) one of the most densely populated on earth. The word Britain is derived from Britannia, which was the Romans’ name for their northernmost province (the word probably comes from the Celtic pritani, or “painted,” because the invaders found that the indigenous inhabitants daubed their bodies with colored dyes). The term Great may be a legacy of the medieval French practice of calling the area Grande Bretagne to distinguish it from the European mainland region of Bretagne (now anglicized as Brittany). In a political context, the term Great Britain was first used in a royal proclamation of 1604, the year after James VI of Scotland became James I of England. A century later in 1707, the legislation that described the territory that was created by the merger of the Parliament of England and Wales and the Parliament of Scotland referred to the kingdom of Great Britain, which, by implication, included islands such as the Orkneys and Shetlands that are not covered by the geographic definition of the area. In 1801, when Ireland was given representation at the Westminster Parliament, the political entity was renamed the Kingdom of Britain and Ireland. Then in 1921, when most of Ireland became independent, leaving the six counties of historic Ulster under London’s control, it became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Technically, therefore, Great Britain and United Kingdom should not be employed as synonyms because the former does not include


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Northern Ireland, but given the length of the state’s full name, the usage is understandable, particularly so because Britain and Great Britain have been widely adopted in official contexts (the country’s international vehicle identity code is GB rather than UK, for example). GREAT OFFICES OF STATE. The four senior posts in government—chancellor of the exchequer, home secretary, foreign secretary, and prime minister—are known as the great offices of state. Normally, a prime minister will fill the first three of those positions before making other appointments to the cabinet after a general election. James Callaghan, who was chancellor from 1964–67, home secretary from 1967–70, foreign secretary from 1974–76, and prime minister from 1976–79, is the only person to have served in each role. The term is also applied to nine posts that date from medieval times. Four of those (constable of England, great chamberlain of England, steward of England, and marshal of England) now involve only ceremonial duties. Two others (lord admiral and lord treasurer) have been replaced by committees, but the others (lord chancellor, lord president of the council, and Lord Privy Seal) remain as government offices. GREAT SEAL OF THE REALM. The great seal—a symbol of the monarch’s position as head of state—indicates royal approval of the documents to which it is affixed. The practice was introduced during the 11th century by Edward the Confessor and has been continued by most of the kings and queens who have succeeded him. A new seal is engraved at the beginning of each reign. The present one, designed in 1953 and six and a half inches in diameter, shows on the obverse Queen Elizabeth II wearing the uniform of a colonel-inchief of the Grenadier Guards and mounted on horseback. On the reverse, she sits on her throne and carries an orb and a scepter. The lord chancellor is responsible for the safety of the seal, and the clerk of the crown in chancery affixes it to documents. Different colors of wax are used to differentiate documents (papers approving the appointment of bishops are sealed in scarlet, for example, and those authorizing elevations to the peerage are sealed in green). See also FLAG.


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GREATER LONDON AUTHORITY. The Greater London Authority was created by act of Parliament in 1999 in order to provide a strategic planning authority for the whole of the London metropolitan area, which covers more than 580 square miles and has a population of around 7 million people. Its head is the mayor of London, who acts as the executive officer, controlling the budget and developing plans that will improve the cultural, economic, and social fabric of the city. An elected 25-member London Assembly scrutinizes the mayor’s proposals. See also GREATER LONDON COUNCIL (GLC). GREATER LONDON COUNCIL (GLC). The GLC was established by the London Government Act of 1963 and met for the first time two years later when its predecessor—the London County Council (LCC)—was disbanded. Its creation was the result of population movements because during the 1950s middle-class groups had fled the city, effectively leaving the LCC permanently in the control of the Labour Party. The new authority, covering many of the more affluent suburbs as well as the inner city, would, the Conservative Party government believed, provide right-wing politicians with an opportunity to take over, and that belief was justified because the Conservatives were in control for 10 of the council’s 21 years of existence. The GLC was composed of 92 members, each elected for four years. Its political head (the leader of the council) was chosen by the party with the most seats and its ceremonial head (the chairman) by the whole body. With wide-ranging responsibilities that included road planning, traffic control, and education in the central city boroughs, it impinged on the lives of every commuter, resident, and visitor and so, inevitably, was dogged by controversy. Matters came to a head in 1981, when Labour gained control and appointed a clique of left-wing politicians to important positions, with Ken Livingstone as leader. Livingstone and his supporters proved enormously popular with Londoners, providing a focus for opposition to the free market policies of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. As disputes dragged on, the Conservative Party called for abolition of the authority, and Mrs. Thatcher listened. Her government passed legislation disbanding the council on 31 March 1986, leaving London as the world’s only major metropolitan area without a citywide planning authority.


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See also GREATER LONDON AUTHORITY; INNER LONDON EDUCATION AUTHORITY (ILEA); LOONY LEFT. GREEN PAPER. Green papers are consultation documents issued by government in an effort to generate discussion on specific topics. They outline policy suggestions but are not a commitment to action. Once ministers have assessed views, they may do nothing, they may publish a white paper that contains firm proposals for new acts of Parliament, or they may effect changes to the law through the details of other legislation. In recent years, green papers have covered such disparate but important themes as pensions provision (2002), the future of the British Broadcasting Corporation (2005), and welfare reform (2006). The documents get their name from their green covers. See also COMMAND PAPER. GREEN PARTY. The Green Party was formed in 1985 when the Ecology Party changed its name in order to stop other political parties from appropriating the adjective at a time when many groups were climbing onto a bandwagon of concern for the environment and describing themselves as “green.” Its 133 candidates polled 90,000 votes at the 1987 general election, and the following year, the party had its first success at the local-government level, winning two places on the council at Stroud (Gloucestershire). In 1989, it contested every British seat in the European Parliament elections and gained 15 percent of the national vote, albeit without gaining representation because its support was geographically dispersed and the United Kingdom’s “first past the post” electoral system favored parties whose vote was concentrated. In 1990, the organization fragmented (amicably because it supported decentralization) into the Green Party of England and Wales, the Green Party of Northern Ireland, and the Scottish Green Party, which now function as autonomous groups. The England and Wales Party suffered setbacks in the early 1990s, partly because of internal bickering over policy and partly because David Icke—a television sports commentator and one of its most high-profile members—announced that he was the son of God, a delusion that appeared to confirm many public suspicions that “Greens” were on the lunatic fringe of political life. However, the


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party developed a core of support in inner-city areas as well as in some other localities, such as Oxford, that had significant student populations. Widespread concerns about mad cow disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) and genetically modified crops also helped its cause, and the introduction of a system of proportional representation for elections to the European Parliament worked in its favor, too, so in 1999, it won two seats (London and the South East United Kingdom) on that body. In 2000, the party took 3 of the 25 places in the London Assembly (see GREATER LONDON AUTHORITY) and retained 2 of them at the elections four years later, including that of Jenny Jones, who was deputy mayor in 2003–4. The Greens still have no supporters in the House of Commons, but they have continued to make significant strides in local government, with more than 50 councilors and experience of control in ruling coalitions at Lancaster, Leeds, and Kirklees. In 1999, the Scottish Green Party took advantage of the decision to elect some members of the new Scottish Parliament by proportional representation and gained one seat (Robin Harper thus became the first Green representative on any of the national or European Parliaments to which Britons could be elected). In 2003, they did even better, winning seven seats, but in 2007, they dropped to two. The Northern Irish group’s experience was consistently dispiriting, with only a handful of seats won on local councils, and in 2005, the party there voted to become a region of the Republic of Ireland’s Green Party. In 2007, however, it gained one place in the new Northern Ireland Assembly. GREENHAM COMMON. In December 1982, 30,000 women held hands around the U.S. air force base at Greenham Common (near Newbury, some 50 miles west of London) to protest the siting of American-owned and controlled cruise missiles in the area. They set up an encampment outside the base in September 1981 and occupied it for 12 years, protesting vigorously when the first missiles arrived in November 1983 and constantly harassing activities at the site. The missiles were removed in 1991 as part of the peace dividend resulting from the disarmament talks between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and protestors finally left the area on 27 January 1994.


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GRENADA. A tiny island group in the Caribbean, Grenada covers some 54 square miles and in 2005 had a population of about 106,000. It was ceded to Great Britain by France in 1763, became a crown colony in 1877, and won independence in 1974 when it joined the Commonwealth of Nations as a Commonwealth Realm, recognizing Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state. In 1979, Maurice Bishop, a charismatic socialist politician, seized power in a coup d’état and proceeded to develop a series of left-wing policies, including suspension of elections and cooperation with Fidel Castro’s communist regime on Cuba, that provoked opposition both in his own country and in other states in the region. On 19 October 1983, Bishop was shot by army forces loyal to Bernard Coard, the Stalinist deputy prime minister, and six days later U.S. troops invaded, ostensibly to protect American medical students at St. George’s University. The incident caused a diplomatic row between the United States and the United Kingdom at a time when anti-American feeling was increasing in Britain because of proposals to site cruise missiles at U.S. bases in the country (see GREENHAM COMMON). Prior to the invasions, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had advised President Ronald Reagan that “This action will be seen as intervention by a western country in the internal affairs of a small independent nation, however unattractive its regime,” and the queen was reportedly very unhappy that a country of which she was head of state had been invaded by a foreign power ostensibly friendly to the UK. Reagan later admitted assuring Mrs. Thatcher that an invasion was not contemplated, adding that “She was very adamant and continued to insist that we cancel our landings on Grenada. I couldn’t tell her that it had already begun.” THE GUARDIAN. The Guardian is one of four quality, weekday national newspapers published in London. Founded in Manchester in 1821, it is part of the Guardian Media Group, which includes radio stations as well as newspapers and is owned by the Scott Trust, a charitable organization. Its editorials and its readership are left of center, showing sympathy with the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats (it criticized the British and American decisions that led to the Iraq War in 2003, for example).


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In the days of hot metal typesetting, The Guardian was famed for its typographical errors—so much so that Private Eye, a satirical magazine, referred to it as The Grauniad—but it has seen significant design changes since the early 1980s, with a major makeover in 1988, a relaunched features section in 1992, and conversion from broadsheet to Berliner format (so that it is now only marginally larger than a tabloid) in 2005. In recent years, the paper has sometimes been the subject of its own headlines. In 1995, for example, Jonathan Aitken, a member of Prime Minister John Major’s cabinet, sued it for libel in a case that ultimately led to Aitken’s imprisonment for perjury. Also in 2004, just before the U.S. presidential election, it bought a list of the names and addresses of voters in Clark County, Ohio, and encouraged its readers to write to them, ostensibly to give the electorate an international view of the merits of the candidates. However, The Guardian readership’s predominantly anti–George W. Bush views raised American hackles, and the experiment was brought to an abrupt end. Daily sales number about 375,000 copies, significantly lower than the figures achieved by the Daily Telegraph (900,000) and The Times (650,000) but better than those of The Independent (250,000). See also CASH FOR QUESTIONS; THE MONARCH. GUERNSEY. See CHANNEL ISLANDS; CROWN DEPENDENCY; LANGUAGE. GUILDFORD FOUR. In 1974, the Provisional Irish Republican Army bombed a public house in Guildford, 30 miles southwest of London. Five people died and 65 were injured. The following year, Patrick “Paddy” Armstrong, Gerry Conlon, Paul Hill, and Carole Richardson were given life sentences for murder after admitting responsibility in written confessions, which they claimed in court were signed after coercion by police officers. Sir John Donaldson, the presiding judge at the hearing, suggested that they should have been charged with treason, which carried a mandatory death penalty, but in 1989, doubts were raised about the validity of the convictions after a detective found that typed notes of Armstrong’s interviews had been heavily edited. Further investigation using relatively new


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electrostatic detection apparatus (ESDA) testing methods confirmed suspicions that the police had either fabricated or amended the evidence that was used by the prosecution, and all four accused were released. The case was one of several that seriously dented Britain’s international reputation for impartial administration of justice (see also BIRMINGHAM SIX; BRIDGEWATER FOUR; MAGUIRE SEVEN; TOTTENHAM THREE). Concerned about the implications, the government appointed a royal commission on criminal justice in 1991. The recommendations in its report, published two years later, led to the passage of the Criminal Appeal Act in 1995 and the establishment of a criminal cases review commission in 1997. Conlon’s story of his experiences, published as Proved Innocent by Penguin in 1991, was filmed as In the Name of the Father in 1993 and received four Oscar nominations. In 1993, Hill married Courtney, daughter of assassinated U.S. senator Robert F. Kennedy. In February 2005, Prime Minister Tony Blair offered a public apology to the Guildford Four, saying “They deserve to be completely and publicly exonerated.” GULF WAR. On 2 August 1990, Iraq, led by Saddam Hussein, invaded Kuwait, a neighboring territory at the northern end of the Persian Gulf. Six days later, Saddam annexed the country, which was producing about 13 percent of the world’s oil supply at the time. Both actions were widely condemned, and on 16 January the following year, a multinational force (under the flag of the United Nations and with contingents from Egypt, France, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Kingdom, and the United States) initiated efforts to force the Iraqis back. The invasion, known as Operation Granby in Britain and as Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in the United States, lasted for just over six weeks, freeing Kuwait by 24 February but costing the UK 47 dead (9 in an unfortunate friendly-fire incident involving U.S. aircraft) and a bill of around £2.5 billion. In addition, in the years following the war, some 6,000 troops claimed that they suffered from Gulf War Syndrome, citing chronic fatigue, dizziness, memory loss, and other symptoms. The Ministry of Defence, saying that there was no evidence of any unique and previously unknown illness, refused either to recognize the existence of


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the condition or to grant pensions to the alleged victims. However in 2003, the High Court of Justice found in favor of Shaun Rusling, who had served with the Parachute Regiment and who argued against the refusals; then in 2004, an anonymously funded inquiry led by Lord Lloyd reported that “veterans of the Gulf War later developed an excess of symptomatic ill-health over and above that to be expected in the normal course of events.” In 2005, former members of the armed forces received further support when a Pensions Appeal Tribunal ruled that the “term Gulf War Syndrome is the appropriate medical label to be attached” to the medical condition of Daniel Martin, a former trooper with the Life Guards. Faced with the legal decisions and a public mood that supported the soldiers, the government backed down. GUN CONTROL. See DUNBLANE MASSACRE; THE ECONOMIST; HUNGERFORD MASSACRE.

– H – HAGUE, WILLIAM JEFFERSON (1961– ). Hague led the Conservative Party from 1997 until 2001 but failed to convince the electorate of his prime ministerial credentials. The son of Stella and Timothy Hague, he was born in Rotherham (a working-class community more aligned to the Labour Party than to the Conservatives) on 26 March 1961, attended Wath-upon-Dearne Comprehensive School, and, at the age of 16, received national publicity when he told the Tories’ annual conference that it was time to roll back the frontiers of the state and reverse the evils of socialism. After graduating from Oxford University (where he was president of the Union and the Conservative Association in 1981) he earned an MBA at the Institut Européen d’Administration des Affaires (near Paris) before embarking on a career as a management consultant. Hague launched his first attempt to enter the House of Commons at the 1987 general election, contesting Wentworth, his home constituency, unsuccessfully. Two years later, he won at Richmond and rapidly rose up the government ranks, earning appointments as parliamentary private secretary to Norman Lamont (the chancellor


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of the exchequer) in 1989, parliamentary undersecretary of state at the Department of Social Security in 1993, and then minister for social security and disabled people and secretary of state for Wales in 1995. His appointment as Welsh secretary was roundly condemned in the principality; a native Englishman who did not hold a Welsh parliamentary seat, he was considered by many to be a symbol of political overlordship, and most Labour, Liberal Democrat, and Plaid Cymru representatives boycotted his first House of Commons appearance in that role. Almost immediately, he raised hackles by approving a motorway construction project that destroyed several wildlife habitats, but after that, he kept a low profile, working with local individuals and organizations rather than promoting radical change. In 1997, when John Major resigned the leadership of the Conservative Party after his resounding general election defeat, Hague was chosen to replace him in preference to several more senior colleagues (including Michael Howard) because many in the organization felt that his youthfulness would provide an effective counterbalance to the charisma of Prime Minister Tony Blair. Those hopes proved in vain. Hague was a very effective performer in the hurly-burly of the debating chamber (at one point in 2000, he claimed that Blair had “betrayed every cause he believed in, contradicted every statement he has made, broken every promise he has given, and breached every agreement that he has entered into”), but he failed to bind his party into an effective unit as members bickered in public over issues, such as membership of the European Union, and as public relations exercises turned into personal disasters, as when the charity Alcohol Concern criticized him for admitting in a television interview that he regularly drank 14 pints of beer a day as a teenager helping with deliveries to working-men’s clubs. Even Hague’s youthful image backfired when Labour member of Parliament (MP) Tony Banks, a government minister known for his barbed wit, announced that the Conservatives had apparently elected a fetus as party leader. Inevitably, Labour won the 2001 general election comfortably (the Tories got only one seat more than they had claimed in 1997), and Hague resigned, confessing that he had “not been able to persuade a majority, or anything approaching a majority, that we are yet the alternative government that they need.”


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Hague was succeeded as leader by Iain Duncan Smith and returned to the backbenches but not to obscurity. His ability to think quickly made him a popular media personality, in demand for such satirical television shows as Have I Got News for You, and his scholarly mind earned him a reputation as a writer and political analyst (his biography of William Pitt the Younger, published by HarperCollins in 2004, was well received by historians). Those activities, coupled with directorships and lecture fees, earned him an income of around £1 million a year, so few people were surprised as he consistently rejected the advances of MPs who were encouraging him to seek a place on the opposition front bench and use his debating skills in his party’s cause. However in the end, Hague found the lure of power too strong. Late in 2005, he accepted an offer from David Cameron, the new party leader, to serve as shadow foreign secretary, a position that placed him back at the center of Conservative policymaking, and on several occasions, he has deputized for Cameron in the House of Commons. HANSARD. The written record of proceedings in the House of Commons and the House of Lords is entitled Official Report but usually referred to as Hansard. The name is that of Luke Hansard, who printed the House of Commons Journal from 1774 until his death in 1828, and of his son, Thomas, who printed Parliamentary Debates for Richard Cobbett from 1809, bought the business in 1812, and put his name on the title page in 1829. In 1909, the Commons introduced its own reports, and the Lords followed eight years later, but in popular political usage, the papers continued to be known as Hansard, so the name was formally adopted in 1943. The publication provides comprehensive coverage of debates in both chambers, Commons adjournment debates held in the Westminster Hall chamber, and discussions in the Commons’ standing committees and the Lords’ grand committees. The reports are not verbatim (for example, catcalls by backbenchers are not recorded, and when ministers are forced into temporary silence by the shouts of opponents, the incident is noted solely by the word interruption in parentheses). Political party affiliations were appended to speakers’ names only in 2003. Hansard is available in printed form from Her Majesty’s Stationery Office at 7:30 a.m. on the day after a debate


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and at 8 a.m. on the World Wide Web at www.parliament.uk/hansard/ hansard.cfm. Reports of Friday debates appear the following Monday. HARMAN, HARRIET RUTH (1950– ). Harriet Harman was elected deputy leader of the Labour Party in 2007 and was rewarded with the posts of leader of the House of Commons, Lord Privy Seal, and minister for women and equality in Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s first cabinet. The daughter of physician John Harman and his attorney wife, Alice, she was born in London on 30 July 1950 and educated at St. Paul’s School in the city before going to York University, where she graduated with a degree in law. In 1982, she won a by-election at Peckham and entered Parliament with a reputation as a left-wing politician utterly opposed to the policies of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (who she said was promoting mass employment in order to drive down wages) but, even so, adamant that women should be more strongly represented in government. Labour leader Neil Kinnock appointed Harman to the opposition front bench as the spokesperson for social services in 1984 and gave her the health care brief in 1987. Further experience followed, largely in social services but also at the Treasury, and when Labour won the 1997 general election, Tony Blair (the new prime minister) made her secretary of state for social security with the task of reforming the welfare state. In that role, she had some success as a result of efforts to increase the incomes of senior citizens, but she was roundly condemned for cutting benefits to single parents and was fired after only 15 months in office. Harman’s sometimes abrasive personality led to criticism— Gwyneth Dunwoody, a fellow member of Parliament, described her as one of those women “who were of the opinion that they had a Godgiven right to be among the chosen”—and her lapses of political judgment led other colleagues to suggest that she had been overpromoted, but she returned to government in 2001 as the first female solicitor general and in 2005 joined the Department of Constitutional Affairs as minister of state responsible for constitutional reform. She conducted an aggressive campaign in her efforts to win the deputy leadership of the Labour Party in 2007, arguing that a maleand-female team was best for the organization and country, but the


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final ballot was close, with Harman winning 50.4 percent of the vote and Alan Johnson 49.6 percent. A long-time supporter of Gordon Brown, she was expected to be a supportive member of the cabinet. HARRY, PRINCE (1984– ). Prince Henry Charles Albert David Mountbatten-Windsor is the younger son of Prince Charles and Princess Diana. Born on 15 September 1984 at St. Mary’s Hospital in London, he is third in line to the throne after his father and Prince William, his elder brother. The prince was educated at Mrs. James Mynors’ nursery school, Wetherby School, Ludgrove School, and Eton College before taking a “gap year” so that he could work on a cattle ranch in Australia and at an orphanage in Lesotho. On his return to the United Kingdom, he trained as a British Army officer at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Like all members of the royal family, Harry has been under intense press scrutiny throughout his life, with regular media speculation about the way his mother’s death would affect him. A sportsman with particular enthusiasms for polo, rugby, and skiing and much youthful energy, he has made his teenage mistakes in the glare of the public spotlight. In 2002, for example, the press carried reports that he had smoked marijuana (his father responded by taking him on a visit to a drug rehabilitation center), and in 2004, he allegedly pushed a photographer who was watching him leave a London nightclub. Then in 2005, he turned up at a fancy dress party wearing a Nazi uniform, prompting the London Times to condemn both his choice of clothing and his association with a “group of self-indulgent young men who are apparently content with a life of pointless privilege.” Apparently, Prince Harry wanted to pursue a career as a professional polo player, but Prince Charles insisted that he must forgo that idea and prepare for a future more useful to his country. In 2007, army chiefs decided that he should not be deployed in Iraq, partly because of “specific threats which relate to Prince Harry as an individual” but also because the prince’s presence would make him a target for enemy action and thus endanger colleagues. Harry, who was keen on life as an officer in the armed forces, was reportedly disappointed at the news and told friends that he would seek a future in work with charities if he was not allowed to pursue a normal soldier’s life.


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HATFIELD TRAIN CRASH. On 17 October 2000, an express train from London to Leeds left the tracks while traveling at 115 miles per hour near Hatfield (Hertfordshire). Four passengers were killed in the accident, which was caused by a fractured rail. In the aftermath, Britain’s railroad network was seriously disrupted by speed restrictions imposed while safety checks were carried out. As the incidence of similar cracks in other parts of the country became apparent, Railtrack, the private company that owned the physical infrastructure of the system, undertook a £580 million improvement program that undermined its financial stability and ultimately led to its takeover by the not-for-profit Network Rail in 2002. Executives of Network Rail (as Railtrack’s successor) and of Balfour Beatty, the company contracted to maintain the line, were charged with manslaughter, but those charges were eventually dropped, and employees accused of breaching health and safety regulations were acquitted. However in 2005, Balfour Beatty was fined £10 million, a sum later reduced to £7.5 million by the Court of Appeal for what Mr. Justice Mackay claimed was one of the worst examples of sustained industrial negligence that he had seen. Network Rail was fined £3.5 million. See also PADDINGTON TRAIN CRASH; POTTERS BAR TRAIN CRASH; SOUTHALL TRAIN CRASH. HATTERSLEY, ROY SYDNEY GEORGE (1932– ). Hattersley was deputy leader of the Labour Party from 1983 until 1992, spending his most productive political years in opposition rather than in government. The son of Frederick and Molly Hattersley (his mother was lord mayor of Sheffield in 1981), he was born on 28 December 1932 and educated at Sheffield City Grammar School and the University of Hull. In 1957, he was elected to Sheffield City Council but sought influence on a national rather than a local stage and applied for the Labour candidacy at 26 constituencies before being selected for Birmingham Sparkbrook in 1964. He defeated his Conservative Party opponent by only 1,254 votes in the general election but held the seat for the next 33 years. In the House of Commons, Hattersley got his first government job as joint parliamentary secretary in the Department of Employment and Productivity in 1967 and then, in 1969, won promotion to the post


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of minister of defence for administration, signing the order that committed British troops to Northern Ireland. In the years that followed, he was often at ideological odds with colleagues as he moved increasingly to the center-right of the party (he voted with the Conservatives in favor of Britain’s entry to the European Economic Community, for instance), but even so, he continued to impress the leadership and, under Prime Minister James Callaghan, served in the cabinet from 1976–79 as secretary of state for prices and consumer protection. The events that followed Labour’s defeat at the 1979 election left Hattersley in the wilderness. Callaghan resigned the leadership, and Hattersley led an unsuccessful campaign to replace him with Denis Healey as the party swung to the left and chose Michael Foot. Foot’s period in office proved disastrous, and when Labour crashed to another election defeat in 1983, he in turn resigned. This time, Hattersley himself stood for the post but was defeated by Neil Kinnock, becoming deputy leader instead. For many of the party faithful, this was a “dream ticket,” with Kinnock representing the left wing and Hattersley representing the right. The pair worked together to purge the organization of socialist extremists, such as Militant Tendency, and move its policies toward a more centrist position likely to meet with the approval of a moderate electorate (by reducing emphasis on state control of industry, for instance). The strategy proved successful, as polls showed rising confidence in Labour, but even so, the 1992 general election was lost (albeit by only 21 seats compared with 146 in 1987), and both Hattersley and Kinnock gave up their positions. Hattersley retired from the House of Commons in 1997 but was elevated to the House of Lords as Baron (see PEERAGE) Hattersley of Sparkbrook. Since then, he has written several well-received biographies (including studies of John Wesley, cofounder of the Methodist Church with his brother Charles, and of William and Catherine Booth, who created the Salvation Army). He has also penned several newspaper columns that indicate he believes Prime Minister Tony Blair took Labour too far to the political Right. HEALEY, DENIS WINSTON (1917– ). Healey was widely regarded as one of the intellectual heavyweights in the Labour Party, which


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provided the principal opposition to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s governments during the 1980s. The son of Mr. and Mrs. William Healey, he was born on 30 August 1917 and educated at Bradford Grammar School before going to Oxford University, where he had a very distinguished undergraduate career. During World War II, he rose to the rank of major with the Royal Artillery, served in Africa and Italy, and was twice mentioned in dispatches. Healey first tried to enter Parliament in 1945, when he contested (and only narrowly lost) the Pudsey and Otley constituency. He was more successful in 1952, winning Leeds South East and in 1964 was appointed secretary of state for defence by Prime Minister Harold Wilson, enduring howls of rage from the Conservative Party when he cut military spending and withdrew Britain from commitments in the Far East. As chancellor of the exchequer (a position that he held from 1974 until 1979), he had to cope with a currency that was plummeting in value and in 1976 was abused by left-wing members of his own party when he negotiated a £2.3 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund to help shore up the pound. In 1980, Healey was the champion of the center and right wing in the contest for the Labour leadership with Roy Hattersley masterminding his election campaign, but he lost to Michael Foot by a mere 10 votes, partly because his abrasiveness turned some colleagues against him and partly because he did little to cajole others to support him. His defeat met with jubilation from Prime Minister Thatcher’s camp, which knew that he would have been a much more formidable adversary than Foot, and undoubtedly helped condemn Labour to a further 17 years in opposition. Foot made him deputy leader, and when he was challenged for that position by the left-wing Tony Benn in 1981, he retained it by a paper-thin margin, winning 50.4 percent of the votes compared with Benn’s 49.6 percent. From 1980 until 1987, he was Labour’s front bench spokesman on foreign affairs; according to Hattersley, Healey had the “natural instincts and interests” of a foreign secretary and would have loved the job, but in 1976 when he told the party’s left-wingers that they were “out of their tiny Chinese minds” (meaning to imply that they were Maoist), he offended many of Britain’s East Asian immigrant community. He retired from the House of Commons in 1992 and was elevated to the peerage as Baron Healey of Riddlesden.


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HEALTH CARE. See ABORTION; GULF WAR; HEALTH CONCERN; NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE (NHS); SHIPMAN, HAROLD FREDERICK (1946–2004); WELFARE STATE. HEALTH CONCERN. In 2001, local concern about decisions to restrict the range of services offered by the hospital in the Worcestershire town of Kidderminster encouraged Dr. Richard Taylor to contest the Wyre Forest constituency at the general election. To the surprise of most commentators, he won convincingly. Even more surprisingly, he topped the poll again in 2005, becoming the first independent member of Parliament (MP) since 1949 to retain a seat in the House of Commons. Taylor’s organization—Independent Kidderminster Hospital and Health Concern (usually called simply Health Concern)—is registered as a political party but has no formal membership and minimal administrative structure. It focuses strongly on health care issues but also takes a stance on provision of other community services. Taylor remains its only MP, but it holds several seats on local government bodies. HER MAJESTY’S REVENUE AND CUSTOMS (HMRC). HMRC was formed in 2005 through the merger of the Inland Revenue (Britain’s equivalent of the United States’ Internal Revenue Service) and the Customs and Excise Department in an effort to create a single tax and tariff-collection body for the whole country. When Gordon Brown, the chancellor of the exchequer, announced the plan, he said that it would involve the loss of 12,500 jobs and the redeployment of a further 2,500 personnel, resulting in savings of £300 million. However, the two agencies had very different cultures—the Financial Times commented on 9 July 2004 that the government was “mating the C & E terrier with the IR retriever”—so some commentators felt that the marriage would be an uneasy one. In the fall of 2007, the Labour Party government’s opponents claimed that their reservations about the merger were justified when HMRC lost a copy of its database on child benefits (payments to families with young children). Bank account details and other information relating to 25 million people, including Prime Minister Gordon Brown, went astray in the mail, Paul Gray (the HMRC chairman) resigned, and critics argued that error was a result both of inadequate attention to data protection and the cuts in staff.


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The Customs and Excise Department was formed in 1909 (but excise taxes have been levied since Anglo-Saxon times) and the Inland Revenue in 1849 (primarily to collect income tax, which had been introduced in 1798 as a means of financing Britain’s wars with Napoleon). See also PAYMASTER GENERAL. HER MAJESTY’S STATIONERY OFFICE (HMSO). HMSO was formed in 1786 as an arm of the Treasury and assumed responsibility for publishing Hansard (the official record of parliamentary debates) in 1882. Seven years later, it was appointed “printer to Her Majesty of all Acts of Parliament” and manager of the crown copyright. Its role as a publisher began to change in 1980, when, as part of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s efforts to make government agencies more commercially accountable, the funding previously granted by the House of Commons was withdrawn and it was required to operate at a profit. In 1996, its trading functions were privatized as The Stationery Office, but it retained its other printing and managerial roles and since 2005 has operated as a branch of the Office of Public Sector Information. THE HERALD. The Herald, Scotland’s biggest-selling quality daily, maintains that it is the oldest continuously published newspaper in the English-speaking world. It was founded in 1783 as the Glasgow Advertiser and has undergone several name changes, adopting its present title in 1992. In 2002, the debt-ridden Scottish Media Group put The Herald and its sister publications, the Evening Times and the Sunday Herald, up for sale. The decision caused much concern in Scotland when it appeared that brothers David and Frederick Barclay, owners of The Scotsman (The Herald’s Edinburgh-based archrival), might make a bid that if successful would put both of Scotland’s quality newspapers under their control. However, after consideration by the Competition Commission, the titles were purchased for £216 million by Newsquest, a division of the North American Gannett Corporation, publisher of USA Today. With a strong market in the west of Scotland, which until recently was a major focus of engineering and manufacturing in the United Kingdom, The Herald has a long tradition of covering business and


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economic matters as well as sport. It has a daily circulation of about 75,000 copies but, like other publications, is struggling to meet the challenge of Internet news services. HEREDITARY PEER. In descending order, the five ranks of the peerage in the United Kingdom are those of duke, marquess, earl, viscount, and baron (though in Scotland, barons are not members of the peerage; there, the lowest rank is that of lordship of Parliament). Traditionally, these titles, along with certain nonpeerage titles, such as baronet, were inherited, with the nature of the inheritance depending on the way in which the title was created. Ultimately, all peerages are the gift of the sovereign, although in modern times the monarch seeks the advice of the prime minister before making an appointment. Some titles were established by writ of summons—a letter requiring an individual to attend Parliament “waiving all excuses”; in such cases, the holder’s eldest son normally succeeds to the title, although in some situations, a daughter may inherit. The others were created by letters patent, which spell out the rules for inheritance; normally, they state that the title should descend to “heirs male of the body,” thus ensuring that it passes down the male line, but some titles (particularly in Scotland) may go to “heirs general,” allowing a daughter to inherit a peerage from her father. Illegitimate children have no claim to a title; under Scots law, a child born out of wedlock becomes legitimate if the parents later marry and can, therefore, succeed, but that concession is not made in England, Northern Ireland, or Wales. Initially, hereditary peerages were granted by monarchs to thank supporters for services or to honor specific individuals, but during the 20th century, more and more appointments were proposed by prime ministers solely to boost party political support in the House of Lords. For that reason, since the 1960s, emphasis has moved toward the creation of life peers, so only five hereditary peerages have been awarded since 1964. One (the earldom of Stockton) went to former Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and two (the dukedom of York and the earldom of Wessex) went to Prince Andrew and Prince Edward, respectively, when they married. The remaining grants, both viscountcies, were made during Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s administrations to William Whitelaw (a Conservative Party politician)


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and George Thomas (a Labour Party member of Parliament who served as speaker of the House of Commons from 1976–83). Currently, there are some 750 hereditary peers. Until 1999, they all had a right to sit in the House of Lords and thus influence the passage of legislation, but that privilege was removed by the Labour government, and they now elect 92 representatives to sit in Parliament’s upper chamber. Those who are not chosen may stand for election to the House of Commons. HESELTINE, MICHAEL RAY DIBDIN (1933– ). Heseltine, one of the most charismatic figures in the Conservative Party during the 1980s and 1990s, was tipped as a future prime minister by many political commentators but failed to wring the leadership from Margaret Thatcher, though his efforts forced her into resignation. The son of Colonel and Mrs. R. D. Heseltine, he was born on 21 March 1933 and educated at Shrewsbury School and Oxford University. He served for nine months with the Welsh Guards but left the army in order to fight a general election in the Gower constituency in 1959. The cause was hopeless (critics later claimed that he stood simply as a means of avoiding military commitments), and he was similarly unsuccessful at Coventry North in 1964, but in 1966, he won Tavistock and launched his parliamentary career. Eight years later, he switched to Henley, a seat closer to London, where he had founded Haymarket Press and made himself a multimillionaire through magazine publishing. Under Prime Minister Edward Heath, Heseltine was parliamentary secretary at the Ministry of Transport for a short period in 1970, then parliamentary undersecretary of state at the Department of the Environment (1970–72), and minister for aerospace and shipping (1972–74). He first hit the headlines in 1976, when, angered by Labour Party jubilation at winning a close vote in the House of Commons, he grabbed the mace that symbolizes royal authority and waved it above his flowing blond locks. The speaker suspended the sitting, Heseltine was forced into a public apology, and the tabloids promptly christened him Tarzan. In 1979, Mrs. Thatcher made him secretary of state for the environment and in 1981 gave him responsibility for ending the riots that had broken out in Britain’s inner cities, particularly in London (see


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SCARMAN INQUIRY) and Liverpool. Then in 1983, he was appointed minister of defence with a brief to curb military spending, but three years later, he stormed out of a cabinet meeting and announced that he was resigning because of disagreements with colleagues over the future of the Westland Helicopter Company, which needed an injection of capital; Heseltine favored a link with an Italian consortium, but most senior Conservatives preferred a deal with U.S.-owned Sikorski. From the backbenches, he regularly criticized the prime minister, pillorying her for her poll tax policies, which he had originally supported, and for her anti-Europeanism. Then, following Geoffrey Howe’s resignation from the government in 1990 and his bitter speech in Parliament 12 days later, Heseltine challenged Mrs. Thatcher for the party leadership. He lost by 152 votes to 204, but the extent of his support was enough to convince the prime minister that she should go. John Major, her successor, made Heseltine secretary of state for the environment (and later president of the Board of Trade and deputy prime minister), but a heart attack in 1993 ruled out any possibility that he would ever lead a Conservative government. He resigned his parliamentary seat at the 2001 general election and was created Baron (see PEERAGE) Heseltine of Thenford. See also LONDON DOCKLANDS. HEYSEL STADIUM DISASTER. Only a few days after 39 people died in a fire at the Bradford City Football Club ground (see BRADFORD FOOTBALL STADIUM TRAGEDY), English soccer was faced with a second major incident. Before the start of the European Cup Final match between Liverpool and Juventus (of Turin) at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels on 29 May 1985, Liverpool supporters charged toward a section of the terracing where groups of Italian fans were standing. Most of the Italians turned and ran, but in the panic, 39 people died as they were pressed against retaining walls or crushed when the walls collapsed on them. The Football Association (soccer’s governing body in England) responded by banning Liverpool from participating in European tournaments indefinitely (the ban was later reduced to six years). All other English clubs were banned for five years in a move that shortly afterward was ratified by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and had a longterm effect on the sport, as many outstanding players moved to clubs


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in Scotland and on the continent in order to continue their careers at the top level. Although some English fans claimed that the Juventus contingent had provoked trouble by throwing missiles and others alleged that the police had failed to keep the supporters of opposing sides apart, no formal investigation was undertaken by the Belgian authorities. However, in England, the Popplewell committee of inquiry took account of the circumstances at the Heysel Stadium as well as those in Bradford. Its report, presented to Parliament in 1986, led to a major revision of the “Green Book” (the Home Office’s Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds), which specifies standards for crowd control and physical structures, such as entrances and exits, at stadiums. Many of its recommendations were also included in the Fire Safety and Safety of Places of Sports Act, which received the royal assent in 1987. See also ENGLISH DISEASE; HILLSBOROUGH DISASTER. HIGH COMMISSION. Ambassadors are sent as the representatives of the head of state of one country to the head of state of another and work from embassies located on the foreign soil. However, as many members of the Commonwealth of Nations recognize the British monarch as their head of state (see COMMONWEALTH REALM) and it would be illogical for the monarch to send ambassadors to her or himself, the representatives of commonwealth states are known as high commissioners when they are based in other commonwealth countries, and they operate from high commissions. In the United Kingdom, high commissioners and ambassadors have the same diplomatic rank, but the commissioners have additional rights and privileges. For example, when a new high commissioner has his first audience with Queen Elizabeth II, she sends a coach and four horses to collect him. A new ambassador gets only two horses. Also, high commissioners take precedence over ambassadors when dignitaries line up to be presented to the monarch, and they have a role in many important ceremonial events. HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE. The High Court, the Crown Court, and the Court of Appeal constitute the Senior Courts of England and Wales (which until 2005 were known as the Supreme Court of Judicature). Created in 1875, the High Court has three divisions.


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The Chancery Division deals with matters relating to business law, company law, intellectual property law (such as ownership of copyright), probate law, and trusts. It has some 17 judges, each of whom normally sits without a jury because of the technical nature of the disputes that are considered. The division has its roots in the medieval High Court of Chancery, which made decisions on the king’s behalf, delivering judgments on the basis of fairness rather than law. The Family Division, which also has about 17 judges, hears cases concerning access to children, adoption, divorce, marriage, wardship, and related matters. Here, too, judges sit alone, but many of the rulings make front-page news (as, for example, when they involve requests to turn off life support systems for hospital patients). The Queen’s Bench Division, which is known as the King’s Bench Division when the sovereign is male, hears cases relating to breach of contract, libel, nonpayment of debt, ownership of land and property, personal injury, and negligence. It also has a supervisory role over all lower courts and, in that capacity, considers appeals against decisions made in those courts. The 70 judges may sit alone but can call on juries of 12 people when allegations of false imprisonment, fraud, libel, malicious prosecution, or slander are under consideration. The High Court is based in London, but cases may also be brought before its judges at other towns, a practice that is a hangover from the days when the monarch’s representatives traveled from the capital to ensure that justice was not simply dispensed but dispensed evenly across the realm. Contested decisions from hearings of civil matters went to the Court of Appeal and then to the House of Lords, with criminal appeals going directly to the Lords. However, the Constitutional Reform Act of 2005 transferred the duties and responsibilities of the lords of appeal in ordinary to a new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. The 2005 act also made several changes to the High Court’s administrative structure; for example, the head of the Chancery Division, formerly known as vice chancellor, is now a chancellor and the Queen’s Bench Division is now led by a president, not by the lord chief justice. All male judges appointed to the High Court receive knighthoods and are referred to as Mr. Justice (followed by their surname). Female judges are made dames commander of the British


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Empire and, regardless of marital status, are known as Mrs. Justice (followed by the surname). HIGH COURT OF JUSTICIARY. The High Court, founded in 1672, is Scotland’s supreme criminal court, sitting in Edinburgh and, less frequently, in other large towns. Its judges, led by the lord justicegeneral, try the most serious cases (such as child abuse, murder, and rape) assisted by a jury of 15 people, who may return a majority verdict. Defendants may be found guilty or not guilty, but when the prosecution has failed to justify its allegations beyond reasonable doubt, charges may also be considered not proven, and the accused is set free, albeit tainted with an element of suspicion. Contested decisions from lower courts and from the High Court itself are made to the High Court sitting as the Court of Criminal Appeal, with two judges hearing arguments against sentence and three hearing arguments against conviction. Decisions of that court are final. HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS DEVELOPMENT BOARD (HIDB). The HIDB was created by act of Parliament in 1965 and charged with improving social and economic conditions in an area covering over half of Scotland. It devised a growth pole policy, attempting to concentrate development around the atomic power station at Dounreay in Caithness, the pulp and paper mill in Fort William, and the bauxite smelter at Invergordon. However, the board had no powers to carry out strategic planning and thus was unable to coordinate resources, so its impact was limited, although grants to fish farms, food-processing companies, knitwear manufacturers, and other small businesses undoubtedly helped to stem migration (particularly female migration) from the region. In 1991, the HIDB was reconstituted as Highlands and Islands Enterprise. HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS ENTERPRISE (HIE). HIE was created in 1991 as successor to the Highlands and Islands Development Board. It is responsible for the economic and social development of more than half of Scotland’s land area, from the estuary of the River Clyde in the south to the Shetland Islands in the north. Based in Inverness and working through 9 geographically defined boards, it has about 550 employees and every year invests more than


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£100 million in an effort to help a population of some 440,000 people develop business and other potential in a region characterized by dependence on a small range of industries, difficult communications, a dispersed labor force, distance from major markets, and low incomes. HILLSBOROUGH AGREEMENT. See ANGLO–IRISH AGREEMENT. HILLSBOROUGH DISASTER. On 15 April 1989, 96 soccer supporters were killed in Britain’s worst-ever sporting disaster. A game between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest being held at the Hillsborough football stadium in Sheffield kicked off while thousands of visitors were still trying to push through turnstiles into the ground. In an effort to prevent accidents, police opened additional gates that had no turnstiles, and the late arrivals surged through, flooding into terraces that were already densely packed with spectators. The sudden pressure from the rear pushed the crowd forward, crushing those at the front against barriers designed to prevent troublemakers from getting onto the playing field. As the numbers increased, with the newcomers not knowing what was happening, more and more people were asphyxiated, some dying against the barriers, others under friends who had tripped and fallen on top of them. In the wake of the tragedy, the government conducted an inquiry headed by Lord Justice Taylor, a Court of Appeal judge. Taylor’s interim report, summarizing the causes of the carnage and issued later in the year, laid blame for the events at the door of the police (who had lost control of the situation), the stadium authorities (which had failed to maintain the structure adequately), and the local council (which had not carried out appropriate safety checks). His final report, issued early in 1990, made recommendations that changed the face of British football because they resulted in the elimination, from major sporting locations, of terraces where spectators could stand and watch games. The introduction of the new, all-seater stadiums also reduced the incidence of hooliganism that had been plaguing the English game (see ENGLISH DISEASE).


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Relatives of the Hillsborough victims continue to campaign for official action against people whose negligence, they claim, caused the deaths. However, when the two most senior police officers in charge of crowd safety were brought to trial in 2000, one was acquitted, and the charges against the other were dropped because the jury could not agree on a verdict. See also BRADFORD FOOTBALL STADIUM TRAGEDY; HEYSEL STADIUM DISASTER. HOME DEPARTMENT. See HOME OFFICE. HOME OFFICE. The Home Office, also known as the Home Department, is the branch of government responsible in England and Wales for management of the justice system and throughout the whole of the United Kingdom (including Northern Ireland and Scotland) for administrative matters relating to citizenship and immigration regulations. Originally created in 1782 as part of a government reorganization designed to separate responsibilities for foreign and domestic issues, the office both accrued functions as the scope of government increased and lost functions as duties were transferred to new departments, so by the early 21st century, it exercised supervision over a motley collection of aspects of British life. In 2001, however, many of its tasks were moved to other units, ostensibly so that it could focus more fully on counterterrorism, immigration issues, policing, the prison service, and race relations. In 2006, the Home Office suffered a series of embarrassments, including press reports of high rates of absconding by inmates at open prisons and the publication of an audit of government departments that accused it of limited effectiveness and poor leadership. A purge of top officials was followed in the early spring of 2007 by the transfer of responsibility for prisons and some other law and order services to the Department for Constitutional Affairs, which was renamed the Ministry of Justice. The Home Office is housed in premises at Marsham Street, London, close to the Houses of Parliament, but has jurisdiction over several executive agencies located in other parts of the country, including the criminal records bureau in Liverpool, the forensic science service in Birmingham, and the United Kingdom passport service in seven locations around the country. Its head is formally


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known as the secretary of state for the Home Department and less formally as the home secretary. HOME SECRETARY. The secretaryship of state for the Home Department is one of the four great offices of state. The holder of the post heads the Home Office and, because of the importance of the position, is a member of the cabinet. The department’s brief means that decisions and proposals are often contentious, so the home secretary is frequently mired in controversy. In recent years, Jack Straw, who served from 1997 until 2001, was criticized from many quarters when he suggested that curfews on children aged under 10 would help to combat crime. His successor, David Blunkett (2001–4), was similarly pilloried when he introduced legislation designed to limit rights to trial by jury, and Charles Clarke (2004–6) was widely condemned for advocating the introduction of national identity cards because his opponents said they would restrict civil liberties. John Reid, who replaced Clarke when Prime Minister Tony Blair reshuffled his cabinet in May 2006, famously told a House of Commons committee only days after his appointment that “from time to time [the Home Office] is dysfunctional in the sense that it doesn’t work” and that the immigration section (which over the previous 7 years had released more than 1,000 prisoners who should have been considered for deportation) was “not fit for purpose,” with “inadequate leadership and management systems.” HOMOSEXUALITY. See CAREY, GEORGE LEONARD (1935– ); CHURCH OF ENGLAND; CIVIL PARTNERSHIPS; DAVIES, RONALD (1946– ); GAY RIGHTS; JENKINS, ROY HARRIS (1920–2003); SECURITY BREACHES, PARLIAMENT; WILLIAMS, ROWAN DOUGLAS (1950– ). HONG KONG. Hong Kong consists of Hong Kong island (which was ceded to the United Kingdom by China in 1841), the Kowloon Peninsula (parts of which were ceded in 1860), and the New Territories (which were leased to Britain for 99 years in 1898). In 1984, a joint declaration by the British and Chinese governments indicated that the whole of the area would be returned to China when the lease of the


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New Territories ended but that Hong Kong’s capitalist economy would not be changed until 2047 and that the currency, customs arrangements, and legal system would be retained. The announcement caused much concern in the UK, where commentators criticized Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher for returning the ceded, as well as the leased, territories to the communist regime, but the advocates of the plan claimed that subdivision of the small colony would cause economic chaos and that Britain could not defend the tiny areas left under its control. In Hong Kong, many citizens feared that the Chinese would not keep their promises, so the UK government created a new form of citizenship—the British national overseas—solely for residents in the area. Some 3 million passports were issued, but several were sold by the recipients, allowing many people living in mainland China to travel as illegal immigrants to Europe and North America. Hong Kong returned to Chinese control as agreed in 1997, and the UK now houses about 104,000 people who were born in the former colony. HOOF AND MOUTH DISEASE. See FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE. HOON, GEOFFREY WILLIAM “GEOFF” (1953– ). Although Geoff Hoon was much criticized in some quarters for his performance as minister of defence under Prime Minister Tony Blair, he retained an influence on government when Gordon Brown succeeded Blair in 2007. Born on 6 December 1953, he is the son of railroad worker Ernest Hoon and his wife, June. He was educated at Nottingham High School and Cambridge University, where he graduated with a law degree in 1974. After a period of teaching at Leeds University and the University of Louisville in Kentucky, he worked as an attorney before winning election to the European Parliament in 1984 and to the House of Commons (as the representative for the Ashfield constituency) in 1992. Once in Parliament, Hoon quickly made an impression on the Labour Party leadership, serving as an opposition whip (1994–95) and front-bench spokesman on trade and industry (1995–97). In Blair’s first government, he held posts in the Lord Chancellor’s Department (1997–98) and the Foreign Office (May–October 1999)


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before becoming secretary of state for defence and authorizing major troop deployments in Afghanistan (2001) and Iraq (2003). In 2004, Hoon incurred the wrath of members of the armed forces when he announced a major restructuring of the British Army and reductions in the number of Royal Air Force fighting planes and Royal Navy warships. He was also implicated in the events that led to the death of Dr. David Kelly, a leading biological warfare expert who had told British Broadcasting Corporation reporter Andrew Gilligan that the government’s public statements about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction were unreliable. Gilligan broadcast the story without identifying Kelly, but the Ministry of Defence confirmed to journalists that he was the source of the information, and hounded by the press, he committed suicide. A subsequent investigation (see HUTTON INQUIRY) cleared Hoon of any wrongdoing, and contrary to many expectations, he did not resign. In 2005, Hoon moved to the joint post of leader of the House of Commons and Lord Privy Seal. In 2006 he was made minister of state for Europe, and in 2007, he joined Brown’s new government team as chief whip and parliamentary secretary to the Treasury, admired by his supporters as a “safe pair of hands” but still considered “dishonest” by his detractors. HOUSE OF COMMONS. The Commons is the lower of the two chambers in the British parliamentary system because most proposals for new legislation are introduced there as bills, then if approved are sent to the House of Lords (the upper chamber) for further discussion. It is also the focus of political power in the United Kingdom because governments survive only if they maintain the support of a majority of the members of Parliament (MPs) elected to represent voters and their families. Meetings are held in the palace of Westminster on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. Normally, business is conducted on about 155 days each year, with a short break in February and a longer “recess” from late July until October. Since May 2005, sittings have been scheduled for 2:30 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. on Mondays and Tuesdays, 11:30 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. on Wednesdays, 10:30 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. on Thursdays, and 9:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. on some Fridays. The early finishes on Wednesdays and Thursdays are intended to help MPs who have families


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or who have to travel to constituencies outside London, but some business is exempt from the usual deadlines, so late-night sittings are relatively common. Meetings may also be held in Westminster Hall, a room adjacent to the main debating chamber, from 9:30 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. on Tuesdays, from 9:30 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. and from 2:30 p.m. until 4:30 p.m. on Wednesdays, and on Thursdays from 2:30 p.m. until 5:30 p.m. so that members can argue over supplementary issues that cannot be accommodated in the main timetable. Debates in the house are presided over by the speaker, who is elected by the MPs at the beginning of each Parliament and is expected to act independently. Members of the majority party, which forms the government, sit side by side on benches to the right of the speaker and facing the representatives of the second-largest party, which is known as her majesty’s opposition. Department ministers and leading opposition spokesmen sit on the front benches, some two swords’ lengths apart; other MPs (known as backbenchers) occupy the tiered benches behind them. Business begins with prayer and announcements. These are followed by questions to ministers, ministerial statements, and then debates, which are initiated by a motion from a government minister or, in some cases (such as a private member’s bill), by a backbencher. MPs wanting to voice their views must wait to be called by the speaker and must refer to other members either as The Honorable Member for (followed by the name of the other member’s constituency) or (in the case of ministers) by their office. At the end of the discussion, which is often heated, the speaker will “put the question,” a “division” will follow, and MPs will pass into an “Aye” or a “No” lobby, registering support for or rejection of the motion. Tellers report the result of the vote to the speaker. If the debate is about proposed legislation and the proposals are approved, bills pass to the House of Lords for further consideration. The Lords may disagree with the Commons, except over “money bills,” which deal with taxation and public expenditure and must be passed by the upper house without amendment. If disagreements persist, the Commons may invoke the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949 and introduce the new legislation despite the Lords’ misgivings, but that has happened on only a handful of occasions in recent decades. The Commons also has a duty to scrutinize the work of government by posing questions to ministers and appointing select committees to examine specific aspects of administration or expenditure.


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The maximum life of a Parliament is five years. At any point within that time, a government may call a general election, at which all MPs vacate their seats. See also ADJOURNMENT DEBATE; DESPATCH BOX; EARLY-DAY MOTION; GRAND COMMITTEE; HANSARD; HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT; LEADER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS; PARLIAMENTARY PRIVILEGE; SECURITY BREACHES, PARLIAMENT. HOUSE OF LORDS. The House of Lords is the upper of the two Houses of Parliament. Its members—all unelected—comprise some 700 members of the peerage (known as lords temporal), along with two archbishops and 24 senior bishops of the Church of England (known as lords spiritual), and 12 lords of appeal in ordinary (who are usually termed law lords and carry out judicial functions but do not normally participate in debates in order to preserve their political independence). The Lords complements the House of Commons, debating proposed legislation, but its powers are significantly more limited. For example, it has no authority to amend money bills (that is, bills dealing solely with taxes or expenditure of public funds), and although it can suggest amendments to proposed legislation, it cannot insist on changes. Also, senior government ministers, with the exception of the leader of the House of Lords and the lord chancellor, are no longer drawn from its ranks because peers cannot appear before the House of Commons to be questioned about their decisions. The lord speaker presides over debates, but the duties are different from those of the speaker of the House of Commons, partly because business is conducted with greater courtesy than is the convention in the lower House. For example, if two or more members rise to speak at the same time, one is chosen by general acclamation (in the Commons, the speaker of the house decides who will contribute to debates). Each member, apart from the individual who has proposed a motion, is allowed to make only one contribution to a debate and must refer to colleagues in polite terms (as “my noble friend,” for instance). When the discussion is over, the speaker asks those attending the debate to shout “Content” if they approve the proposal or “Not Content” if they oppose it and then announces which side has won. If his decision is challenged, members troop into one of two lobbies and are counted by tellers, who report the numbers to


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the speaker. A quorum of 30 members is needed for votes dealing with legislation, but others may be decided by a minimum of 3 people. In practice, much of the work of the house is done by committees, which then bring proposals to the chamber for discussion. The House of Lords normally meets for about 160 days each year, sitting on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays from 2:30 p.m. until about 10:00 p.m. and on Thursdays and some Fridays from 11:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. With the exception of government ministers, the leader and chief whip of the main opposition party, two committee chairmen, and the law lords, members are not paid a salary, though they are reimbursed for secretarial, subsistence, and travel costs. The House of Lords has also formed the highest court of appeal for civil cases in the United Kingdom and criminal cases in England, Northern Ireland, and Wales, with five law lords normally sitting to hear arguments. However in 2005, the Constitutional Reform Act transferred the judicial functions of the house to a new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. The same legislation made provision for the Lords to elect a speaker, removing the traditional right of the lord chancellor to preside over debates. Since the 19th century, critics of the Lords have called for reform, arguing that a chamber dominated by unelected hereditary peers should have no place in the Parliament of a democratic society. The difficulty has been getting agreement about the nature of reform, both in terms of composition and of responsibilities. The Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949 curtailed the Lords’ rights to reject and amend bills, and the Life Peerages Act of 1958 introduced nonhereditary titles that could not be passed to children, thus allowing governments to make medium-term political appointments to the upper chamber. More recently, the House of Lords Act of 1999 removed the rights of hereditary peers to a seat in the chamber, permitting only 92 chosen by the other hereditary peers to remain. However in 2003, attempts by the Labour Party government to initiate further structural changes were defeated in the House of Commons because members of Parliament were unable to decide on the composition of a second chamber, differing over the relative proportions of the membership that should be elected and appointed. See also CROSSBENCHER; DESPATCH BOX; ELECTORAL SYSTEM; FRONT BENCH; GENERAL ELECTION; GRAND COMMITTEE; HANSARD;


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SECURITY BREACHES, PARLIAMENT; PARLIAMENTARY PRIVILEGE; PRIVATE BILL; WESTMINSTER. HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT. The term Houses of Parliament may refer either to the House of Commons and the House of Lords, which form the two chambers in Britain’s bicameral Parliament, or to the palace of Westminster (the building on the north bank of the River Thames in central London in which the Parliament is located). The palace was built in the 11th century but has been much altered since then. It served as a royal residence until part of the structure was burned down in 1529. A second fire in 1834 caused even greater damage, but the government held a competition to design a replacement and awarded the contract to Charles Barry, with Augustus Welby Pugin commissioned to assist. Barry was more at ease with renaissance architecture, Pugin with gothic, but the two collaborated well, the former producing the overall plan and the latter adding the exuberant decoration of the exterior. The House of Lords, situated toward the south of the palace, was completed in 1847. A throne covered by a golden canopy stands at one end of the 45-foot-by-80-foot room, and the other three sides are filled with benches upholstered in red leather. Twenty-six archbishops and bishops of the Church of England (the lords spiritual) sit on seats to the right of the throne, as do peers who support the government. Nobles who favor the opposition sit to the left, and those who have no party affiliation face the throne, opposite the woolsack (a cushion stuffed with wool and with no back or arms on which the lord speaker sits while presiding over debates). Stained-glass windows allow light into the chamber, which is luxuriously decorated with brass candelabra, bronze statues of the barons who forced King John to sign the Magna Carta in 1215, frescoes representing scenes from British history, and an intricately patterned coffered ceiling. The House of Commons, at the opposite end of the palace, is slightly smaller (46 feet by 68 feet) and significantly more utilitarian. It was destroyed by bombs on 10 May 1941 during World War II but rebuilt, largely following Barry’s layout, by Giles Gilbert Scott and opened in 1950. The speaker’s chair occupies one end of the room, with five tiers of green-covered benches running the length of both sides of the chamber, the government occupying those to the right of


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the speaker and the opposition those to the left. A red line runs along the floor at the foot of both front rows of benches; those lines are just over two sword lengths apart, and members of Parliament are forbidden to cross them. There are seats for only 427 people in the chamber, so as there are more than 600 MPs, some of the elected representatives have to stand when the room gets crowded for important debates or occasions such as the chancellor of the exchequer’s budget address. In addition to the 2 main chambers, there are some 1,100 other rooms on the building’s 4 floors. Only the 11th-century Westminster Hall, the 13th-century undercroft of St. Stephen’s Chapel, and the 14th-century Jewel Tower survived the 1834 fire. The clock tower— commonly known as “Big Ben,” although the name is more properly used for the bell that the tower houses—was completed in 1858. When Parliament is sitting, a flag flies from the tower during daylight hours; after darkness falls, a light shines. See also SECURITY BREACHES, PARLIAMENT. HOUSING ASSOCIATIONS. See SOCIAL HOUSING. HOWARD, MICHAEL (1941– ). Howard succeeded Iain Duncan Smith as leader of the Conservative Party in 2003. Born at Gorseinon in south Wales on 7 July 1941, he is the son of Bernard and Hilda Howard (his father, a Romanian Jew, fled to the United Kingdom to escape internment by Hitler’s Nazis and changed his surname from Hecht to Howard). He was educated at Llanelli Grammar School and Cambridge University, qualified as a barrister in 1964, and contested the Liverpool Edge Hill parliamentary constituency in 1966 and 1970 but did not enter the House of Commons until 1983, when he won the Folkestone and Hythe seat. Under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, his career progressed rapidly. He served as parliamentary private secretary to the solicitor general (1984–85) and parliamentary undersecretary of state at the Department of Trade and Industry (1985–87), then held ministerial office with responsibility for local government (1987–88), water and planning (1988–89), and housing (1989–90). He was made secretary of state for employment in 1990, moved to the Department of the Environment in 1992, and was transferred to the Home Office in 1993.


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Those posts meant that Howard was no stranger to controversy. At the Department of Trade and Industry, he was responsible for regulating financial transactions in the City of London, including the arrangements for the Big Bang in 1986, and as minister for local government he shaped the highly unpopular poll tax legislation. Also while at the Department of Employment, he introduced the bill that led to the abolition of the closed shop in British industry, and as home secretary, he attempted to introduce tougher sentences for criminals, crossing swords with senior judges who claimed that he was abusing his powers. In 1997, Howard contested the party leadership but came fifth out of five candidates, winning only 23 votes from fellow members of Parliament. Ann Widdecombe, who had worked with him as a junior minister at the Home Office, claimed in the House of Commons that “there is something of the night about him”—a quote that, according to some commentators, damned any chance of success. (The statement was made in the context of a debate following Howard’s firing of Derek Lewis, director of the prison service. The same affair led to a television interview, when Howard was asked 12 times whether he had threatened to overrule Lewis [who had fired a prison governor], and on each occasion, he failed to answer the question directly.) When Iain Duncan Smith was made leader of the Conservative Party in 2001, he appointed Howard chancellor of the exchequer in the shadow cabinet. The job was well suited to the Welshman’s keen legal mind, providing opportunities for solid debating performances that earned the admiration of colleagues, who elected him unopposed to the leadership when Duncan Smith resigned in 2003. The change at the top did little for the party’s fortunes, however, with popularity polls in the following months showing that the Labour Party was maintaining a healthy lead over its rivals and that Howard trailed Prime Minister Tony Blair in the electorate’s esteem. At the 2005 general election, the Conservatives managed to reduce their opponents’ parliamentary majority to fewer than 70 seats, but the day afterward, Howard—much to the surprise and consternation of his supporters—announced his intention to resign “sooner rather than later,” claiming that “at the time of the next election, I’ll be 67 or 68 and . . . that is simply too old to lead a party into government.” He was replaced by David Cameron at the end of the year.


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HOWE, RICHARD EDWARD GEOFFREY (1926– ). A leading figure in Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative Party governments throughout the 1980s and a principal contributor to her downfall in 1990, Geoffrey Howe was born on 20 December 1926, the son of Mr. and Mrs. E. F. Howe of Port Talbot. He was educated at Winchester College, one of the leading English public schools, then served as a lieutenant in the Royal Signals from 1945 until 1948. From there, he went to Cambridge University, where he studied law, and in 1951 became chairman of the Conservative Association. He qualified as a barrister in 1952 and from 1957 until 1962 worked as managing director, then as editor, with the Crossbow periodical published by the Bow Group, a Conservative think tank. Howe first attempted to win a parliamentary seat in 1955, but his efforts were unsuccessful until 1964, when he topped the poll at Bebington, which he held for two years. Later, he was to represent Reigate (from 1970 until 1974) and East Surrey (from 1974 until his retirement from politics in 1992). Having gained experience on the opposition front bench as the Conservatives’ spokesman on labor and social affairs in 1965, he was appointed solicitor general by Prime Minister Edward Heath in 1970 and then moved to the Ministry of Trade and Consumer Affairs in 1972 before the Labour Party’s victory at the 1974 general election brought a temporary return to the opposition benches as spokesman on social services (1974–75) and economic affairs (1975–79). Although not known for his debating talents (Labour chancellor of the exchequer Denis Healey claimed that being attacked by Howe was akin to “being savaged by a dead sheep”), he was an astute politician, earning appointments as chancellor of the exchequer in 1979, foreign secretary in 1983, and deputy prime minister and leader of the House of Commons in 1989 under Mrs. Thatcher. By 1990, however, Geoffrey Howe and the prime minister were not seeing eye to eye, particularly on matters relating to European integration. For example, Howe was arguing that Britain should take a leading role in talks designed to establish a single European currency, but Mrs. Thatcher was wholly unconvinced, declaring the plans unacceptable and attacking the notion of a federated Europe dominated by what she believed was the socialist ethos of Brussels. On 1 November, Howe, the last survivor of the 1979 cabinet, could


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take no more and resigned. Twelve days later, in a bitter House of Commons speech, he told members of Parliament that the prime minister had a “nightmare” vision of a Europe “positively teeming with ill-intentioned people scheming . . . to extinguish democracy.” That view, he claimed, presented “increasingly serious risks for the future of our nation.” The resignation and its vituperative aftermath exposed deeply entrenched Conservative differences over Europe and highlighted Mrs. Thatcher’s autocratic approach to government, eventually leading to her final departure from Downing Street on 22 November. Howe retired from politics in 1992 and was raised to the peerage as Baron Howe of Aberavon. See also ENTERPRISE ZONES; EUROPEAN UNION (EU). HUMAN FERTILISATION AND EMBRYOLOGY ACT (1990). The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act lowered the time limits for legal abortion from 28 weeks gestation to 24 weeks and established a Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority to regulate embryo research and license clinics that provided in vitro fertilization facilities or insemination by sperm donors. HUMAN RIGHTS ACT (1998). The Human Rights Act, which came into effect on 2 October 2000, was designed to complement the provisions of the European Convention of Human Rights, originally drawn up by the Council of Europe in 1950 but updated on several occasions over the next 50 years. The act required all public bodies (with the exception, in certain circumstances, of Parliament) to observe the principles of the convention and allowed citizens to seek redress in British courts if they felt that their rights had been infringed. Judges were ordered to interpret parliamentary legislation in accordance with convention principles and, if that was not possible, to make a statement detailing the nature of the incompatibility. The Human Rights Act also removed capital punishment from the list of permitted sentences for certain military offenses. HUME, GEORGE BASIL (1923–99). Archbishop of Westminster from 1976 until 1999, Cardinal Hume was a much respected leader of the Roman Catholic community in England and Wales at a time


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when churchgoing was in decline. He was born in Newcastle-uponTyne on 2 March 1923, the son of heart specialist Sir William Hume and his French wife, Marie. Sir William was a Protestant but, even so, sent his boy to Ampleforth, a prestigious Catholic school run by the Benedictine order. From there, Basil went to Oxford University (where he studied history) and then to Fribourg University (where he studied theology). He was ordained a priest in 1950 but returned to Ampleforth as a teacher from 1952 until 1963, when he was made Abbot of Ampleforth. Over a period of 60 days in 1976, he was promoted from abbot to archbishop of Westminster (25 March) and then to cardinal (24 May)—a meteoric rise thoroughly atypical in Catholic circles. (Reportedly, he was much distressed when he learned that he had been made a cardinal but accepted because of his duties of obedience as a monk.) Following the deaths of Paul VI and John Paul I in 1978, he was among the candidates for pope. Although he admitted that he missed the companionship of marriage, Hume was, in many ways, the typical English gentleman—articulate, educated, and courteous. A confirmed opponent of abortion, he objected to increasingly liberal divorce laws that he claimed contributed to the instability of marriage, and he campaigned on behalf of the Guildford Four and the Maguire Seven, who he believed were wrongly convicted of murder—a belief that was justified when the sentences on both groups were overturned. Much concerned about poverty, he spoke out against the industrialized world’s exploitation of poorer nations and launched initiatives designed to relieve the plight of London’s homeless. Internationally, he had a considerable impact on church policy through his presidency of the European Bishops’ Conference from 1979 until 1986 and his participation in Vatican debates, where he was considered one of the senior cardinals (when policymakers made proposals that were unlikely to meet with approval in Britain, he warded them off with the warning that “That is not the way we do things in England”). Not all of his administrative ventures were successful. Despite his opposition to abortion and divorce, he was considered a liberal by many in his church and was frequently criticized by conservative bishops. Also, he failed to reverse the trend away from attendance at mass. Nevertheless, in a secular age, his quiet decency earned the respect of the nation, and when he passed away on


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17 June 1999, the London Times was able to end its obituary with the comment that “Few churchmen in this century, inside or outside the Catholic Church, have died so deeply loved.” HUME, JOHN (1937– ). A former leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), Hume earned a reputation as a Roman Catholic voice of moderation during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. He was born in Londonderry on 18 January 1937, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Hume, and attended St. Columb’s College (in his native Derry) and St. Patrick’s College (part of the National University of Ireland). Initially, he intended to enter the priesthood, but before completing his studies, he returned to his home town and, while working as a teacher, became increasingly involved in movements designed to improve the social and economic conditions of Ulster’s Catholic community. In 1964, he was made president of the Credit Union League of Ireland (a forerunner of the SDLP); in 1969, he was elected to the Northern Ireland Parliament as an independent. In 1973, he joined the Northern Ireland Assembly; in 1979, he became leader of the SDLP and a member of the European Parliament; and in 1983, he went to the House of Commons as the representative of the Foyle constituency. Hume is widely admired, even by political opponents, for his consistent opposition to violence and for the diplomatic skill with which he helped to shape major peace initiatives, including the Anglo–Irish Agreement of 1985 and the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. He resigned the SDLP leadership in 2001 and retired from politics three years later. Hume was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (jointly with David Trimble) in 1998, the Martin Luther King Award in 1999, and the Gandhi Peace Prize in 2001. See also ADAMS, GERARD “GERRY” (1948– ). HUNGERFORD MASSACRE. On 19 August 1987, Michael Ryan walked through the town of Hungerford, Berkshire, carrying a variety of firearms, including an AK-47 assault rifle. He fired indiscriminately, killing 16 people, including his own mother, and then shot himself. The subsequent inquiry led to the Firearms (Amendment) Act of 1988, which prohibited ownership of semiautomatic centerfire weapons and restricted the use of shotguns with magazine


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capacities greater than two rounds. See also DUNBLANE MASSACRE. HUNTING ACT (2004). See FOX HUNTING. HUNTING WITH DOGS. See FOX HUNTING. HURD, DOUGLAS RICHARD (1930– ). Douglas Hurd was a senior figure in the Conservative Party during the 1980s and 1990s, serving in the cabinet for 11 years under Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and John Major. The eldest son of Anthony Hurd (who was the member of Parliament [MP] for Newbury from 1945–64) and his wife, Stephanie, Hurd was born in Marlborough on 8 June 1930 and educated at Eton College and Cambridge University. He worked with the diplomatic service from 1952–66, gaining experience in China and Italy and with the United Nations in New York, which was to stand him in good stead in later years. He joined the Conservatives’ research department in 1966 and held posts as private secretary and political secretary to Edward Heath, who was prime minister from 1970–74. Hurd entered the House of Commons in 1974 as the MP for midOxfordshire and in 1979 was given the post of minister of state at the Foreign Office in Margaret Thatcher’s first government. After the 1983 general election, he moved to the Home Office but after only a year was promoted to the cabinet as secretary of state for Northern Ireland. For most aspiring politicians, that was an unwelcome job because prejudices in Ulster were so deeply entrenched that it was difficult to get unionists and republicans to agree to any proposal that might end the violence that plagued the province. However, Hurd’s diplomatic skills helped to pave the way toward the 1985 Anglo–Irish Agreement, which improved relations between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, even though it did not lead to peace. In 1985, Hurd was made home secretary, using the high-profile role to emphasize traditional Conservative toughness on law and order issues by advocating stiffer sentences for criminals and providing additional financial support for police forces. He also banned the media from broadcasting interviews with suspected terrorists in Northern


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Ireland, redrafted the Official Secrets Acts, and introduced legislation that gave the authorities increased powers to deal with football hooliganism and other forms of public unrest. A cabinet reshuffle in 1989 took Hurd to the Foreign Office, and when Mrs. Thatcher resigned the Conservative leadership a few weeks later, he entered the contest for the succession, finishing a distant third behind John Major and Michael Heseltine. Major, when he became prime minister, kept Hurd as foreign secretary, allowing him to supervise British reactions to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990 (see GULF WAR), the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1990–91, and the Maastricht Treaty (1991). He is also credited with improving relations with European Union (EU) leaders, who had listened to years of hectoring from Margaret Thatcher, but undoubtedly caused strains in the “special relationship” with the United States as a result of his refusal to support U.S. president Bill Clinton’s proposals to give military assistance to Bosnia as Yugoslavia descended into civil war. Hurd felt that the American plans would simply extend the conflict, but Mrs. Thatcher would certainly have taken a different line: “Douglas, Douglas,” she said, “You make Neville Chamberlain look like a warmonger.” Hurd, always more pro-European than many in his party, retired from government in 1995, as colleagues bickered over Britain’s membership of the EU, and was raised to the peerage as Baron Hurd of Westwell in 1997. He retained his interest in politics, joining the royal commission appointed in 1999 to consider reform of the House of Lords, undertook a number of tasks for the Church of England, and continued to publish the series of political thrillers he had started in 1967. HUTTON INQUIRY. On 17 July 2003, Dr. David Kelly—a leading biological warfare expert, employee of the Ministry of Defence (MoD), and a United Nations’ weapons inspector in Iraq—committed suicide, precipitating a political crisis for Prime Minister Tony Blair. In September 2002, the government had published a report purporting to show that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction that could be unleashed within 45 minutes. The following year on 29 May, Andrew Gilligan—a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) journalist—claimed in a radio broadcast that Blair’s office had


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“sexed up” the dossier in an effort to win public support for an invasion of Iraq. Three days later, he repeated the allegations in a Sunday newspaper, specifically naming Alastair Campbell, a government spin doctor, as the man responsible for overstating the case. Journalists used their contacts to search for the source of Gilligan’s information, and on 9 July, as speculation mounted, Kelly was named as the whistleblower by the MoD. He denied the allegations in an appearance before a House of Commons select committee on 15 July, but two days later, he was dead, apparently unable to cope with the revelations and the reporters’ constant pressure to comment. On 18 July, the government appointed Lord Hutton, a lord of appeal in ordinary, to lead an official inquiry into the “circumstances surrounding the death of Dr. Kelly.” The investigation lasted for 22 days, with evidence taken from Gilligan, Campbell, Geoff Hoon (the minister for defence), and 71 other witnesses. It concluded that Gilligan’s reports were “unfounded,” that the BBC had failed to check the veracity of the claims even after the government had complained about distortion, and that the MoD before issuing a statement to the press should have warned Kelly that he was to be named. The prime minister and his colleagues received only minor criticism. In the wake of the findings, Gavyn Davies (the BBC chairman) and Greg Dyke (the director general) resigned, as did Gilligan. However, many sections of the press wrote of a “whitewash” that failed to reveal the truth about the government’s role in the affair. See also BUTLER REVIEW; JOINT INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE (JIC).

– I – IBBS REPORT (1988). See EXECUTIVE AGENCY. IMMIGRATION. In 1981, emigrants from the United Kingdom outnumbered immigrants by some 79,000. By 1991 the balance had changed, with immigrant totals exceeding emigrants by 43,000, and by 2006, the immigrant surplus, according to government estimates, totaled some 191,000. Of the 591,000 incomers in that year, most arrived from the former Soviet bloc states in Eastern Europe and from Commonwealth of Nations countries in Asia and Africa. Officially,


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government spokesmen welcomed the newcomers, arguing that they added to the labor force and so brought economic benefits in their wake, but press reports reflected mounting public concern as the results of the 2001 census showed that the migrants were concentrating heavily in certain parts of the country, notably urban areas, and thus putting heavy pressure on hospitals, housing, schools, and transport systems. Additionally, some economists argued, the rate of the influx meant that the number of workers was outstripping the number of available jobs, adding to unemployment and to the cost of welfare payments. Early in 2005, the government responded by announcing a new system of controlling entry to the country. Tests for migrants from outside the European Union would incorporate a points system that would allow skilled personnel to settle but discriminate against people with few qualifications. However, critics claimed that the plans would not solve problems, partly because the country needed unskilled workers who would do jobs that the indigenous labor market would shun, partly because legitimate visitors could readily stay on after visas expired, and partly because porous boundaries meant that immigrants could easily arrive illegally. Also, they said, there were moral implications because most of the people favored by the system would be from poorer countries that badly needed to retain young, educated men and women. Many members of the Conservative Party argued for an annual limit to the number of foreigners granted permission to work in Britain, but the government appeared unwilling to accept the case. See also BRITISH NATIONAL PARTY (BNP); CITIZENSHIP; HOME OFFICE; HONG KONG; NATIONAL FRONT (NF); SCARMAN INQUIRY; STEPHEN LAWRENCE AFFAIR; TOTTENHAM THREE. INCOME TAX. Taxes on personal incomes were first levied in 1798 to help fund the Napoleonic Wars and now provide the largest single source of fiscal revenue for the British government. The tax is payable on all income and gains derived from United Kingdom sources and must be paid regardless of citizenship. In addition, British residents who are domiciled in the country (that is, those who can be demonstrated to have an attachment to the UK through, for example, family connections or property ownership) must pay tax on all


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other income, even if it comes from non-UK sources, unless they can demonstrate that they have lived outside the country for some nine months in the year. Most employees have the tax deducted before they receive their salary or wage, but individuals who are selfemployed must arrange to make the payments themselves. The rates at which tax is levied are set annually by Parliament in a Finance Act but are normally first announced to the House of Commons by the chancellor of the exchequer in his budget speech. All payees, including children, are entitled to tax-free allowances determined by their circumstances (people aged 65 and over have higher allowances than younger people, for instance). Income in excess of the allowance is taxed according to the band into which the income falls. The starting rate is 10 percent, rising to 22 percent on higher incomes and to 40 percent on the highest earnings. The basic rate on dividends is 20 percent, rising to 32.5 percent, and the basic rate on savings is 20 percent. The payments are collected by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. Legally, the monarch is not required to pay income tax. However, when fire destroyed part of Windsor Castle in 1992, the government’s decision to meet the cost of repairs from the public purse drew criticism from commentators who pointed out that Queen Elizabeth II, one of the wealthiest women in Europe, was well able to meet the bills herself. Shortly afterward, the queen agreed to make voluntary tax payments on her income. See also INHERITANCE TAX; SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT. THE INDEPENDENT. The Independent is a quality daily newspaper founded in 1986 by Stephen Glover, Andreas Whittam Smith, and Matthew Symonds, all of whom had previously worked as journalists on the Daily Telegraph. Their timing was opportune because Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation had precipitated disputes with the media’s trade unions, encouraging writers and tradesmen to desert the turmoil of The Times and other publications (see WAPPING DISPUTE). Daily circulation quickly rose to more than 400,000 copies, encouraging the launch of a Sunday Independent in 1990 (the two papers are often known as the Indie and the Sindie), but the growth faltered, and declining returns led to financial problems and a series of business restructurings.


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In 1998, when sales were failing to reach 200,000 copies a day, the company was taken over by the Dublin-based Independent News and Media plc, which invested considerable sums in a series of makeovers. In 2003, it experimented with a tabloid format that was quickly copied by other broadsheet newspapers, and in 2005, it introduced a new layout, designed by Cases and Associates (a Spanish firm), that took sport off the back page and gave the paper a look more akin to dailies on the European mainland than to its British competitors. Those changes took circulation up to about 250,000, but that is still significantly lower than the sales achieved by the Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, and The Times. Editorial policy is mildly left of center, and readership is concentrated among young and middle-aged males living in the London area. INDEPENDENT COMMISSION ON POLICING IN NORTHERN IRELAND. See PATTEN COMMISSION (1998–99). INDEPENDENT COMMISSION ON THE VOTING SYSTEM. See JENKINS COMMISSION (1997–98). INDEPENDENT SCHOOL. See PUBLIC SCHOOL. INDEPENDENT TELEVISION (ITV). ITV is a commercial competitor with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), funding its programs with revenues received from advertisers, whereas the BBC relies heavily on a license fee paid by people who own television sets. The first broadcasts were made in London in 1955, but by 1962, the whole country, including the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, was covered, with franchises operating on a regional and in some cases a weekday or weekend basis. A second channel (showing a mix of films, reruns, and new shows) was added in 1998, a third (concentrating mainly on repeats of costume dramas and mysteries) in 2004, and a fourth (showing sport and shows designed to attract a male audience) in 2005. A news channel launched in 2000 had limited appeal and was withdrawn after five years. Critics allege that ITV’s commitment to public-service broadcasting is declining, with prime-time viewing increasingly concentrating on light entertainment, reality shows, and soap operas. However,


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supporters point out that many programs and series have found world markets, citing Cadfael (produced from 1994–98 by Carlton Television and Central Television), Inspector Morse (filmed by Zenith Productions for Central Television from 1987–2000), and The South Bank Show (a regular arts magazine aired on London Weekend Television since 1978 and shown in over 60 countries). INHERITANCE TAX. Taxes levied on the wealth of individuals who have recently died were introduced as death duties in 1796. Over the next two centuries, the name changed to legacy duty, succession duty, estate duty, capital transfer tax, and then in 1986 to inheritance tax. By 2006, the levy was amounting to 40 percent of the value of all estates valued at over £300,000, and even though exemptions were made for bequests to a spouse and to charities Treasury coffers were benefiting by about £3.5 billion each year. However, critics complained that the charge was unfair because it was in effect a double tax imposed on savings that had already been subject to income tax. Also, although it affected only about 6 percent of estates, that proportion was growing as a result of rising house prices. Financial advisors did their best to exploit legal loopholes when planning their clients’ affairs but avoidance of the duty became increasingly difficult, particularly so after 2004, when many of the loopholes were closed by the Finance Act. As a result, in 2007, as more and more home owners expressed concern that a high proportion of the wealth that they wanted to leave to their children would be siphoned off by the state, the Conservative Party announced that if it formed the next government it would radically alter the inheritance tax rules – a decision that forced the Labour Party government to relax the regulations and allow couples to merge their allowances, doubling the total to £600,000. Even so, the Treasury itself estimated that the state would still receive over £3 billion annually from the tax. INLAND REVENUE. See HER MAJESTY’S REVENUE AND CUSTOMS (HMRC). INNER LONDON EDUCATION AUTHORITY (ILEA). The ILEA was the world’s largest education authority. Technically, it was a committee of the Greater London Council (GLC), which


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was formed in 1965 to provide local government services for the whole metropolitan area, but it functioned with considerable independence. Its inner-city territory included some of the poorest areas of the United Kingdom, so it provided generous funding for its schools, arguing that high-quality education with good resources for libraries and related learning facilities could help overcome the problems created by deprived homes and neighborhoods. The ILEA survived the abolition of the GLC in 1986, but agitation by its 12 constituent boroughs for the right to govern their own affairs led to its dismemberment in 1990. See also GAY RIGHTS; LANGUAGE. INTELLIGENCE SERVICES. See BUTLER REVIEW; GOVERNMENT COMMUNICATIONS HEADQUARTERS (GCHQ); JOINT INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE (JIC); OFFICIAL SECRETS ACTS (1911–89); SECRET INTELLIGENCE SERVICE (SIS); SECURITY SERVICE (MI5); SPECIAL AIR SERVICE (SAS). IRANIAN EMBASSY SIEGE. On 30 April 1980, a group of six terrorists who had been trained in Iraq occupied the Iranian embassy in the west end of London, taking 26 hostages, including embassy workers, tourists, two British Broadcasting Corporation employees who had called in to pick up visas, and Trevor Lock (a policeman who had been on duty at the offices). Initially, they claimed they wanted autonomy for Khuzestan, one of Iran’s southern provinces, but later they added demands for the release of 91 colleagues who were being held in Iranian jails and a plane to fly them out of the country. Five of the hostages were allowed to leave over the next few days, but on 5 May, one of the remaining captives was murdered, and almost immediately, the Special Air Service (SAS) stormed the building, watched by millions of television viewers. One hostage and five of the gunmen were killed (shot, according to some eye witnesses, while trying to surrender). The surviving terrorist was sentenced to life imprisonment. Lock received the George Cross (Britain’s highest civilian gallantry award) for saving the life of one of the SAS men, and the SAS regiment, previously threatened with disbandment, was saved.


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IRAQ WAR. On 20 March 2003, troops from some 40 nations led by the United States and including a complement from the United Kingdom invaded Iraq, acting without the explicit statement of support from the United Nations that the British government had previously claimed was necessary and justifying the action on the grounds that the Iraqis were manufacturing “weapons of mass destruction.” The British operation, code-named Telic, focused on the port of Al Bas,rah, located in the southeast of the country on the Shatt-Al-Arab River and close to the Persian Gulf. Almost 46,000 men and women were involved, the largest deployment of British forces since World War II, and the city was taken within some two weeks. Public opinion polls at the time indicated that about two thirds of the electorate supported the military action, but a vociferous minority, including the Liberal Democrats—the third-largest political party in the House of Commons—claimed that it was illegal and that the UK was dancing to a tune played by U.S. president George W. Bush, who wanted to control Iraq’s considerable oil reserves and spread American influence in the Middle and Near East. During the fighting, the British press concentrated more heavily than its U.S. counterpart on the suffering and destruction caused by the war, and those reports along with the failure to discover weapons, the growing cost of the operation, and the mounting death toll among British forces combined to increase opposition to the continuing occupation of the country. In response, Prime Minister Tony Blair announced early in 2007 that Britain would withdraw more than 2,000 troops by the summer, leaving 5,000, most of whom would be based at the airport in order to reduce their presence on the streets and make them less vulnerable to attack. Responsibility for maintaining security in Al Bas,rah would be handed over to the Iraqi authorities. The decision was welcomed by Blair’s critics, who had condemned him as “George Bush’s poodle” because of his staunch support for American approach to the “war on terror” and his apparent willingness to sacrifice relationships with European Union nations such as France and Germany, both of whom were opposed to the invasion, in order to support a transatlantic link that appeared to bring the United Kingdom no political benefit. David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party, supported the withdrawal, telling members


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of Parliament that the decision would be welcomed in the House of Commons and the country but adding that a formal inquiry into all of the circumstances of the war should be held so that the country could “learn the lessons” of “many bad mistakes.” Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat leader, was more sanguine, pointing out that Britain was leaving a society at the brink of civil war and that was a “long way short of the beacon of democracy for the Middle East that was promised some four years ago.” In his announcement, Blair had said that although Al Bas,rah was “difficult and sometimes dangerous,” a five-month operation to quell violence had been successful and that the Iraqi forces were now able to take over responsibility for keeping law and order. American analysts and military sources took a different view. Initially deferential to British commanders, who they believed were experienced in counterinsurgency techniques after years of attempting to keep the peace in Northern Ireland, they argued that the UK was withdrawing as a result of failure to make the city secure. In response, British military leaders suggested that the United States was subjecting them to a propaganda war because the United States needed a scapegoat to explain its lack of progress in rebuilding Iraq. Soon after taking office in June 2007, Gordon Brown, Blair’s successor as prime minister, visited President Bush and, although he is a firm believer in closer ties between Europe and the United States, made clear at a press briefing that he would maintain control of the British timetable for troop withdrawal regardless of decisions made by the American government. Later that summer, Ministry of Defence data showed that 168 Britons had died in Iraq since the start of the war, 132 in hostile incidents, and in October Brown announced that the number of British troops in the country would be reduced to 2,500 by the spring of 2008. The UK returned control of Al Bas,rah to the Iraqi army and police on 15 December 2007. See also COOK, ROBERT FINALYSON “ROBIN” (1946–2005); GALLOWAY, GEORGE (1954– ); HUTTON INQUIRY; JOINT INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE (JIC). IRAQI SUPERGUN AFFAIR. In April 1990, British Customs and Excise (see HER MAJESTY’S REVENUE AND CUSTOMS [HMRC]) officers at Middlesborough, a port on England’s east coast, seized a consignment of very large cylinders, which they claimed were to be


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sent to Iraq for assembly as the barrel of a “supergun” that would have a range of 600 miles. At the time, the government had placed an embargo on arms sales to that country, and both the Walter Somers firm (which designed the equipment) and the Forgemasters Engineering firm (which manufactured it) said they believed that the materials were destined for a petrochemical plant. Shortly afterward, investigations in other areas of Europe uncovered more gun components, and two arrests were made in Britain, but toward the end of the year, the charges were suddenly withdrawn without any public explanation. In 1991, after the Gulf War was over, United Nations weapons inspectors in Iraq destroyed two large guns, adding to public suspicions that the government knew more about the matter than it was willing to admit and further lowering confidence in Prime Minister John Major’s administration at a time when its ratings in public opinion polls were dropping. See also MATRIX CHURCHILL AFFAIR; SCOTT REPORT. IRELAND, REPUBLIC OF. The Irish Republic has a unique relationship with the United Kingdom, partly because it is the only country to have a land boundary with Britain and partly because until 1921 it was legally part of the British state. Thus, for example, under the terms of the Ireland Act of 1949, Irish citizens are treated as though they were Commonwealth of Nations citizens rather than foreign aliens and so have the right to vote at UK elections and to become members of Parliament (MPs). In recent years, sectarian strife in Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK, has dominated political relations between the two countries. During the 1980s, many loyalist and Conservative Party MPs strongly opposed any measure that would allow the republic to influence decision making in the province (see ANGLO–IRISH AGREEMENT), but the compliance of both governments was nevertheless essential to any understanding designed to shape a lasting peace. Ultimately in 1998, all parties approved of the Good Friday Agreement after the republic had rescinded its territorial claim to Ulster and replaced it with a more general statement advocating the unity of all people on the island of Ireland. In addition to the Northern Ireland problem, the Irish government has also been at odds with the UK over marine pollution by the


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Sellafield nuclear fuel reprocessing plant located on the northwest coast of England only 120 miles from the Irish Republic across the Irish Sea and over territorial rights to the continental shelf around the uninhabitable island of Rockall, which is claimed by Britain and lies in the Atlantic some 187 miles west of St. Kilda, the westernmost land area in the UK archipelago. Commercially, the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom are closely linked. The UK is Ireland’s most important source of imports (notably machinery, oil, and oil-based products) and, along with the United States, is its most important export market, receiving computers (Apple, Dell, and several other U.S.-based companies have manufacturing plant in Ireland) and pharmaceutical products. See also BRITISH ISLES; DOWNING STREET DECLARATION; ELIZABETH II (1926– ); FOREIGN POLICY; LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE (LSE); NATIONALIST; REPUBLICAN; THE TROUBLES. IRISH GAELIC. See LANGUAGE. IRISH NATIONAL LIBERATION ARMY (INLA). Established in 1974 as the paramilitary wing of the Irish Republican Socialist Party, the INLA draws most of its support from the Roman Catholic areas of Belfast and Londonderry. It was declared illegal by the British government in 1979 after claiming responsibility for placing the car bomb that killed Conservative Party member of Parliament Airey Neave in London. During the 1980s and early 1990s, the INLA gained a reputation as one of the most violent of the Northern Ireland terrorist groups, including among its victims 17 people, 11 of them soldiers, who died as a result of a public house bombing at Ballykelly in 1982. An internal feud in 1986–87 led to 13 killings and was followed by a period of relative inactivity, but by 1990, the organization had resumed its hard-line, high-profile position. In 1995, three members of the group were caught attempting to smuggle weapons into Ulster from the Republic of Ireland, and in 1997, three others killed Billy Wright (a leader of the Loyalist Volunteer Force) at the Maze Prison. Loyalists shot Seamus Dillon, allegedly a member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, in retaliation for the Wright killing, so the


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INLA murdered Ulster Defence Association member Jim Guiney in retaliation for the retaliation. The INLA does not support the 1998 Good Friday Agreement but called a cease-fire on 22 August of that year. In 2004, the independent monitoring commission that maintains oversight of paramilitary activity in Northern Ireland claimed that the group’s members were heavily involved in drug dealing and other crime, allegations that the INLA strenuously denies. See also IRISH PEOPLE’S LIBERATION ORGANIZATION (IPLO). IRISH NORTHERN AID COMMITTEE (NORAID). Founded in 1969 and based in the United States, NORAID’s stated aim is to raise funds for the families of nationalists killed or imprisoned as a result of attempts to persuade the British government to renounce sovereignty over Northern Ireland. It has been dogged by controversy since its creation, largely because of assertions that much of its income was used to provide arms for the Provisional Irish Republican Army. NORAID has branches in several American centers of sympathy for the republican cause—Chicago and New England, for example—but has been denounced by senior politicians in that country and the Republic of Ireland as well as the United Kingdom (in 1991, Tom Foley, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, described it as a “disgusting charade”). Since 2001, contributions to the organization have declined as American attitudes toward terrorism have changed in the wake of the attacks on New York’s World Trade Center and other targets. As a result, in 2006, NORAID leaders announced that in the future funds would be spent in the United States rather than in Ireland. IRISH PEOPLE’S LIBERATION ORGANIZATION (IPLO). The IPLO was born in 1986–87 as the result of a feud within the Irish National Liberation Army. It was responsible for sending letter bombs to two members of Parliament in 1988 and the same year admitted responsibility for a series of explosions in Belfast, its main area of support. In addition, it is suspected of 22 murders, 5 in 1991 alone. The IPLO was broken up by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) in 1992, ostensibly because of its heavy involvement in drug dealing but partly also because it was attracting former PIRA members who had quarreled with the organization.


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IRISH REPUBLICAN ARMY (IRA). See PROVISIONAL IRISH REPUBLICAN ARMY (PIRA). IRVINE, ALEXANDER ANDREW MACKAY “DERRY” (1940– ). From 1997 until 2003, Derry Irvine served as lord chancellor in Prime Minister Tony Blair’s cabinets, ultimately resigning in the wake of criticisms of arrogance, lack of political acumen, and profligacy. The son of Alexander and Margaret Irvine, he was born into a working-class Scottish family (his father was a roofer and his mother a waitress) on 23 June 1940 and educated at Inverness Academy and Hutcheson’s Grammar School (Glasgow) before completing distinguished undergraduate careers at both Glasgow and Cambridge Universities, where he studied law. By 1981, he was head of his legal firm, counting Tony Blair and Cherie Booth (Blair’s future wife) among his trainee attorneys. Irvine contested the Hendon North parliamentary constituency unsuccessfully at the 1970 general election and advised the Labour Party on legal issues throughout the 1980s, contributing significantly to efforts designed to rid the organization of left-wing extremists, including members of Militant Tendency. In 1987, he was raised to the peerage as Baron Irvine of Lairg. The appointment to the lord chancellorship in Blair’s first government was no surprise because Irvine had held the shadow cabinet post for the previous five years, but although he was credited with integrating the European Convention of Human Rights into British legal systems and with restructuring arrangements for legal aid to poorer citizens, he was never a political success. Considered arrogant and overbearing by many of his colleagues, he was pilloried for spending £650,000 of the taxpayers’ money on the refurbishment of his official residence in the palace of Westminster (allegedly each roll of wallpaper cost £350), soliciting political contributions from junior legal colleagues, accepting a 12.6 percent pay increase at a time when public service workers were getting only 2.9 percent (he later agreed to take only 2.6 percent), and comparing himself favorably to Cardinal Wolsey, advisor to King Henry VIII. When he resigned in 2003, media commentators claimed that his departure would cause little mourning and that he had held his position more because of his personal relationship with the prime minister than because of his political skills.


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ISLE OF MAN. The Isle of Man is not part of the United Kingdom and is not a member of the European Union. A crown dependency located in the Irish Sea some 30 miles off the coast of northwest England and 38 miles off the east coast of Northern Ireland, it is some 32 miles long and at its maximum about 15 miles in breadth. One third of the 76,300 population lives in Douglas, the capital. The island was controlled by the Vikings from 700 until 1266, by the Scots from 1266 until 1334, by the English from 1334 until 1707, and by the British after that. The UK is now responsible for defense and the conduct of foreign affairs, but the Tynwald, an assembly divided into an Upper House (the Legislative Council) and a Lower House (the House of Keys), oversees the economy. Some writers claim that the Tynwald, founded in 979, is the world’s oldest surviving parliament. Astute fiscal policies have turned the Isle of Man into a tax haven, with banking and other financial services contributing the bulk of the gross domestic product. See also CAPITAL PUNISHMENT; LANGUAGE; PRIVY COUNCIL. IWAN, DAFYDD (1943– ). Iwan was elected president of Plaid Cymru in 2003, even though he had no seat in either the House of Commons or in the National Assembly for Wales. Something of a hell-raiser in his youth, he was born in Brynaman (Carmarthenshire) on 23 August 1943, one of four sons in the family of Congregationalist minister Gerallt Jones and his music teacher wife, Elizabeth. His early childhood was spent in his home village, a coal-mining community, but when he was 12, his parents moved north to Bala and a more agricultural environment. He studied architecture at the University of Wales, Cardiff, graduating in 1968, by which time he was making a name for himself on the Welsh folk-singing circuit but was also known as a political activist, getting a prison sentence in 1970 as he led nonviolent campaigns to promote use of the Welsh language. In 1969, in partnership with Huw Jones (who later became head of S4C, a Welsh-language television channel), Iwan founded the Sain Record Company, which has grown into Wales’s largest record label. In addition to those business and singing commitments, he became heavily involved in local politics, serving as a county councilor in Gwynedd, where he caused controversy by advancing plans to have different house prices for local people and for incomers. He is also a


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school governor and a member of several charitable organizations (such as the National Eisteddfod of Wales) and development boards (including the North Wales Economic Forum). Iwan’s election to the leadership of Plaid Cymru in 2003 came at a time of low morale because the party had performed badly at the elections to the Welsh Assembly earlier in the year and was rent by internal schisms, so his declaration that his principal task was to rebuild confidence and reestablish the organization as a political force supported by the “ordinary people of Wales” came as no surprise. In a party split by schism, he was recognized as a unifying force, but disappointing results at the European Parliament and local government elections in 2004 followed by further failures at the 2005 general election encouraged the organization to pursue a restructuring that gave the overall party leadership to the person who led the organization in the National Assembly, a decision that resulted in Iwan’s replacement by Ieuan Wyn Jones.

– J – JENKINS, ROY HARRIS (1920–2003). One of the founders of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and a president of the European Commission, Jenkins was a leading advocate of closer ties between the United Kingdom and countries of mainland Europe at a time when Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was questioning the value of Britain’s place in the European Economic Community. The son of coal miner Arthur Jenkins, who represented Pontypool in the House of Commons from 1935 until 1946, and his wife, Hattie, Roy Jenkins was born in Abersychan (Monmouthshire) on 11 November 1920. He was educated at the local grammar school then graduated with a first-class degree in politics, philosophy, and economics at Oxford University before serving with the Royal Artillery during World War II. At the 1945 general election, he fought the Solihull parliamentary constituency for the Labour Party unsuccessfully, but three years later, he won Southwark Central, becoming at the age of 27 the youngest of the new members of Parliament. From the mid-1960s, Jenkins rose steadily through the party ranks, serving as minister of aviation in 1964–65, home secretary from


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1965–67 (and again from 1974–76), chancellor of the exchequer from 1967–70, and deputy leader of the Labour Party from 1970–72. His impact on British life was considerable. In his first stint as home secretary, for example, he abolished flogging in prisons, relaxed the laws relating to homosexuality, and reorganized the police service, reducing the number of forces from 117 to 49. As chancellor, he cut British defense commitments in the Far East and imposed charges on medical prescriptions. However, during the 1970s, he found himself increasingly at odds with senior colleagues, partly because of their anti-Europe agenda, and with left-wing members of the Labour Party, who felt that his love of claret and fine living was the antithesis of socialist values. As a result, he was soundly beaten by James Callaghan when he stood for election as party leader in 1976 and the following year left Parliament for the presidency of the European Commission, a post that he used to further the cause of European monetary union (see THE EURO; EUROPEAN MONETARY SYSTEM [EMS]). From his vantage point in Brussels, Jenkins watched as Labour lurched increasingly to the left, electing Michael Foot as leader in 1980 while espousing the case for unilateral nuclear disarmament and state control of industry. Alarmed, he united with David Owen, Bill Rodgers, and Shirley Williams early in 1981 to issue the Limehouse Declaration, which condemned the confrontational political style of both Labour and Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative Party. Two months later, the same “Gang of Four” formed the SDP, and in 1982, he took over at its helm. The SDP undoubtedly shifted the balance of British politics, but Jenkins was not the charismatic spokesperson it needed. Outshone in the press by the Liberal Party’s David Steel and never recapturing his earlier House of Commons debating style, Jenkins resigned his position after the 1983 general election, when his followers won only six seats in Parliament. In 1987, he was elevated to the peerage as Baron Jenkins of Hillhead and also elected to the chancellorship of Oxford University, a job that allowed him time to add to his political and biographical writings, which include acclaimed studies of Prime Ministers William Gladstone and Winston Churchill. He died on 5 January 2003, believing that he had fulfilled an ambition to “pull the Labour Party back from the wilder shores of lunacy.” See also JENKINS COMMISSION (1997–98).


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JENKINS COMMISSION (1997–98). Elections to the British Parliament are held on a “first past the post” basis, with the person who gets the largest vote representing the constituency in which the election is held. For many years, minority political parties have claimed that the system discriminates against them because their support is widely spread across the country rather than concentrated in specific areas. Thus, for example, at the 1983 general election, the Social Democratic Party and Liberal Party alliance won 25 percent of the popular vote but got fewer than 4 percent of the seats. Prior to the 1997 general election, the Labour Party promised that if it formed the next government, it would investigate alternative polling procedures and hold a referendum so that voters themselves could decide whether they wanted change. Victory won, Tony Blair, the new prime minister, appointed Roy Jenkins (a former leader of the Social Democrats) to head a royal commission charged with examining alternate ways of choosing members of Parliament (MPs). In October 1998, the commission recommended that the United Kingdom should adopt an “alternative vote top-up” system, under which 80–85 percent of MPs would be elected using the existing approach and the remainder would be chosen from regional lists, thus making some allowance for differences in voting preference in different parts of the country. However, Jack Straw, the home secretary, was an implacable opponent of reform. Blair described himself as “unpersuaded,” and the government limited itself to a statement that it would review the success of the forms of proportional representation adopted by the Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales before taking further action. See also ASHDOWN, JEREMY JOHN DURHAM “PADDY” (1941– ). JERSEY. See CHANNEL ISLANDS; CROWN DEPENDENCY; LANGUAGE. JOINT INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE (JIC). The JIC, founded in 1936, is a Cabinet Office group that oversees the operations of the United Kingdom’s secret services, evaluating intelligence reports and forwarding summaries to the prime minister and other senior members of the government. Representatives from Australia, Canada, and the United States regularly attend the weekly meetings, but guests from other countries, even those in the European Union, are rare.


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In 2002, the committee was responsible for preparing a dossier assessing the threat posed by the weapons of mass destruction allegedly held by Iraq. The following year, Andrew Gilligan, a journalist with the British Broadcasting Corporation, claimed he had evidence that the document had been “sexed up” in order to boost public support for an invasion of the country and the removal of Saddam Hussein, its leader. Shortly afterward, Dr. David Kelly, an employee of the Ministry of Defence, was exposed as the source of Gilligan’s information and, unable to cope with the pressure of press and government investigators, killed himself. Lord Butler led an official inquiry into the nature of the misleading accounts of weaponry that had emerged from Iraq prior to the American-led invasion in 2003; in his conclusions, he criticized British intelligence-gathering services but did not suggest that the failings were sufficiently serious to warrant resignations. See also BUTLER REVIEW; GOVERNMENT COMMUNICATIONS HEADQUARTERS (GCHQ); HUTTON INQUIRY; OFFICIAL SECRETS ACTS (1911–89); SECRET INTELLIGENCE SERVICE (SIS); SECURITY SERVICE (MI5); SPECIAL AIR SERVICE (SAS). JUDICIARY. See DIPLOCK COURTS; HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE; HIGH COURT OF JUSTICIARY; HOUSE OF LORDS; JUSTICE OF THE PEACE (JP); LEGAL SYSTEM, ENGLAND; LEGAL SYSTEM, NORTHERN IRELAND; LEGAL SYSTEM, SCOTLAND; LEGAL SYSTEM, WALES; LORD ADVOCATE; LORD CHANCELLOR; LORD CHIEF JUSTICE; LORD OF APPEAL IN ORDINARY; SENIOR COURTS OF ENGLAND AND WALES; SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. JUSTICE OF THE PEACE (JP). JPs can trace their history to the 14th century, when powerful landowners, who could command authority, were given powers to enforce the law within the areas they controlled. Nowadays, in England and Wales, the justices preside over the Magistrates’ Courts (see LEGAL SYSTEM, ENGLAND; LEGAL SYSTEM, WALES), dealing with minor offenses and imposing prison sentences of up to six months or fines of up to £5,000. Most are local dignitaries (the mayor, for example), few have any


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training in the law (they are advised in court by a legally qualified clerk), and nearly all give their services free. Normally, they sit in a bench of three. In Scotland, the JPs dispense justice at the district courts, the lowest in the system. They may sit alone, but their powers are more restricted than those of their English and Welsh counterparts because they can impose fines of no more than £2,500 and prison sentences of no more than 60 days. In Ulster, the functions of the JPs were transferred to magistrates by the Justice (Northern Ireland) Act of 2002.

– K – KENNEDY, CHARLES PETER (1959– ). Charles Kennedy led the Liberal Democrats (Britain’s third-largest political organization) from 1999 until criticism of his performance forced him to resign in 2006. The son of Mr. and Mrs. Ian Kennedy, he was born in Inverness on 25 November 1959 and educated at Lochaber High School in Fort William before going to Glasgow University, where he studied politics and philosophy and won The Observer Mace for his debating skills. After graduating in 1982, he found work as a journalist with the British Broadcasting Corporation but decided to return to academia, got a Fulbright Scholarship, and started doctoral studies at Indiana University. While he was in the United States, Kennedy learned that he was under consideration as the Social Democratic Party (SDP) representative for the Ross, Cromarty, and Skye parliamentary constituency. He flew back to Scotland for an interview, persuaded local politicians to support him, and topped the poll in the 1983 general election, becoming at age 23 the youngest member of the House of Commons at the time. Over the next 16 years, as the SDP formed an alliance with the Liberal Party and then in 1988 united with them as the Liberal Democrats. Kennedy served as spokesman on Scotland (1987–88), social security (also 1987–88), trade and industry (1988–89), health care (1989–92), the European Union (1992–97), and agriculture (1997–99). That broad background coupled with an acute mind and an amiable personality enabled him to take over the party leadership


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when Paddy Ashdown stood down in 1999. His ratings in public opinion polls regularly exceeded those of Prime Minister Tony Blair and leaders of the Conservative Party, but despite promoting efforts to win voters at the grassroots level in the constituencies, he failed to lead the Liberal Democrats to major electoral success, largely because his party’s support is widely spread geographically and the United Kingdom’s “first past the post” electoral system favors political groups that are territorially concentrated. Never the most athletic of individuals (he is known as “Taxi Kennedy” because of his dislike of physical exercise) and smoking 20 cigarettes a day, Kennedy caused concern in 2004, when he seemed unwell at his party’s annual conference and failed to attend several important parliamentary debates. Colleagues questioned whether he was fit enough to continue as leader, but in a television interview, he denied that he was an alcoholic. By the following fall, however, rumors of his heavy drinking were circulating widely in Westminster, and in January 2006, he was forced to quit when nearly half of his party’s members of Parliament announced that they would no longer serve under him. He was succeeded by Menzies Campbell, a fellow Scot. KING’S CROSS TUBE STATION FIRE. At about 7:30 p.m. on 18 November 1987, toward the end of the rush hour, a fire broke out underneath one of the escalators at King’s Cross underground (or “tube”) station in London. The fire burned for about 15 minutes then swelled quickly into a major conflagration, sending a ball of flame through tunnels to the ticket hall. Emergency procedures proved inadequate as escalators continued to carry people into the heart of the blaze, trains disembarked passengers onto smoke-filled platforms, and station employees were unable to evacuate tunnels. As a result, 31 people died. Following the tragedy, a public inquiry led by Desmond Fennell, a leading attorney, heard evidence over a period of 91 days, concluding that the cause was probably a cigarette or match dropped by a passenger that fell on grease-impregnated dirt, spawning flames that spread to the timber of the escalator. The inquiry members made 150 recommendations that led in 1989 to the introduction of new safety regulations for underground stations. All of the wooden escalators on


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the London system were replaced by fire-resistant equipment (a task not completed until 2004), water sprinklers and heat detectors were installed, and staff were required to undertake regular fire safety training. KINNOCK, NEIL GORDON (1942– ). Leader of the Labour Party from 1983 until 1992, Kinnock was born on 28 March 1942, the son of Gordon (a steelworker and former coal miner) and Mary (a nurse). He was educated at Lewis School (Pengam) and at University College, Cardiff, becoming president of the students’ union in 1965 and graduating with a B.A. in industrial relations and history the following year. He worked as a tutor organizer for the Workers’ Educational Association from 1966 until 1970, when he won election to the House of Commons as member of Parliament (MP) for Bedwellty, sponsored by the Transport and General Workers’ Union. Over the next decade, Kinnock enhanced his political credentials, serving on the select committee on public expenditure (1971–74) and on a similar committee on nationalized industries (1975–78). In 1974–75, he was parliamentary private secretary to Michael Foot (then secretary of state for employment); in 1978, he was elected to the Labour Party’s national executive; and from 1979–83, he was the opposition’s leading spokesman on education. A skillful orator with a rousing speaking style reminiscent of chapel preachers, he was nicknamed “The Welsh Windbag” by the satirical magazine Private Eye, but his condemnations of Margaret Thatcher’s conduct of the Falklands War in 1982 earned him the respect of left-wing MPs and the following year helped win him the party leadership when Foot resigned in the wake of a crushing general election defeat. With party morale at a low ebb, the electoral challenge of the new Social Democratic Party to face, and Labour’s policies clearly out of tune with public sentiment, Kinnock set about reforming his organization, but despite isolating the more extreme left-wingers (notably the members of Militant Tendency) in an attempt to win the support of political moderates, he lost the 1987 election by a considerable margin as the Labour won only 229 constituencies and the Conservative Party took 375. By 1989, however, he had clearly made progress because public opinion polls were suggesting that Labour was eating into the Conservatives’ lead, aided by widespread


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opposition to the government’s poll tax, and by 1992, press reports were claiming that he would be the next prime minister, but votes swung away before the general election—partly, according to some commentators, because of Kinnock’s overconfidence during the final days of the campaign—and the government hung onto power with a 21-seat majority. In the wake of the defeat, Kinnock resigned the party leadership. From 1994–2004, he served as one of the United Kingdom’s two members of the European Commission, holding the transport portfolio, and in 2005, despite criticizing the House of Lords early in his political career, he was elevated to the peerage as Baron Kinnock of Bedwellty. He also heads the British Council, which promotes United Kingdom culture and technology overseas, but his enduring legacy may be the initiation of party reforms that provided a foundation on which his successors—John Smith and Tony Blair—could build and which ultimately led to Labour’s electoral victory in 1997. See also HATTERSLEY, ROY SYDNEY GEORGE (1932– ). KNIGHTHOODS. Originally, the knight was a mounted warrior invested by his lord with the right to bear arms, which were personal symbols worn on clothing, flags, and shields so that the bearer could be recognized easily in the thick of war. Knighthoods are still bestowed by modern sovereigns, but nowadays, the honor is awarded for contributions to the public or economic good rather than for prowess in battle and can be granted to women as well as men. Male recipients are referred to as sir, female holders as dame. See also HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE; ORDERS OF CHIVALRY.

– L – LABOR UNIONS. See TRADE UNIONS. LABOUR PARTY. The Labour Representation Committee, formed in 1900 to secure political power for working people, was the foundation of the modern Labour Party, which adopted its present title in 1906 while the group was led by the charismatic James Keir Hardie. Traditionally a socialist organization, it advocated state involvement


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in economic affairs so that the benefits of wealth created by industry and commerce could be distributed to the whole population rather than concentrated in the hands of factory owners and the aristocracy. By the 1980s, however, circumstances had changed; employment in heavy industries had declined, provision of services had become increasingly important, and most workers were in nonmanual jobs. Labour’s insistence under the leadership of Michael Foot on advocating continued state control of industry seemed outdated to most voters, and as a result, the party crashed to humiliating defeat at the 1983 general election. The move toward a more moderate position began with Neil Kinnock’s efforts to reduce the influence of left-wing elements on policymaking and continued under his successors, John Smith and Tony Blair. Blair in particular changed the agenda by persuading his supporters to replace clause four (see NATIONALIZATION) of the party’s constitution, excising the commitment to the “common ownership of the means of production” (which in effect meant state control of industry) and replacing it with a more bland assertion that “by the strength of our common endeavour we achieve more than we achieve alone, so as to create for each one of us the means to realize our true potential.” Coupling claims that it would control public spending with promises to end what many commentators considered were divisive elements of Conservative Party Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s legacy, Labour swept to victory at the 1997 general election and retained its parliamentary majority when it went to the polls again in 2001 and 2005. Many of the new government’s innovations proved popular; devolution of powers to assemblies in Scotland and Wales, legislation providing for a national minimum wage, and the transfer of authority over interest rates to the Bank of England were all well received by press and public. However, other measures were more controversial. Numerous Labour members of Parliament took issue in 1997 with the decision to reduce the benefits paid to single parents, and others expressed concern over levels of immigration, lengthening hospital waiting lists, and the loss of individual rights implicit in antiterrorist laws. Support for the United States’ position on Iraq also brought criticism, as did the public airing of squabbles between members of the Blair cabinet. However, the Conservative Party failed to capitalize


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on its opponent’s weaknesses, leaving Labour as the only party widely considered worthy to govern until late in 2005, when David Cameron was elected leader of the opposition and began to threaten the government’s control of the political middle ground. See also BECKETT, MARGARET MARY (1943– ); BLUNKETT, DAVID (1947– ); BROWN, JAMES “GORDON” (1951– ); CAMPBELL, ALASTAIR JOHN (1957– ); CASH FOR HONORS; COOK, ROBERT FINLAYSON “ROBIN” (1946–2005); COOL BRITANNIA; DARLING, ALISTAIR MACLEAN (1953– ); DAVIES, RONALD (1946– ); DEVOLUTION; DEWAR, DONALD CAMPBELL (1937–2000); EUROPEAN UNION (EU); GALLOWAY, GEORGE (1954– ); GREATER LONDON COUNCIL (GLC); HARMAN, HARRIET RUTH (1950– ); HATTERSLEY, ROY SYDNEY GEORGE (1932– ); HEALEY, DENIS WINSTON (1917– ); HOON, GEOFFREY WILLIAM “GEOFF” (1953– ); IRVINE, ALEXANDER ANDREW MACKAY “DERRY” (1940– ); JENKINS, ROY HARRIS (1920–2003); LIVINGSTONE, KENNETH ROBERT “KEN” (1945– ); LOONY LEFT; MANDELSON, PETER BENJAMIN (1953– ); MCCONNELL, JACK WILSON (1960– ); MCLEISH, HENRY (1948– ); MILIBAND, DAVID WRIGHT (1965– ); MILITANT TENDENCY; MORGAN, HYWEL RHODRI (1939– ); NEW LABOUR; OLD LABOUR; PRESCOTT, JOHN LESLIE (1938– ); RODGERS, WILLIAM THOMAS “BILL” (1928– ); SMITH, JACQUELINE JILL “JACQUI” (1962– ); STRAW, JOHN WHITAKER “JACK” (1946– ); TRADE UNIONS; WILLIAMS, SHIRLEY VIVIEN TERESA BRITTAIN (1930– ). For details of representation in the House of Commons, see the entries on general elections held in 1979, 1983, 1987, 1992, 1997, 2001, and 2005. LADY. A lady may be the female equivalent of a lord, but the title is also accorded to the wife of a lord and the daughters of a duke, marquess, or earl (see PEERAGE). LAMONT, NORMAN STEWART HUGHSON (1942– ). Norman Lamont was chancellor of the exchequer during one of the United Kingdom’s most serious 20th century financial crises. The son of David and Helen Lamont, he was born in Lerwick on 8 May 1942


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and educated at Loretto School in Musselburgh and at Cambridge University. After graduating in 1965 with a B.A. in economics, he worked in the financial services industry before winning the Kingston-upon-Thames parliamentary constituency for the Conservative Party at the 1972 general election. Lamont served as opposition spokesman for prices and consumer affairs (1975–76) and industry (1976–79) before becoming parliamentary undersecretary of state at the Department of Energy in Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s first government (1979). He gained further experience as minister of state at the Department of Trade and Industry (1981–85) and the Department of Defence (1985–86), entering the Treasury as financial secretary in 1986 and advancing to chief secretary in 1989. Although usually aligned with his party’s right wing, he led John Major’s successful campaign for election as Conservative leader (and prime minister) following Mrs. Thatcher’s resignation in 1990 and was rewarded with the post of chancellor of the exchequer in charge of the nation’s finances. Many of the initiatives Lamont presented in his first two budgets were well received by the press, but his decision to withdraw from the European exchange rate mechanism (ERM) on 16 September 1992 invoked howls of derision (see BLACK WEDNESDAY; EUROPEAN MONETARY SYSTEM [EMS]). Major had taken Britain into the ERM in 1990, tying the value of the pound to the value of other European Economic Community currencies in the hope that a stable foreign exchange rate would help lower interest rates (then at 15 percent), reduce inflation (which had reached 11 percent), and cut unemployment. However by 1992, currency speculators had pushed the value of the pound down, and in an attempt to avoid devaluation, Lamont spent £18 billion trying to shore up sterling. The effort was unsuccessful, so the United Kingdom was forced to allow the pound to float on the open market, a move that led in turn to rises in interest rates. Lamont’s friendship with Major was soured by the ERM experience, partly so because he felt that the prime minister had left him to carry the can. He was dropped from the government in 1993; then in 1997, his Kingston seat lost its identity in a redrawing of constituency boundaries, and, forced to seek election elsewhere, he was adopted by Conservatives in Harrogate. However, voters there rejected


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him, electing his Liberal Democrat opponent by a margin of nearly 9,000 votes, so he returned to his business interests, serving as director of several financial institutions. He was raised to the peerage as Baron Lamont of Lerwick in 1998. LAND REFORM (SCOTLAND) ACT (2003). See RIGHT TO ROAM. LANGUAGE. English is the most commonly used language in the United Kingdom, spoken by the vast majority of the population. However, according to the 2001 census, approximately 20 percent of residents in Wales also claim to speak Welsh; some 10 percent of residents in Northern Ireland also speak Irish Gaelic; and about 1 percent of Scots also speak Scots Gaelic. In addition, many immigrant groups converse in their native tongues (surveys conducted by the InnerLondon Education Authority during the 1980s showed that more than 100 languages were spoken in the homes of immigrant schoolchildren), and there are many dialects, some of which, such as Scots, are claimed by certain scholars to be languages in their own right. English has no legal status as an official language in Britain, but some minority tongues have received official recognition. In an effort to keep the Welsh language alive, the Welsh Language Act (1993) and the Government of Wales Act (1998) require that Welsh and English should receive equal treatment in all aspects of government in the principality. Thus, for example, road signs have place names in both languages. Measures such as these may be having some success because recent surveys suggest that use of the Welsh language may be growing, helped partly by television programming and compulsory classes in schools. The Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act passed by the Scottish Parliament in 2005 gave Scots Gaelic official status in Scotland and charged Bòrd na Gàidhlig (the Gaelic Development Agency) with preparing a national plan for the language. In Northern Ireland, unionists have long been unwilling to promote the use of Irish Gaelic, perceiving links between the language and the republican movement, but the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 created a board (Foras na Gaeilge) with responsibility for promoting the language throughout the entire island.


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Other languages have uncertain futures. Cornish was spoken in southwest England until the late 19th century and has experienced a revival of interest in recent years, with some radio news broadcast in the language and several publications devoted to its promotion. Similarly, Manx (the language of the Isle of Man) had virtually died out by the mid-20th century but is now being taught again in schools. On Jersey, one of the Channel Islands, about 3 percent of the population speak Jèrriais, a form of Norman French that is promoted in schools, but Dgèrnésiais, the native language of neighboring Guernsey, gets little official support. See also ESTUARY ENGLISH; LEGAL SYSTEM,WALES. LAW LORD. See LORD OF APPEAL IN ORDINARY. LAWRENCE, STEPHEN. See STEPHEN LAWRENCE AFFAIR. LAWSON, NIGEL (1932– ). Lawson, chancellor of the exchequer from 1983–89, was born on 11 March 1932, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Lawson. He was educated at Westminster School in London and at Oxford University, where he graduated with a first-class honors degree in philosophy, politics, and economics in 1954. After serving as a sublieutenant in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve for two years, he embarked on a career in journalism before winning election to the House of Commons in 1974 as the member of Parliament for Blaby representing the Conservative Party. When Margaret Thatcher became prime minister in 1979, Lawson was made financial secretary to the Treasury and in 1981 he was promoted to secretary of state for energy (in the latter role, he prepared the ground for the privatization of the state-controlled gas and electricity supply industries). In 1983, he returned to the Treasury as chancellor, holding the post for longer than anyone since David Lloyd George in 1908–15, initiating a move from direct to indirect taxation, and presiding over a period of economic boom. However, he found himself increasingly at odds with Mrs. Thatcher, opposing her poll tax policies and bickering about exchange rate strategies with her personal financial advisor, Sir Alan Walters. Matters came to a head on 26 October 1989, when Lawson told the prime minister that either Walters had to go or he would. That afternoon,


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Mrs. Thatcher fielded several questions about Walters in the Commons but refused to reject his criticisms of Lawson, whom she had previously described as “brilliant” and “unassailable.” Later that day, Lawson resigned. He was raised to the peerage as Baron Lawson of Blaby in 1992. After leaving politics, Lawson used his economics skills in the business world, serving as a director of Barclays Bank and other financial institutions. He also made a determined effort to reduce his weight, shedding 70 pounds and writing a dieting book that became a best seller. His weight loss was particularly creditable because his daughter, Nigella, is a food writer renowned for her culinary skills. See also EUROPEAN UNION (EU). LEADER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. The leader of the House of Commons arranges the conduct of government business in Parliament’s lower chamber, ensuring that representatives of all political parties are kept informed of debate agendas, important bills are presented for discussion, and individual statements are made by ministers when appropriate. The holder of the post may have a seat in the cabinet and normally combines the leadership tasks with other responsibilities, such as those of the lord president of the council. Recent incumbents have included Margaret Beckett (1998–2001), who received much praise from all parties for introducing measures that modernized procedures in the House—for example, by using Westminster Hall for more informal debates than normally took place in the main chamber and that directly addressed the concerns of backbenchers. Her successor, Robin Cook (2001–3), was responsible for the formulation of plans for the reform of the House of Lords but resigned in protest against the invasion of Iraq, saying that he could not support intervention that did not have international or domestic support, and received a standing ovation from the entire House that, according to The Economist, was the first accorded in the Commons’ history. LEADER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS. The leader of the House of Lords heads the government in the upper chamber of Parliament and may also advise members on points of procedure. The holder of the title usually also holds an additional post, such as that of Lord Privy Seal, and has a seat in the cabinet.


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Most recent incumbents have held senior political office outside the Lords prior to their appointment. For example, Lord Wakeham, who occupied the position from 1992–94 during part of John Major’s period as prime minister, was (as John Wakeham) previously leader of the House of Commons (1987–89) and secretary of state for energy (1989–92), and Lord Williams of Mostyn, who held the post from 2001 until his sudden death in 2003, had (as Gareth Williams) been attorney general from 1999–2001 in Prime Minister Tony Blair’s government. LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION. The government of the United Kingdom is formed from members of the largest political party in the House of Commons. The leader of the second-largest party, known as Her (or His) Majesty’s loyal opposition, appoints a shadow cabinet (which presents alternatives to the government’s policies and proposals) and would normally become prime minister following a general election victory. Since 1937, leaders of the opposition have received a salary from the state in addition to the salary paid to all members of Parliament. While Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and John Major led the Conservative Party governments from 1979–90 and 1990–97, respectively, the Labour Party opposition was led by James Callaghan (1979–80), Michael Foot (1980–83), Neil Kinnock (1983–92), John Smith (1992–94), Margaret Beckett (May–July 1994), and Tony Blair (1994–97). After the Labour Party took control of government in 1997, the opposition was led successively by John Major (May–June 1997), William Hague (1992–2001), Iain Duncan Smith (2001–3), Michael Howard (2003–5), and David Cameron (2005– ). LEGAL SYSTEM. Unlike most countries, the United Kingdom has a multiplicity of legal systems, one applicable to England and the principality of Wales, one to Northern Ireland, and one to Scotland. In spite of the variations, some principles are common throughout the UK. The ultimate sources of law are acts of Parliament. (Since 1999, a Scottish Parliament has had authority to pass legislation affecting Scotland’s economy and society, but that authority is devolved from the Westminster Parliament, which may—at least in


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theory—decide to withdraw it.) Common law and precedent (previous decisions of judges) also have an important role in the administration of justice, and in addition, British courts are required to comply with European Union (EU) laws and with decisions of the European Court of Justice. When EU rulings conflict with British law, the European edicts take precedence. Criminal cases are conducted on an adversarial basis, with prosecutors presenting evidence of the defendant’s guilt and the defense attempting to question the credibility of that evidence. The most serious offenses are considered by a judge (who is the sole determinant of law) and a jury (which determines facts). In order to achieve a conviction, prosecutors must convince jury members that an individual accused of breaking the law is guilty beyond all reasonable doubt. Appeals from courts other than those in Scotland could be made in certain circumstances to the House of Lords, but the Constitutional Reform Act of 2005 made provision for these to be considered by a new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, which will meet for the first time in 2009. Because of their complexity, civil cases, which are largely concerned with disputes between corporate bodies or individuals, are often decided by a judge sitting alone. Verdicts are delivered on the balance of probabilities, so requirements for proof are less exacting than in the criminal courts. Appeals from Scottish courts as well as those in the rest of the country have also traditionally gone to the House of Lords, but under the terms of the Constitutional Reform Act, they, too, will be considered by the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. See also LEGAL SYSTEM, ENGLAND; LEGAL SYSTEM, NORTHERN IRELAND; LEGAL SYSTEM, SCOTLAND; LEGAL SYSTEM, WALES; PRISONS. LEGAL SYSTEM, ENGLAND. The English legal system is based partly on common law (a corpus of rules based on custom, practice, and tradition), partly on international law (including European Union regulations), partly on precedent (previous decisions of courts of a similar standing or of higher courts), and partly on statute (the laws passed by Parliament). Minor criminal cases are heard in the Magistrates’ Courts, which are presided over by at least three lay magistrates, who are sometimes


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known as justices of the peace, or by a single judge with legal training. These courts may also decide whether defendants accused of more serious offenses should be given bail or kept in custody until they face trial at a Crown Court, where juries decide contested cases and a judge determines the sentence. The Crown Courts also hear appeals on matters of fact and law from the Magistrates’ Courts, though appeals on matters of law alone go to the High Court of Justice. Appeals from the Crown Courts go to the High Court or the Court of Appeal. In the past, a further appeal could be made to the House of Lords if the court from which the appeal was being made agreed that a question of significant public importance was involved, but under the terms of the Constitutional Reform Act of 2005, that body’s judicial responsibilities will be transferred to a new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, which will begin meeting in 2009. Civil cases involving claims of up to £50,000 are heard in County Courts and are usually decided by a judge sitting without a jury, with appeals heard either in the Court of Appeal or in the High Court. More serious civil cases are considered first by the High Court, with appeals going to the Court of Appeal. The Constitutional Reform Act’s provisions mean that further appeals, formerly made to the House of Lords, go to the Supreme Court. In practice, as the “public importance” caveat does not apply to civil cases, the law lords’ (see LORD OF APPEAL IN ORDINARY) time is spent primarily on noncriminal matters. The Court of Appeal, the Crown Court, and the High Court of Justiciary comprised the Supreme Court of Judicature but were renamed the Senior Courts of England and Wales by the 2005 legislation. There are, in addition, several specialist courts, such as the coroners’ courts (which determine the cause of death when that death occurs abroad, in suspicious circumstances, or while the individual was in care of a government or other authority), courts martial (which hear cases involving infringement of military regulations), ecclesiastical courts (which consider cases related to Church of England buildings and clergymen who have stepped from the straight and narrow), and employment tribunals (which deal with such job-related matters as unfair dismissal). All judicial appointments are made by the sovereign, who acts on the advice of the prime minister and other advisors. See also ATTORNEY GENERAL; BIRMINGHAM SIX;


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BRIDGEWATER FOUR; CIVIL LIBERTIES; GUILDFORD FOUR; LORD CHANCELLOR; MACKAY, JAMES PETER HYMERS (1927– ); MAGUIRE SEVEN; PRISONS; TOTTENHAM THREE. LEGAL SYSTEM, NORTHERN IRELAND. When Northern Ireland was created in 1921, its legal system was organized on lines very similar to those in England and Wales. Criminal proceedings start in Magistrates’ Courts, but all serious cases are immediately forwarded to the Crown Courts. Magistrates, sitting without a jury, hear evidence relating to minor infringements of the law and decide both guilt and sentence, whereas in the Crown Courts, a 12-person jury determines whether a defendant who pleads “not guilty” should be convicted and a judge passes sentence. However, if the charges relate to terrorist activities, the judge sits alone and must prepare a written statement summarizing the reasons for a conviction. The defendant has a right of appeal to the Court of Appeal on grounds both of fact and of law. Civil actions follow a different route. Differences over financial matters can be taken to a Small Claims Court if the amount involved is less than £2,500. There, the disputing parties can present their arguments to a judge without the involvement of attorneys. The Magistrates’ Courts may also consider some civil matters, such as those relating to the welfare of children. More serious cases go to County Courts, which sit in towns throughout the province, and the most complex to the High Court of Justice, which has three units—a Chancery Division (which deals with financial issues relating to bankruptcy, contested wills, trusts, and similar matters), a Family Division (which considers applications for adoption, divorce, and other domestic concerns), and a Queen’s Bench Division (known as the King’s Bench Division when the monarch is male and concentrating on all civil matters that are not heard by the other divisions, including complicated compensation claims and allegations of libel or slander). Appeals from criminal hearings in the Magistrates’ Courts may go to the Crown Courts and from the Crown Courts to the Court of Appeal, which sits in Belfast and is presided over by the lord chief justice of Northern Ireland. Some criminal appeals and all civil appeals pass from the Magistrates’ Courts to the County Courts and from the


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County Courts to the Court of Appeal. In the past, further appeals could be made in certain circumstances to the House of Lords, but under the terms of the Constitutional Reform Act of 2005, the judicial responsibilities of that body will be transferred to a new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, which will begin meeting in 2009. The 1998 Good Friday Agreement included an understanding that the administration of justice in Ulster would be reviewed. A committee consisting of four civil servants and five other people with legal interests was appointed shortly afterward and reported in 2000. It made 294 recommendations, including suggestions that a new public prosecution service should be created, the composition of the judiciary should be more reflective of the whole community, and certain procedures should be changed in order to accord greater protection of human rights and civil liberties. Most of those recommendations were accepted by the government and given legal effect through the Justice (Northern Ireland) Acts of 2002 and 2004. See also ATTORNEY GENERAL; DIPLOCK COURTS; JUSTICE OF THE PEACE (JP); PATTEN COMMISSION (1998–99); POLICE SERVICE OF NORTHERN IRELAND; PRISONS; ROYAL ULSTER CONSTABULARY (RUC). LEGAL SYSTEM, SCOTLAND. Following the signing of the Treaty of Union, which united Scotland and England in 1707, the Scots retained their distinctive legal system, which had a considerably greater infusion of Roman law, or uncodified civil law, than was the case south of the border and therefore put more store by principle than by precedent. The two nations have undoubtedly grown more alike over the past 300 years, largely because most of the legislation passed at Westminster applied to the United Kingdom as a whole, but the administration of justice is still carried out on fundamentally different lines. When power was devolved from the national government to the Scottish Parliament in 1999, the Scottish Executive’s Justice Department was made responsible for all matters relating to the law in Scotland. The police have no power to initiate criminal proceedings. That responsibility rests with the lord advocate when the offense is serious and with the procurators fiscal (public prosecutors who are


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qualified lawyers and based in major towns) when the charges are more minor. The supreme criminal court is the High Court of Justiciary, which sits in Edinburgh and in the larger towns. It tries defendants charged with the most heinous crimes and exercises exclusive jurisdiction in cases of murder, rape, and treason. Trials, always held before a judge and a jury of 15 members of the public, may end with a verdict of guilty, not guilty, or not proven, the last of these implying that the prosecution has failed to prove its case and resulting in an acquittal but leaving some doubt about the defendant’s innocence. At a lower level, there are 49 sheriff courts, which deal with the less serious offenses that account for nearly two thirds of all criminal cases. A legally qualified sheriff acts as judge and may try defendants either with a jury or alone. District courts, which are administered by local authorities and are presided over either by lay justices of the peace or legally qualified magistrates, consider sanctions for the most minor transgressions. Since 1926, the High Court has acted as the ultimate court of appeal in criminal cases. The supreme civil court is the Court of Session, which was founded by King James V in 1532. It sits only in Edinburgh, is presided over by the lord president, and is divided into an Inner and an Outer House. The Outer House judges may hear cases on their own or, when cases involve defamation or personal injury, may be accompanied by a 12-person jury. Appeals go to the Inner House, which has two divisions, each of equal status, and further appeals could be made in certain circumstances to the House of Lords. In 2005, the Constitutional Reform Act transferred the Lords’ judicial responsibilities to a new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, which begins meeting in 2009. The Sheriff Court also has wide powers in civil actions, with the exception of divorce proceedings, and there are other courts that deal with specific disputes, notably the Sheriff Court of Chancery (which hears cases concerning title to heritable property) and the Scottish Land Court (which adjudicates on disputes relating to crofting and other agricultural land). There is, however, no equivalent of the English coroner’s court. In cases of sudden death, investigations are carried out in private by the appropriate procurator fiscal and may result in a Fatal Accident Inquiry held before a sheriff. See also LOCKERBIE DISASTER; PRISONS.


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LEGAL SYSTEM, WALES. The administration of justice in Wales has evolved as an integral part of the system operating in England, with its roots in the medieval courts established by the monarch and the aristocracy. Devolution legislation did not affect that situation because the National Assembly for Wales, formed in 1999, was originally not granted lawmaking powers and had no authority to vary existing arrangements. The most important cases are heard by the Crown Court, the Court of Appeal, and the High Court of Justice, which operate as in England (see LEGAL SYSTEM, ENGLAND), though parties to the proceedings may use the Welsh language, with interpreters provided as necessary. High court judges hear Welsh cases at Cardiff and Swansea. The less important civil cases are listed at County Courts based in 19 major Welsh towns. In both England and Wales, Crown Courts deal with serious criminal charges and are organized on the basis of “circuits,” with judges moving from town to town to try cases. Until 2006, one of those circuits covered Wales and the area of England around Chester, but in that year, the government approved legislation that gave the National Assembly for Wales power to pass its own laws, so the circuit’s boundaries were revised to ensure that judges sat only in Welsh or English courts. Minor criminal cases are usually heard locally at Magistrates’ Courts, where unpaid lay judges sit without a jury and are advised by legally qualified officials. See also ATTORNEY GENERAL; CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM ACT (2005); HOUSE OF LORDS; JUSTICE OF THE PEACE (JP); LORD CHANCELLOR; LORD CHIEF JUSTICE; MACKAY, JAMES PETER HYMERS (1927– ); PRISONS. LESBIANISM. See CIVIL PARTNERSHIPS; GAY RIGHTS; SECURITY BREACHES, PARLIAMENT. LETTERS PATENT. Letters patent are open letters issued by the government, the monarch, or other official sources to give royal assent to bills that have passed through Parliament and to confer titles, grant coats of arms, or award other forms of status to corporate bodies, groups, or individuals. They begin with phrases such as “To all and singular to whom these presents shall come” and, because they are legal documents, normally have neither paragraphs nor punctuation.


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The phrase is derived from the Latin litterae patentes, which means “letters lying open.” LIBERAL DEMOCRATS (LIBDEMS). The LibDems—the thirdlargest party in British politics—was formed through the merger of the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party in 1988. The new group was known as the Social and Liberal Democrats in the months immediately following the union but adopted the present, shorter name in October 1989. Led by Paddy Ashdown, the members attempted to position themselves as a center party providing an alternative to the Labour Party’s traditional support for state intervention in the economy and the Conservative Party’s support for business interests, but as Labour increasingly abandoned its workingclass roots during the late 1980s and early 1990s, they found that stance more and more difficult to maintain. In 1992, they changed tack, marketing their policies as nonsocialist alternatives to those of the Conservatives, though that approach, too, had its flaws because as Labour moved to the right under Tony Blair, the LibDems were sometimes considered the most left-wing of the major political parties, espousing the old Liberal values of support for public services (such as education and health care) and opposition to war (they condemned the American-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, for example). When the first elections for the Scottish Parliament were held in 1999, the LibDems formed a government in alliance with Labour, and at the 2005 general election, they built on that success, winning 62 House of Commons seats (their highest since the old Liberal Party won 158 in 1923). Commentators suggested that the performance was due more to the combination of an unpopular government and a weak opposition than to growing support for LibDem policies, but there is little doubt that the threat of further advance was sufficient later in the year to encourage the Conservative Party to elect a youthful leader considered more likely to prove attractive to the electorate than an elder statesman (see CAMERON, DAVID WILLIAM DONALD [1966– ]). However, the LibDems themselves ran into troubles, their image as the “nice party” dented by revelations that their leader, Charles Kennedy, was a heavy drinker and that their home affairs spokesman, Mark Oaten, had been involved with male prostitutes. Early in 2006, Menzies Campbell, a former Olympic


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sprinter, replaced Kennedy at the head of the organization and promised a crusade against poverty, campaigns promoting greater protection for the natural environment, and efforts to reduce the power of central government. However, he failed to make a significant impact on voters and in October 2007 he was forced into resignation, to be replaced by the younger Nick Clegg. For details of representation in the House of Commons, see the entries on general elections held in 1992, 1997, 2001, and 2005. LIBERAL PARTY. The term Liberal Party gained currency in the early 19th century as those members of the Whig Party who were committed to the expansion of democracy and free trade became increasingly identifiable as a parliamentary grouping. In 1868, its aristocratic Whig associations sloughed off, that group formed the first modern Liberal government under William Ewart Gladstone, and from 1877, it restructured itself as a formal association with a countrywide membership. However, in the years immediately after World War I, it lost stature, partly because so many of its leaders were pacifists, and from the 1920s, it was eclipsed by the Labour Party. Signs of a recovery among the university-educated middle classes became evident from the late 1950s, but support was geographically widely spread, so seats in the House of Commons were difficult to win under Britain’s “first past the post” electoral system. In 1979, only 11 of the 635 members of Parliament were Liberal supporters. In 1981, the Liberals formed an alliance with the Social Democratic Party, and seven years later, the two united as the Social and Liberal Democratic Party, which later renamed itself the Liberal Democrats. Opponents of that merger continued to campaign under the Liberal Party banner, claiming that they were the heirs of the old tradition, and have had some success at elections in southern and northwestern England. See also PARLIAMENT ACTS (1911 and 1949); STEEL, DAVID MARTIN SCOTT (1938– ). For details of representation in the House of Commons, see the entries on general elections held in 1979, 1983, and 1987. LIBYAN EMBASSY SIEGE. On 17 April 1984, a group of protestors opposed to the regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, Libya’s leader, mounted a demonstration outside the country’s embassy in St. James’s Square, London. Thirty police officers were detailed to keep


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the demonstrators and Gaddafi loyalists apart and to prevent violence, but at 10:18 a.m., shots rang out, and Woman Police Constable (WPC) Yvonne Fletcher was hit in the back. She died in the hospital later in the day. The British public was stunned. Ms. Fletcher was the first WPC in the United Kingdom to be murdered while on duty, and media pictures of her helmet lying on the ground where she was shot were circulated around the world. The government broke its links with Libya, and police surrounded the embassy, but on 27 April, the 30 officials working inside, all granted diplomatic immunity, were allowed to leave for home. Nobody was charged with the killing, and the incident has affected relationships between the two countries ever since, with the situation complicated by theories that the shots came from a location other than the embassy and that the culprits were the American, British, and Israeli secret services. On 7 July 1999, the Libyan government accepted “general responsibility” for the shooting and offered to pay compensation to WPC Fletcher’s family, but in February 2004, the Associated Press reported a claim by Shokri Ghanem, the prime minister, that the admission was made solely to facilitate a return to normal relations with Western countries and that, in fact, Libya was not responsible for the officer’s death. Relations with Libya remained strained because of this incident and the Lockerbie Disaster until March 2004, when Prime Minister Tony Blair met with Colonel Gaddafi in Tripoli to normalize diplomatic contacts. LIFE PEER. The 1958 Life Peerages Act allowed the monarch to award peerages that could not be inherited when the holder died. The awards are made on the advice of the prime minister, are of baronial rank, and—provided the recipient is not guilty of treason, is at least 21 years of age, and is a citizen of the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, or the Commonwealth of Nations—convey the right to sit and vote in the House of Lords. More than 1,000 peers, male and female, have been created under the legislation. Many are politicians who have held high rank (former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was created Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven in 1994, for example) or people who have given distinguished public service (all archbishops of Canterbury who retire are elevated to the peerage). Businessmen also feature strongly in lists of new creations, though


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frequently their honor is a reward for donations to a political party. Prime ministers have varied considerably in their propensity to recommend peerages. Margaret Thatcher, who was in office from 1979 until 1990, averaged about 18 annually and John Major (1990–97) just over 20. Tony Blair, on the other hand, requested 350 appointments during his first 9 years in the post. In addition to the 1958 act, the Appellate Jurisdiction Act of 1876 provided for the creation of life peerages for lords of appeal in ordinary, who carry out judicial functions. See also HEREDITARY PEER; LORD. LIMEHOUSE DECLARATION. Early in 1981, left-wing groups at the Labour Party’s annual conference won a vote that gave trade unions increased power in elections for the organization’s leader. On 25 January, Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Bill Rodgers, and Shirley Williams (speedily dubbed “the Gang of Four” by the tabloid press) voiced their concern about the drift toward extremism in British politics and announced their intention to break away from the party so that they could form a more centrist council for social democracy, which later became known as the Social Democratic Party. Their statement got its name because it was made at Owen’s home in the Limehouse area of London. LIVE AID. On 13 July 1985, musicians Bob Geldof and Midge Ure held a massive rock concert in order to raise funds for people suffering from the effects of famine in Ethiopia. Seventy-two thousand people packed Wembley Stadium, London, to hear David Bowie, Paul McCartney, Freddie Mercury, U2, and other world-class entertainers. Another 90,000 listened to Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, and Madonna at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia. Phil Collins played at both events, traveling between the two continents by Concorde, and several singers were hooked up from other sites (B. B. King from the Netherlands, for example). An estimated 1.5 billion television viewers watched the proceedings, which raised £150 million. Some critics suggested that the performers were playing as much for themselves as for starving Africans, and others pointed out that a large proportion of the contributions was stolen by a corrupt


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Ethiopian government, but even so, the event spawned several similar efforts to raise funds for disadvantaged groups. In the United States, for instance, Farm Aid was formed to raise funds for America’s farmers, and in 2005, Live 8 presented a series of concerts to draw attention to world poverty while the heads of government of the world’s richest nations met at a G8 summit in Scotland. Also, after the 1985 event, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s government restructured its famine relief policy. Geldof himself continued to work for charitable causes and, in 1986, received knighthood in recognition of his efforts. The knighthood is honorary because Geldof is a citizen of the Republic of Ireland rather than the United Kingdom, but even so, he is widely known as “Sir Bob.” LIVERPOOL. Home of The Beatles and one of Britain’s major seaports, Liverpool is situated on the north bank of the River Mersey some 200 miles northwest of London. Initially, the settlement served as a harbor for ships crossing the Irish Sea, but during the 17th and 18th centuries, it expanded rapidly as a result of participation in the lucrative slave trade and by the 19th century was importing grain, timber, tobacco, and other raw materials while exporting manufactured goods to all corners of the British Empire. Port industries (such as ship repairing) thrived, and a series of towns developed alongside the river, many of them providing services (such as carpentry and catering) for firms involved in the international commerce. Shipbuilding itself became a major employer, but the yards were severely damaged by German bombs during World War II, and many closed in the 1960s and 1970s, unable to compete with more modern facilities in Japan and the United States. Poorly equipped, the docks, too, suffered as they lost custom to containerized ports in other parts of the United Kingdom, and inevitably, unemployment mounted as the city’s traditional industries declined. The seeds of new growth were sown in reactions to urban riots in Toxteth, an inner-city area, during 1981. Convinced that the cause of the troubles was a combination of high crime rates, low living standards, poverty, and racial tensions, the government created a Merseyside Development Corporation that did much to spearhead urban refurbishment and job creation despite receiving considerable criticism in its early days (for instance, the garden festival that it


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promoted in 1984 was condemned by some commentators as a cosmetic project that failed to address underlying social and economic problems). In particular, the Albert Dock was converted into a major business and visitor focus that includes the headquarters of Granada Television, the Tate Modern (a gallery that opened in 1988 and concentrates on modern art), and a complex of bars, coffee shops, and museums. Manufacturing is still an important part of Liverpool’s economy (with chemical production, food processing, and the production of electrical equipment and rubber particularly significant), but jobs are increasingly based in the service industries, notably call centers, local government, the media, retail, and tourism. The city was designated a World Heritage Site in 2004 because of its importance to the development of intercontinental trade. It had 439,000 residents at the time of the 2001 census, and its metropolitan area, known as Merseyside, had 1.36 million. See also MILITANT TENDENCY. LIVINGSTONE, KENNETH ROBERT “KEN” (1945– ). In May 2000, Ken Livingstone—a politician with views significantly to the left of Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Labour Party—won London’s first mayoral election contest despite the best efforts of the British government to engineer his defeat. The son of Robert and Ethel Livingstone, he was born on 17 June 1945 and educated at Tulse Hill Comprehensive School in south London before working as a technician at the Chester Beatty Cancer Research Institute, then earning a teacher’s certificate at the Philippa Fawcett College of Education. He joined the Labour Party in 1969 and made his name as a firebrand leader of the Greater London Council during the 1980s, implacably opposed to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s policies, which he claimed were raising unemployment levels in the capital. In 1987, he was elected to the House of Commons, representing the London constituency of Brent South, and in 1997, he sought selection as Labour’s candidate for city mayor but was rejected because his views were considered incompatible with the centrist position adopted by Blair. Undeterred, he entered the contest as an independent and won comfortably, taking over 38 percent of the vote, some 12 percent more than his closest challenger, even though Labour had expelled him from the party and issued claims that it would be a disaster for London if he topped the poll.


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A good media performer, Livingstone presented the new prime minister with an opponent who had real clout. After the election, he continued to speak his mind, telling an audience of schoolchildren in 2003 that American president George W. Bush was the “greatest threat to life on this planet” and the following year claiming that he longed for the day when the Saudi royal family would be swinging from lamp posts, replaced by a government more representative of the people of Saudi Arabia. However, his outbursts did nothing to alienate him from his electorate, who saw him attract private finance for much-needed improvements to the underground rail system and introduce a “congestion charge” designed to limit traffic in the city center. In 2004, he was readmitted to the Labour Party and later in the year won reelection to the mayoral post. See also LOONY LEFT. LLOYD’S OF LONDON. Lloyd’s is the world’s leading insurance exchange, writing about one quarter of all airline insurance and the same proportion for ships. It is not itself an insurance company; members have traditionally consisted of individuals and syndicates who accept liability for the losses incurred through claims. Those members are known as “names” because all parties to a contract sign their names to it. During the 1680s, Edward Lloyd’s coffee house in Tower Street, London, became a favored haunt of shipmasters and merchants and, therefore, a source of reliable, up-to-date information about vessel movements. As a result, it was also the best place to arrange insurance deals. Now housed in a controversial 1980s metal and glass building designed by Richard Rogers, it suffered cumulative losses from 1987–92 that amounted to more than £8 billion and resulted in allegations of poor management, court cases, a restructuring of practices, and considerable loss of reputation. Lloyd’s regained some of its former importance in the months after the attacks on New York’s World Trade Center and other sites in the United States in September 2001 but faces strong competition from expanding reinsurance markets in other parts of the world, such as Bermuda. See also LONDON BOMBING. LOCAL GOVERNMENT, ENGLAND. The powers exercised by local government bodies in England are granted to them by the national


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Parliament in London. During the 19th and 20th centuries, the system evolved on an ad hoc basis, with a structure based on counties (which were divided into urban and rural districts) but with new authorities (such as health and school boards) created as the need arose. The result by the mid-20th century was a complex arrangement of overlapping bodies that critics claimed was confusing and inefficient. The first steps toward change occurred in 1965, when the Greater London Council (GLC) replaced the London County Council. Covering an area five times greater than its predecessor, the GLC was given responsibility for strategic planning in the capital, with authority over more local issues devolved to its 32 constituent boroughs. Then in 1974–75, local government in the rest of England was restructured into a pattern of 30 administrative counties (controlling major services such as police, roads, and schools) and 296 district councils (a tier below the administrative county and responsible for the provision of such local services as waste disposal). In addition, 6 metropolitan counties were created for the major urban areas outside London, with a lower tier of 36 metropolitan districts. During the 1980s, many local councils—particularly those controlled by the Labour Party—opposed the policies advocated by the Conservative Party government, which responded by abolishing the GLC and the metropolitan counties in 1986 and converting the London boroughs and the metropolitan districts into unitary bodies charged with providing all public services within their area. In the 1990s, there was further change when Prime Minister John Major’s administration took the view that the two-tier system of local government that prevailed over much of England was inefficient and proposed both that county councils should be abolished (with their duties transferred to the district councils) and that some of the smaller district councils should be merged in order to improve efficiency. However, the changes were subject to a process of local consultation that led to the rejection of single-tier authorities in some areas and acceptance in others. As a result, by the end of the century, parts of England were being governed by a two-tier system at the local level (there are 34 county councils and 238 district councils) and the remainder by a one-tier system (which includes 46 unitary authorities, 32 London boroughs, the Corporation of London, and a council for


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the Isles of Scilly). Since then, in 2000, the Greater London Authority has been added as the strategic planning body for the nation’s capital. The changes in structure were accompanied by legislation limiting the power of local authorities (for example, the 1988 Education Reform Act allowed schools to opt out of local control and receive funding directly from central government) and by changing the way they operated (the Local Government Act of 2000 required the creation of a decision-making executive in each authority, with committees reduced to an advisory role). Councilors, who represent voters resident in geographically defined areas known as wards, are elected on a “first past the post” system, with most successful candidates standing as representatives of national political parties rather than as independents. See also BOUNDARY COMMISSION; COUNCIL TAX; ELECTORAL SYSTEM; MAYOR; MILITANT TENDENCY; POLL TAX; SHIRE COUNTY. LOCAL GOVERNMENT, NORTHERN IRELAND. In 1973, the 6 counties, 2 county boroughs, 24 urban district councils, and 26 rural district councils that had been the basis of local government in Northern Ireland for more than 50 years were replaced by 26 district councils, each responsible for the provision of entertainment and cultural facilities, including sports grounds, and for the implementation of measures relating to cleansing and sanitation, environmental health, protective services (such as safety in the home), and regulatory services (such as consumer protection and licensing of cinemas). In addition, they were allocated duties relating to the administration of cemeteries, crematoria, gas undertakings, markets, and slaughterhouses. Council members are elected by the single transferable vote system and serve for four years. At the time of the 2001 census, the most populous district was Belfast (with 277,400 residents), and the least populous was Moyle (with 15,900). Territorially, the largest was Fermanagh (which covered about 720 square miles), and the smallest was North Down (with only 31 square miles). Politically sensitive public services, such as educational provision, are controlled by area boards, which are composed of groupings of districts. See also BOUNDARY COMMISSION; MAYOR.


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LOCAL GOVERNMENT, SCOTLAND. Although the roots of Scotland’s system of local government stretch to medieval times, the modern structure reflects changes introduced in 1975 and 1996. In the first of these, the 33 counties, 20 large burghs, and 176 small burghs that had existed since 1929 were replaced by 9 regional councils (each of which had authority over strategic planning, education, fire services, policing, roads, and social work) and 53 lower-tier district councils (which focused on building controls, housing, local health care services, local planning, and provision of amenities). In addition, three island areas—the Orkney Islands, the Shetland Islands, and the Western Isles—were given all-purpose unitary authorities because of their isolation and their distinctive cultural identities. For the next 21 years, those authorities shaped the detail of life and work in Scotland, but they did not meet with unqualified approval. The major cities, once rulers of their own destinies, were reduced to district council level and resented the loss of status and power (Glasgow, with a population of more than 700,000 residents had no more responsibility than the township of Nairn, which had only 11,000). One region (Strathclyde) housed nearly half of the people who lived in Scotland, and another (Highland) covered one third of its land area. Moreover, like often partnered unlike in the same authority—for example, Central Region included Grangemouth’s oil refinery industry as well as extensive areas devoted to agriculture and forestry—and in those circumstances, elected officials frequently differed over the best use of resources. In an effort to make the councils more representative of local needs, the pattern was changed again in 1996, with the regions and districts replaced by 32 single-tier authorities, each responsible for the provision of all public services within its boundaries. The cities, as well as some of the larger towns, regained authority to control their own affairs, and some predominantly rural areas were separated from urban centers (East Lothian was divorced from Edinburgh, for instance). Councilors hold their seats for four years and are eligible for reelection. See also BOUNDARY COMMISSION; COUNCIL TAX; ELECTORAL SYSTEM; POLL TAX; PROVOST.


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LOCAL GOVERNMENT, WALES. Local government in Wales has evolved on lines similar to those in England, a result of the absence of a distinct legal system in the principality and, until 1999, the lack of any form of regional assembly with decision-making powers. As in England, it was evident by the 1960s that many of the existing local authorities had neither a sufficiently large territorial base nor a big enough population to allow them to carry out their duties effectively. The Local Government Act (1972) attempted to solve the problems by sweeping away the structure of 13 county councils, 4 county boroughs, and 164 district councils, replacing them in 1974 with a two-tier system of larger authorities that had a more balanced population distribution. There were 8 new counties, each responsible for large-scale functions, such as strategic planning, and, within them, 37 districts providing local services. However, multilayered systems of government are more expensive than unitary arrangements, and inevitably, there is friction between the tiers on occasion, so in 1996, the pattern was changed again in an effort to reduce costs and improve efficiency. Eleven county councils and 11 county boroughs were created, with boundary changes kept to a minimum by amalgamating the former districts. Each of the new authorities was given responsibility for the provision of all public services within its area. Representatives are elected by a “first past the post” system and serve for three years. See also BOUNDARY COMMISSION; COUNCIL TAX; ELECTORAL SYSTEM; MAYOR; NATIONAL ASSEMBLY FOR WALES; POLL TAX; SHIRE COUNTY. LOCKERBIE DISASTER. Shortly after 7:00 p.m. on 21 December 1988, a Boeing 747 en route from London to New York was ripped apart by an explosion as it crossed Scotland. All 259 passengers and crew died, along with 11 residents of the small town of Lockerbie who were struck by debris. Investigations by British and American authorities revealed that Pan Am flight 103 was destroyed by plastic explosive concealed in a suitcase that had been stowed in the forward cargo hold and suggested that Lamin Khalifah Fhimah (a station manager with Libyan Airlines) and Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi (a Libyan intelligence officer) were responsible. After lengthy negotiations and the imposition of economic sanctions by the


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United Nations, the Libyan government released the men for trial in the Netherlands according to the practices of the Scottish legal system. Early in 2001, Megrahi was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. Fhimah was acquitted. The incident coupled with the Libyan embassy siege in London in 1984 soured relations between the United Kingdom and Libya for many years, but diplomatic contacts increased from 2003, when Libya accepted responsibility for the bombing and paid $8 million in compensation to each family that had lost a relative. About one third of that payment was eaten up by legal fees, and a further sum of $2 million was withheld because the U.S. government refused to remove Libya from the list of countries that in its view supported international terrorism, but even so, Tony Blair, Britain’s prime minister, visited Libya in 2004 and hailed the country as a partner in the fight against the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization, which had coordinated attacks on the World Trade Center and other American sites on 11 September 2001. Despite the political thaw, the circumstances of the Pan Am bombing and its aftermath remain contentious. In 2004, Shukri Ghanem, prime minister of Libya, told the British Broadcasting Corporation that the compensation was the price for peace, a comment that he later withdrew. In 2002, Megrahi had had an appeal against his conviction turned down, but in 2007, amid claims of a miscarriage of justice, the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission recommended that he should be allowed a second appeal, partly because some important evidence had not been made available to the defense at the time of the trial and partly because new evidence had surfaced in the years since the sentence was passed. No clear reason for the killings was ever published. LONDON. The capital and principal commercial center of the United Kingdom, London is located on the banks of the River Thames in southeastern England. Although archaeological evidence indicates that prehistoric communities occupied part of the site, the city’s recorded history begins with the Romans, who founded a settlement that they named Londinium north of the river in the area now occupied by the finance houses of the City of London. Growth since those days reflects several influences. In 1066, William the Conqueror


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made the town the base from which he governed his new territories after his successful invasion of the British Isles; then as rulers maintained their presence over the years, courtiers and merchants set up homes close to the monarchical sources of patronage. The port flourished, trading with mainland Europe, and immigrants brought new skills and new industries. Despite periodic outbreaks of disease, the population rose steadily, quadrupling from some 500,000 to more than 2 million between the mid-17th and mid-19th centuries. By 1850, London was the financial and trading capital of the world, with its docks importing materials from all over the globe and exporting manufactured products. During the 20th century, however, the city faced a series of problems. At the start of World War II, German bombs wrought havoc, destroying large areas of the harbor, disrupting transport, demolishing houses, and killing thousands of residents. The damage coupled with changing patterns of commerce after the war was over forced the docks into decline, and the rise of financial centers abroad challenged the dominance of London’s trading institutions. Faced with the economic stagnation and with the continuing outward spread of the metropolis, the government restructured the pattern of local authorities in the city, establishing in 1965 a Greater London Council (GLC) that consisted of representatives of 12 new inner-city boroughs and 20 outer boroughs. The largest urban regeneration scheme in Europe was undertaken in the docklands in an effort to breathe new life into derelict land by providing hotels, homes, offices, and other facilities. Also, the world’s biggest education authority was created as administrators sought to offset the disadvantages of life in central city slums by providing generous funding to schools (see INNER-LONDON EDUCATION AUTHORITY [ILEA]). The changes did not meet with unanimous approval. In particular, the left-wing GLC was a permanent thorn in the side of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s governments during the 1980s, accusing her of adopting policies that raised the city’s unemployment rate and adversely affected the poorest citizens. Eventually, the pain was too much, and Mrs. Thatcher won parliamentary support to disband the GLC in 1986. For 13 years, London had no coordinated planning as individual boroughs developed their own policies for social and economic development. As a result, though office building boomed in


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some areas, investment in public service infrastructure, such as roads and the underground railroad system, suffered badly. As part of its general election strategy in 1997, the Labour Party promised to reestablish a local government body for the whole city, and in 1999, it fulfilled its promise, forming a Greater London Authority. That body, led by Mayor Ken Livingstone, has introduced imaginative—though not always universally popular—measures to arrest the infrastructural decline by developing public–private partnerships to fund the underground railroads and a congestion charge to reduce city center traffic. However, continually rising populations (the greater London area had 7.17 million residents at the time of the 2001 census) have forced up the cost of buying a house and priced many people out of the market. As a result, parts of the urban area suffer from a chronic shortage of police officers, teachers, and other workers in lower- and middle-income jobs. See also BUCKINGHAM PALACE; CITY OF LONDON; CORPORATION OF LONDON; DOWNING STREET; KING’S CROSS TUBE STATION FIRE; LLOYD’S OF LONDON; LONDON BOMBING; LONDON DOCKLANDS; LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE (LSE); LORD MAYOR; MILLENNIUM DOME; SCARMAN INQUIRY; SCOTLAND YARD; STEPHEN LAWRENCE AFFAIR; TOTTENHAM THREE; TOURISM; WHITEHALL; WIMBLEDON. LONDON ASSEMBLY. See GREATER LONDON AUTHORITY. LONDON BOMBING. The term London bombing has been applied to several incidents in recent decades. The most serious of those allegedly carried out by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) and its splinter groups include the following: • 10 October 1981: A bomb in Ebury Park Road, close to the British Army’s Chelsea Barracks, killed 2 people and injured 39. • 20 July 1982: A bomb that exploded in Hyde Park killed four soldiers of the Household Cavalry and seven horses. Shortly afterward, seven members of the military band of the Royal Green Jackets died when a second bomb exploded under a Regent’s Park bandstand, where they were holding a lunchtime concert. In


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1987, Gilbert “Danny” McNamee was found guilty of conspiracy to cause the Hyde Park explosion and sentenced to 25 years’ imprisonment. He was released in 1998 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, and later that year, the Court of Appeal ruled that his conviction may have been a miscarriage of justice. 17 December 1983: Three police officers and three members of the public were killed when a bomb exploded outside Harrods department store. Ninety people were injured. 20 July 1990: During a summer of PIRA activity on the British mainland, an explosion caused serious damage to the London Stock Exchange. Nobody was injured because the PIRA had given advance warning of the blast. 7 February 1991: A mortar bomb launched from a van parked in Whitehall landed in the garden of the prime minister’s home at 10 Downing Street while the cabinet was in session, but nobody was injured. 18 February 1991: Early-morning bombs exploded at Paddington and Victoria railroad stations. The Victoria bomb, hidden in a trash can, killed 1 commuter and injured 38 others. 28 February 1992: A bomb exploded in a restroom at London Bridge railroad station, injuring 29 people. 10 April 1992: A 100-lb. bomb exploded in a van parked outside the Baltic Exchange, the world’s largest ship-broking market. Three people died, and the exchange was destroyed. 12 October 1992: A small bomb exploded in a restroom at the Sussex Arms public house in Covent Garden, killing one person and injuring four. 24 April 1993: A bomb similar to that at the Baltic Exchange (see 10 April 1992) was detonated in Bishopsgate, a street at the heart of the financial area of the City of London. One man died, 40 people were injured, the damage cost £350 million to repair, and huge payouts by insurance companies nearly caused Lloyd’s of London to collapse. 9 February 1996: The PIRA marked the end of a 17-month cease-fire by detonating a large bomb in the London docklands. Two men died, 39 people were injured, and the cost of repairing


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damage to property was estimated at £150 million. In June 1998, James McArdle from County Armagh in Northern Ireland was found guilty of conspiracy to cause explosions and jailed for 25 years. He was released in June 2000 under the terms of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. 15 February 1996: A 5-lb. Semtex bomb left in a telephone booth in Charing Cross Road was disarmed. 18 February 1996: Edward O’Brien was blown up by his own bomb when it detonated while he was traveling on a bus near Aldwych. 1 June 2000: A bomb exploded under Hammersmith Bridge at 4:30 a.m. There were no injuries, and the bridge was not badly damaged. The Real Irish Republican Army (Real IRA) was blamed, but nobody was arrested, and nobody claimed responsibility for the incident. 4 March 2001: A bomb exploded outside the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) studios at Shepherd’s Bush. Injuries were limited because the BBC had been warned of the attack in advance and was able to evacuate the building. Police suggested that the Real IRA was responsible (see also OMAGH BOMBING). 6 May 2001: A bomb at Hendon postal sorting office slightly injured one person. Again, the Real IRA was blamed, but no arrests were made. 3 August 2001: The Real IRA was once more accused of bombing London. This time, a car bomb exploded in Ealing Broadway just after midnight as people were leaving clubs and public houses. Seven people were injured. In April 2003, John Hannan, Aiden Hulme, Robert Hulme, Noel Maguire, and James McCormack were jailed for 16–22 years for their part in this bombing and those at the BBC on 4 March 2001 and in Birmingham on 3 November 2001.

In addition, a number of bombings have been attributed to Muslim extremists: • 6–27 July 1994: Just after noon on 26 July, a car bomb exploded outside the Israeli embassy, injuring 14 people. Then, early the following morning, a second bomb was detonated outside the


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offices of a Jewish charity at Balfour House in north London. In 1996, two British-educated Palestinians—Samar Alami and Jawad Botmeh—were convicted of causing the explosions and jailed for 20 years. • 7 July 2005: During the morning rush hour, three bombs exploded on London Underground trains, and a fourth was detonated on a bus. Fifty-six people, including the bombers, died, and some 700 were injured. The fear that suicide bombers were operating in the United Kingdom for the first time led to a considerable increase in security measures. Several groups claimed responsibility, and police suspected links to the Al-Qaeda organization, which in 2001 had carried out the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in the United States. • 21 July 2005: Four young men attempted to replicate the 7 July bombing, but this time, only the detonators on the devices exploded. All of the men initially escaped but were in police custody by 29 July. • 29 June 2005: Two days after Gordon Brown succeeded Tony Blair as prime minister, two car bombs were found in central London and disabled. Several arrests were made, and the incident was linked to a further device detonated by suicide bombers at Glasgow Airport the next day. LONDON DOCKLANDS. The Port of London docks, lying to the east of the City of London, were at the heart of Britain’s worldwide trading empire during the 19th and early 20th centuries but closed from the 1960s as ships became larger and moved to deeper harbors. Redevelopment began slowly during the 1970s; then in 1981, Michael Heseltine (the secretary of state for the environment) created a London Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC) and gave it authority to develop the area. The corporation’s reconstruction efforts and particularly the building of the Canary Wharf business complex became potent symbols of Thatcherism and a revitalized British economy during the 1980s. The LDDC was eventually disbanded in 1998 and its powers transferred to the London boroughs. LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE (LSE). The LSE is one of the world’s largest stock exchanges, with more than 2,700 companies


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listed. It was formed in 1801 but underwent radical change in the later years of the 20th century, beginning in 1973 with the admission of women as members and amalgamation with provincial British exchanges and the Dublin exchange to form the Stock Exchange of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. During the 1980s, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s governments exerted pressure for changes that would increase trade and alter the widely held public view that the exchange was a gentlemen’s club that had adopted a wide range of restrictive practices. In particular, the LSE was converted in 1986 from an association of members into a nonprofit limited company, with individual firms becoming shareholders. The separation between brokers (who bought and sold on behalf of clients) and jobbers (who acted as middlemen between brokers) was ended, and the traditional face-to-face dealing on the trading floor was replaced by a computerized technology that allowed quotes to be displayed on screens and deals to be confirmed by telephone. In 1991, the governing council was replaced by a board of directors; then in 1995, in response to a European Union directive that each member state must have its own arrangements for statutory regulation of commercial dealings, Dublin business was redirected to a new exchange in the Irish Republic. A major shake-up of the board, the appointment of Clara Furse as the first female chief executive, and a decision to list the exchange on its own market followed in 2001. Together, the changes swept away much excitement and tradition, but they also introduced up-to-date business practices that made the LSE attractive to potential buyers. In the early years of the 21st century, it was the target of several acquisition bids, the most serious coming from the U.S.-based National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ). NASDAQ had acquired 30 percent of the shares by early 2007 but failed to complete the purchase, and in June of the same year, the LSE bought the Borsa Italiana, Italy’s main stock exchange, for 1.6 billion euros (about £1.1 billion), making a takeover less likely. See also BIG BANG; FINANCIAL SERVICES AUTHORITY (FSA); LONDON BOMBING. LONDONDERRY. Londonderry, usually called Derry by republicans, is Northern Ireland’s second-largest city, with a population


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of 105,000 at the time of the 2001 census. Lying on the banks of the River Foyle, it gets its name from the Irish Gaelic (see LANGUAGE) doire, which means “oak grove,” and was settled during the sixth century, when St. Columba established a monastery on the site. The town has a turbulent history. Plundered by the Vikings and attacked by the Normans, it was used as an English military base in the 16th century, utilized as a naval port throughout World War II, and riven by violence during the Troubles of the late 20th century. In 1610, merchants from the City of London allocated the town as a focus of colonization and gave it its present name, building defensive walls that still survive. During the 19th century, the textile industry, particularly shirt making, was the major source of employment, but recent attempts to diversify the economic base (through, for example, the construction of industrial parks alongside the Foyle) have led to the introduction of chemical manufacturing and the establishment of a number of businesses that focus on information technology. There is also a large service sector and a growing port specializing in such bulk cargoes as animal feed and timber. Since the early 1990s, substantial investment in conference facilities, hotels, museums, and shopping centers has improved retail provision and attracted growing numbers of business visitors and tourists. From the late 1960s, Derry’s Bogside area became one of the principal foci of support for the Provisional Irish Republican Army during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The suburb lies below the city’s northern walls, built on marshland created as an arm of the River Foyle silted up and dominated by Roman Catholics who were politically disenfranchised from 1936, when local government boundaries were drawn so that Londonderry’s Protestant minority would have permanent control of decision making. As grievances mounted, vocal protest was increasingly accompanied by violence, culminating in “Bloody Sunday” on 30 January 1972, when the army opened fire on civil rights marchers, killing 13 people. Barricades were erected, anti-British murals appeared on walls, and slogans were scrawled on prominent landmarks, one gable end claiming that “You Are Now Entering Free Derry.” In the years that followed, an estimated 15,000 Protestants moved away from Londonderry, and most of those who remain live in the Waterside area on the east bank of the Foyle. Sectarian aggression is


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still common despite efforts by the city authorities and community workers to encourage integration and tolerance. LOONY LEFT. During the 1980s, newspapers—and particularly the tabloid press—used the term “loony left” as a catchphrase for politicians at the far left of the political spectrum. The targets included members of Militant Tendency (which controlled Liverpool City Council and in 1985 threatened to fire its entire workforce, a move that would have caused urban chaos), Michael Foot (leader of the Labour Party from 1980 until 1983 and a passionate supporter of state ownership of industry and unilateral nuclear disarmament), and Ken Livingstone (then head of the socialist-led Greater London Council, which awarded grants to such groups as Babies against the Bomb). In 2004, the phrase was picked up by Republican Party supporters in the United States and used with reference to leftist factions within the Democratic Party during the presidential election campaign. LORD. While the feudal system operated, a lord was a man who owned land and to whom workers on that land owed allegiance. Now, the term is applied to all male members of the peerage except dukes, to lords of appeal in ordinary, to judges of the Court of Appeal in England and Wales, and to judges of the Court of Session (see LEGAL SYSTEM, SCOTLAND; LORD PRESIDENT OF THE COURT OF SESSION) in Scotland. It is also used as a courtesy title by certain sons of peers and, in an honorary sense, by the holders of some political posts (such as the lord president of the council) and by Roman Catholic bishops. Female members of the peerage are known as “lady.” See also HEREDITARY PEER; LIFE PEER. LORD OF APPEAL IN ORDINARY. More commonly known as law lords, the lords of appeal in ordinary, usually 11 in number, carried out the judicial functions of the House of Lords and were appointed to life peerages so that they could perform those duties. Frequently, too, they were asked to head formal government investigations (see,


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for example, SCARMAN INQUIRY; SCOTT REPORT). The Constitutional Reform Act of 2005 transferred their responsibilities to the new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. LORD ADVOCATE. Until the creation of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, the lord advocate was the government’s principal advisor on Scots law. However, under the terms of the Scotland Act (1998), the holder of the post became a member of the Scottish Executive, counseling it on all legal issues relating to the responsibilities devolved to that body from the national Parliament in London and acting as head of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, which prosecutes criminal cases in Scotland. A new position—advocate general for Scotland—was created in 1999 and the occupant given the lord advocate’s previous task of advising the British government on the matters related to the Scottish legal system. LORD CHANCELLOR. A member of the government with a seat in the cabinet, the lord chancellor, who is more correctly known as the lord high chancellor, has until recently served as head of the judiciary in England and Wales and presided over meetings of the House of Lords. The position is an ancient one that some authorities claim dates back to the early seventh century and conferred considerable power, including rights to appoint many of the country’s judges, determine which clergymen would serve in some 400 Church of England parishes, hear cases in the Court of Appeal, and participate in the judicial proceedings in the House of Lords. By the late 20th century, several commentators were suggesting that the lord chancellor had accumulated too much authority. Moreover, they claimed, the combination of judicial and executive functions could contravene European Union rules. Prime Minister Tony Blair’s government appeared to agree because in 2003 it gave the lord chancellor the additional title of secretary of state for constitutional affairs and announced that the ancient office would eventually be abolished. That decision was somewhat precipitate, however, because lawyers pointed out that the abolition could not take place without legislative authority. After some confusion, the necessary bill


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was presented to Parliament (see CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM ACT [2005]), and although the proposals were approved by the House of Commons, they were blocked by the House of Lords, where some members were unhappy about the loss of tradition and others wanted to see judicial interests appropriately represented in the cabinet. Rather than force a controversial measure through the legislative process by invoking the Parliament Acts, the government agreed to a compromise that retained the lord chancellor’s title but removed several of the responsibilities and allocated them to other officials. For example, the task of presiding over Parliament’s upper chamber was transferred to a new lord speaker, who was given duties similar to those of the speaker of the House of Commons. Legal duties were similarly shed (see LORD CHIEF JUSTICE) so that future holders of the post would not be expected to act both as government minister and judge. As a result, in its more modern incarnation, the lord chancellor’s principal responsibility is supervision of constitutional reform. The most recent holders of the post have been Lords Hailsham (1979–87), Havers (June–October 1987), Mackay of Clashfern (1987–97; see MACKAY, JAMES PETER HYMERS [1927– ]), Irvine of Lairg (1997–2003; see IRVINE, ALEXANDER ANDREW MACKAY “DERRY” [1940– ]), Falconer of Thoroton (2003–7), and Jack Straw (2007– ). Straw, who was appointed to the office by Gordon Brown when he succeeded Tony Blair as prime minister, is the first nonmember of the House of Lords to occupy the position. See also CROWN DEPENDENCY; GREAT SEAL OF THE REALM; GREAT OFFICES OF STATE. LORD CHIEF JUSTICE. Since the passing of the Constitutional Reform Act in 2005, the lord chief justice of England and Wales has been head of the English and Welsh judiciary as well as the senior judge in the Court of Appeal’s criminal division. Prior to 2005, the lord chancellor served as the head of the judiciary, but that official was traditionally also a senior member of the prime minister’s cabinet, so the role was changed in order to avoid potential conflict between legal and political responsibilities. Also until 2005, the lord


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chief justice was head of the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court of Justice; the duties now fall on the shoulders of a president of the Queen’s Bench Division. The most recent holders of the office have been Lords Lane (1980–92), Taylor of Gosforth (1992–96), Bingham of Cornhill (1996–2000), Woolf (2000–5), and Phillips of Worth Matravers (2005– ). The lord chief justice of Northern Ireland similarly acts as head of the judiciary in Ulster. The incumbents have included Lord Lowry (1971–88), Lord Hutton (1988–97), Sir Robert Carswell (1997–2004), and Sir Brian Kerr (2004– ). LORD LIEUTENANT. A lord lieutenant is appointed by the monarch to act as his or her representative in each county of England and Wales and in regions of Scotland but not in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, and Glasgow, where the lord provost holds the lieutenancy ex officio. The post dates from the 16th century, when the holder’s duties related primarily to the organization of local defense and maintenance of civil order. In more modern times, links are retained with bases of the armed forces within the area and ambulance, fire, and police services, but the duties are largely ceremonial, involving tasks such as supervising arrangements for royal visits and representing the sovereign at funerals and other significant events. LORD MAYOR. The lord mayor is the leading civic dignitary in 23 of the most important cities in England, as well as one (Belfast) in Northern Ireland and two (Cardiff and Swansea) in Wales. The Scottish equivalent is the lord provost. The holder of the post is elected by fellow councilors, not by the public, and in most cases is required to carry out only ceremonial duties. The major exception to the rule is the lord mayor of London, who presides at meetings of the governing bodies of the City of London, hosts visits by foreign heads of state, and promotes the city’s financial sector around the world. LORD PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL. The lord president presides over meetings of the Privy Council, but those duties are not unduly demanding because the council schedules only nine meetings each year, with additional sessions convened if necessary. For that reason, the role is normally combined with some other position.


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Thus, for example, from 2001 until his resignation in 2003, Robin Cook served both as lord president and as leader of the House of Commons, and Baroness Ashton, who was appointed in 2007, also acts as leader of the House of Lords. The position dates as a permanent post from 1679, and the appointment is formally made by the sovereign. In practice, however, the individual is chosen by the prime minister and is normally assured of a seat in the cabinet. See also GREAT OFFICES OF STATE. LORD PRESIDENT OF THE COURT OF SESSION. The lord president is head of the judiciary in Scotland and may preside either in the High Court of Justiciary, where he or she is known as the lord justice general (the two posts were combined in 1836), or in the Court of Session (see LEGAL SYSTEM, SCOTLAND). The most recent holders of the office have been Lords Emslie (1972–89), Hope of Craighead (1989–96), Rodger of Earlsferry (1996–2001), Cullen of Whitekirk (2001–5), and Hamilton (2005– ). LORD PRIVY SEAL. A member of the government with a seat in the cabinet, the Lord Privy Seal was formerly responsible for the security of the privy seal, a personal seal introduced by King John of England to authenticate documents relating to his domestic affairs. Under later monarchs, the duties of the seal’s keeper increased, so the holder of the post became one of the most powerful of the sovereign’s advisors. As a result, the title was retained when the Privy Seal Office was abolished in 1884 and in recent years has often been conferred by the prime minister on the individual responsible for the conduct of the governing party’s business in the House of Lords. Previously, however, it was used as a “minister without portfolio” post to bring specific individuals into the cabinet, as in 1981, when Margaret Thatcher made Lord Carrington secretary of state for foreign and commonwealth affairs. Because Carrington was a member of the House of Lords and thus barred from sitting in the House of Commons, he could not deal with questions about foreign policy from members of Parliament, so Humphrey Atkins was appointed Lord Privy Seal and briefed to speak in his place. The post’s somewhat archaic title and the lack of a clear role associated with it led Ernest Bevin, foreign secretary after World War II,


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to point out facetiously that it involved “neither a lord, nor a privy, nor a seal.” Incumbents rarely hold the office for more than a year or two. In recent governments, the record is held by John Biffen, who occupied the position from 1983–87 and, when ousted from the cabinet by Prime Minister Thatcher after the 1987 general election, described her government as a “Stalinist regime.” See also GREAT OFFICES OF STATE. LORD PROVOST. Lords provost head local government bodies in the Scottish cities of Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, and Glasgow. Their role and the manner in which they are chosen are similar to those of lord mayor in major settlements in England, Northern Ireland, and Wales, but in addition, they serve ex officio as lords lieutenant, giving their communities the privilege of having an elected councilor as the monarch’s representative in the area. See also MAYOR; PROVOST. LORD SPEAKER. The lord speaker presides over debates in the House of Lords, exercising duties that were previously the function of the lord chancellor. In 2005, the Constitutional Reform Act made provision for a redistribution of the lord chancellor’s responsibilities to ensure that political and judicial powers were held by different individuals. Members of the Lords held an election on 4 July 2006 and selected Baroness Hayman to fill the new post. Lady Hayman, a former Labour Party member of Parliament, had to shed her political affiliations while she was in office so that she could act impartially. However, her duties were not as onerous as those of the speaker of the House of Commons because the Lords as a group has the right to make decisions regarding discipline and procedure. LOYALIST. In the Northern Ireland context, loyalists want Ulster to remain part of the United Kingdom, whereas nationalists or republicans would like to see the whole island of Ireland united under a single Dublin-based government. The great majority is Protestant (most nationalists are Roman Catholic), and many, particularly young working-class men from Belfast and Londonderry, were willing to promote their cause through violence. The biggest loyalist organizations


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involved in sectarian conflict were the Ulster Volunteer Force (which was formed in 1966 but took its name from a similar group with a similar aim that was active in the early 20th century) and the larger Ulster Defence Association (which was established in 1971 as a coalition of formerly independent bodies). Ulster Defence Association members also call themselves the Ulster Freedom Fighters. See also COMBINED LOYALIST MILITARY COMMAND (CLMC); DEMOCRATIC UNIONIST PARTY (DUP); LOYALIST VOLUNTEER FORCE (LVF); MOLYNEAUX, JAMES HENRY (1920– ); ORANGE ORDER; PAISLEY, IAN RICHARD KYLE (1926– ); PREVENTION OF TERRORISM ACTS (1974–89); PROGRESSIVE UNIONIST PARTY (PUP); RED HAND COMMANDO; THE TROUBLES; ULSTER DEFENCE REGIMENT (UDR); ULSTER UNIONIST PARTY (UUP); UNIONIST. LOYALIST VOLUNTEER FORCE (LVF). In 1996, Billy Wright (known as “King Rat”) led a breakaway group from the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and named it the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF). The following year, Wright, who had conducted a violent campaign against Roman Catholics in the town of Portadown for many years, was murdered in the Maze Prison by members of the Irish National Liberation Army, but his organization continued its opposition to the peace process in Northern Ireland and was prepared to target civilians even though they had no connection with the security forces or with paramilitary groups. In 1997, for example, they shot 18-year-old Roman Catholic Bernadette Martin because she had a Protestant boyfriend and the same year admitted planting bombs in tourist offices in Banbridge and Newcastle. The LVF called a cease-fire in 1998, but in 2001, the government claimed that the group, which had an estimated 150 active members, was implicated in the murder of journalist Martin O’Hagan. Following a feud with the UVF and Red Hand Commando that resulted in several loyalist deaths, the organization announced in 2005 that it was standing down, but a few months later, the British and Irish governments’ Independent Monitoring Commission, which maintains a watch over the activities of Ulster’s paramilitary groups, alleged that it was still heavily involved in organized crime, including drug trafficking.


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– M – MAASTRICHT TREATY. On 7 February 1992, representatives of the member states of the European Economic Community signed a treaty in the Dutch town of Maastricht that committed them to enhance their economic links and develop stronger ties in areas relating to “foreign and security policy” and to “justice and home affairs.” The treaty (which was preceded by lengthy and often ill-tempered negotiations, is formally known as the Treaty of European Union, and is couched in dense and turgid prose) created the European Union, granting European citizenship to all residents and giving those residents the right to live in any member country, to move freely across international boundaries, and to vote in elections held in member states. Also, it described the process that would eventually lead to European monetary union and to the establishment of a common currency (see EURO). Even though the United Kingdom opted out of the arrangements for a single currency and refused to accept protocols relating to working practices and welfare support, critics, who became known as the “Maastricht rebels,” argued that the treaty reduced the sovereignty of the British Parliament and campaigned for the rejection of moves to ratify it. Prime Minister John Major’s administration was threatened by a vote of no confidence in the House of Commons, and members of the Conservative Party in particular disagreed heatedly and publicly about the advantages and disadvantages of the proposals. Ultimately, the necessary legislation was approved, but the political damage was considerable. The euroskeptics—including Iain Duncan Smith, who was later to lead the party—continued to harass Major, lowering the electorate’s confidence in his ability to control the government and undoubtedly contributing to the Conservatives’ defeat and the Labour Party’s landslide victory at the 1997 general election. MACKAY, JAMES PETER HYMERS (1927– ). Lord chancellor under Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and John Major, Mackay made fundamental changes to the English and Welsh legal systems, alienating many lawyers in the process. The son of railroad porter James Mackay and his wife, Janet, he was born in Edinburgh


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on 2 July 1927, won a scholarship to George Heriot’s School in the city, studied at Edinburgh University, and then in 1948 obtained a post as lecturer in mathematics at the University of St. Andrews. In 1950, he moved to Cambridge but stayed for only a short time before returning to Edinburgh and graduating with a law degree in 1955. Mackay’s acute mind quickly earned him a reputation with legal colleagues, propelling him up the career ladder and in 1979 earning him elevation to the peerage as Baron Mackay of Clashfern and an appointment as lord advocate (the government’s senior law officer in Scotland), even though he was not a member of the Conservative Party, which was in power at the time. He was a lord of appeal in ordinary for two years before Mrs. Thatcher made him lord chancellor in 1987. Mackay remained in office for 10 years and, in spite of much criticism, radically altered legal structures and processes, capping the amounts payable in legal aid, introducing no-fault divorce proceedings, removing barristers’ monopoly rights to appear in the higher courts, and rejecting lawyers’ arguments for an increase in pay and pensions. A devoutly religious man, he angered his staunchly Protestant fellow members of the tiny Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland by attending requiem mass for Roman Catholic colleagues in 1986 and again in 1988. Mackay claimed that he had done no wrong, but even so, his church banned him from taking communion. He lost his office when the Labour Party won a landslide general election victory in 1997 and two years later was made a knight of the Thistle (see ORDERS OF CHIVALRY). MAD COW DISEASE. See BOVINE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHY (BSE). MAGISTRATES’ COURTS. See ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR ORDER (ASBO); JUSTICE OF THE PEACE (JP); LEGAL SYSTEM, ENGLAND; LEGAL SYSTEM, NORTHERN IRELAND; LEGAL SYSTEM, WALES. MAGUIRE SEVEN. In 1976, Anne Maguire from Willesden (an area of London with a large Irish population) was jailed for possession of nitroglycerine, which prosecutors alleged was used to make bombs


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for the Provisional Irish Republican Army. Her husband (Patrick), two of her sons (Patrick and Vincent), her brother (William), her brother-in-law (Patrick “Guiseppe” Conlon), and a family friend (Patrick O’Neill) were sent to prison with her, faced with sentences of 4 to 14 years. All seven protested their innocence throughout the trial and afterward but, with the exception of Conlon, who died in jail in 1980, served out their terms behind bars. In 1991, however, the Court of Appeal quashed the convictions following an investigation by Sir John May, himself a former appeal court judge, who had concluded that the scientific data presented by the prosecution was seriously flawed. The court decided that the verdicts had been “unsafe,” a phrase that left some doubt about the Maguires’ innocence, but the press interpreted the decision as evidence of a miscarriage of justice, and in 2005, Prime Minister Tony Blair issued a public apology, saying that the family members “deserve to be completely and publicly exonerated.” The publicity surrounding the Maguires (coupled with the news two years earlier that the Guildford Four should never have been convicted and only a few weeks later that the Birmingham Six had been similarly wronged) did much to lower public confidence both in the police and in the English legal system. The government responded by appointing a royal commission on criminal justice that reported in 1993. Its recommendations led to the passage of the Criminal Appeal Act of 1995 and the establishment of a criminal cases review commission in 1997 in an effort to prevent the incarceration of other innocent people. MAJOR, JOHN (1943– ). Margaret Thatcher’s successor as prime minister had an unlikely background for a high-flying member of the Conservative Party. Raised in Brixton (one of London’s poorest inner-city areas, with a high proportion of immigrants), John is the son of Thomas Major, who had been a trapeze artist in a circus. He left school at the age of 16 with a very limited educational background but found a series of jobs in the finance industry and became an active member of the party’s local branch from 1960, ultimately serving as chairman in 1970–71. He was also elected to Lambeth


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Borough Council, holding his seat from 1968–71 and heading the housing committee during his final year. Major’s initial efforts to get into Parliament—at the St. Pancras constituency in the February and October general elections of 1974—were unsuccessful, but in 1979, he won at Huntingdonshire and under Mrs. Thatcher gained experience as a parliamentary private secretary at the Home Office (1981–83), assistant whip (1983–84), lord commissioner of the Treasury (1984–85), undersecretary of state for social security (1985–86), and minister of state for social security (1986–87). After that, his rise was positively meteoric; he was appointed chief secretary to the Treasury in 1987 and in 1989 held the post of foreign secretary for only some three months before moving back to the Treasury as chancellor of the exchequer (1989–90) and ultimately becoming prime minister (1990). Major undoubtedly had his share of luck as he climbed the career ladder, getting the foreign secretary’s post after Geoffrey Howe had walked out of the government and the chancellor’s post after Nigel Lawson had resigned in similarly acrimonious circumstances. Nevertheless, by the time Mrs. Thatcher was persuaded to step down in 1990, he was well known in the party and one of three candidates for her job, emerging victorious from a poll of Conservative members of Parliament (MPs) by winning 185 votes compared with Michael Heseltine’s 131 and Douglas Hurd’s 56. For many people, Major’s principal attribute was his unassuming nature and his moderate political stance—considerable contrasts with the hectoring style and extremist views that Margaret Thatcher had adopted. Others, however, argued that his lack of personality made him a gray man, without the charisma needed to win votes. For some days after his election, he continued to drop into his local McDonald’s for breakfast, but eventually his bodyguards convinced him of the security risk. It is easier, however, to change a routine than to alter a placid approach to life; when a mortar bomb exploded in Downing Street on 7 February 1991 just 40 feet from where he was chairing a cabinet meeting, he is said to have kept his cool and suggested that “we had better start again somewhere else.” In the early months of his premiership, Major undoubtedly lived in the shadow of Mrs. Thatcher, who offered regular criticism of policies that departed from her preferred line and labeled him “arrogant


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and wrong” for failing to hold a referendum on the case for a single European currency (see THE EURO). However, he earned public confidence through his handling of the Gulf War with Iraq in 1991 and for his competent chairmanship of the “Group of Seven” conference of leading industrial countries the same year. In 1992, he steered the Conservatives to an unexpected general election victory, but by late 1993, he was beset by problems stemming from the financial and sexual misdemeanors of colleagues and by news that personal taxation under his administration had risen to a higher proportion of family income than it had been when the Labour Party was in power during the 1970s. The collapse of the Conservative vote at the 1995 local government elections added to Major’s woes, but as criticism of his leadership mounted, he took the fight to his opponents, resigned, and challenged his detractors to face him in an election for the position. The result justified the risk. He defeated his only challenger, John Redwood, champion of the right wing and a former secretary of state for Wales, by 218 votes to 89 (the electorate, as in 1990, consisted solely of Conservative MPs), but the triumph was short lived because in 1997 his party was heavily defeated at the general election. Major resigned the leadership again to be succeeded by the hardly more successful William Hague and left Parliament in 2001, declining the life peerage usually offered to former prime ministers. Since then, he has kept a low profile, disturbed only by revelations in 2002 that he had had a four-year affair with colleague Edwina Currie and allegations in 2005 that he had tried to prevent the publication of papers relating to Black Wednesday (16 September 2002), when Britain was forced to withdraw from the European exchange rate mechanism and raise interest rates in order to stop massive speculation against sterling. See also BACK TO BASICS; CITIZEN’S CHARTER; DOWNING STREET DECLARATION; EUROPEAN UNION (EU); MATRIX CHURCHILL AFFAIR; NOLAN REPORTS; SCOTT REPORT. MANCHESTER. Although Manchester has a history stretching over more than two millennia, its growth was a product of the Industrial Revolution, which transformed it from a market town to a manufacturing center during the late 18th and 19th centuries. The city lies at


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the confluence of the Rivers Irk, Irwell, and Medlock, some 180 miles northwest of London. From 1789, it became the focus of a cotton industry, spawning a host of ancillary activities, including bleaching, dyeing, packing, printing, spinning, warehousing, and weaving. Migrants seeking work moved from other parts of the country, so as demand increased, nearby towns flourished, with Manchester itself providing the bulk of the financial, legal, and other services that the new firms required. The opening of a ship canal in 1894 gave access to the sea for vessels of up to 15,000 tons deadweight, effectively making the city an inland port, but trade suffered during the financial recessions of the 20th century, and textile production in particular declined in the face of competition from the Indian subcontinent and the Far East. By the early 21st century, manufacturing still employed about one in seven of the working population, but the economy was more diversified than it had been in the late 1800s, with finance, public services, and tourism all providing significant job opportunities. After World War II, Manchester embarked on a major slum clearance program, providing new housing at lower population densities and incorporating park land and other recreational areas into the urban landscape. Mills and warehouses were converted into city center apartments, mostly for single occupancy, with several commanding prices of over £2 million by 2006. In 1996, a bomb ignited by the Provisional Irish Republican Army injured more than 200 people and devastated much of the inner city, but the area has since undergone extensive rebuilding to provide retail and office space, and the Arndale shopping center, originally completed in 1979, has grown into one of the largest covered central city retail areas in Europe, with some 250 outlets. At the time of the 2001 census, Manchester had 394,000 residents, slightly higher than the figure of 384,600 recorded in 1991 and thus reversing a history of decline. The metropolitan area, known as Greater Manchester, had 2.48 million citizens. MANDELSON, PETER BENJAMIN (1953– ). Mandelson was one of the influential forces that shaped the Labour Party’s transition from an unelectable left-wing organization in the early 1980s to a hugely popular government in the late 1990s, but his political career has been dogged by controversy. The son of George and Mary


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Mandelson, he was born on 21 October 1953 and educated at Hendon County Grammar School and Oxford University. Before becoming Labour’s director of communications in 1985, he had worked with the Trades Union Congress (1977–78), served as chairman of the British Youth Council (1978–80), and produced programs for London Weekend Television (1982–85). Mandelson was raised in a staunchly Labour family (his grandfather, Herbert Morrison, had been a cabinet minister during the 1940s), but he rebelled against that tradition in the early 1970s when he joined the Communist Party and again in 1982 when, apparently unhappy with Labour’s policies, he retired from the seat on Lambeth Borough Council that he had won in 1979. Nevertheless, he had a genius for presentation and ran the party’s widely admired though electorally unsuccessful general election campaign in 1987. In 1990, he entered the House of Commons as the member of Parliament (MP) for Hartlepool, leading several commentators to suggest that there was a mismatch because Mandelson enjoyed the sophistications of London life and his constituency was thoroughly working-class. He became close friends with Tony Blair and Gordon Brown but in 1994 decided to support Blair in the jostling for party leadership after John Smith’s death and, as a result, lost the confidence of Brown, creating an antagonism that has lasted ever since. In 1997, Mandelson was the brains behind the general election strategy that swept Labour and Blair into power and was rewarded with the post of minister without portfolio, coordinating the activities of government. The following year, he was promoted to the cabinet as secretary of state for trade and industry. Mandelson’s close friendship with the prime minister and his power to control the party’s image inevitably aroused jealousies, which were fueled by stories of his homosexuality. Private Eye—a satirical magazine—nicknamed him “The Prince of Darkness,” and his peccadilloes became regular fodder for tabloid tales. In 1998, the press published reports that he had obtained an interest-free loan of £373,000 from Geoffrey Robinson, a fellow Labour MP, so that he could buy a house in London’s Notting Hill. At the time, Robinson’s business dealings were under investigation by Mandelson’s government department. Clearly, there was a conflict of interest, and Mandelson was forced to resign, but he was out of the political limelight


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for less than a year because in 1999 he was made secretary of state for Northern Ireland, supervising the restructuring of the police service and the creation of a new legislature for the province. In January 2001, however, Mandelson was forced to resign again, this time because he had apparently intervened on behalf of Srichandra Hinduja, an Indian businessman who had applied for a British passport and who had made major donations to projects welcoming the new millennium. Mandelson claimed that he had done nothing wrong, and an independent inquiry supported that claim, but the charge was enough to force him out of the cabinet. In 2004, he was appointed one of Britain’s two European Union commissioners and given responsibility for trade. A long-time supporter of closer links between European states, he also has close contacts with senior administrators in the United States and, in spite of his youthful dalliance with left-wing political parties, works well with representatives of right-wing organizations. Commentators suggest that he is unlikely to return to mainstream British politics and that he will seek to build a new career on the European mainland. MANIFESTO. See ELECTION MANIFESTO. MANOR OF NORTHSTEAD. See CHILTERN HUNDREDS. MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY. At the beginning of the 20th century, Britain was the headquarters of the industrial world. The plethora of innovations that had accompanied the Industrial Revolution gave the country a technological lead over rivals, and a worldwide empire provided ready markets for the ships, steel, and textiles that were being produced at factories in central Scotland, London, the midlands and north of England, and south Wales. However, competition increased as other countries developed an industrial base, new commodities replaced old-established products, and nations freed of colonial status looked to suppliers other than the mother country for goods. As a result, manufacturing in the United Kingdom declined and, by the early years of the 21st century, was responsible for only about 16 percent of gross domestic product. Engineering is the most significant contributor to modern manufacturing output, with transport equipment playing a significant


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role. Eight leading car producers have factories in the UK, though none is British owned. In addition, a number of firms, such as Rolls Royce, specialize in aero engines or marine components and others, like the Loughborough-based Brush Traction, focus on railroad engines. Electronics, too, is important, with domestic concerns such as Alba (part-owner of the German Grundig business) and Amstrad (founded in 1968 by entrepreneur Alan Sugar) competing in the market for audio equipment, home computers, and office machinery and many multinational companies (such as Sun Microsystems) maintaining manufacturing facilities in the UK (see SILICON GLEN). Chemicals also provide significant employment—GlaxoSmith Kline, the world’s second-largest pharmaceutical company after Pfizer, is British based—as do foods and beverages. Scotch whisky alone earns around £1 billion annually on export markets, and Scottish and Newcastle plc is a major brewer of “long” alcoholic drinks, including beer and cider. Other producers range from makers of craft products, such as jewelry, to companies with worldwide markets, including British American Tobacco (the third-largest producer of cigarettes in the world), Burberry (a maker of high-quality rainwear and other clothing), footwear manufacturer Reebok (which was acquired by Adidas of Germany in 2006), the Pentland Group of sportswear and sports equipment producers (which includes Berghaus and Lacoste), and Wedgwood (which makes fine china and merged with Waterford, the Republic of Ireland crystal producer, in 1987). See also ABERDEEN; BELFAST; BIRMINGHAM; CARDIFF; CONFEDERATION OF BRITISH INDUSTRY (CBI); ECONOMY; GLASGOW; LIVERPOOL; LONDONDERRY; MANCHESTER; NATIONALIZATION; NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE; NORTHERN IRELAND; NORTH–SOUTH DIVIDE; PENNINE HILLS; THATCHER, MARGARET HILDA (1925– ); TRADE UNIONS. MARGARET ROSE, PRINCESS (1930–2002). Princess Margaret, the younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II, was born in Glamis Castle on 21 August 1930. Her parents—the duke (see PEERAGE) and duchess of York—were later to become King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. Margaret was the first baby in direct line of succession to the throne to be born in Scotland for 300 years, but her childhood and youth were spent mainly in London.


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In 1955, the young princess made it clear that she wanted to marry Group Captain Peter Townsend, a former Royal Air Force pilot, but Townsend was divorced and therefore considered unsuitable by the Church of England and by senior members of the royal family, so she was forced to end the relationship. Five years later on 6 May 1960, she wedded Anthony Armstrong-Jones, a society photographer, and had two children—David Albert Charles (Viscount Linley), who was born on 3 November 1961, and Lady Sarah Frances Elizabeth, who was born on 1 May 1964—but the marriage ran into trouble and was ended in 1978. The press regularly carried stories of the princess’s numerous amorous attachments, and affairs with lovers rumored to include Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones, but she never remarried and her later years were scarred by illness and accident. In 1998, she suffered a stroke while on holiday on the Caribbean island of Mustique and a few months later scalded her feet so badly that her mobility was permanently impaired. Further strokes followed, and she died on 9 February 2002. MARQUESS. See PEERAGE. MASS MEDIA. See NEWSPAPERS; TELEVISION. MATRIX CHURCHILL AFFAIR. On 12 October 1992, Trevor Abraham, Peter Allen, and Paul Henderson—directors of the Matrix Churchill engineering company—appeared in court, charged with exporting machine tools to Iraq when they knew that the equipment would be used for military purposes and at a time when such exports were banned. From the start, the proceedings went badly for the prosecution. Initially, government officials refused to make critical documents available to the defense team on the grounds that disclosure would not be in the public interest, but the judge, Sir Brian Smedley, refused to accept the arguments and insisted that the papers be released. Also, the three accused claimed that the government knew exactly what was going on and that in 1988 Alan Clark (then a minister at the Department of Trade and Industry) had told them to apply for export licenses but conceal the real destination of the tools. Clark, called to


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give evidence, admitted he knew that the components would be used in armaments and that he had tried to conceal evidence of the real nature of the deal. The trial was adjourned, and a few days later, the charges were withdrawn. The revelations were followed by a storm of protest. Members of Parliament alleged that the government was being deceitful, and journalists condemned politicians who tried to hide documents even when failure to disclose the truth might have resulted in a serious miscarriage of justice, with devastating repercussions for the defendants and their families. Prime Minister John Major attempted to pour oil on troubled waters by appointing Sir Richard Scott, a lord of appeal in ordinary, to carry out a formal inquiry (see SCOTT REPORT), but that did nothing to appease voters, who continued to use opinion polls to register increasing disapproval both of Major and of his Conservative Party government even though the incidents had occurred during Margaret Thatcher’s period as premier. See also IRAQI SUPERGUN AFFAIR. MAXWELL, IAN ROBERT (1923–1991). For 40 years from 1951 until his death in 1991, Maxwell was a major force in British publishing, rivaling Rupert Murdoch in the newspaper business. Details of his early life are contradictory (according to his French wife, Elisabeth, he was unwilling to talk about his childhood because the memories were too painful), but it is clear that he was born in a Czechoslovakian village on 10 June 1923 to Michael and Ann Hoch, poor Jewish agricultural workers who later died at the hands of the Nazis. Escaping the concentration camps, Maxwell fled to the United Kingdom in 1940; changed his name several times, ultimately settling on Robert Maxwell; and joined the British Army, receiving a commission as captain and earning commendations for bravery. With a flair for languages—he spoke six fluently by the end of World War II—he established a base in Berlin during the late 1940s, then in 1951 bought Pergamon Press, a small publisher of academic texts. Over the next few years, he built up his business by concentrating on scientific journals and within a decade had amassed considerable wealth. Unlike most affluent businessmen, Maxwell advocated the cause of socialism and joined the Labour Party, serving as member of


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Parliament for Buckingham from 1964 until 1970. His relationship with fellow politicians was always uneasy, however. As an individual, he was pompous and aggressive, and in 1969, an inquiry into his business practices by the Department of Trade and Industry concluded that he was not the kind of person who could be relied on to provide “proper stewardship” of a publicly quoted company. On the other hand, leaders of political organizations are wary of confronting media moguls, and Maxwell was clearly constructing a substantial publishing empire. In 1980, Maxwell bought the ailing British Printing Corporation, renamed it the Maxwell Communications Corporation, and made it profitable. In 1984, he acquired the Mirror Group of newspapers, publisher of the traditionally pro-Labour Daily Mirror, and by 1990, he owned the Berlitz language schools, Nimbus Records, the American arm of Macmillan Publishers, Prentice-Hall Information Services, and several television and newspaper interests, including the Daily Record, the Sporting Life, and the Sunday Mail. Not all of his companies were financially successful, however—for example, his efforts to establish a 24-hour-a-day London newspaper came to naught—and rumors both of dubious business ethics and large debts circulated in the media world and among politicians. Maxwell silenced many of his critics by threatening legal action, but even so, it was clear by the late 1980s that he was in financial trouble. Then in 1991, he disappeared from his yacht, Lady Ghislaine, while sailing in the Atlantic off the Canary Islands. His body was discovered in the sea, and an official inquiry attributed his death to drowning, but conspiracy theorists advanced less straightforward causes, including murder by Mossad, the Israeli secret service. In the months following Maxwell’s death, the extent of his dishonesty became increasingly clear as records of bank fraud, tax evasion, and the plundering of pension funds were revealed in the press. His sons, Ian and Kevin, were made bankrupt, but journalists also questioned why lenders were so ready to advance funds to a man condemned by the Department of Trade as unethical and why his affairs were not more closely scrutinized by financial watchdogs. MAYOR. The mayor is the formal head of a local government council in England, Northern Ireland, or Wales, presiding at meetings


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of the authority and serving as a justice of the peace but otherwise performing largely ceremonial functions, such as opening local fetes and flower shows. Unlike their counterparts in the United States, where mayors are directly elected and hold office for a number of years, they are traditionally appointed by vote of the councilors in the areas they are to represent and remain in post for only 12 months. In practice, the honor is often awarded to long-serving councilors, irrespective of political party. From the late 1990s, alternative arrangements were introduced in some parts of Britain. The Greater London Authority Act of 1999 provided for a directly elected mayor in the capital. The first election was held the following year and, much to the government’s consternation, was won by Ken Livingstone, a left-wing socialist. Then in 2000, the Local Government Act gave other local authorities in England and Wales the option of allowing the electorate to choose a mayor who would exercise executive powers along with the council over matters relating to budget, economic development, educational provision, and other matters. Some 40 authorities have held referenda to find out whether voters wanted to elect their mayor. In most cases, the turnout was low—sometimes as low as 10 percent—but since 2001, about a dozen areas have opted for the new-style leadership. See also LORD MAYOR; LORD PROVOST; PROVOST. MAZE PRISON. From 1971 until 2000, the Maze Prison, sometimes known as Long Kesh Prison, housed Provisional Irish Republican Army sympathizers and members of other paramilitary groups responsible for acts of violence in Northern Ireland. Located on the former Royal Air Force base at Long Kesh close to the village of Maze and some 10 miles southwest of Belfast, it had accommodation for over 1,000 internees, many housed in H-shaped blocks built especially to contain them. Most of the people who were incarcerated considered themselves political prisoners rather than criminals, and the refusal of successive governments to grant them that status led to riots and hunger strikes. However, from the early 1980s, conditions were relaxed (many prisoners were allowed to wear their own clothes, for example), and following the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, inmates were freed as their paramilitary groups agreed to eschew violence. The jail closed


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on 29 September 2000, and in 2006, the government announced plans to redevelop the site with a 45,000-seat sports stadium at its core. MCCONNELL, JACK WILSON (1960– ). Born in Irvine on 30 June 1930, McConnell succeeded Henry McLeish as Scotland’s first minister in November 2001. The son of William and Elizabeth McConnell, he was raised on a sheep farm on the Isle of Arran and attended high school in Lamlash before earning an education degree at Stirling University and becoming a mathematics teacher. In 1984 at the age of only 24, he was elected to Stirling District Council, serving as treasurer (1988–92) and leader (1990–92) before being appointed general secretary of the Scottish Labour Party. That post, which he held from 1992 until 1998, allowed him to build up a strong base of political support, even though he increasingly moved away from his initial position on the organization’s left wing as he embraced the more moderate doctrines espoused by Tony Blair. In 1997, he coordinated Labour’s campaign during the referendum on devolution of power from London to an Edinburgh-based Scottish Parliament, and two years later, he was elected to that Parliament as the representative for Motherwell and Wishaw. Partly as a reward for his contribution to the creation of the Parliament, McConnell was given the finance portfolio, a high-profile post that included responsibility for updating local government working practices, in the first Scottish Executive. When Donald Dewar, the first minister, died in October 2000, McConnell contested the position with Henry McLeish and lost by eight votes but got the job the following year when McLeish was forced into resignation by a financial scandal. Never regarded as a great orator, McConnell nevertheless adopted a brash, confident style that encouraged the press to describe him in less-than-complimentary terms as “Jack the Lad” and “Jumping Jack Flash.” His political life was regularly punctuated by controversy. In the late 1990s, for example, he worked for Beattie Media, a firm of political lobbyists, and in 1999, The Observer newspaper claimed that the company was offering preferential access to McConnell and other leading members of the Scottish Executive. A parliamentary inquiry cleared him of misconduct, but critics suggested that he had taken steps to ensure that evidence against him was destroyed.


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Despite the negative publicity, supporters argued that he was skilled at manipulating his public image, as in 2001, when, as the clear front runner for the first minister post, he appeared at a press conference with his wife and admitted to an extramarital affair, effectively halting tabloid newspaper investigations into his private life. Opponents in his own party complained that after becoming first minister, he turned his back on the reformist policies adopted by the Labour government at Westminster, with the result that public service provision in Scotland lagged well behind that in the rest of the United Kingdom, particularly in education and health care. Others suggested that he lacked the vision necessary to shape long-term goals. In the end, McConnell was defeated more by public dissatisfaction with Labour Party policies, both at the United Kingdom and the Scottish level, than by personality deficiencies. After the elections in 2007, the Scottish National Party formed a minority government in the Scottish Parliament, and Alex Salmond took over as first minister. McConnell resigned as leader of the Scottish Labour Party some weeks later and was appointed high commissioner to Malawi. MCLEISH, HENRY (1948– ). McLeish succeeded Donald Dewar as first minister in the Scottish Parliament but was forced to resign after little more than a year, his reputation tarnished by financial scandal. Born in Methil on 15 June 1948, the son of Harry and Mary McLeish, he was educated at Buckhaven High School and HeriotWatt University, Edinburgh. After graduating with a B.Sc. in urban planning, he worked as a local government officer, university teacher, and professional soccer player before winning election to the House of Commons in 1987 as the member of Parliament (MP) for Fife Central, representing the Labour Party. A staunch advocate of devolution of power from Westminster to assemblies in Scotland and Wales, he served as opposition spokesman on Scottish affairs (1992–94), transport (1994–95), and health care (1995–96). After helping to manage his party’s highly successful general election campaign in 1997, he became minister of state at the Scottish Office. When Scotland got its own Parliament in 1999, McLeish announced that he would resign his London seat and concentrate on politics in Edinburgh, where he became the Scottish Executive’s


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minister for enterprise and lifelong learning before taking over as first minister after Dewar’s sudden death in 2000. His position was never secure. Critics argued that his performance in debates was no more than competent and contended that he did not have the leadership qualities required to make dissidents toe the party line. Also, although he seemed organized professionally, rumors of financial misconduct circulated among colleagues and finally reached the ears of the press. In 1987, McLeish had acquired premises in Glenrothes so that he could hold meetings with voters in the constituency he represented. The premises were too large for his needs, so he sublet several rooms but failed to declare the income from those sublets when he claimed his office expenses from Parliament. An investigation by the parliamentary standards commissioner concluded that he had broken the MPs’ code of conduct, and although a police investigation found no evidence of criminal intent, he was forced to resign from office on 8 November 2001. MEBYON KERNOW. Mebyon Kernow is a political party dedicated to achieving self-government for Cornwall, the most southwesterly part of the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1951 and originally acted as a pressure group but began to contest national and local government elections during the 1970s. It has never had a representative in the House of Commons, but several of its supporters have won seats on local councils. Mebyon Kernow means “sons of Cornwall” in Cornish, the Celtic language formerly spoken in southwest Britain. ˆ R. Meibion Glyndw ˆ r (the “Sons of Glyndw ˆ r” in MEIBION GLYNDW the Welsh language) is a radical Welsh nationalist group that takes ˆ r (or Glendower), who attempted to its name from Owain Glyndw wrest Wales from English control during the early 15th century. From 1979, it carried out a series of arson attacks on properties that had been sold to English incomers as vacation cottages or “second homes,” claiming that buyers were destroying the traditional culture of the areas in which they settled and, by forcing up prices, were preventing Welsh people from purchasing houses in their own country. Realtor businesses, too, were targeted, and more than 200 caravans, cars, and buildings were burned.


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In 1993, Sion Aubrey Roberts was convicted of sending letter bombs by mail, but, even though secret service agents were involved in the investigations, police made few other arrests, partly, according to some critics, because many of the officers supported the arsonists’ cause. Several writers suggested that a number of groups rather than a single organization were responsible for the blazes. Others claimed that many of the burnings were carried out by government supporters who wanted to dissuade voters from supporting Welsh nationalist candidates at elections, and Dafydd Wigley, Plaid Cymru president, later conceded that the fires had undoubtedly damaged his party’s cause. The attacks had petered out by the mid-1990s, but in 2003, police authorities announced their intention to reopen inquiries using DNA testing and other modern forensic technology despite warnings that any arrests might heighten tensions again. MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT (MP). Members of Parliament are chosen by the electorate to represent them in the House of Commons, the lower of the two chambers in the United Kingdom’s Parliament. Barring death or other unfortunate circumstance, they remain in office for up to five years, the precise period depending on government decisions about the date for a general election. When an election is held, they must either vacate their seat or seek reelection. MPs represent geographical territories known as constituencies but need not be residents of those areas. With few exceptions, they are affiliated with a political party. Technically, MPs are not permitted to resign. If they have to leave office before a general election is called—and such instances are rare—they must apply for appointment as steward of the Chiltern Hundreds or steward of the Manor of Northstead. Both of those sinecures are offices of profit under the crown, so the holder loses the right to sit in Parliament. The ban dates from 17th century and was imposed because of fears that people in the pay of the monarch could not be independent, unbiased representatives of the people. Other individuals disqualified from sitting in the Commons include Church of England bishops, members of the House of Lords, the mentally unfit, and anybody who is not a citizen of the United Kingdom, a British Overseas Territory, the Commonwealth of Nations, or the Republic of Ireland.


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When a sitting MP leaves the Commons other than at a general election, a by-election is held in the constituency. As at general elections, the individual who gets the largest number of votes at the poll becomes the new member of Parliament. See also BACKBENCHER; ELECTORAL SYSTEM; FATHER OF THE HOUSE; PRIVATE MEMBER’S BILL. MERSEY, RIVER. The Mersey is formed at Stockport in Lancashire by the confluence of the Goyt and the Tame, which rise on the western flanks of the Pennine Hills. From there, it flows some 70 miles to the Irish Sea, draining the Cheshire-Lancashire plain. The inner estuary has rapid tidal movements that greatly reduce the need for dredging and facilitated the development of Liverpool as a deepwater port. During the 18th and 19th centuries, the Mersey was joined by canals to other waterways and rapidly became industrialized along much of its length. By the mid-20th century, it was one of the most polluted rivers in Europe, but a £1 billion investment has greatly improved water quality, so by 2002, fish were able to thrive along its full length. In the 1960s, the success of The Beatles, natives of Liverpool, led to a distinctive music that became known as “Merseybeat.” MET OFFICE. The Met Office, formerly known as the Meteorological Office, is the United Kingdom’s official weather service. It was created in 1854 to provide weather information for sailors and now is an executive agency attached to the Ministry of Defence with a mandate to act on a commercial basis. In 2003, it moved its headquarters from Bracknell, west of London, to a new £80 million base in Exeter. Three years later, it announced that because of improvements in computer facilities, it would close its stations at Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, London, and Manchester, retaining forecasters only at its new base and in Aberdeen, which prepares the shipping forecasts that are broadcast by the British Broadcasting Corporation to fishing vessels but which also have a dedicated band of listeners on the mainland. Additional staff work on military forecasts at armed forces facilities around the world. The Met Office is also one of only two World Aviation Centers that provide the detailed weather data used to route aircraft on long-haul journeys. The other center is in the United States.


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MI5. See SECURITY SERVICE (MI5). MI6. See SECRET INTELLIGENCE SERVICE (SIS). MILIBAND, DAVID WRIGHT (1965– ). David Miliband was considered a surprise choice as foreign secretary when he was appointed to Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s first cabinet in 2007. The son of Polish immigrants, he was born to Ralph and Marion Miliband on 15 July 1965 (Ralph Miliband was a Jew who escaped to Britain in 1940 and earned a considerable reputation as a Marxist theoretician). He was educated at schools in Leeds and London before going to Oxford University, where he was awarded a first-class honors degree in philosophy, politics, and economics. In 1990, Miliband earned a master’s degree in political science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, funded by a Kennedy Scholarship, then worked in several policy-oriented jobs before winning an appointment as the head of Prime Minister Tony Blair’s policy unit after the Labour Party won the 1997 general election, becoming a key figure in the “kitchen cabinet” at 10 Downing Street. He entered the House of Commons as the member of Parliament (MP) for South Shields, a staunchly Labour constituency, in 2001 and climbed rapidly up the career ladder, gaining experience as a junior minister (with responsibility for academic standards in English schools) at the Department for Education and Skills from 2002–4, minister of state (with responsibility for trimming the cost of government) at the Cabinet Office from 2004–5, minister of state for communities and local government (a post that brought a seat in the cabinet) from 2005–6, and then secretary of state for environment, food, and rural affairs from 2006–7. At 41, Miliband was the youngest MP to be promoted to foreign secretary since Prime Minister James Callaghan offered the post to David Owen in 1977. Political analysts interpreted the appointment as an indication that criticism of Israel and the United States would be less muted than during Tony Blair’s premiership from 1997–2007. Despite his Jewish upbringing, Miliband condemned the Israeli attack on Hezbollah, a Shi’a Islamic paramilitary group, in Lebanon during the summer of 2006, even though Blair publicly defended the action, and the same year, he made a speech in the United States that


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implicitly chastised President George W. Bush for failing to join international measures to fight climate change. Politically aligned to the left of the modern Labour Party (see NEW LABOUR), he is considered by colleagues to have a philosophy akin to that of the social democratic parties on the European mainland, with egalitarianism at the core of his beliefs. MILITANT TENDENCY. Militant was a far-left organization that wielded considerable political muscle from the late 1970s until the early 1990s, infiltrating Labour Party decision-making groups and leading demonstrations against the Conservative Party government’s efforts to introduce a poll tax. It developed from Communist Party roots in the 1950s and 1960s, winning support among idealistic young people, occupying places on the local committees that selected Labour candidates to fight constituency seats at general elections, and getting three supporters elected to the House of Commons under the Labour banner (Terry Fields represented Liverpool Broadgreen from 1983–92, Dave Nellist represented Coventry Southeast during the same period, and Pat Wall represented Bradford North from 1987–90). During the 1980s, Militant, under the leadership of articulate, media-savvy Derek Hatton and in an alliance with other left-wing factions, won control of the Liverpool city council and locked horns with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher over her government’s efforts to control local government spending. However, threats to close libraries, terminate services for the elderly, and fire 31,000 employees were so extreme that even middle-of-the-road newspapers condemned the proposals as policies from the “loony left,” and the Labour Party realized that the publicity was threatening its election prospects. From 1985, Labour expelled Militant sympathizers from its ranks, but the movement remained sufficiently strong to capitalize on public discontent about the poll tax and organize a series of mass demonstrations against its introduction in 1989–90. Those protests and the decision by many people not to pay the tax when it was levied undoubtedly accelerated the decline in Mrs. Thatcher’s popularity and contributed to her ejection from 10 Downing Street on 22 November 1990.


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By 1991, it was clear, even to the hardest of hard-liners, that Militant had no future in the Labour fold. It reformed as Militant Labour and then fragmented into the Socialist Party of England and Wales and the Scottish Socialist Party. MILLENNIUM DOME. The dome, covered by the world’s largest fabric roof, is a 1.125-millon-square-foot exhibition hall on the south bank of the River Thames in London. It was built to mark the beginning of the 21st century and opened on 31 December 1999, but from the outset, the project was fraught with problems despite receiving enthusiastic support from Prime Minister Tony Blair. Critics argued that the £399 million investment could be better spent on education, health care, or other public services, construction fees mounted and Prince Charles reputedly commented that the finished building looked like a “monstrous blancmange.” Many guests invited to the opening ceremony failed to turn up because invitations had been mailed late; exhibitions on themes, such as “Money” and “Talk,” were poorly designed; and visitor numbers failed to reach expectations. When the displays closed at the end of 2000, costs totaled £789 million, of which only £189 million was covered by ticket sales, with the rest coming from National Lottery (see NATIONAL LOTTO) grants. The experience was a major embarrassment for Blair, who had reportedly overruled his cabinet and refused to cancel the project, claiming that it would be a “triumph of confidence over cynicism, . . . excellence over mediocrity.” Years later, it was still being cited as an example of his lack of judgment. In 2001, the property was sold to Meridian Delta Ltd., an American-backed company that intended to develop it as an entertainment complex and sports arena. Technically, the building should be known as the O2, after the O2 telecommunications company that acquired the naming rights in 2005, but the public has shown no inclination to adopt the new title. MINERS’ STRIKE (1984–85). Essentially, the coal miners’ strike was a battle between a government committed to capitalism and economic change and trade unions committed to socialism and state ownership of industry. The government’s victory allowed it to pursue a policy of privatizing publicly owned companies but also changed


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the political landscape, persuading the Labour Party that it had to shed some of its traditional policies if it was ever to return to power. The United Kingdom’s coal mines were nationalized in 1947 and placed under the control of the National Coal Board (NCB). During the 1960s and 1970s, however, the fuel market altered radically as gas and oil increased in popularity and as heavy industry declined in importance, so early in 1984, the NCB announced its intention to close 20 uneconomic mines and shed 20,000 members of its workforce, many of them in areas where there was little alternative employment. Miners at several pits downed tools in protest during the first few days of March, and on the 12th of the month as the complaints increased in volume, Arthur Scargill, the president of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), called for a national strike. The Conservative Party government, following its election in 1979, had taken measures to limit the power of the labor unions. One of those measures was a law requiring leaders of workers’ organizations to hold a ballot of members before going on strike. Scargill had failed to conform to the legislation, probably because he was not sure of a majority vote, so the courts ordered that NUM funds should be sequestered. The judges’ ruling added to the determination of some employees to fight to the bitter end, and they won support from the membership of other large unions, but many people employed in the industry saw little point in the struggle and continued to turn up for work. As the weeks dragged on, those opposed to the strike were increasingly subject to violence, as were their families and homes, so Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher ordered police protection for the victims, often busing officers from miles away because she felt that local forces would sympathize with the strikers. Initially, public support for the strike was strong in northern England, Scotland, and Wales, where the Thatcher administration had never been popular. However, as the violence increased, that support waned, and throughout the winter of 1984, miners drifted back to their jobs, forced to work because they could no longer afford to feed their children or heat their houses. On 3 March 1985, the NUM voted to end the action. The implications were profound. During the year-long strike, many consumers turned to other sources of fuel or other suppliers, so after it was over, the pit closure program was pursued by the government


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with considerable vigor. Sixty-four collieries had shut down by the end of the decade, with no favors granted to areas, such as Nottinghamshire, where miners had not stopped work, even though leading politicians had given assurances that jobs in those parts of the country were safe. Scargill had argued that the government always intended to close pits and run down the industry, partly as a means of reducing the coal miners’ industrial muscle, and later events proved that assertion accurate. Unemployment in mining communities rose markedly, affecting people who worked in other sectors of the economy because the out-of-work miners had no cash with which to purchase goods in local stores. Debts increased, as did suicide rates, and populations fell as families moved in an effort to find jobs, leaving vacant houses. Even by the early 21st century, some towns, particularly those where employment opportunities were limited, were still economically depressed, though in more fortunate areas, the mine sites had been converted to other uses, such as industrial parks and supermarkets. The industry itself was privatized in 1994, and the Labour Party, persuaded that the majority of the electorate would not support a return to state control, made no effort to change that status when it formed a government in 1997. See also WAPPING DISPUTE. MINISTER. Members of the House of Commons or House of Lords who hold government office are known as ministers. With a few exceptions—such as the chancellor of the exchequer, who leads the team of ministers at the Treasury—those who head departments are formally termed secretaries of state and are assisted by ministers of state and parliamentary undersecretaries of state, to whom they delegate specific areas of responsibility. Normally, the secretary of state’s title is shortened to the department name, so for example, the secretary of state for foreign and commonwealth affairs is usually referred to as the foreign secretary. Members of the Northern Ireland Executive, the Scottish Executive, and the government that is appointed by the first minister of the National Assembly for Wales are also known as ministers. The term is derived from the Latin word minister, which was applied to a servant or low-ranking official. See also PARLIAMENTARY PRIVATE SECRETARY; PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY.


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MINISTER OF STATE. Ministers of state rank immediately below secretaries of state in government departments and are usually allocated specific areas of responsibility by the secretaries. The office, introduced in the period following World War II, is senior to the parliamentary undersecretary of state. MOLYNEAUX, JAMES HENRY (1920– ). As leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) from 1979 until 1995, Molyneaux exerted considerable influence over efforts to control the activities of paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland. Born on 27 August 1920, the son of Mr. and Mrs. William Molyneaux, he was educated at Aldergrove School (Antrim) and served with the Royal Navy during World War II. He entered Parliament as the representative of Antrim South in 1970, was appointed leader of his party in the House of Commons in 1974, and five years later became head of the whole UUP organization. Molyneaux opposed the Anglo–Irish Agreement in 1985 but proved willing to engage in talks with the Republic of Ireland and in 1993 proposed a form of assembly to govern Northern Ireland that would involve formal contacts with the province’s neighbors to the south. Often dominated in the media by Ian Paisley, who in 1994 compared him to Judas Iscariot because of his alleged willingness to betray the unionist cause by negotiating with the republic’s representatives, he urged Prime Minister John Major not to accept the Provisional Irish Republican Army’s 1994 promise to renounce violence because it failed to include a commitment that the peace would be permanent. He also maintained that convicted terrorists should serve their full prison sentences whatever the outcome of peace negotiations but stressed his willingness to sit in the same debating chamber as representatives of Sinn Féin and other nationalist organizations. Molyneaux gave up the party leadership in 1995, claiming that his departure would give new blood time to prepare the campaign for the next general election, but he had undoubtedly been stung by Major’s decision to exclude him from discussions about Northern Ireland’s future and unionist criticism of his ineffectiveness. He was knighted the following year and raised to the peerage as Lord Molyneaux of Killead in 1997. A leading freemason, he strongly opposed the Good


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Friday Agreement; frequently criticized David Trimble, his successor as UUP leader; and supported the United Kingdom Independence Party at the European Parliament elections in 2004. THE MONARCH. The British monarch is head of both state and the Church of England, exercising powers, collectively known as the royal prerogative, that appear extensive but in practice are limited by legislation and convention. Succession passes by primogeniture through the male line, although women can succeed to the throne when a sovereign has no sons. The principal official residence is Buckingham Palace in London, though Windsor Castle (some 40 miles to the west) is a regular weekend retreat for members of the royal family, and Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh is the location of official engagements in Scotland. In the past, kings and queens have exercised virtually absolute power, but from 1215, when the English nobles forced King John to sign the Magna Carta and limit his authority, the monarch’s freedom to act unilaterally was increasingly eroded. In the modern era, he or she technically appoints the prime minister, but by tradition, the post always goes to the leader of the majority party in the House of Commons. Similarly, the sovereign names ambassadors to foreign countries, archbishops and bishops of the Church of England, members of the cabinet, and elevations to the peerage, but with few exceptions, the decisions are made on the advice of the prime minister. Acts of Parliament pass into law when the monarch, who now has no power of veto, signs them. Parliament approves a civil list (funds to pay for official royal activities) every 10 years and supplements it at annual intervals with grants for travel and for the upkeep of properties. Opinion polls during the late 1990s and early part of the 21st century consistently showed that about one in four of the British population want the hereditary monarch replaced by an elected head of state. In part, the level of dissatisfaction with the present situation was fueled by a series of royal scandals, including divorces for three of Queen Elizabeth II’s four children. However, controversy also surrounds the nature of the succession because the Act of Settlement, approved by the English Parliament in 1701, declares that only a Protestant—and, moreover, a Protestant who has never married a


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Roman Catholic—can occupy the throne. In 1998, The Guardian challenged the law on the grounds that it violated the European Convention on Human Rights, but the courts ruled against the newspaper on the grounds that the convention does not mention any right to succeed to the crown. Moreover, supporters of the status quo point out that change would not be a simple matter because a non-Protestant could not be head of the Church of England, which is intricately linked to the monarchy. See also BRITISH OVERSEAS TERRITORY; CHANNEL ISLANDS; COMMONWEALTH REALM; DEFENDER OF THE FAITH; DISSOLUTION OF PARLIAMENT; INCOME TAX; LORD LIEUTENANT; LORD PROVOST; ORDERS OF CHIVALRY; PRIVY COUNCIL; PRIVY PURSE; RESERVE POWER; ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. MONOPOLIES AND MERGERS COMMISSION. See COMPETITION COMMISSION. MONSTER RAVING LOONY PARTY (MRLP). For more than 20 years, Screaming Lord Sutch and his Monster Raving Loony Party brightened up general election campaigns. London-born David Sutch had attempted to make his musical fortune in the United States but returned to Britain after being mugged in the early 1980s, alleging that America was becoming too violent. He formed the MRLP in 1983 and stood as a candidate on more than 40 occasions, wearing a top hat with a gold lamé suit and using the slogan “Vote for insanity: you know it makes sense” in mocking reference to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s tendency to say “You know it makes sense” when attempting to convince skeptics that her policies were the right ones. Sutch’s antics delighted the electorate—he asked why there was only one Monopolies Commission (see COMPETITION COMMISSION) and suggested that it should be illegal for bald people to go outdoors without wearing hats because the reflection of the sun from their pates might dazzle airline pilots—but none of the Loonies ever won a seat in the House of Commons, though they did get more votes than the Social Democratic Party candidate at Bootle in 1990, a result that finally convinced the Social Democrats that it was time to wind up their organization. At the local government level, they


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were more successful, with two representatives rising to the rank of mayor (Alan Hope at Ashburton in 1998 and Chris “Screwy” Driver at Queenborough in 2002). Moreover, some of their policies, which seemed ludicrous when first mooted (all-day opening of public houses and votes for 18-year-olds, for example) were adopted by the mainstream parties and ultimately became law. In 1999, Sutch committed suicide, a victim of depressive illness. The MRLP did well at the next general election in 2001 but since then has suffered from defection, schism, and a declining vote. MORGAN, HYWEL RHODRI (1939– ). Rhodri Morgan was elected first secretary of the National Assembly for Wales in February 2000, his title changing to first minister in October of the same year. The son of Thomas and Huana Morgan, he was born in Cardiff on 29 September 1939 and educated at Whitchurch Grammar School before going to Oxford University (where he studied philosophy, politics, and economics) and Harvard University (where he earned a master’s degree in government). He found his first job with the Workers Educational Association, who employed him as a tutor organizer in 1963; then from 1965–71, he was a research officer with Cardiff City Council, the Welsh Office (the government department dealing with Welsh affairs), and the Department of the Environment. From 1974–80, he worked as an industrial development officer with South Glamorgan County Council; in 1980, he became head of the bureau for press and information at the European Commission’s office in Wales; and in 1987, he captured the parliamentary constituency of Cardiff West for the Labour Party. In opposition, Morgan served as a front-bench spokesman on energy (1988–92) and Welsh affairs (1992–97), earning a reputation for a quick wit in the cut and thrust of House of Commons debate. Some commentators expressed surprise when he was omitted from Labour’s Welsh Office team after the party’s resounding general election victory in 1997, but by that time, he was considered too much of a free spirit for a hierarchy intent on sustaining an image of unity, and his claim that “New Labour theology is one singer, one song: it is not about divergence and diversity and freedom to breathe” did nothing to endear him to the organization’s spin doctors.


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A fluent speaker of the Welsh language and an ardent supporter of devolution, he challenged Ron Davies for the right to be Labour’s candidate for first secretary when the Welsh Assembly was formed in 1999. Davies, one of the principal architects of devolution policy, was preferred but had to withdraw when the press reported stories of a homosexual dalliance, so Morgan put his name forward again. Labour supporters in Wales made their support obvious, but even so, party managers in London ignored him once more and appointed Alun Michael, who was clearly considered by Prime Minister Tony Blair to be less likely to rock the political boat. However, Michael found leadership of the new body heavy going, resigning after only eight months following a vote of no confidence. Morgan replaced him and immediately indicated that he would not be a puppet pulled by strings from Westminster when he appointed left-winger Sue Essex to his cabinet as minister for the environment. Moreover, he argued that many policies advocated by Labour on a UK-wide basis were not appropriate for Wales, citing, for example, the drive for greater competition in provision of public services and maintaining that such competition would not be appropriate in Welsh rural areas. MURDOCH, KEITH RUPERT (1931– ). One of the world’s most influential press and television proprietors with a reputation for both commercial ruthlessness and conservatism, Murdoch owns the News of the World, The Sun, the Sunday Times, and The Times and thus has considerable power to shape the opinions of the British public. Born in Melbourne on 11 March 1931 to Sir Keith and Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, he was educated at Geelong Grammar School and Oxford University. When his father died in 1952, he assumed control of the family newspaper business, embarking on a process of acquisition that took him to the United Kingdom and the United States and into film, television, and other forms of mass communication. In Britain, Murdoch bought his first companies—the News of the World and The Sun—in 1969 and became a director of London Weekend Television two years later. He caused an uproar in 1981 when he purchased The Times because critics predicted that he would take the paper down market in an effort to increase sales, but in practice, he allows his British editors considerable latitude. The Sun, for example,


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regularly depicts topless ladies in full color on page 3 (see PAGE-3 GIRLS), and at the 1997 general election, his papers tended to support the Labour Party, although Murdoch himself has long been a supporter of the Republican Party in the United States and in the UK has a close friendship with the Conservative Party’s Margaret Thatcher. The pursuit of profit is less relaxed. In 1985, Murdoch moved production of The Times from central London to a purpose-built site in the city’s east end at Wapping and computerized the production process. For a full year, members of the print unions besieged the plant, clashing violently with police, but eventually they were forced to concede a defeat that led to considerable job losses and lower wages in the industry. Moreover, he has no qualms about using income from successful companies to subsidize others and force competitors out of business, as with the British Sky Broadcasting satellite television network, or about using offshore banking facilities to limit tax payments. In 1999, for example, The Economist reported that his operations had made a profit of £1.4 billion over the previous 10 years but had paid no corporation tax. In the United States, Murdoch’s holdings include DirecTV, the Fox television network, the HarperCollins Publishers, and the New York Post. In Australia, he owns The Australian, the Daily Mirror and the Sydney Daily Telegraph.

– N – NATIONAL ANTHEMS. The origins of God Save the Queen (or King)—the United Kingdom’s national anthem—are obscure. Some of the words and music may date from the 17th century, and versions were certainly performed in theaters during the first half of the 18th century. In anthem form, it was first sung in 1746 to demonstrate support for King George II in his efforts to defeat the Jacobite armies led by Bonnie Prince Charlie and clan chiefs from the Scottish Highlands. Since then, its position has been enshrined more by custom than by design because it has never been formally adopted as the country’s national song by act of Parliament. Conventionally, only the first and, very infrequently, the second verse are sung, partly be-


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cause the full seven verses take up much time and partly because the sixth verse beseeches God’s help to crush the “rebellious Scots,” causing much offense to many people in modern Scotland. When the four nations of the United Kingdom compete in sporting events and on other appropriate occasions they sing their own anthems. English teams regularly use God Save the Queen but on some occasions have preferred Jerusalem (the words were written by William Blake in 1804 and set to music by C. Hubert H. Parry in 1916) or Land of Hope and Glory (in 1901, A. C. Benson wrote words to Edward Elgar’s tune). Northern Ireland has commonly chosen Danny Boy, written by Frederick Weatherly to the music of Londonderry Air, an old folk tune, but in 1995, the Irish Rugby Union (which fields teams consisting of players both from Ulster and from the Irish Republic) commissioned Phil Coulter to write a nonpolitical song that could be played at international matches. The work—Ireland’s Call— has also been adopted by the field hockey team. Scotland’s rugby and soccer (see FOOTBALL) sides have adopted Flower of Scotland, which was written by Roy Williamson in 1966 but is often criticized for a dirgelike melody and anti-English sentiments. The tune also has the unfortunate limitation that it cannot be played properly on the bagpipes because it includes a note that is not within the pipes’ scale. For those reasons, some sports use Clifford Hanley’s Scotland the Brave, written in 1953 to a traditional bagpipe tune, or Robert Burns’ Scots Wha Hae, published in 1793 and taking the form of an address by King Robert the Bruce to his Scottish troops before the Battle of Bannockburn. Teams from Wales use Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau (The Land of My Fathers). The words of the song were written in 1856 by Evan James and the tune composed by his son, James James. In 1993, Prime Minister John Major made John Redwood—an Englishman—secretary of state for Wales because the Conservative Party had only six members of Parliament from Welsh constituencies, and none was considered experienced enough for the office. The appointment was roundly condemned as an example of neocolonialism, and the situation was exacerbated because Redwood did not trouble to learn the anthem, which is always sung in Welsh. When he was seen on television trying to mouth the words he and Major’s judgment were subjected to considerable ridicule at a time when the government was


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also being roundly criticized for other alleged shortcomings (see BLACK WEDNESDAY; CASH FOR QUESTIONS). See also FLAG. NATIONAL ARCHIVES. The archives, housed on the southwestern outskirts of London at Kew, were created in 2003 through the merger of the Historical Manuscripts Commission and the Public Record Office. The Office of Public Sector Information was added to the grouping in 2006. Holdings of government and legal documents date from the 11th century and are available to the public for consultation. NATIONAL ASSEMBLY FOR WALES. While the Labour Party led by Tony Blair was campaigning at the 1997 general election, it promised that, if it formed the next government, referenda would be held in Wales and in Scotland to find out whether residents wanted parliaments to run domestic affairs. Once in power, Blair kept his promise, allowing citizens of Wales to vote on the issue on 18 September that year. The result was extremely close, with only 50.3 percent of the turnout favoring an assembly, but even so, Labour interpreted it as a mandate to proceed. A site for a meeting place was identified in the heart of Cardiff docks, the necessary legislation (the Government of Wales Act, 1998) was passed at Westminster, elections were organized, and the National Assembly for Wales met for the first time on 12 May 1999. Usually termed the Welsh Assembly, the body has 60 members who are known as assembly members (AMs) or, in Welsh, Aelod y Cynulliad (ACs) and are elected using a form of proportional representation. The AMs elect a first minister (until October 2000, the position was known as first secretary), and the holder of that post appoints a cabinet, which has power to shape economic development, education, housing, local government, transport, and other aspects of Welsh life. The assembly was initially not given authority to pass legislation or raise taxes, but in 2006, the Westminster Parliament approved a second Government of Wales Act that gave the body some lawmaking powers. The same act separated the assembly’s executive and legislative branches, so the AMs now recommend a first minister, who is formally appointed by the monarch, though it is very unlikely that any name proposed by the democratically elected body would be rejected.


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Unusually for any nation’s governing body, the assembly had a female majority, with 31 women and 29 men, for a brief period following Trish Law’s by-election victory at Blaenau Gwent in 2006, but the balance changed after the 2007 elections, which produced an assembly with 31 men and 29 women. See also DEVOLUTION; MORGAN, HYWEL RHODRI (1939– ). NATIONAL CURRICULUM. See EDUCATION. NATIONAL DEBT. The national debt is the sum owed by a government to its domestic and foreign creditors. In the United Kingdom, it amounts to about 42 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), a proportion much lower than that in most industrially developed nations. Germany’s debt is about 68 percent of GDP, for example, and the United States’ debt about 64 percent. NATIONAL FRONT (NF). An extreme right-wing party formed by the merger of the British National Party and the League of Empire Loyalists on 7 February 1967, the National Front advocates termination of all immigration to the United Kingdom by nonwhites, heavy penalties for criminals in order to maintain law and order, and an end to multinational agreements, such as those that created the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, because they involve a loss of sovereignty. Most of its early support came from manual workers, many of whom felt threatened because they believed that the incomers would take their jobs, but its popularity suffered from 1979, when Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher made reductions in immigration and a lowering of crime rates major priorities for her new government. Internal bickering led to the departure of leader John Tyndall, who founded a new British National Party in 1982 and nurtured its growth as the front declined. In 1995, the National Front split into two factions. One, led by Ian Anderson, changed its name to the National Democrats but had only a handful of members by the early years of the 21st century. The other soldiered on, initially led by John McAuley and later by Tom Holmes. It continued to offer candidates at parliamentary elections but garnered very few votes.


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NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE (NHS). The NHS, which former chancellor of the exchequer Nigel Lawson described in his 1993 autobiography as the “closest thing the English have to a religion,” was created by act of Parliament in 1946 to provide free medical care for all British citizens. However, as it succeeded in curbing the incidence of infectious disease and reducing infant mortality, it kept a higher proportion of the population alive into old age, at which point they made increasing demands on health care. Those demands, coupled with increasingly sophisticated medical technologies and more expensive drugs, pushed up costs of provision. In 1988, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher launched a review of the service that resulted in structural reforms and creation of an “internal market.” Health Authorities (the regional bodies that organize health care at a local level) lost their responsibility to run hospitals and instead had to buy treatment for their patients from any health care unit that could supply it. Family doctors, who were described as “fund holders,” were also able to purchase specialist services. Hospitals and other providers were reorganized as independent trusts, charged with adopting a more commercial approach and balancing their budgets annually. Then, following the Labour Party’s general election victory in 1997, the new government made pledges to improve the quality of care by, for example, reducing waiting lists for operations. The efforts to keep costs within bounds and to raise standards of provision have had mixed success. In several parts of the country, waiting times for in-patient treatment have lessened and funding has exceeded inflation rates, allowing for the introduction of new facilities. However, some observers have pointed out that in the early part of the 21st century, spending on health care, expressed as a percentage of gross domestic product, was higher in countries such as Canada, France, Germany, and the United States than in Britain. Others claimed that the enormous workforce—around 1.25 million people—could be slimmed down, releasing funds that could be used to help the ill. In England, some 300 hospital trusts organize the activities of 1,600 NHS hospitals, and a further 300 primary care trusts supervise 29,000 family doctors and 18,000 dentists. In addition, other trusts provide ambulance, mental health, and related services. Twenty-eight


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geographically based Strategic Health Authorities (SHAs) manage the work of the trusts and are answerable to the Department of Health, which determines overall strategies. In Wales, there are 14 trusts, 12 of them focusing on regions, and 22 Local Health Boards, which perform functions similar to those of the English SHAs. Under powers devolved from Westminster in 1998, the National Assembly for Wales is responsible for strategic decision making. In Northern Ireland, health care is the responsibility of the Department of Health, Social Services, and Public Safety, which in 2005 announced a restructuring of provision, reducing the 19 existing trusts to 6 and creating a Strategic Health and Social Services Authority to integrate services. Scotland’s health services were founded under different legislation from that in the rest of the country and have always operated separately. There are no trusts. Instead, care is provided by 14 regional NHS boards, which own the hospitals and contract with family doctors to provide treatment. The Scottish Executive is responsible for funding and for political decisions relating to care. Several private companies also provide health services, though the scale is much more limited than that of the government-funded NHS and does not normally include accident or emergency treatment. Fewer than 15 percent of Britons have private insurance, and the number of policyholders is declining, primarily, according to market research surveys, for cost reasons. However, dental work is increasingly being provided on a private basis because dentists claim the fees they receive from the NHS are inadequate to cover the cost of modern treatment. NATIONAL LOTTERY. See NATIONAL LOTTO. NATIONAL LOTTO. State lotteries were held regularly between 1694 and 1826 in order to finance wars or other national projects. In 1994 and despite much criticism from church groups and others who felt that it would encourage gambling, Prime Minister John Major’s government introduced an updated version as a means of funding arts bodies, charities, and community development. Known as the National Lottery but renamed National Lotto in 2002 as part of a rebranding exercise designed to reverse falling sales, it was organized


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by the Camelot Group, which is owned by a consortium consisting of Cadbury Schweppes, De La Rue Holdings, Fujitsu Services Ltd., Royal Mail Enterprises Ltd., and Thales Electronics. Participants buy tickets for £1.00 from newsagents, supermarkets, and other stores and choose 6 numbers ranging from 1 to 49. If those numbers match the six that emerge from the draw televised by the British Broadcasting Corporation every Wednesday and Saturday, they win a jackpot prize that can amount to several million pounds. The chances of success are about 14 million to 1 against, but hope springs eternal. Since the lottery was launched, several variations of the game have been added in an effort to boost spending. Fifty percent of the income is used for prize money, 28 percent is used for charitable purposes, 12 percent goes to the government, 5 percent goes to the ticket sellers, and 5 percent goes to Camelot. By 2007, about £20 billion was distributed to good causes, about half supporting projects for children and the rest helping to fund such disparate schemes as training camps for elite athletes and the creation of wildlife reserves. NATIONAL PARK. Although members of Parliament were advocating the designation of national parks in the 19th century, no action was taken until the Labour Party government passed the National Park and Access to the Countryside Act in 1949. Currently, there are nine parks in England (Dartmoor, Exmoor, the Lake District, the New Forest, the Norfolk Broads, Northumberland, the North York Moors, the Peak District, and the Yorkshire Dales), three in Wales (the Brecon Beacons, the Pembrokeshire Coast, and Snowdonia), two in Scotland (the Cairngorms, and Loch Lomond and the Trossachs) and none in Northern Ireland. With the exception of the Norfolk Broads and the Pembrokeshire Coast, all cover areas of hill and moorland. The 1995 Environment Act confirmed that the primary purposes of the English and Welsh parks were to promote public understanding of their special qualities and enhance natural beauty, wildlife, and cultural heritage. However, conflicts often arise because the land is owned by a multitude of private individuals rather than by the state and recreational access is restricted. There are several quarries in the Peak District park, for example, and much of Dartmoor is used as a military training area.


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Each park is managed by a National Park Authority, whose membership represents local as well as national interests. Scotland’s two parks were created under the terms of the National Parks (Scotland) Act (2000). They have four purposes—to promote understanding of their special qualities, to conserve and enhance natural and cultural heritage, to promote the sustainable use of natural resources, and to promote the social and economic development of local communities. NATIONAL TRUST. The National Trust was formed in 1895 to preserve places of historic interest and natural beauty in England, Northern Ireland, and Wales. Now one of the country’s largest landholders, it has a membership of more than 3 million people and owns nearly 940 square miles of territory, some 600 miles of coastline, and more than 200 significant buildings. The organization has a full-time staff of about 4,000 but depends heavily on its 38,000 volunteers to assist the 12 million visitors attracted to the properties every year. See also NATIONAL TRUST FOR SCOTLAND (NTS). NATIONAL TRUST FOR SCOTLAND (NTS). The NTS was formed in 1931 and is wholly independent of the National Trust, although its aims are similar. It has 260,000 members, employs 500 people, owns some 300 square miles of land and 128 properties, and attracts 1.7 million visitors annually. In its early days, it concentrated on the acquisition of large country houses, but in recent years, it has placed considerable emphasis on more humble abodes. Also, it has invested substantial sums in environmental improvements, including the redesign of visitors’ centers and repairs to eroded mountain paths. NATIONALIST. The word nationalist is used in two senses in Britain. In Scotland and Wales, nationalists advocate the breakup of the United Kingdom so that the individual nations can elect their own, independent governments. Politically, they tend to affiliate with the Scottish National Party or with Plaid Cymru, although not all members of those parties believe that independence is possible or even desirable in the near future. In Northern Ireland, nationalists (sometimes termed republicans) want the six counties of Ulster to withdraw from the United


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Kingdom and merge with the Republic of Ireland. At elections, they tend to support either Sinn Féin or the more moderate Social Democratic and Labour Party. Many of the most committed individuals joined the Provisional Irish Republican Army or other paramilitary organizations, but not all nationalists approved of the violent tactics adopted by these groups. See also LOYALIST; UNIONIST. NATIONALITY. See CITIZENSHIP. NATIONALIZATION. Clause Four of the Labour Party’s constitution, which was framed in 1918, committed the organization to policies designed to achieve “common ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange.” That commitment stemmed in part from socialist beliefs that workers should share in the profits of industry, but it also made economic sense to many people. At the time, manufacturing and services were dominated by numerous small concerns so state control could achieve both integration of provision and economies of scale. For example, railroad timetables could be reorganized because multiple companies would no longer run along the same routes, duplicating journeys. When in 1945 Labour won the first general election after World War II, it pursued nationalization with some fervor, taking about 20 percent of Britain’s industrial capacity into state control by 1951, including civil aviation (1947), coal (1947), electricity (1947), gas (1949), and railroads (1947), as well as the Bank of England (1946). By the early 1980s, however, public support for the process had waned. Many of the state-controlled concerns appeared to depend for their survival on subventions from government, operating inefficiently because they lacked the profit-making motivation of private businesses and suffering commercially because output was frequently disrupted by strikes called by powerful trade unions. In 1983, Labour, led by Michael Foot, fought a general election campaign with promises of further nationalization and lost heavily. In the aftermath, the party’s leaders realized that it had to modernize if it was ever to return to government, particularly so because Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had published plans for the reprivatization of state-controlled concerns that, apart from those for the railroads, were well received by the electorate. For politicians on the


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political Left, such as those supporting Militant Tendency, nationalization was one of the principal tenets of socialism, so Old Labour (including many trade unionists) opposed change, believing that it would take the party away from its working-class roots. However, Tony Blair, when he was appointed leader of the party in 1994, made no bones about the need to adapt to a different economic and social world from that of 1918, pointing out that Labour had to attract significant numbers of middle-class voters if it was ever to push the Conservative Party out of office. Blair proposed dropping the nationalization commitment from the constitution, replacing it with a less-specific aim to build a “community in which power, wealth and opportunity are in the hands of the many, not the few.” His opponents argued that most of the newly privatized companies had shed workers, reducing the job security of working-class groups and affecting the incomes of many thousands of families at a time when directors were receiving very high salaries and when shareholders rather than employees were benefiting from profits. However, at a special conference in 1995, delegates voted for the change by a margin of two to one. Commentators interpreted the vote as symbolic of a move away from historic roots rather than as a significant shift in policy because the aging left wing was decreasingly influential and power within the party had clearly passed to the youthful followers of a reforming Blairite leadership. The electorate responded in the same vein, believing Labour’s modernization preferable to alternative political programs and carrying the party to a landslide victory at the 1997 general election. NETWORK RAIL. In 2002, Network Rail acquired the fixed assets and £7.1 billion debt of Railtrack plc, which had been responsible for the maintenance and upgrading of Britain’s railroad infrastructure, including 40,000 bridges and tunnels, 21,000 miles of track, and 2,500 stations, since 1994. The company operates on a not-for-profit basis, with any surplus channeled back into the industry. In 2003, it announced that all maintenance work would be carried out by its own engineers, a move that was welcomed by Railtrack’s critics, who had claimed that the practice of contracting with private firms resulted in a lowering of safety standards because costs were kept as low as


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possible in order to augment profits. Even so, after one elderly lady was killed when a train was derailed in northern England on 27 February 2007, safety experts suggested that the accident had happened because the track had not been properly inspected. See also HATFIELD TRAIN CRASH. NEWBURY BYPASS. Newbury, located about 60 miles west of London, sits astride major roads linking the capital to Birmingham, Bristol, and Southampton. By the middle of the 20th century, its narrow streets had become a notorious traffic bottleneck as cars, trucks, and vans tried to make their way through the town, so in the early 1960s, a bypass was built to alleviate congestion. However, as traffic volume grew, the bypass itself proved inadequate, so in 1981, planners presented proposals for another road skirting the town to the west. The scheme provoked fury from environmentalists because it cut through an “area of outstanding natural beauty,” a historic battlefield site owned by English Heritage, a National Trust nature reserve, and three “sites of special scientific interest.” Despite the protests, the plans were approved following a public inquiry in 1988, and construction began seven years later. The objectors refused to give in, hiding themselves in underground tunnels dug along the route of the new road; sitting in tree houses, which they called “twigloos”; and organizing marches that attracted up to 5,000 supporters, but in the end, the resistance was in vain. The road was completed in 1998 (17 years after it was first mooted and at a cost of £24 million for security arrangements). Nevertheless, the events gave confidence to the European environmentalist movement and encouraged other pressure groups to oppose developments elsewhere in the United Kingdom, leading to increased emphasis on wildlife habitat and landscape value in construction projects. NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE. Newcastle is the major settlement in northeast England. Located on the River Tyne some 275 miles north of London, it expanded rapidly during the Industrial Revolution, exporting coal and developing a host of port and manufacturing activities, including chemical production, flour milling, glassmaking, and shipbuilding. Bridges were built across the river to facilitate ac-


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cess, so by the early 20th century, the city lay at the heart of a large urban complex that included such subsidiary centers as Gateshead, Jarrow, and South Shields. However, the recessions of the 1920s and the 1980s seriously affected the local economy, forcing a change of focus. In modern Newcastle, more than 80 percent of the employed population works in public or other services and only 10 percent in manufacturing. Many of the buildings vacated by industries driven out of business were demolished, but others were refurbished to provide new functions and attract tourists. Much of the quayside, and especially the areas close to the bridges, has been redeveloped to provide homes and entertainment complexes. In 2002, a derelict grain warehouse was converted at a cost of £45.7 million into the 25,000-square-foot Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, the largest gallery of its kind outside London, and in 2004, the Sage Music Centre opened, providing a 1,650-seat concert hall and a home for the Northern Sinfonia Orchestra. The Metrocentre, originally built in 1986, was extended in 2004 to make it the largest shopping mall in Europe, with 1.78 million square feet of retail space, 330 shops, and 50 restaurants and cafes. At the time of the 2001 census, Newcastle had a resident population of just under 260,000, and its metropolitan area (known as Tyne and Wear) had about 1.1 million. NEW LABOUR. The term New Labour is widely employed in the media as a catchphrase to describe the philosophies and values of the modern Labour Party, which since Michael Foot’s resignation from the leadership in 1983 has shed many of its traditional policies, such as advocacy of state control of industry, and adopted a more politically centrist (or, according to some commentators, a more rightwing) stance in order to increase its attractiveness to middle-class voters. The words are also regularly used by supporters with reference to the party itself in an effort to distinguish New Labour from the older, working-class-oriented organization. See also CAMPBELL, ALASTAIR JOHN (1957– ); COOL BRITANNIA; MORGAN, HYWEL RHODRI (1939– ); OLD LABOUR. NEW POLITICS NETWORK. See COMMUNIST PARTY OF GREAT BRITAIN.


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NEWS OF THE WORLD. The News of the World, a stablemate of The Sun, is a London-based tabloid Sunday newspaper with a reputation for exposés of the sex lives of celebrities, for which reason it is facetiously known as News of the Screws. The paper was first published in 1843 and was acquired by Rupert Murdoch in 1969 after a bitter, year-long battle to wrest it from the hands of Robert Maxwell’s Pergamon Press. Despite the concentration on crime reports, light news, salacious stories, and sport, the News of the World claims a readership of 9 million people for each issue and can exert considerable social and political influence. In 2000, for example, it conducted a campaign to “name and shame” pedophiles that resulted in the harassment of many wholly innocent individuals, and in 2006, it revealed that member of Parliament Mark Oaten had had a relationship of several months with a 23-year-old rent boy, a disclosure that forced Oaten to resign from his post as home affairs spokesman for the Liberal Democrat Party. Also in 2006, it claimed that Tommy Sheridan, a leading figure in the Scottish Socialist Party, had had an extramarital affair and visited sex clubs. Sheridan sued, conducted his own case in court, and won £200,000 in damages. Then early in 2007, Clive Goodman, the paper’s royal editor, was sentenced to four months in prison for illegally hacking into cell phones belonging to some of the royal family’s senior aides and accessing voice-mail messages, some of which were left by Prince William. NEWSPAPERS. Newspapers have been published in Britain since the 17th century, and some have appeared continuously since the late 1700s (see THE HERALD; THE TIMES). Markets grew with the expansion of literacy, particularly during the first half of the 20th century, which saw the birth of a tabloid press and, with the Daily Mirror, the first paper to depend on a predominantly working-class readership. Many of the titles were originally the property of wealthy men who exercised considerable control over editorial policy (Max Aitken, who acquired the Daily Express in 1916, was typical), but since the 1960s, ownership has become increasingly consolidated as formerly independent companies have been absorbed by large corporations, such as Rupert Murdoch’s News International (which bought the News of the World and The Sun in 1969 and took over


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The Times and the Sunday Times in 1981) and Trinity Mirror plc (which was formed in 1999 and owns more than 100 national and regional titles). As the trend has continued, some commentators have expressed concern that the independence of editors may decrease as proprietors attempt to impose particular viewpoints across a wide range of publications. The United Kingdom’s relatively small size means that papers published in London can be distributed throughout the whole country and thus serve a national market. Competition is intense, particularly among the former broadsheets—the Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Independent, and The Times—which rely on a largely middle-class market, and the tabloids, such as the Mirror and The Sun, which have a more working-class readership. That competition allows buyers a considerable choice of morning paper, so as a result, individual publications develop stronger political identities than is common in countries such as the United States, where markets are more regionally based and publishers have to serve all shades of opinion in one newspaper and annoy none. With the exception of the Daily Mail and The Times, all of the major titles, however, are suffering from declines in readership, as are the local papers, because consumers are increasingly reliant on television and the Internet for news. In response, many turn to sensationalism or include weighty feature supplements in an effort to maintain their sales. See also BELFAST TELEGRAPH GROUP; DAILY MAIL; DAILY STAR; THE ECONOMIST; FINANCIAL TIMES (FT); MAXWELL, IAN ROBERT (1923–91); THE OBSERVER; PAGE-3 GIRLS; THE SCOTSMAN; WAPPING DISPUTE; WESTERN MAIL. NOLAN REPORT. Michael Nolan, who served as a judge in the High Court of Justice from 1982–91 and then in the Court of Appeal (1991–94) before becoming a lord of appeal in ordinary (1994–98), chaired two committees of inquiry that issued reports now usually named after him. In 1994, the Conservative Party government was faced with several accusations of improper behavior by people in public office and particularly with claims that some members of Parliament (MPs) had accepted payments in return for asking questions of government ministers in the House of Commons (see CASH FOR QUESTIONS). In an effort to limit the political damage, Prime Minister


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John Major appointed a Committee on Standards in Public Life led by Nolan to investigate the conduct of MPs and civil servants. The report, published the following year, concluded that public confidence in elected representatives had declined as more and more of them had accepted paid consultancies that related to their parliamentary role and as increasing numbers of ministerial appointments to governing bodies, such as those of the National Health Service, appeared to be based on criteria other than merit. It made 55 recommendations, which led to the introduction of a new code of conduct for MPs, who, for example, are no longer allowed to speak or ask questions on behalf of groups from which they receive payments. Also, Nolan suggested that a parliamentary commissioner for standards should be appointed to keep a register of MPs’ financial interests, advise on conduct, and investigate complaints, with a Committee on Standards and Privileges created to oversee the commissioner’s work. Since then, the Standards Committee has prepared additional reports on such matters as the funding of political parties (1996) and standards of conduct in the House of Commons (2002). Five years later, Lord Nolan, himself a Roman Catholic, was asked by the Catholic authorities to lead a group advising on child protection within the church in England and Wales. The body was established because, between 1995 and 1999, 21 of the 5,600 priests had been convicted of offenses against young people, and the report, published the following year and accepted by the Catholic hierarchy, recommended that the police should make checks on all clergy, staff, and volunteers in order to stamp out sexual abuses. It also suggested that a national database with details of all candidates for the ministry should be created, that every parish should have a child protection representative, and that the church should create a national child protection unit. See also QUASI-AUTONOMOUS NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION (QUANGO). NONDEPARTMENTAL PUBLIC BODY (NDPB). See QUASIAUTONOMOUS NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION (QUANGO). NORAID. See IRISH NORTHERN AID COMMITTEE (NORAID).


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NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION (NATO). The United Kingdom has been a leading member of NATO since the organization was founded in 1949. By the early years of the 21st century, it was contributing some £120 million each year to the running costs as well providing civilian and military personnel for the Brussels headquarters and task forces in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Iraq, and Kosovo. Britain is the lead nation in Allied Command Europe’s rapid reaction corps and also provides one of three main bases for the maritime high readiness force. Successive governments have consistently supported UK involvement with NATO, but that support is not universal. Some critics have argued that the organization has had no obvious role since the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991 and consumes resources that could be better used elsewhere. Others claim that America’s dominance in the group gives the United States too much influence over the foreign policy of European nations, preventing them from acting as independently as they might wish. NORTH–SOUTH DIVIDE. The suggestion that England is divided into two nations that have little understanding of each other was popularized by Elizabeth Gaskell’s novel North and South, published in 1855. During the 1980s, while Margaret Thatcher was prime minister, the term was applied to the whole of Great Britain as a means of distinguishing the Conservative Party’s strongholds in the southern part of the country from the Labour Party’s support base further north. There were also economic implications (the north was the home of the bulk of the country’s extractive and heavy manufacturing industries, and the south was more service orientated), social class variations (the south had more people in administrative and professional jobs), and geological connotations (the north had a much higher proportion of hilly land). After the 1997 general election, when Labour dominated voting patterns across the country, the phrase became much less common, but it has reappeared in recent years as journalists and researchers point to differences in house prices, life expectancy, and other indicators of wealth and well-being, almost always showing that residents in the north are disadvantaged compared with those in the south.


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NORTHERN IRELAND. In 1921, the British government relinquished control over much of the island of Ireland but kept six counties in the northeast under the rule of the crown. Those counties, together known as Northern Ireland, cover some 5,500 square miles (a land area similar to that of Connecticut) and had a population of 1.685 million at the time of the 2001 census. Topographically, the province is shaped like a bowl, with uplands rising to almost 2,800 feet in the Mourne Mountains and rivers draining inland to Lough Neagh, the United Kingdom’s largest freshwater lake. The climate is typical of the world’s temperate maritime regions, with summer temperatures reaching an average of about 63° Fahrenheit in July and about 44° Fahrenheit in winter. Rainfall totals are slightly higher in the east, where they amount to some 38 inches annually. Most residents of Northern Ireland live in towns and villages along the coast, with Belfast (which in 2001 had 276,000 people within its city limits and 579,000 within its metropolitan area) and Londonderry (which had 83,600 people) providing the main foci. Employment opportunities were greatly affected by a lack of investment during the civil strife that affected the area from the 1960s until almost the end of the century but more recently have improved as peaceful conditions have been restored. Also, traditional labor-intensive sources of work, such as shipbuilding and textile production, declined during the 20th century, to be replaced by capital-intensive developments, such as chemical plants and high technology enterprises. By the early 21st century, service industries provided nearly 80 percent of Northern Ireland’s jobs, although manufacturing, particularly of aerospace components, furniture, heavy machinery, linen, and ships, remains important. Agriculture focuses on dairying and livestock rearing on inland farms. From the time of its formation, Northern Ireland’s domestic political strategies were determined by a Parliament based at Stormont near Belfast. However, that Parliament was structured (through gerrymandering of electoral boundaries, for instance) so that a permanent majority of its members would support the union with Britain. Moreover, that majority was largely Protestant in religious persuasion whereas the minority was largely Roman Catholic. During the late 1960s, civil liberties groups took to the streets in an effort to win more equal treatment for Catholics, and in 1972, as violence grew,


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the Stormont government was suspended. Two years later, direct rule was imposed by the national Parliament at Westminster. The administrative changes failed to solve the problems, however, and extremist groups, such as the Provisional Irish Republican Army and the Ulster Defence Association, conducted campaigns of murder and bombing in an effort either to persuade the British government to relinquish control of the province or to cow those nationalists who wanted a closer association with the republic. Some 3,500 people died before the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 brought a permanent cease-fire. In practice, media depictions of the conflict as a struggle between religious sects were unduly simplistic. For example, opinion polls have shown that a majority of Catholics felt that they were the subject of discrimination and supported the nationalist cause but that a significant number want Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom. Similarly, although most Protestants want to retain the link with the rest of Britain, many have attempted to build bridges between the sectarian factions. Also, church attendance, although higher than in most other parts Britain, has been declining for many years, suggesting that Northern Irish society is becoming more secular. Relatively, the proportion of residents who are Catholic appears to have grown from about 35 percent at the time of the 1961 census to 40 percent in 2001, whereas the proportion that is Protestant has declined from 53 percent of the total to around 36 percent over the same period. The numbers reporting affiliation to other religious sects or to none rose from 12 percent to 24 percent over the four decades. As one element of the Good Friday Agreement, the Republic of Ireland and the UK both recognized the “right of all the people of Northern Ireland to identify themselves . . . as Irish or British, or both,” so most residents born in the province are entitled to carry passports issued by either or both countries. The strongest political parties are those, such as the Democratic Unionist Party and the Ulster Unionist Party, that advocate links with the rest of Britain or those, such as Sinn Féin and the Social Democratic and Labour Party, that support calls for a united Ireland. Parties that cross the constitutional divide receive limited support; the strongest is the Alliance Party, which has seen a contraction in its geographical


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strength, has no seats in the House of Commons, and draws most of its votes from Belfast’s middle-class suburbs. See also ABORTION; BANK HOLIDAY; BELFAST TELEGRAPH GROUP; BOROUGH; BOUNDARY COMMISSION; CURRENCY; DEVOLUTION; EDUCATION; EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT; FIRST MINISTER; FLAG; FOOTBALL; GREAT BRITAIN; LANGUAGE; LEGAL SYSTEM, NORTHERN IRELAND; LOCAL GOVERNMENT, NORTHERN IRELAND; LORD MAYOR; MAYOR; NATIONAL ANTHEMS; NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE (NHS); NORTHERN IRELAND ASSEMBLY; NORTHERN IRELAND EXECUTIVE; NORTHERN IRELAND OFFICE; PRISONS; RAILROAD TRANSPORT; RELIGION; SUNDAY TRADING; TOURISM; ULSTER. References to the period of civil strife that lasted from the late 1960s until the late 1990s are listed in the entry on the Troubles. NORTHERN IRELAND ASSEMBLY. There have been four Northern Ireland Assemblies. Following the implementation of direct rule from Westminster in 1972, the British government attempted to create a power-sharing executive to manage Northern Ireland’s affairs with both sides of the Protestant and Roman Catholic religious divide represented. The necessary legislation (the Northern Ireland Constitution Act) was passed by Parliament in 1973, but the assembly collapsed in May of the following year when unionist groups withdrew. A second, 78-member assembly was elected by proportional representation under the terms of the Northern Ireland Act of 1982 and given the task of making proposals for the resumption of devolved government. It was dissolved four years later because loyalists were using it primarily as a theater for protest against the Anglo–Irish Agreement. Under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, a third Northern Ireland Assembly was created. One hundred eight members were elected from the same 18 geographical constituencies as were used for elections to the House of Commons, with each constituency choosing 6 representatives, who were known as “members of the legislative assembly,” or MLAs. In order to ensure that power was shared between those groups that wanted to retain links with the United Kingdom and those that preferred merger with the Republic


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of Ireland, the MLAs had to identify themselves as nationalist, unionist, or “other.” Ministers were appointed according to the relative strengths of the nationalist and unionist factions and the assembly leader, known as the first minister, could only be elected with support from both sides. The Northern Ireland Act (1998) devolved legislative powers to the assembly, retaining certain areas, such as defense and foreign policy, for the Westminster Parliament and reserving others, including criminal law and regulations relating to the foreshore and seabed, for possible transfer in the future. The assembly assumed responsibility for all of the areas that were neither retained nor reserved, including agriculture, the arts, education, health care, transport policy, and water supply. All acts needed the approval of the secretary of state for Northern Ireland before going to the sovereign for royal assent. Success was limited. The Alliance Party complained that a structure that focused so heavily on differences between loyalists and nationalists would emphasize rather than eliminate the divisions in Northern Irish society. That prediction seemed justified by events because the Democratic Unionist Party and the Ulster Unionist Party refused to cooperate with Sinn Féin, the main nationalist party, unless the Provisional Irish Republican Army destroyed all of its armaments and disbanded. As a result, assembly proceedings were suspended from 12 February until 30 May in 2000, on 10 August and 22 September 2001, and from 14 October 2002. Elections for a new assembly were held on 8 March 2007, with the Democratic Unionists winning 36 seats, Sinn Féin 28, the Ulster Unionists 18, the Social Democratic and Labour Party 16, the Alliance Party 7, and the Green Party and United Kingdom Unionist Party 1 each, with an independent taking the remaining place. Shortly afterward, Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams, the leaders of the two major parties, began negotiations designed to find a way of sharing power in the new body. The Assembly’s powers were restored on 8 May and Paisley was appointed first minister. See also NORTHERN IRELAND EXECUTIVE; NORTHERN IRELAND OFFICE. NORTHERN IRELAND EXECUTIVE. The Northern Ireland Assembly elects a leader (known as the first minister), a deputy leader, and ministers, who carry out the body’s executive functions. The posts are allocated according to the relative strengths of the unionist


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and nationalist factions in the assembly, with each minister allocated a specific area of responsibility, such as agriculture, education, or regional development. NORTHERN IRELAND OFFICE. In 1972, the government suspended the Stormont-based Northern Ireland Parliament because it seemed unable to prevent recurring outbreaks of violence between unionists (who wanted to retain the province’s political links with the United Kingdom) and nationalists (who advocated merger with the Republic of Ireland). The Parliament’s responsibilities were transferred to a newly created Northern Ireland Office headed by a secretary of state who had a seat in the cabinet. In succeeding decades, control passed back and forth between Northern Ireland Assemblies, which took the place of the former Parliament for short periods and assumed an element of authority over domestic affairs, and the Northern Ireland Office, which stepped in when an assembly was in abeyance. During the worst of the Troubles, ambitious politicians were said to dread being offered the job of secretary of state for Northern Ireland because there was so little likelihood of glory. However, Douglas Hurd, who held the post in 1984–85, later became both home secretary (1985–89) and foreign secretary (1989–95), and Tom King, who was in office during 1988–89, became secretary of state for defence (1989–92). NORTHERN IRELAND WOMEN’S COALITION. The Women’s Coalition was founded in 1996 as a nonsectarian political party that would side neither with republicans (who wanted Ulster linked to the Republic of Ireland) nor with loyalists (who wanted it to remain part of the United Kingdom). It attracted dissidents unhappy with the policies of other Northern Ireland political organizations, along with several health care and education professionals, and won two seats at the elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1998. Both representatives failed to retain their places at the 2003 elections, however, and the party was disbanded in 2006. NUCLEAR ENERGY. Britain has generated nuclear fuels on a commercial scale since 1957 and now produces about one fifth of its electricity needs from that source using four Magnox gas-cooled reactors,


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seven advanced gas-cooled reactors (AGRs), and one pressurized water reactor (PWR). Some 30,000 people are employed in the industry, which contributes about £3.3 billion to the country’s gross domestic product. The AGR and PWR reactors are operated by British Energy (which was removed from state control and privatized in 1996) and the older Magnox reactors, all of which will be decommissioned by 2010, are controlled by British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL), which is state owned. Nuclear power generation is a regular source of controversy. Its proponents argue that nuclear fuels do not contribute to global warming and that without them Britain would have to rely very heavily on imported oil and gas within two decades. However, critics claim that nuclear power stations are expensive to build, that both British Energy and BNFL have suffered major losses in recent years, that the incidence of cancers in areas close to reactors is abnormally high, and that the disposal of radioactive waste is fraught with problems. See also IRELAND, REPUBLIC OF.

– O – THE OBSERVER. The Observer, the world’s first Sunday newspaper, has a long history, dating from 4 December 1791. It takes a mildly left-of-center stance on political issues and had only 10 editors during the 20th century. In 1993, it was purchased from Lonrho by the Guardian Media Group; in 2005, it introduced The Observer Blog; and in 2006, it converted from broadsheet to Berliner format. Sales, to a predominantly middle-class readership, average some 500,000 copies each week, about twice as many as The Independent on Sunday but well short of the Sunday Times’ 1.3 million. See also MCCONNELL, JACK WILSON (1960– ). OFFICE OF FAIR TRADING (OFT). Created by the Fair Trading Act of 1973, the OFT enforces legislation designed to protect consumers. It also initiates studies into the operation of markets in an effort to eliminate unfair competition (such as price fixing by cartels) and unlawful activities, including the abuse of market power. See also COMPETITION COMMISSION.


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OFFICE OF PUBLIC SECTOR INFORMATION (OPSI). The OPSI was created by the government in 2005 to facilitate the distribution and use of public sector information. It incorporates Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, which is the manager of crown copyright and printer of acts of Parliament, and allows researchers access to all United Kingdom legislation through its website (www.opsi.gov.uk). In October 2006, the office merged with the National Archives in an effort to provide a more holistic approach to information management. See also CABINET OFFICE. OFFICIAL SECRETS ACTS. The Official Secrets Acts were designed to prevent the dissemination of information that might threaten national security. Legislation was first introduced in 1911 and supplemented by a second act of Parliament in 1920, but the ineffectiveness of those measures in a modern social environment was demonstrated in 1984–85 when civil servant Clive Ponting (1946– ) admitted leaking two documents about the sinking of the Argentinean cruiser General Belgrano during the Falklands War. More than 300 crewmen were killed in the attack, and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s government claimed that deaths were justified because the vessel was threatening British troops. However, the politicians’ veracity was questioned when the leaked papers showed that the ship was sailing away from the battle zone when it was hit. Ponting, charged under the Official Secrets Acts, admitted responsibility for the leak but argued that he had acted in the public interest and was acquitted by a jury even though Judge Anthony McCowan recommended prosecution. The case raised issues concerning the public’s right to know the actions of the government it had elected as well as the need for secrecy in time of war and was followed two years later by an attempt to prevent Peter Wright, a former MI5 (see SECURITY SERVICE [MI5]) officer, from publishing his memoirs. Wright’s book—Spycatcher— was distributed in Australia, where he was living, and in the United States. Mrs. Thatcher contended that secret service officers were bound by the Official Secrets Acts to keep their activities confidential and attempted to prevent British newspapers from summarizing the book’s contents. The effort failed, with the lords of appeal in ordinary ruling that the publication overseas meant that the material


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was no longer secret and criticizing the way the government handled the case, which cost an estimated £3 million. Lord Goff, one of the judges, commented that “there is a continuing public interest that the workings of government should be open to scrutiny and criticism.” In response, Parliament passed a third Official Secrets Act in 1989, removing the defense that publication of information was in the public interest and prohibiting members and former members of the intelligence services from disclosing details of their work. Also, journalists who wrote about information acquired from agents were made liable to imprisonment. However, efforts to invoke the law have had limited success. In 1997, Richard Tomlinson, a former MI6 (see SECURITY INTELLIGENCE SERVICE [SIS]) officer, was sentenced to prison for a year after attempting to publish summaries of his intelligence experiences. Nevertheless, his book was later published in Russia, and in 2001, the Court of Appeal gave the Sunday Times permission to print extracts in Britain. Then in 2002, David Shayler, a former MI5 officer, was charged with passing documents to the Mail on Sunday newspaper. He was found guilty and given a sixmonth prison sentence but was released after only seven weeks. Efforts in 2004 to prosecute Katharine Gun were even less successful. Gun, an employee at the Government Communications Headquarters, had leaked information that the United States had requested British help in tapping the phones of United Nations delegates prior to the Iraq War. She was arrested and charged with offenses under the 1989 act, but the case was dropped when the prosecution declined to offer any evidence, a decision that prompted speculation regarding the government’s fears of publicity about its efforts to spy on representatives of political allies and its wish to avoid questions about the legality of the war. Some writers contend that recent efforts to use the Official Secrets Acts have run counter to trends toward greater transparency in government (see FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT [2000]). Others contend that the laws are becoming increasingly irrelevant because the Internet provides ready access to information that was formerly more easily hidden. OFFICIAL UNIONISTS. Changing political allegiances in Northern Ireland have led several groups who favor a continued constitutional association between Ulster and the United Kingdom but disagree


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about the form that association should take to break away from the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP). Individuals who remain within the UUP fold are often referred to in the media as “official unionists.” OIL INDUSTRY. The modern British oil industry dates from 1969, when the Arbroath field was discovered in the North Sea. Announcements of further finds were made regularly during the early 1970s, and despite the problems caused by high winds, low temperatures, and deep waters, companies were encouraged by the government to exploit reserves as expeditiously as possible in order to reduce the country’s trade deficit. Because of its location, Aberdeen became the commercial center of the infant industry, but many small communities benefited, particularly in Scotland, as platform construction sites and supply bases were established, several in remote areas, such as the Shetland Islands. Production grew from virtually nothing in 1975 to over 2.5 million barrels a day in 1985 and reached a peak of about 2.9 million in 1999. By the early 21st century, more than 200 fields were operating, and oil was supporting some 265,000 jobs. However, although new fields were still being discovered, forecasters were warning that output would decline because the most easily won oil had been recovered and because the new finds were much smaller than the original ones. Those predictions were given added emphasis in 2005, when the United Kingdom became a net oil importer for the first time since 1979. See also CULLEN INQUIRY; ENERGY. OLD LABOUR. In 1983, the Labour Party suffered a heavy defeat at the general election after campaigning with policies that included further nationalization of industry and unilateral nuclear disarmament. Realizing that the organization would have to change if it was ever to form a government, Neil Kinnock, John Smith, Tony Blair, and their colleagues persuaded a majority of members to expel leftwing extremists, such as the Militant Tendency group, and adopt programs that would appeal to a middle-class electorate. The reformist majority, who led the party to victory at the 1997 general election, became known as “New Labour,” and the traditionalist minority, who wanted to cling to socialist, working-class values, became known as “Old Labour.”


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OMAGH BOMBING. On 15 August 1998, a bomb exploded in Omagh, Northern Ireland, killing 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins, several children, and 2 Spanish tourists. More than 200 others were injured. The attack was widely condemned by supporters of the nationalist cause (including representatives of the Sinn Féin political party, which was widely considered to be the mouthpiece of the Provisional Irish Republican Army [PIRA]) as well as by loyalists and outside observers. Later, an investigation by Nuala O’Loan, the province’s police ombudsman, criticized the Royal Ulster Constabulary and the intelligence services for their handling of the incident, stressing that more attention should have been paid to phone calls warning of a possible explosion and concluding that there was a failure of leadership, with some officers using poor judgment. In the fall of 2000, Panorama—a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) television program—alleged that five individuals had planned the incident, and some authorities believe that the bombing of the BBC’s television center in London on 4 March 2001 (see LONDON BOMBING) was intended as a reprisal for that broadcast. The following year, Colm Murphy, one of the men named, was tried in the Republic of Ireland on charges of conspiracy to cause an explosion and jailed for 14 years, but the sentence was quashed on appeal in 2005 because two police officers had falsified their notes and because the judges had wrongly taken Murphy’s previous convictions into account. In December 2007, Sean Heaney’s trial on 29 counts of murder collapsed when the judge accused police witnesses of deliberately misleading the court. The Real Irish Republican Army, a PIRA splinter group that opposed the Good Friday Agreement, initially accepted responsibility for planting the bomb, and commentators suggested that the intention was to reignite violence between Protestants and Catholics. Three years later, however, the organization issued a statement claiming that its involvement was minimal and that “this terrible tragedy” was planned and implemented by agents provocateurs from MI5, Britain’s security service. ONE NATION CONSERVATISM. Those members of the Conservative Party who make a case for the “one nation” approach to decision making reject concepts of political division based on class interests


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and argue that policies should be based on the interests of the whole electorate rather than favor specific groups, such as property owners. Throughout the 1980s, proponents of the philosophy were sharply critical of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s plans for economic and social change (which they argued were divisive) and during the 1990s encouraged John Major and William Hague, her successors as party leader, to adopt a more moderate stance. That proved difficult, however, because by then the Labour Party under Neil Kinnock, John Smith, and Tony Blair had shed most of its avowedly left-wing traditions, such as advocacy of state control of industry and unilateral nuclear disarmament, and had captured the political middle ground. Recent proponents of the “one nation” view include Hague, Chris Patten (the last British governor of Hong Kong), and Malcolm Rifkind (foreign secretary under Mrs. Thatcher). See also WETS. OPERATION GRANBY. See GULF WAR. THE OPPOSITION. As parliamentary democracy developed in Britain during the 19th century, party politics became the norm, replacing temporary coalitions of individual members of Parliament (MPs). The largest party in the House of Commons formed the government, with its leader as prime minister. The second-largest party became known as her (or his) majesty’s loyal opposition, with the duty of opposing the government in debate and therefore acting as a check on its actions. The leader of the opposition is elected by members of the party and since 1937 has been paid a salary by the state in addition to the normal remuneration for MPs. See also FRONT BENCH; HOUSE OF COMMONS; HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT; SHADOW CABINET. ORANGE ORDER. The largest Protestant organization in Northern Ireland with an estimated support of at least 75,000 residents, the Orange Order is committed to retaining Ulster’s political links to Britain. Formally titled the Loyal Orange Institution, it was founded in 1795 in memory of King William III, who was known as William of Orange after the town in southern France where his ancestors originated. In 1690, William’s forces defeated the Roman Catholic


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King James VII (of Scotland) and II (of England) at the Battle of the Boyne. Processions held on 12 July each year to celebrate the anniversary of that victory have regularly precipitated clashes between religious factions, as the routes of the marches frequently impinge on Catholic areas. The order opposed the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. Since then, however, several writers have suggested that it has been hemorrhaging members as moderates have dissociated themselves from a leadership they consider intransigent and lacking in vision, and by the early years of the 21st century, some officials were attempting to defuse tensions by developing contacts with Catholic groups. In 2005, the organization severed its formal links with the Ulster Unionist Party, but its followers remain influential in loyalist political groups and have branches in Africa, Australasia, and North America. ORDER IN COUNCIL. Orders in council are forms of secondary legislation promulgated by the monarch in the name of the Privy Council. There are two versions. In the first, the order results from the exercise of the royal prerogative (the sovereign’s right to make decisions without seeking the approval of Parliament). As the conditions under which the prerogative can be used have become more and more restricted, this type of order has become less common, but it is still employed, for example, when appointments are made to senior posts in the Church of England. In its other manifestation, the order is in effect delegated legislation used when Parliament has permitted ministers or organizations to exercise authority on its behalf. Thus, orders in council were used to transfer powers from the United Kingdom government to members of the Scottish Executive when government responsibilities were devolved to the Scottish Parliament in 1998. The orders are prepared by the government and read out to the monarch at a meeting of the Privy Council. The sovereign signifies approval, and the documents become part of the law of the land. Normally, the procedure is uncontroversial. However, in 2004, it was used to overturn a decision of the High Court of Justice that residents who between 1967 and 1973 had been transported by the British government from the British Indian Ocean Territory, where the United States wanted to build a military base, could return to the


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islands. The move, made after pressure from the American government, was condemned by many journalists and members of Parliament and was challenged by islanders in the court. In 2006, the judges ruled that the use of the order was unlawful, commenting, “The suggestion that a minister can, through means of an order in council, exile a whole population from a British Overseas Territory and claim that he is doing so for the ‘peace, order, and good’ of the territory is, to us, repugnant.” Although the order had been issued by royal prerogative, it had been prepared by the foreign secretary and therefore, according to the court, could be challenged by judicial review. ORDERS OF CHIVALRY. Chivalric associations developed at the time of the Christian crusades against Islam in the 11th–13th centuries and evolved during later centuries in terms of both rank and size. Over time, some have died out, but eight remain, with their members following holders of peerage titles in seniority at the royal court. In order of precedence, the surviving associations are • Order of the Garter. The most senior order of chivalry was founded by King Edward III in 1348. Full membership is limited to the monarch and 24 “knights companion,” with additional “stranger knights and ladies” who are members of the British royal family or foreign monarchs. The honor goes to people who have held high public office, made a significant contribution to the country in other ways, or given personal service to the crown. Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was added to the list in 1995, for example. Knights of the garter wear blue velvet robes and black velvet hats with white plumes. The origin of their emblem—a blue garter—is not known, but some scholars believe that it is a representation of the strap once used to hold pieces of armor together. • Order of the Thistle. The early history of the highest order of chivalry in Scotland is obscure. Its modern form was established by King James VII, who was also King James II of England, in 1687, but some legends date its original foundation to 809. Normally, there is a complement of 16 knights, who may be male or female, plus the monarch, though members of the royal family and


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foreign royalty can be added to that number. Knights wear green velvet mantles, gold collars, and black velvet hats decorated with ostrich feathers. The order gets its name from Scotland’s national emblem. Order of the Bath. This order dates from medieval times but was revived in 1725 by King George I. Membership varies in size and currently consists of some 120 knights and dames grand cross, 300 knights and dames commander, and 1,500 companions, most of whom have served in the armed forces. Women have been eligible since 1971. The order, which is headed by the monarch and a great master, gets its name from the washing rituals once undertaken by young men preparing for knighthood ceremonies. The differing classes of members have differing insignia. Order of St. Michael and St. George. Membership of this order, which was established in 1818, is conferred on people who have served the United Kingdom abroad in a nonmilitary capacity. It is led by the sovereign and a grand master and has the same classes of membership as the Order of the Bath. Members wear a distinctive collar and emblem. Royal Victorian Order. The sovereign awards membership of the Royal Victorian Order, which was founded in 1896, to people who have served the monarchy in a personal way (as a long-serving member of the staff, for example). Order of the British Empire. King George V created the Order of the British Empire in 1917 as a form of recognition for people who had made a distinctive contribution, either as combatants or as civilians, during World War I. More recently, membership has been accorded to individuals who have made contributions to the arts, education, sport, voluntary organizations, or other aspects of British life. Membership now numbers over 100,000 people.

All members of the Order of the Garter and the Order of the Thistle and senior members of the other orders hold the rank of knight. Two chivalric orders, the Order of Merit and the Companions of Honour, do not figure in the order of precedence. Membership of the former, which was established in 1902, is awarded to individuals who have given exceptional service in the armed forces, art, literature, the promotion of cultural activities, or science. There are 24 individuals


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plus the monarch in the group. The latter, founded in 1917, has 65 members in addition to the monarch. All have made contributions of importance to the arts, industry, literature, music, politics, religion, or science. Membership of the Order of the Garter, the Order of the Thistle, the Royal Victorian Order, and the Order of Merit are the personal gift of the monarch. Invitations to join the other orders are extended by the sovereign, but decisions about recipients are determined by committees and approved by the prime minister. ORDINATION OF WOMEN. In 1985, the General Synod of the Church of England allowed women to become deacons, able to officiate at all but the most sacred of ceremonies. In 1992, it went further and decided in favor of the ordination of women as priests, causing a rift with those who held to the traditional view of female roles in the church and the defection to Roman Catholicism of some prominent Anglicans, including members of Parliament. On 22 February 1994, the General Synod approved the final promulgation of canons, amending ecclesiastical law to allow women to be ordained in England. The first ladies with full authority to administer the sacraments became priests at Bristol on 13 March of that year. In April 1994, the Anglican province of Wales voted against the ordination of women. ORDNANCE SURVEY (OS). Britain’s official cartographic organization was founded in 1791 to meet the need for accurate maps for the artillery (or ordnance), which was preparing to repel an invasion threatened by Napoleon Bonaparte. The first maps were drawn at a scale of one inch to one mile, and the first sheet, published in 1801, covered part of the County of Kent, in southeast England. Areas of London were mapped at a massive scale of 60 inches to 1 mile by the mid-19th century, and gradually coverage extended over the whole country. By 1873, the OS had been integrated into the Civil Service. In 1969, its maps were metricated; in 1990, it was converted into an executive agency (and thus expected to fund itself from profits); and by 1993, the United Kingdom had become the first country in the world to complete a large-scale conversion to electronic cartography.


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Critics of the OS claim that its unwillingness to share information except at high cost has prevented the development of private mapmaking enterprises. However, its supporters maintain that the high quality and frequent updating of maps is expensive and contrast the situation in the UK with that in America, where data is freely available but where much of the United States’ Geological Survey’s topographic series is more—sometimes much more—than a decade out of date and therefore of limited use. OVERSEAS DEPENDENCY. See BRITISH DEPENDENT TERRITORY; BRITISH OVERSEAS TERRITORY; CROWN COLONY. OVERSEAS TERRITORY. See BRITISH OVERSEAS TERRITORY. OWEN, DAVID ANTHONY LLEWELLYN (1938– ). Owen, a cofounder of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), was born in Plympton on 2 July 1938, the son of John Owen (a family doctor) and his wife, Mary. He was educated at Bradfield College (Reading), Cambridge University, and St. Thomas’s Hospital (London), graduating with a B.A., M.B., and B.Chir. While he was a medical student, he joined the Labour Party, partly as a reaction to the poverty he had seen during his training, and in 1966 entered the House of Commons as the member of Parliament representing the Plymouth Sutton constituency. Experience at the Ministry of Defence (1967–70) under Prime Minister Harold Wilson was followed by a spell at the Department of Health and Social Security (1974–76) under Prime Minister James Callaghan and then in 1977 by promotion to foreign secretary as the youngest holder of the post since Anthony Eden in 1935. Owen earned a reputation as an imaginative politician, but many of his colleagues accused him of arrogance because he often refused to toe the party line. In 1972, for instance, he resigned his position as parliamentary spokesman on defense because he disagreed with Labour’s refusal to advocate closer links with the European Economic Community. The differences came to a head in 1981, when with Roy Jenkins, Bill Rodgers, and Shirley Williams, he broke


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away to form the SDP, acting as its leader from 1983–87 and again after it had been reconstituted from 1988 until its demise in 1990. However, he failed in his attempt to break the mold of British politics by building a credible, middle-ground alternative to what he argued were the extremist views of the Labour Party and the Conservative Party, so he left the Commons in 1992 and shortly afterward took a seat in the House of Lords as Baron (see PEERAGE) Owen of the City of Plymouth. For the next three years, Owen served as cochairman of the international conference on the former Yugoslavia, crafting with former U.S. secretary of state Cyrus Vance, the Vance–Owen Peace Plan in an effort to end conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, the proposals came to nothing, and in 1995, he stepped down. In 2003, he caused some controversy when he admitted in a radio interview that while he was foreign secretary he had proposed the assassination of President Idi Amin of Uganda as a means of ending the dictator’s tyranny in Africa.

– P – PADDINGTON TRAIN CRASH. Britain’s railroad system, taken into state control in 1948, was privatized from 1994–97, but a series of accidents seriously undermined public confidence in the new operators and ultimately forced the government to reconsider some of the arrangements. One of the most serious incidents occurred shortly after 8:00 a.m. on 5 October 1999 at the height of the morning rush hour, when commuter services operated by First Great Western and Thames Trains collided at a combined speed of around 130 miles per hour, as they passed Ladbroke Grove Junction near Paddington Station in west London. Thirty-one people died, and 227 required hospital treatment, many for burns received when diesel fuel ignited. A public inquiry headed by Lord Cullen (see CULLEN INQUIRY) concluded that the collision had occurred because the Thames Trains’ driver had failed to stop at a red signal. It criticized Thames’s drivertraining programs, identified failures by signaling staff, condemned Railtrack (which was responsible for track maintenance) because it had ignored drivers’ complaints about the visibility of signals, and


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commented on inadequate practices by the Railway Inspectorate (which was responsible for ensuring safety). In 2004, Thames Trains was fined £2 million for offenses relating to safety regulations. See also HATFIELD TRAIN CRASH; POTTERS BAR TRAIN CRASH; SOUTHALL TRAIN CRASH. PAGE-3 GIRLS. In 1969, newspaper mogul Rupert Murdoch bought The Sun, a London-based tabloid daily, and used pictures of attractive, scantily clad models on page 3 in order to boost sales. The following year, Larry Lamb, the paper’s editor, went a step further and printed a photograph of Stephanie Rahn topless while the new proprietor was abroad. Later reports suggested that Murdoch was furious, but he was undoubtedly mollified by a 40-percent increase in his acquisition’s circulation over the next 12 months. The illustrations have appeared regularly ever since, accompanied by details of the young lady’s vital statistics, some biographical information, and a brief editorial comment heavy on innuendo (a woman who works in a bank may have “large assets,” for example). Some of those models, such as Jordan and Samantha Fox, have used page 3 as a stepping stone to lucrative careers. Many commentators have argued that the pictures demean women. In 1986, member of Parliament Clare Short led an unsuccessful campaign to get the newspaper to stop publishing the photographs, but Rebekah Wade, who became the paper’s first female editor in 2003, has shown no sign of getting rid of them. Most of the working-class male readership undoubtedly enjoys them; other newspapers (such as the Daily Star) have followed The Sun’s lead; and the term page-3 girl has entered British English as a synonym for topless model. In the United Kingdom, women may pose topless from the age of 16, but in North America they must be 18. For that reason, The Sun—which is Britain’s biggest-selling newspaper, with according to the publishers, a daily readership of some 10 million—is not on sale in the United States, even though it is a strong supporter of President George W. Bush, but it does publish an Internet edition, complete with model, at www.thesun.co.uk. PAISLEY, IAN RICHARD KYLE (1926– ). For more than 40 years, Paisley was one of the loudest voices opposing negotiations with the


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republican movement in Northern Ireland and arguing that the province should remain part of the United Kingdom, but on 8 May 2007, he was elected first minister of the Northern Ireland Assembly, pledging to cooperate with nationalist politicians and work with former enemies. Born on 6 April 1926, the second son of Isabella and the Rev. J. Kyle Paisley, he was educated at Ballymena Model School, Ballymena Technical High School, South Wales Bible College, and the Reformed Presbyterian Theological College (Belfast). He was ordained as a minister by his Baptist father in 1946 and founded his own denomination—the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster—in 1951. An outspoken critic of the Church of Rome (when Pope John Paul II addressed the European Parliament in 1988, Paisley denounced him as “the antichrist”), he was imprisoned in 1966 and again in 1969 for militant anti-Catholic activities. As Paisley expanded his following, he became increasingly involved in politics, opposing measures designed to improve the civil rights of the Roman Catholic community. In 1968, for example, he claimed that the levels of unemployment and the housing shortages that Catholics experienced were their own fault because “they breed like rabbits and multiply like vermin.” He was elected to the Northern Ireland Parliament as the representative for Bannside in 1970 and the same year entered the House of Commons after capturing the Antrim North constituency for the Protestant Unionist Party, which combined with other Protestant groups in 1971 to become the Democratic Unionist Party. Consistently intransigent, Paisley opposed the suspension of the Northern Ireland Parliament in 1972, the Sunningdale Agreement (which in 1973–74 attempted to bring British, Republic of Ireland, and Ulster interests together in a council at which matters of mutual concern would be discussed), the 1985 Anglo–Irish Agreement (which gave the Irish Republic a role in the government of Northern Ireland), and the inclusion of Sinn Féin (a nationalist political party linked to the Provisional Irish Republican Army) in the talks that led to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. A charismatic figure who arouses disgust and affection in equal measure, Paisley is more complex than those detractors who label him a bigot will readily admit. Roman Catholics in his parliamentary constituency say that he shows no religious bias in day-to-day


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work for the people he represents. Moreover, he formed a close working relationship with John Hume, a nationalist and civil liberties advocate, at the European Parliament (to which he was elected in 1979), and his abilities as chairman of the Northern Ireland Assembly’s agriculture committee were praised by all parties, even by Sinn Féin. For some time in the late 1990s, his activities were curtailed by ill-health, and he invested more of his time in his church, but in 2007 at the age of 81, he returned to the political front line as first minister in the reformed assembly. That move was not welcomed by members of his church who resented his decision to go into government with the “murderers” of Sinn Féin and on 7 September he resigned the leadership of the organization. PAN AM FLIGHT 103. See LOCKERBIE DISASTER. PARKER BOWLES, CAMILLA ROSEMARY. See CAMILLA, DUCHESS OF CORNWALL (1947– ). PARLIAMENT. Scholars can trace the history of the United Kingdom Parliament to Celtic and Anglo-Saxon times, but it took its modern form in 1707, when the Parliaments of England and Scotland united. It meets in the palace of Westminster, less formally known as the “Houses of Parliament,” on the north bank of the River Thames in central London and has sovereignty over all other lawmaking bodies in Britain and British Overseas Territories. The monarch heads the British Parliament but performs largely ceremonial functions, acting on the advice of the prime minister and the government. Lawmaking processes are carried out by the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the former consisting of some 600 representatives of regional constituencies elected on a “first past the post” system by citizens aged 18 and over and the latter of more than 700 members of the peerage (who are known as lords temporal) and the senior hierarchy of the Church of England (known as lords spiritual). Legislation may be initiated in either chamber and must be debated in both, but over the past century, the right of the unelected House of Lords to amend, block, or delay measures approved by the Commons has been increasingly curtailed (see PARLIAMENT ACTS [1911 and 1949]).


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Government ministers, including the prime minister, must be members of one of the houses and are accountable to Parliament for their actions. As a last resort, the House of Commons may bring down a government by passing a vote of no confidence in it. Such extreme action is rare, but in 1979, a successful vote of no confidence in Prime Minister James Callaghan’s administration forced the general election that carried Margaret Thatcher to power. Parliament may devolve powers to other bodies and has delegated authority over some issues to the Church of England, the Church of Scotland, the National Assembly for Wales, the Northern Ireland Assembly, and the Scottish Parliament. Increasingly, too, its actions are circumscribed by Britain’s membership of the European Union, which can impose legislation on the states that opt to join the organization. Each new Parliament is summoned by the sovereign. It meets for a maximum of five years and is dissolved by the monarch at the request of the prime minister. See also ACT OF PARLIAMENT; BACKBENCHER; THE CABINET; CROSSBENCHER; CROWN; FRONT BENCH; HEREDITARY PEER; LEADER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS; LEADER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS; LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION; LIFE PEER; LORD OF APPEAL IN ORDINARY; LORD SPEAKER; MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT; THE OPPOSITION; ORDER IN COUNCIL; PARLIAMENTARY PRIVILEGE; POLITICAL PARTIES; PRIVY COUNCIL; ROYAL ASSENT; SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. PARLIAMENT ACTS (1911 and 1949). The Parliament Acts limit the power of the unelected House of Lords to block the passage of legislation approved by the House of Commons. In 1909, the Lords, then composed almost entirely of hereditary peers, voted against budget measures that included a land tax, which would undoubtedly have affected the income of members of the upper chamber, most of whom owned considerable portfolios of property. In response, the Liberal Party government, led by Prime Minister Herbert Asquith, threatened to create so many new peers from its supporters that it would have a majority when the measure was reintroduced. That was sufficient to change many minds, so in 1911, the Lords approved the first Parliament Act, which prohibited them from vetoing public legislation that had originated in and been approved by the Commons. It


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also prevented them from deliberately stalling the passage of legislation, limiting their freedom to delay money bills (those dealing with fiscal measures) to a maximum of one month and other bills to a maximum of two years. In 1949, Clement Attlee’s Labour Party administration, anxious to introduce laws designed to develop the welfare state and take private industries, such as railroads and steelmaking, under state control, reduced the delaying power even further, restricting it to one year. In practice, the Parliament Acts have rarely been invoked, partly because the Lords no longer block measures that were outlined in a government’s election manifesto on the grounds that the political party in power was elected to carry out its promises. However, the provisions were used in 1991 for the War Crimes Act, which gave British courts power to hear cases relating to alleged Nazi crimes committed during World War II; in 1999 for the European Parliamentary Elections Act, which provided for British delegates to the European Parliament to be elected by a system of proportional representation; in 2000 for the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act, which reduced the age of consent for homosexual activities to 16; and in 2004 for the Hunting Act, which criminalized most forms of hunting with dogs (see FOX HUNTING). PARLIAMENTARY PRIVATE SECRETARY. Ministers choose backbench members of Parliament from their own party to assist them in their duties. These parliamentary private secretaries receive no payment for their work and are not formally part of government, but the post is seen as a stepping stone to greater responsibility. See also PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY; PARLIAMENTARY UNDERSECRETARY OF STATE. PARLIAMENTARY PRIVILEGE. The House of Commons and the House of Lords have special privileges that allow them to carry out their work properly. The most crucial of these are rights to undertake inquiries into matters of public concern, make witnesses attend those inquiries and produce documents as requested, regulate parliamentary business without interference from the courts, publish papers without being subject to action for defamation, and punish members found guilty of a breach of privilege. The privileges accorded to


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individual members of Parliament (MPs) have been reduced over the years and now amount largely to freedom of speech in the debating chambers and committee rooms (for example, an MP cannot be prosecuted for libel as a result of comments made during the conduct of parliamentary business), exemption from jury service, and the right to disobey subpoenas. In practice, many aspects of parliamentary privilege are unclear, so each house has a committee of privileges to help clarify individual situations. PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY. In government departments, such as the Lord Chancellor’s Office, that do not have a secretary of state at their head, parliamentary secretaries form the third and most junior tier of minister. See also MINISTER OF STATE; PARLIAMENTARY PRIVATE SECRETARY; PARLIAMENTARY UNDERSECRETARY OF STATE. PARLIAMENTARY UNDERSECRETARY OF STATE. The undersecretaries of state are the most junior ministers in the government. They are attached to departments headed by a secretary of state and perform duties allocated by that individual. See also MINISTER OF STATE; PARLIAMENTARY PRIVATE SECRETARY; PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY. PATTEN, CHRISTOPHER FRANCIS “CHRIS” (1944– ). A former chairman of the Conservative Party and the last British governor of Hong Kong, Patten was born in Bath on 12 May 1944 to Francis Patten (who left university to work as a jazz drummer) and his wife, Joan. He was educated at St. Benedict’s School in Ealing (London) and at Oxford University; then despite having shown no interest in politics as an undergraduate, he joined the Conservatives’ research department, rising to become its youngest-ever head in 1974. In 1979, he helped to draft his party’s general election manifesto and was elected to the House of Commons as the member of Parliament for Bath. Over the next decade, despite his espousal of the moderate one-nation policies despised by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, he worked his way up the career ladder, serving as parliamentary private secretary to Norman St. John Stevas (chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and leader of the House of Commons)


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from 1979–81 and to Norman Fowler (secretary of state for social services) in 1981 then as parliamentary undersecretary of state for Northern Ireland (1983–85), minister of state for education (1985–86), minister of state for overseas development (1986–89), and secretary of state for the environment (1989–90). From 1990–92, he held the dual posts of chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and chairman of the Conservative Party. In 1992, Patten was one of the key strategists behind the Conservatives’ general election campaign but, to the astonishment of political commentators, lost his own seat and was rewarded with the difficult task of governing Hong Kong in the years leading to the colony’s return to the People’s Republic of China. He very quickly annoyed the Chinese leaders, who called him a liar, a prostitute, and a snake, by implementing measures designed to make elections to the local legislative council more democratic, and on 1 July 1997, as he relinquished his post, he declared that Britain’s legacy to that small corner of Asia was the “rule of law, clean and light-handed government, the value of a free society, the beginnings of representative government and democratic accountability”—comments hardly designed to endear him to communist politicians. HarperCollins contracted with Patten to publish an account of his period as governor but later backed out of the deal, ostensibly because the text was boring. However, the firm is a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch’s News International, which at the time was attempting to expand its operations in China and had no wish to annoy the government of that country by printing a strongly worded critique of communist policies. Patten sued, HarperCollins settled out of court, and the contract was picked up by rival publisher Macmillan. After his period in Hong Kong, Patten chaired the Independent Commission on Policing in Northern Ireland (see PATTEN COMMISSION [1998–99]), recommending a radical overhaul of law and order operations in the province. Then in 1999, he was appointed one of Britain’s two commissioners to the European Union and given responsibility for foreign relations. Five years later, he was nominated for the post of commission president but was opposed by France and Germany. In 2001, he became chancellor of the University of Newcastle, and in 2003 he succeeded Roy Jenkins as chancellor of the University of Oxford. He was elevated to the peerage as Lord Patten of Barnes in 2005.


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PATTEN COMMISSION (1998–99). The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was founded in 1922 as Northern Ireland’s police force, but republicans in the province consistently claimed that it discriminated against them and in favor of loyalists. Following the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, the government created an Independent Commission on Policing in Northern Ireland headed by Christopher Patten, who had served in Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s cabinet and from 1992 until 1997 was governor of Hong Kong. The commission was charged with making recommendations for change, taking into account arrangements for recruitment, training, and the accountability and culture of police officers. Its report—A New Beginning: Policing in Northern Ireland—was published in September 1999 and recommended that the RUC should be replaced by a new Police Service of Northern Ireland, that Roman Catholics and Protestants should be represented on the new force in equal numbers, that a code of ethics with an emphasis on human rights should be introduced, that emphasis should be placed on community policing, and that a formal system of dealing with complaints by the public should be established. The recommendations were incorporated in the Police (Northern Ireland) Bill, which was approved by Parliament the following year. PAYMASTER GENERAL. In 1836, Viscount (see PEERAGE) Melbourne’s Whig government merged several existing posts so that one individual, known as the paymaster general, would be responsible for remunerating men who served in the British Army and the Royal Navy. In modern times, the holder of the position holds ministerial rank, junior to the chancellor of the exchequer and the chief secretary, at the Treasury and supervises the activities of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, the United Kingdom’s tax collection agency. In recent years, few former incumbents have gone on to achieve high government office, though Kenneth Clarke (1985–87) did become home secretary (1992–93) and chancellor of the exchequer (1993–97) under Prime Minister John Major. PEERAGE. The peerage is a hierarchy of titles conferring rank immediately below that of the monarch. In descending order of precedence


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in England, Northern Ireland, and Wales, those titles are duke and duchess, marquess and marchioness, earl and countess, viscount and viscountess, and baron and baroness. In Scotland, the peerage includes the rank of lord of Parliament but excludes barons and baronesses, who in that part of the United Kingdom are holders of feudal rights rather than peers. Archbishops and bishops of the Church of England are known as spiritual peers, and peers created under the terms of the Appellate Jurisdiction Act of 1876 are known as lords of appeal in ordinary. All titles are awarded by the sovereign, though usually he or she acts on the advice of the prime minister. Traditionally, the rights to nonspiritual and nonlegal titles pass to the eldest male descendant of the holder, but since 1958, life peerages that cannot be inherited have been awarded to individuals who have rendered political or other service to the country. In 1999, the hereditary peers lost their automatic right to sit in the House of Lords. The other rights, both of hereditary and of life peers, are largely ceremonial. PENNINE HILLS. The Pennines form the backbone of England, stretching southward for some 250 miles from the Scottish border to Derbyshire. The rocks, largely gritstones and limestones, date from the Carboniferous period about 300–360 million years ago and form an anticline that has been dissected by rivers into rolling uplands. The hills reach a maximum height of just under 3,000 feet and are covered by treeless sheep pasture, heather moor, and peat bog, forming an open landscape characterized by small, stone-walled fields on the lower slopes. The streams that flow from the hills provided the power for textile mills in the early days of the Industrial Revolution, with the west specializing in cotton and the east in wool. As demand for coal increased during the 19th century, mines and pits were dug along both flanks of the range, leading to the growth of large manufacturing towns, including Bradford, Leeds, Manchester, and Sheffield, but the higher elevations remained largely unpopulated and increasingly became a recreational resource for people escaping from the built-up areas. Parts of the Pennines are included in the Northumberland, Peak District, and Yorkshire Dales National Parks, and the Pennine Way, Britain’s first long-distance hiking trail, which opened in 1965, runs from Edale in the south to Kirk Yetholm in the north.


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PHILIP, PRINCE (1921– ). The consort of Queen Elizabeth II, Philip was born at Mon Repos (Corfu) on 10 June 1921, the son of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenburg, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. At that time, the Greek royal family was in exile, so Philip was educated at Cheam (England), Baden (Germany), and Gordonstoun (Scotland). After training at the Royal Naval College Dartmouth, he served with the Mediterranean Fleet and the British Pacific Fleet during World War II, taking part in the action at Cape Matapan (1941) and in the landings at Sicily (1943). In the spring of 1947, he became a British citizen, renounced his claims to the Greek and Danish thrones, and adopted the surname Mountbatten. Then on November 20 the same year, he married Princess Elizabeth, whom he had first met when he was tasked with showing her round the Royal Naval College Dartmouth eight year earlier. He was awarded the titles Baron Greenwich, earl of Merioneth, and duke of Edinburgh by King George VI (see PEERAGE). Philip continued to follow his naval career, commanding the frigate HMS Magpie, until his wife’s accession to the throne on 6 February 1952. From then, he has shared many of the queen’s official engagements and in addition has carried out his own schedule. He was created a prince of the realm in 1957 but has frequently courted controversy because of his outspoken views and unprincely offensive remarks. In 1995, for example, he invited a Scottish driving instructor to explain how he managed to “keep the natives off the booze long enough to get them through the test,” and in 2002, he asked an Australian aborigine, “Do you still throw spears at each other?” Critics have also suggested that the duke of Edinburgh’s passion for hunting was incompatible with his presidency of the Worldwide Fund for Nature; that he bullied Prince Charles into marrying Diana, Princess of Wales; that he was unduly critical of Diana after her divorce from Prince Charles; and that his role in bringing up his children has contributed to the family’s dysfunctionality (three of his four children have suffered broken marriages). On the other hand, he has received much credit for founding in 1956 the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme, which links community service and development of skills to a sense of adventure and now has branches in more than 100 countries.


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The duke and the queen have four children—Prince Charles (born on 14 November 1948), Princess Anne (15 August 1950), Prince Andrew (19 February 1960), and Prince Edward (10 March 1964). PHILLIPS, MARK ANTONY PETER (1948– ). Phillips, the first husband of Princess Anne, was born in Tetbury on 22 September 1948, the only son of Major Peter Phillips and his wife, Anne. He was educated at Marlborough College and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and in 1969 joined the Queen’s 1st Dragoon Guards, serving with them until 1974, when he returned to Sandhurst as a company instructor. In 1977–78, he was a member of the Ministry of Defence’s Army Training Directorate. An accomplished horseman, Phillips was a regular member of the British equestrian team from 1970 until 1976, winning world, European, and Olympic championships in 1970, 1971, and 1972, respectively. He also took the Badminton three-day event title in 1971, 1972, 1974, and 1981. Those sporting links brought him into contact with Princess Anne, who rode with the British team at the Montreal Olympics in 1976, and a relationship blossomed. They married on 14 November 1973 and had two children—Peter Mark Andrew (born on 15 November 1977) and Zara Anne Elizabeth (born on 15 May 1981)—but tabloid rumors of discord during the 1980s proved accurate, and the troubles led to a parting in 1989. Divorce followed three years later. In 1991, Phillips attracted more unwanted publicity when Heather Tonkin, a New Zealand art teacher, demonstrated in court that he was the father of Felicity, her six-year-old daughter. After that revelation, the press periodically reported romantic attachments, and in February 1997, he married Sandy Pflueger, an American whom he had met on the equestrian circuit and who had been a member of the U.S. dressage team in 1984. They have one daughter, Stephanie, who was born on 2 October 1997. Despite the diversions, Phillips has continued his sporting career with considerable success, serving as head of the United States’ eventing team, running an equestrian center at Gleneagles (Scotland), and, with Princess Anne, organizing an annual horse trials at Gatcombe Park, the home given to him and the princess as a wedding present by Queen Elizabeth II.


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PIPER ALPHA DISASTER. See CULLEN INQUIRY. PITCAIRN ISLANDS. Britain’s last colony in the southern Pacific Ocean, the Pitcairn Islands lie at latitude 25° south, longitude 130º west, about midway between New Zealand and Peru. Most of the population, which numbered fewer than 50 in 2006, is descended from sailors on Her Majesty’s Armed Vessel Bounty who mutinied in 1789 and destroyed the ship. Their tiny income is derived largely from the sale of postage stamps to philatelists and handicrafts to tourists on cruise liners. In 2004, 7 islanders were charged with sexual offenses relating to the abuse of girls as young as 12. The defendants’ attorneys claimed that the United Kingdom had no authority to investigate the incidents because the mutineers had, in effect, renounced their British citizenship when they burned the Bounty, but that assertion was rejected by the Pitcairn Islands Supreme Court, which the British government had formed solely for the purpose of conducting the trial and which consisted entirely of judges from New Zealand. Six of the men were found guilty, with two sentenced to periods of community service and four imprisoned. The trial caused much heartache on Pitcairn, where some women withdrew their allegations of abuse, apparently under pressure from relatives, and others maintained that sex with young girls was a traditional part of life in the South Seas. Also, several observers argued that removing four adult males from the very small labor force would threaten the future of the tiny British Overseas Territory. In 2006, the Privy Council heard appeals by the convicted men and ruled that their claim that Britain had no constitutional authority over the Pitcairn population was “unrealistic.” PLAID CYMRU—THE PARTY OF WALES. In 1925, a small group of activists met in Pwllheli to found a Welsh nationalist party (Plaid Genedlaethol Cymru) that would provide the focus for a campaign aimed at preserving the culture, economy, language, and traditions of the principality. By the early 1930s, however, members were advocating self-government, and shortly after World War II, they changed the organization’s name to Plaid Cymru, which means “The Party of Wales” in Welsh. They achieved their first parliamentary success in


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1966, when Gywnfor Evans won the Carmarthen constituency, and during the later 20th century advocated socialist policies without making a major impact in the House of Commons. In 1998, the name was changed again, this time to Plaid Cymru—The Party of Wales, partly to meet the requirement that all political parties must have an English name and partly to indicate a policy shift away from the emphasis on Welsh speaking and self-government as leaders attempted to realign the group as a more broadly based association representing all Welsh interests. In recent years, Plaid Cymru has had some success at local– government level but it performed badly at the National Assembly for Wales elections in 2003, losing 5 of its 17 seats, and at the 2005 general election, when it lost Ceredigion and returned only 3 members of Parliament. According to some commentators, the limited achievements were due to the declining emphasis on “Welshness” and a resultant loss of support in traditional strongholds in northern Wales. In 2004, in an effort to turn its fortunes around, the party reemphasized its commitment to full independence for Wales within the European Union. Then in 2006, it adopted a new logo featuring the bright yellow Welsh poppy and restructured its hierarchy, making the leader of its representatives in the national assembly the overall party leader as well. See also IWAN, DAFYDD (1943– ); WIGLEY, DAFYDD (1943– ); WYN JONES, IEUAN (1949– ). For details of representation in the House of Commons, see the entries on general elections held in 1979, 1983, 1987, 1992, 1997, 2001, and 2005. POLICE. Britain’s system of policing evolved over time as local government units developed means of maintaining law and order, and that legacy is evident in modern structures because, with few exceptions, such as the British Transport Police, police forces operate within boundaries that are coterminous with those of local authorities. In England and Wales, where most forces are based on counties, politicians have often suggested that savings in cost and increases in efficiency could be achieved through mergers, but the plans have always foundered, most recently in 2005–6, when government proposals to reduce the 42 independent forces to 10 regional forces were strongly opposed by senior policemen, ostensibly because insufficient funds were available to effect the changes.


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Britain is one of the few countries in which police officers do not carry guns except in special circumstances, as, for example, at airports. In England and Wales, members of each force are accountable to a police authority consisting of councilors, magistrates, and members of the public whose appointment is approved by the Home Office. In Ulster, the Police Service of Northern Ireland is supervised by the Northern Ireland Policing Board, and in Scotland the eight forces, which operate at regional level, are responsible directly to the local authorities. Since the 1970s, the image of the friendly bobby has been seriously dented by allegations of corruption (see BRIDGEWATER FOUR), racism (see STEPHEN LAWRENCE AFFAIR), and unnecessary violence (see BIRMINGHAM SIX). Frequently, too, critics have complained that much urban crime is a result of a lack of police presence on city streets. On the other hand, police officers protest that limited funding restricts recruitment, that increases in paperwork mean they must spend many of their duty hours in front of a computer rather than on patrol, and that salary scales are insufficient to attract high-quality applicants willing to work unsocial hours in often violent circumstances. See also GUILDFORD FOUR; LEGAL SYSTEM, ENGLAND; LEGAL SYSTEM, NORTHERN IRELAND; LEGAL SYSTEM, SCOTLAND; LEGAL SYSTEM, WALES; PATTEN COMMISSION (1998–99); ROYAL ULSTER CONSTABULARY (RUC); SCARMAN INQUIRY; SOHAM MURDERS; STEVENS INQUIRIES; TOTTENHAM THREE. POLICE SERVICE OF NORTHERN IRELAND. In 1999, the Patten Commission, which had been formed by the government to make proposals regarding maintenance of law and order in Northern Ireland, recommended that the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) should be replaced by a new force that would give community policing high priority, have a code of conduct that emphasized human rights, and recruit officers in equal numbers from the Protestant and Roman Catholic communities. Parliament passed the necessary legislation in the form of the Police (Northern Ireland) Act in 2000, and the Police Service of Northern Ireland was formed on 4 November the following year. Its first chief constable—Hugh Orde—had served with the Stevens Inquiry,


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which had concluded that the RUC, the British Army, and Protestant paramilitary groups had colluded in the murder of nationalist supporters. Its insignia were designed not to alienate either republican or loyalist sensitivities, so the badge includes a crown, a harp, a laurel leaf, the saltire of St. Patrick, scales of justice, a shamrock, and a torch, representing different aspects of the Ulster community. POLITICAL PARTIES. The United Kingdom is usually considered to have a two-party political system, with one party forming the government and the other forming her majesty’s loyal opposition. However, although the Conservative Party and the Labour Party have dominated Parliament since the 1920s except for the World War II years when there was a coalition government, several other groups have been influential at national and local levels. Also, the systems of proportional representation adopted for elections to the European Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales, the Northern Ireland Assembly, and the Scottish Parliament increase the opportunities for minor parties to win representation in decision-making bodies. In the House of Commons, where members of Parliament are elected on the basis of a simple majority, the Liberal Democrats increased in number from 11 in 1979 to 62 in 2005, giving it a strong third-party presence in Parliament, and some half dozen other organizations normally manage to win at least one seat at general elections. Neither the Northern Ireland Assembly nor the Scottish Parliament has seen a single party command an overall majority of votes, and though Labour has dominated the Welsh Assembly since its foundation in 1999, Plaid Cymru, the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats, and Forward Wales have also won places in the debating chamber. In addition, the Green Party and the United Kingdom Independence Party have both gained seats in the European Parliament, even though they are not represented at Westminster, and many small organizations, often with very specific agendas, have councilors in local government. The dictionary contains entries for the following parties, all of which have since 1979 had a significant impact on local or regional politics in the United Kingdom or have sent at least one representative to the European Parliament, the House of Commons, the National Assembly for Wales, the Northern Ireland Assembly, or the


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Scottish Parliament: THE ALLIANCE; ALLIANCE PARTY OF NORTHERN IRELAND; BRITISH NATIONAL PARTY (BNP); COMMUNIST PARTY OF GREAT BRITAIN; DEMOCRATIC UNIONIST PARTY (DUP); HEALTH CONCERN; LIBERAL PARTY; MEBYON KERNOW; MONSTER RAVING LOONY PARTY (MRLP); NATIONAL FRONT (NF); NORTHERN IRELAND WOMEN’S COALITION; PROGRESSIVE UNIONIST PARTY (PUP); RESPECT—THE UNITY COALITION; SCOTTISH NATIONAL PARTY (SNP); SCOTTISH SOCIALIST PARTY (SSP); SINN FÉIN; SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC AND LABOUR PARTY (SDLP); SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY (SDP); SOCIALIST PARTY OF ENGLAND AND WALES; SOCIALIST WORKERS’ PARTY; ULSTER POPULAR UNIONIST PARTY (UPUP); ULSTER UNIONIST PARTY (UUP); UNITED KINGDOM UNIONIST PARTY (UKUP). POLL TAX. A poll (or head) tax is a uniform sum levied on all adults. In 1989, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative Party government introduced the measure, formerly termed the Community Charge, in Scotland to replace the property taxes that had provided one of the major sources of income for local government authorities. The following year, it was extended to England and Wales. Protests were loud and often violent as critics complained about the unfairness of a system that took no account of personal income, condemned the Thatcher administration for favoring the rich, and claimed that local councils were setting the tax at a higher level than was necessary. Many people—some estimates suggest as many as 20 million—refused to pay, and several suffered for that refusal with a jail sentence. Protest marches were organized (200,000 people crowded into London’s Trafalgar Square for an anti–poll tax rally on 31 March 1990), and attempts at enforcement often led to violence. At the time, Mrs. Thatcher had led the government for over a decade, and her popularity was declining. Concerns about the introduction of the new tax coupled with growing objections to the prime minister’s increasingly dictatorial style led Michael Heseltine to challenge her in an election for the leadership of the party and ultimately forced her into resignation. In 1993, after she had been replaced by John Major, the poll tax was rescinded in favor of a new form of property-based levy known as the council tax.


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POLYTECHNICS. During the 19th century, polytechnics were essentially technical colleges, but following publication in 1963 of the findings of a national committee of inquiry into higher education (the report, usually known as the Robbins Report, takes its name from Lord Robbins, the committee’s chairman), the government created 30 new degree-level institutions that would train students for jobs in industry and the professions. Funded by local government, these colleges bore the brunt of higher education expansion during the 1970s and 1980s. In 1992, the Further and Higher Education Act allowed them to call themselves universities, and all changed their name accordingly. PONTING, CLIVE. See OFFICIAL SECRETS ACTS (1911–89). POPPLEWELL INQUIRY. See BRADFORD FOOTBALL STADIUM TRAGEDY; HEYSEL STADIUM DISASTER. POPULATION. At the time of the 2001 census, the United Kingdom had a population of 58,789,194, some 17 percent greater than in 1951 and 4 percent greater than in 1981. Most residents lived in England, which had 49,138,831 citizens and where some areas of the south had seen numbers increase by more than 10 percent since 1981. A total of 5,062,011 people lived in Scotland, 2 percent fewer than 20 years earlier. Over those two decades, the proportion of children aged under 15 in that part of the UK had declined by 18 percent, and the proportion of elderly people aged over 74 had risen by 29 percent. The population of Wales totaled 2,903,085, 3.2 percent more than in 1981, with growth particularly strong in Cardiff and in some northern counties. Northern Ireland had 1,685,267 people, a rise of some 10 percent over two decades, and the most youthful age structure in the country, with 24 percent of residents under 16, compared to 20 percent in the UK as a whole. See also IMMIGRATION; RELIGION. PORTILLO, MICHAEL DENZIL XAVIER (1953– ). Throughout the 1990s, Portillo had a large support base among right-wingers in the Conservative Party and strongly influenced policy development, but he failed in his efforts to become the organization’s leader. The son of Luis (a Spanish exile to Britain) and his Scottish wife, Cora,


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he was born in Bushey on 26 May 1953 and educated at Harrow County Grammar School before going to Cambridge University, where he graduated with first-class honors in history. In 1984, Anthony Berry, the member of Parliament (MP) for Enfield Southgate, was murdered by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (see BRIGHTON HOTEL BOMBING), and Portillo captured the seat at a by-election. Working his way through the ranks, he served under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as assistant whip (1986–87), parliamentary undersecretary of state for social security (1987–88), and minister of state for transport (1988–90). Then, under John Major, he was made minister of state for local government (1990–92) before joining the cabinet as chief secretary to the Treasury (1992–94) and later winning appointments as secretary of state for employment (1994–95) and defence (1995–97). Throughout that time, Portillo consistently espoused the cause of the Conservative Right, but even so, his defeat at the 1997 general election, when voters swung solidly behind more moderate Labour Party policies, was a considerable surprise. By the time he returned to the House of Commons in 1999, this time representing the London seat of Kensington and Chelsea, he had adopted a more centrist and populist stance (by admitting to homosexual activities in his youth, for example), and early in 2000, William Hague, then the Conservative leader, made him chancellor of the exchequer in the shadow cabinet. After only two days in that job, he announced that when his party returned to power, it would both accept the concept of a national minimum wage and keep the Bank of England free of political control. Both policies, central to the new legislation introduced by Tony Blair’s Labour government, had been vehemently opposed by many Conservatives, so several commentators interpreted Portillo’s announcement as an indication that he intended to take a firm grip of the party’s economic strategies, but others accused him of political expediency, pointing out that in 1997 he had decried the idea of a minimum wage as “truly immoral.” Over the next year, he added to the controversy, raising Conservative hackles further and provoking disagreements with Hague as he attempted to develop rationales for increased spending on public services and tax cuts designed to benefit the poor, neither of which won favor with the Tory right wing.


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When Hague resigned after the Conservatives’ 2001 general election defeat, Portillo was for some time the front runner in the battle to take over as leader, claiming that his party would have to appeal to a wider section of the electorate and adopt policies acceptable to minority groups, including homosexuals and immigrants, if it was ever to regain power. He led the first two ballots of Conservative MPs but was eliminated in the third, a victim of tactical voting, and was not included in the shadow cabinet appointed by Iain Duncan Smith, the winner of the contest. He did not seek reelection to Parliament at the 2005 general election, leaving politics to concentrate on interests in arts and the media. POST OFFICE. See ROYAL MAIL. POTTERS BAR TRAIN CRASH. At about 12:55 p.m. on 10 May 2002, three carriages of a train operated by West Anglia Great Northern left the rails. Seven people died, and more than 70 were injured as the rearmost carriage slewed across platforms at Potters Bar Station on the northern fringe of London. An inquiry by the government’s health and safety executive found that the accident had occurred because a set of points inspected only the previous day had been badly maintained, probably as a result of “failure to understand fully the design and safety requirements.” The conclusions fueled a debate, already heated as a result of previous accidents (see HATFIELD TRAIN CRASH; PADDINGTON TRAIN CRASH; SOUTHALL TRAIN CRASH), about the extent to which private railroad operators and maintenance companies gave profit a higher priority than safety and failed to train engineers properly. PRESCOTT, JOHN LESLIE (1938– ). Deputy leader of the Labour Party from 1994–2007 and deputy prime minister from 1997–2007, Prescott was a left-wing trade unionist who appealed to the traditional working-class voter and thus complemented Tony Blair, the more middle-class, right-wing, and articulate party leader. He was born on 31 May 1938, the son of railroad signalman John Prescott and his wife, Phyllis, and educated at Ellesmere Port Secondary Modern School, Ruskin College (Oxford), and Hull University. In 1955, he joined the merchant navy and in 1968 accepted a post with


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the National Union of Seamen. Two years later, he was elected member of Parliament for Hull East and in 1974 was made parliamentary private secretary to Peter Shore, the secretary of state for trade. Prescott served successively under party leaders James Callaghan, Michael Foot, Neil Kinnock, and John Smith as opposition spokesman on transport (1979–81, 1983–84, and 1988–93), regional affairs and devolution (1981–83), employment (1984–87 and 1993–94), and energy (1987–88), using that experience to crucial effect in 1993 when he threw his weight behind Smith’s reformist philosophies and at the annual Labour Party conference persuaded delegates to change the way it appointed its leader, making the process more democratic but taking power from the trade unions. In 1994, Prescott was appointed deputy leader of the party, seen as the face of the Old Labour in a shadow cabinet bent on adapting policies and structures as it strove to make the movement more acceptable to moderate political opinion. After Labour formed a government in 1997, however, that image was dented by newspaper tales of his liking for the perks of office. In 1999, for example, he was driven 300 yards from his hotel to a conference center where he gave a speech extolling the virtues of public transport. Sometimes, too, he was clearly out of touch with public opinion—he was a passionate advocate of English regional assemblies and was clearly surprised when in 2004 a referendum in northeast England comprehensively rejected the idea—and occasionally he found it difficult to control his temper, as in 2001 when he aimed a punch at a man who had thrown an egg at him. In 2005, he was credited with persuading Blair and Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown to forget their differences, at least in public, and ignite the faltering general election campaign—a move that ultimately helped Labour win a third term in office—but his credibility collapsed the following spring after revelations of a twoyear affair with a secretary brought a wave of newspaper tales alleging harassment of other women. A few weeks later, many of his departmental responsibilities were transferred to other offices, and shortly afterward, he announced that he would give up the deputy leadership when Tony Blair resigned.


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PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE. In 1970, Prime Minister Edward Heath created the Department of Trade and Industry by merging the Board of Trade and Ministry of Technology. The head of the new unit was referred to as the secretary of state for trade and industry and president of the Board of Trade. Most incumbents preferred to be known as secretary of state, but Michael Heseltine, who held the post from 1992–95, and his immediate successors, Ian Lang (1995–97) and Margaret Beckett (1997–98), opted for the secondary title, which dates from the 17th century. The holder normally has a seat in the cabinet. PREVENTION OF TERRORISM ACT (2005). In the aftermath of Al-Qaeda’s attacks on the twin towers of New York’s World Trade Center and other American targets on 11 September 2001, the British government hastily passed the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act, which allowed investigators to detain foreign residents in the United Kingdom without trial if they were suspected of planning crimes against the state. Four years later, however, the House of Lords (at the time, the country’s highest appeal court for civil cases) ruled that the legislation discriminated between individuals on grounds of nationality and so was incompatible with the European Union’s human rights laws. The Prevention of Terrorism Act was designed to remove the weakness in the earlier legislation by permitting the use of “control orders” on all residents, but it had a difficult passage through Parliament. Objections were raised in the House of Commons because the proposals allowed the home secretary, an elected politician, to deprive British citizens of their liberty. Other members of Parliament and members of the House of Lords complained of the implications for civil liberties, arguing that people could have their freedoms taken away without appearing before a court of law and without being given details of the case against them. In the end, a compromise was reached as the government agreed that the orders would be imposed by a judge. Demands for amendments to the text of the bill were withdrawn, and an arrangement to renew the legislation was accepted. The act received the royal assent on 11 March 2005, permitting the issue of control orders that can, for instance, ban individuals


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from residing in certain areas, enforce electronic tagging so that the movements of suspects can be monitored, forbid contact with specified groups, and require the surrender of passports. See also PREVENTION OF TERRORISM ACTS (1974–89); TERRORISM ACT (2000); TERRORISM ACT (2006). PREVENTION OF TERRORISM ACTS (1974–89). From 1974 until 1989, Parliament passed several bills that received the royal assent as Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Acts and were designed to combat the terrorist activities of loyalist and republican paramilitary groups based in Northern Ireland. The legislation made membership of certain organizations a criminal offense, allowed courts to issue “exclusion orders” preventing named individuals from entering parts (or all) of the United Kingdom, specified a maximum of 14 years’ imprisonment for people who contributed funds or other resources to terrorist causes, and gave the police power to arrest anyone who could reasonably be suspected of committing a terrorist offense. The laws were consistently criticized by civil liberties groups, which considered them unnecessarily repressive and pointed out that use of the provisions to prevent television and radio stations from broadcasting statements by leaders of allegedly terrorist organizations meant that journalists could not present accurate coverage of the political situation in Ulster. The legislation was superseded by the Terrorism Act of 2000. See also ANTI-TERRORISM, CRIME AND SECURITY ACT (ATCSA; 2000); BRIGHTON HOTEL BOMBING; PREVENTION OF TERRORISM ACT (2005); TERRORISM ACT (2006). PRIME MINISTER. The prime minister is the head of government but not the head of state in the United Kingdom. Technically, the appointment is made by the sovereign, but in practice, the post is offered to the leader of the political party that commands a majority vote in the House of Commons. By implication, prime ministers can come and go very quickly without the need for a national election, as happened in 1990 when Margaret Thatcher was persuaded that she no longer had the support of the Conservative Party, resigned, and was replaced by John Major, who was elected party leader—and


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thus prime minister—solely on the vote of Conservative members of Parliament. Mrs. Thatcher held office from 1979–90 and John Major from 1990–97. The other recent incumbents, both leading Labour Party governments, are Tony Blair (1997–2007) and Gordon Brown (2007– ). PRINCESS ROYAL. The term princess royal is a form of address, rather than a title, that may be granted by the monarch to his or her eldest daughter. It is held for life and cannot be inherited. Princess Anne, Queen Elizabeth II’s only daughter, was accorded the honor on 13 June 1987 in recognition of her charitable work. She has six predecessors—Mary (daughter of King Charles I), Anne (daughter of King George II), Charlotte (daughter of King George III), Victoria (daughter of Queen Victoria), Louise (daughter of King Edward VII), and Mary (daughter of King George V). PRINCIPALITY. In 1301, King Edward I of England, in an effort to subdue the Welsh, made his son (later King Edward II) Prince of Wales. Since then, the title has traditionally gone to the monarch’s eldest son, although some Welsh citizens claim that it is a continuing sign of English overlordship. Prince Charles, the current holder of the position, was invested in 1969, and Wales is often referred to in Britain as “the principality.” PRISONS. Britain’s 160 prisons housed some 87,000 offenders in 2006, so the United Kingdom, with 139 people in jail per 100,000 citizens, had one of the highest incarceration rates in the European Union, though even so, the figure was significantly lower than the ratio of 714 to 100,000 in the United States. The number of people deprived of their liberty has risen sharply since 1990, when 42,000 people were in prison, because judges have reflected political trends and adopted less-liberal sentencing policies. However, the effectiveness of those policies has been questioned by academics, who point out that a high proportion of inmates has serious educational disabilities and a majority reoffends within months of release. Partly as a result of those criticisms, Prime Minister Tony Blair announced in 2007 that in England and Wales greater emphasis would be placed on rehabilitation.


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Four Welsh and 126 English prisons are managed by Her Majesty’s Prison Service, which since 2004 has been incorporated within a National Offender Management Service created by the Home Office to “provide end-to-end management of all offenders.” A further 11 prisons are privately run but must maintain standards set by Her Majesty’s Inspector of Prisons. In Scotland, 14 detention centers are managed by the Scottish Prison Service, an executive agency of the Scottish Executive. In addition, there is one private prison and a secure mental hospital managed by the National Health Service. The three prisons in Ulster are supervised by the Northern Ireland Prison Service, an executive agency of the Northern Ireland Office. See also MAZE PRISON. PRIVATE BILL. Private bills focus on one enterprise, group, individual, or location and seek some right that is not conferred by current law. During the 19th century, they were a popular means of creating businesses and acquiring monopolies—notably over provision of canals, railroads, water, and similar services—but they have become increasingly uncommon as alternative and less expensive means of achieving the same administrative end have evolved (through the use of statutory instruments, for example). Nevertheless, they are still presented to Parliament by private companies (to allow a restructuring of the business, for instance) and by local government authorities (often to circumvent planning restrictions). The more politically sensitive bills are usually introduced in the House of Commons and the more complex bills in the House of Lords. PRIVATE MEMBER’S BILL. Most legislative proposals presented to the House of Commons for debate are promoted by government and introduced by members of the cabinet. However, individual backbenchers do have opportunities to change the law relating to their particular interests. The most common method is to enter the annual ballot by which 20 members of Parliament (MPs) are selected for the right to introduce a private member’s bill. Usually, only the first seven names are guaranteed time slots for a debate on their measure, and the rules relating to parliamentary procedure mean that the chance of getting the proposals to the stage of royal assent are limited. However, governments that do not want to openly accept


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responsibility for controversial changes to the law will sometimes support private member’s bills in order to get new regulations approved, (as when David Steel received assistance from Prime Minister Harold Wilson’s Labour Party administration to get abortion legalized in 1967). Recent private member’s bills that have passed into law include the Female Genital Mutilation Act of 2003, which was promoted by Labour Party MP Ann Clwyd and made female genital mutilation a criminal offense except on specific health grounds, and the Christmas Day (Trading) Act of 2004, which was promoted by Kevan Jones, also of the Labour Party, and attempted to keep Christmas Day special by preventing large stores in England and Wales from opening. PRIVATIZATION. In the years from 1945–51, as Britain recovered from the impact of fighting a second world war, Prime Minister Clement Attlee’s Labour Party government argued that scarce resources would be most fairly distributed if they were controlled by the state rather than by private corporations. The argument extended not just to provision of social services, such as education and health care, but to the products of industry and to the country’s communications infrastructure, particularly railroad transport and telephones. Many previously private enterprises were taken into state control, and successive governments, including those of the Conservative Party, broadly accepted the new economic status quo. However, from the later 1970s, Margaret Thatcher’s administrations adopted aggressive policies designed to reduce state intervention in the provision of goods and services, arguing that the government’s expenditure (and therefore its need to raise taxes) would be reduced if it divested itself of unnecessary commitments and that the introduction of competition would reduce the price paid by the consumer. Those arguments were bitterly opposed by Labour traditionalists, but the prime minister interpreted her 1983 general election victory as a mandate to proceed with the proposals, so during the later 1980s, many businesses—including coal mining, public utilities, railroads, steelmaking, and telecommunications—returned to private hands. Success has been mixed. The cost of making telephone calls fell after British Telecom lost its position as a monopoly supplier. Many


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ordinary British people added to their wealth by becoming shareholders in formerly publicly owned companies, and working-class families were able to acquire their own homes as the housing stock owned by local government authorities was sold off. On the other hand, critics point to the high salaries paid to directors of the new companies, suggesting that the wealth being created would be better paid into the public purse to help fund schools and hospitals. Also, commentators generally agree that some sell-offs were badly managed, most notably that of the railroads. Railtrack, which was responsible for maintaining the track, was replaced by Network Rail, a government-promoted not-for-profit business, in 2002 after a series of accidents caused fears that it was putting profit before safety, and the following year, Connex lost its franchise to provide train services because of substandard financial management. See also ARMED FORCES; BRITISH AIRPORTS AUTHORITY (BAA); BRITISH AIRWAYS (BA); GAS; LAWSON, NIGEL (1932– ); MINERS’ STRIKE (1984–85); NATIONALIZATION; NUCLEAR ENERGY; ROAD TRANSPORT; THE STATIONERY OFFICE (TSO). PRIVY COUNCIL. Her Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council advises the sovereign on the exercise of her royal prerogative and on other decision-making functions assigned to the monarch by Parliament. It has evolved from the practice adopted by Norman kings after the battle of Hastings in 1066 of seeking advice from courtiers. Over the centuries as government has become more democratic, its importance has declined, but the prime minister’s cabinet is still technically a committee of the council. Members, who number over 500, are appointed by the sovereign on the advice of the prime minister and remain members for life, although only a small number is summoned to the body’s monthly meetings, which are usually short because everybody stands throughout the session. Prior to meetings, the Privy Council Office, led by the lord president of the council, who is a government minister, prepares a series of orders in council, a device used to frame government regulations and appointments. The lord president reads each order, and the sovereign responds by indicating approval. In theory, he or she could decline to accept the order, but that has not happened for 300 years. The council may also grant royal charters that, for example, legitimize professional organizations or give urban areas city status.


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Traditionally, the council has also had a judicial committee consisting of senior judges that heard appeals from courts in British Overseas Territories, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, Commonwealth Realm countries, some independent republics within the Commonwealth of Nations (specifically Dominica, Kiribati, Mauritius, and Trinidad and Tobago), certain ecclesiastical jurisdictions, and the disciplinary bodies of a number of professional groups (the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, for instance). However, the Constitutional Reform Act of 2005 made provision for those duties to be transferred to a new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. PRIVY PURSE. The sovereign’s private income is known as the privy purse, which for ceremonial purposes takes the form of an embroidered bag. The keeper of the privy purse is responsible for the financial management of the royal household, a task that includes oversight of expenditure on the royal stables and the royal stamp collection, as well as on major items, such as property and salaries. In practice, much of the income to the privy purse is used to cover the expenses incurred by members of the royal family other than Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, in undertaking official engagements. See also CIVIL LIST. PRIVY SEAL. See LORD PRIVY SEAL. PROGRESSIVE UNIONIST PARTY (PUP). Unusually for loyalist political organizations in Northern Ireland, the PUP espouses leftwing policies. It was formed in 1979, evolving from the Independent Unionist Group and drawing its strongest support from the Shankhill Road area of Belfast but never achieving widespread success at elections, partly because its claims that nationalist groups should have a role in the government of the province alienated many unionist voters. The party supported the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and won two seats on the Northern Ireland Assembly that was formed in the same year. However, one of those assembly places was lost at the 2003 election, and only two seats were held on local government councils in 2005. Early in 2007, Dawn Purvis was elected leader of the organization, becoming the first woman to head a unionist political party in


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Northern Ireland, and a few weeks later, she was the sole PUP candidate to win election to the reconstituted Northern Ireland Assembly. At its annual conference in 2005, the PUP voted to retain links with the Ulster Volunteer Force, one of Northern Ireland’s principal paramilitary groups. PROTECTION OF WILD MAMMALS (SCOTLAND) BILL (2002). See FOX HUNTING. THE PROVINCE. Ulster was one of the four historic provinces of Ireland, getting its name from an anglicization of the Irish Uladh and the Norse stadr, which meant “territory of the Uladh people.” When Northern Ireland was created in 1920, its geographical boundaries incorporated much of Ulster, so many people, and particularly unionists, refer to the area as “the province.” PROVISIONAL IRISH REPUBLICAN ARMY (PIRA). The PIRA is the military wing of Sinn Féin (the Irish nationalist party) and the largest of the republican organizations that advocated use of violence as a means of encouraging the United Kingdom government to renounce political control of Northern Ireland. In 1919, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) was formed as a guerrilla group fighting to gain Irish independence from Britain. It split up when the Irish Free State was created three years later; part of the force became legitimate and formed the core of the Republic of Ireland’s new army, and the rest continued the campaign by carrying out bombings in England in 1939–40 and Ulster from 1942–44 and 1956–62. Further internal differences led to another schism in 1970. One faction, which became known as the Official IRA, argued that there was little public support for the destruction of life and property and that reform would be more speedily achieved by winning representation in the parliaments of the republic, the UK, and Ulster. Left wing in political orientation, it announced its intention to abjure violence in 1972 and held to that promise. The other faction, known as the PIRA (or frequently in the press simply as the IRA or the Provisionals), favored a continuation of the terrorism, grew in strength, and continued to target the British Army, the Royal Ulster Constabulary, and members of loyalist groups, claiming responsibility for several hundred


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deaths each year. However, in 1994, as pressures to find a peaceful solution to Ulster’s problems increased, the Provisionals called a halt to those killings. Political negotiations proceeded too slowly for several of the group, who bombed an office block in London docklands in February 1996, but that resurgence in violence was relatively short lived because the cease-fire was reinstated in July of the following year and has remained in place ever since. On 28 July 2005, the Provisionals’ Council announced that its armed campaign was at an end, and two months later, it decommissioned its stock of armaments in the presence of international weapons inspectors. Over the years, the organization was responsible for the deaths of about 1,000 members of the security forces, 200 supporters of paramilitary groups, and 600 civilians. Nowadays, however, the PIRA is suspected more of extensive involvement in other criminal activity, including money laundering, than of planning assassinations. See also ADAMS, GERARD “GERRY” (1948– ); BIRMINGHAM SIX; BRIGHTON HOTEL BOMBING; DOWNING STREET DECLARATION; ENNISKILLEN BOMBING; GUILDFORD FOUR; IRISH NORTHERN AID COMMITTEE (NORAID); IRISH PEOPLE’S LIBERATION ORGANIZATION (IPLO); LONDON BOMBING; MAGUIRE SEVEN; PREVENTION OF TERRORISM ACTS (1974–89); SANDS, ROBERT GEORGE “BOBBY” (1954–81); SECURITY SERVICE (MI5); SPECIAL AIR SERVICE (SAS); THE TROUBLES. PROVOST. In Scotland, most town councils were traditionally led by a provost who presided over meetings and carried out ceremonial functions, much in the way that mayors did in other parts of the United Kingdom. The title almost fell into disuse in the mid-1970s, when the councils were swept away in a large-scale reorganization of local government, but was reintroduced in 1996 following further reforms. Now, all Scottish local authorities have a provost at their head. See also LORD PROVOST. PUBLIC HOLIDAY. See BANK HOLIDAY. PUBLIC HOUSE. Pubs have been a feature of the British landscape since Roman times. They flourished in particular from the 18th


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century, when gin was cheap, and were distinguished by pictorial signs that could easily be identified by a largely illiterate population and by inspectors appointed to measure the standard of the beer on sale. They have been subject to regulation since 965, when King Edgar issued an edict that allowed each settlement only one alehouse, and are now controlled by local government authorities. In recent years, public houses have had to diversify in order to survive. Most have increased sales of food, and many have family rooms as well as live music, pool tables, quiz nights, slot machines, and televisions. Darts is still a popular pub game, but traditional pictures of elderly drinkers playing checkers while the evening sun streams through an open door bear no relationship to 21st-century realities. In urban areas, many former banks and other city-center buildings have been converted into pubs that serve drinkers from nearby offices and a growing, youthful clientele that lives in inner-city apartment blocks. In the countryside, by contrast, inns often struggle financially, their trade affected by depopulation and laws designed to prevent drunk driving. Independent business—known as “free houses”—may sell whichever beers they want, but such establishments are in a minority. Most of the United Kingdom’s 60,000 hostelries are either part of a chain or “tied” to a particular brewery through a tenancy agreement or outright ownership. In Northern Ireland and Scotland, attitudes toward opening hours have long been more liberal than in other parts of the country, but the Licensing Act of 2003 allowed landlords in England and Wales to apply to their local authority for permission to open and close at times of their own choosing. PUBLIC SCHOOL. In Scotland and Northern Ireland, public schools are schools that are funded by local government authorities. In England and Wales, public schools are private institutions that accept children on a fee-paying basis. The English and Welsh usage was introduced in the Public Schools Act of 1868 before the introduction of mass education in those parts of the United Kingdom and referred to a select list of schools that accepted students regardless of religious or geographical background. Nowadays, because of the different uses of the term, public schools (used in the English and Welsh sense) are normally referred to as “independent schools.” About 7


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percent of Britain’s children are educated in these 2,500 schools, though the proportions vary regionally from about 13 percent in London to about 4 percent in Scotland. Research studies have consistently shown that their students are more likely than those from statefunded schools to win places at leading universities, earn high incomes after graduation, and hold senior posts in the civil service, judiciary, and major political parties. PUBLIC SECTOR BORROWING REQUIREMENT (PSBR). See PUBLIC SECTOR NET CASH REQUIREMENT (PSNCR). PUBLIC SECTOR NET CASH REQUIREMENT (PSNCR). The extent to which the government’s annual expenditure exceeds its income from taxes and other sources is known as the PSNCR (and previously as the public sector borrowing requirement). In recent years, the PSNCR has amounted to about 3 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), rather less than in other major economies. In Japan, the deficit is about 7.5 percent of GDP; in the United States, about 4 percent; and in France and Germany, about 3.7 percent.

– Q – QUASI-AUTONOMOUS NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION (QUANGO). As government has become more complex, administrations of all political hues have created specialist agencies to carry out advisory and executive functions. In the United Kingdom, those bodies, widely known as “quangos” although civil service officials prefer to call them “nondepartmental public bodies,” include organizations as disparate as the British Potato Council and the Equal Opportunities Commission. They grew in number during the 1980s but were much criticized by the Conservative Party government’s opponents, who argued that the ministerial practice of appointing supporters of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s policies to boards of directors did not necessarily mean that the organizations would function efficiently and that lack of accountability made them undemocratic.


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The concerns were among the factors that led in 1994 to the formation of the Committee on Standards in Public Life (see NOLAN REPORT) and the recommendation, accepted by Prime Minister John Major, that a commissioner for public appointments should ensure that appointees to quangos were suitably qualified. To some extent, that quelled the protests but commentators still claim that the number of organizations that are not directly accountable to Parliament is growing and that several are not worth the expenditure they incur. Cabinet Office figures indicate that there are about 900 of them, but less-partial observers list as many as 8,000, including those created by the Scottish Executive, the National Assembly for Wales, and local government authorities. In 2006, the Daily Telegraph newspaper quoting government sources claimed that £123.8 billion was spent on quangos each year.

– R – RAILROAD TRANSPORT. Britain’s railroad network dates from the first half of the 19th century and currently covers some 21,000 miles of track. Initially, routes were developed by private companies, but in 1948, the system was taken over by the state and organized as a single unit (see NATIONALIZATION). Lines focus on London and to a lesser extent on other major cities, facilitating the movement of both passengers and freight. Over the past 50 years, however, the railroads have experienced increasing competition from road transport. In the early 1950s, about 42 percent of all goods (by tonnage) and 18 percent of all travelers were moved by rail, but by the early years of the 21st century, the proportions had dropped to 7 percent and 6 percent, respectively. The decline was particularly evident during the 1980s, when funding reductions by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s governments could be only partially offset by fare raises, and the lower income undoubtedly contributed to increasingly unreliable services, driving yet more business to the roads. Between 1996 and 2006, however, that downward trend was reversed, with passenger numbers growing by some 40 percent, to a total of more than 1.1 billion in 2006, and freight increasing by 60 percent.


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From 1994-97, the network outside Northern Ireland was privatized, with responsibility for most of the infrastructure going to Railtrack, passenger operations handed over to 25 different firms, and freight services franchised to 4 operators. However, a series of serious accidents severely disrupted timetables and heightened travelers’ concerns that private businesses were more concerned about profit than about passengers’ welfare. Railtrack’s efforts to enhance safety features proved costly, reducing the firm to near bankruptcy, and in 2002, ownership of the railway infrastructure was transferred to Network Rail, a nonprofit concern. With a few exceptions, passenger services remain in the control of regionally based franchises that are granted, through the Department for Transport’s Rail Group (the railroads’ planning body), to heavily subsidized train-operating companies. The freight sector continued to decline and, in 2004, lost its virtual monopoly of long-distance royal mail carriage to the roads. In Ulster, the publicly owned Northern Ireland Railways is responsible both for passenger services and infrastructure. There is no provision for the carriage of freight. See also CHANNEL TUNNEL; HATFIELD TRAIN CRASH; PADDINGTON TRAIN CRASH; POTTERS BAR TRAIN CRASH; SOUTHALL TRAIN CRASH. RAILTRACK. When the Conservative Party government returned the railroad network from state control to private hands in 1994 (see PRIVATIZATION), Railtrack plc assumed responsibility for such fixed assets as bridges, signals, stations, track, and tunnels. However, a series of serious accidents, including the Hatfield Train Crash, the Paddington Train Crash, and the Southall Train Crash, coupled with criticism that insufficient funds were being allocated for an upgrading of the system, led to allegations that the company was giving profit priority over safety. In response to the Hatfield crash, Railtrack spent an estimated £580 million on repairs to infrastructure, but that expenditure, added to the expense of modernizing the west-coast line between London and Glasgow, caused a financial crisis. The government granted funds to ease the problem but placed the firm in bankruptcy when £137 million of the money was used to pay a dividend to shareholders. In 2002, the fixed assets and the £7.1 billion debt were transferred to Network Rail, which operates on a not-for-profit basis.


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Initially, Railtrack’s shareholders received no compensation, but ultimately, a series of payments was made following pressure on the government and hearings in the High Court of Justice. REAL IRISH REPUBLICAN ARMY (REAL IRA). The Real IRA was formed in 1997–98 by republican sympathizers who disagreed with the decision of the Provisional Irish Republican Army to call a halt to the use of violence against loyalists and security forces and to support the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which was designed to bring peace to Northern Ireland after three decades of strife. The group carried out several bombings in Ulster from September 1997, but following widespread condemnation of its attack on the market town of Omagh, County Tyrone, on 15 August 1998, when 29 people died, many of its supporters distanced themselves from the organization. For the next two years, it was inactive, but in 2001, it launched attacks against targets on the British mainland (see LONDON BOMBING), and it is believed, also, to have used fire bombs to damage property in Northern Ireland from 2004. RED HAND COMMANDO. Red Hand Commando is a Protestant paramilitary organization formed in Northern Ireland in 1972. The British government declared it illegal the following year because of its terrorist activities. Drawing much of its support from eastern and southern Belfast and the County Down area of Ulster, Red Hand was undoubtedly responsible for several murders during the Troubles, often acting in joint operations with the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and from 1991 as part of the Combined Loyalist Military Command. With the UVF and the Ulster Defence Association, it announced a cease-fire in 1994, but in 2005, the government claimed that it had reneged on that promise after violent feuding with the Loyalist Volunteer Force. The group gets its name from the red hand that forms the centerpiece of the Ulster flag. RELIGION. In the United Kingdom, church and state are linked. The monarch is the supreme governor of the Church of England and defender of the faith. In England, the authority of the sovereign is confirmed by the Church of England and in Scotland by the Church of Scotland. Wales and Northern Ireland have no established


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church (that is, no single religious denomination formally linked to the processes of government). In 2001, some 72 percent of respondents to the national census claimed affiliation to one of the Christian sects but most major churches report declining congregations, with fewer than 1 person in 10 attending regularly except in Ulster, where some 30 percent of adults worship weekly. The largest non-Christian group is the Muslim community, which numbers 1.6 million people, about 40 percent of whom live in London. In addition, there are about 560,000 Hindus (mostly of Indian origin), 330,000 Sikhs (who concentrate, in particular, in Southall on the western fringe of the London metropolitan area), 265,000 Jews, and 150,000 Buddhists. The English Church Census, published in 2006, reported that more than 1,000 new churches had been opened since 1998, whereas the Starbucks Coffee chain had opened only 450 new branches. All of the most popular denominations established some new centers for worship, but the biggest growth was among the Pentecostalist communities, which draw primarily on African neighborhoods in London. The Methodists by contrast had suffered a net loss of about 300 churches, and the Church of England establishment had fallen by more than 100. No religious organization, not even the established ones, is funded directly by the state, although financial assistance is given to about 7,000 church-linked schools and to bodies responsible for the upkeep of historic religious buildings, including cathedrals. Also, most churches are registered charities, so they are exempt from the payment of many taxes. See also CAREY, GEORGE LEONARD (1935– ); HUME, GEORGE BASIL (1923–99); NOLAN REPORTS; WILLIAMS, ROWAN DOUGLAS (1950– ). REPUBLIC OF IRELAND. See IRELAND, REPUBLIC OF. REPUBLICAN. Although opinion polls show that a large and apparently growing proportion of Britain’s adult population would like to see an end to the monarchy, the term republican is most frequently used with reference to individuals who would prefer that jurisdiction over Northern Ireland was transferred from the United Kingdom to the Republic of Ireland. Most republicans in Ulster are members of


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the Roman Catholic community and are aligned politically to Sinn Féin or the Social Democratic and Labour Party. The more extreme have supported such paramilitary organizations as the Continuity Irish Republican Army, the Irish National Liberation Army, the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and the Real Irish Republican Army. See also LOYALIST; NATIONALIST; UNIONIST. RESERVE POWER. By convention, certain political powers are reserved for use at the monarch’s discretion in unusual circumstances. These include the rights to refuse royal assent to legislation (a power last exercised by Queen Anne in 1707), dismiss a prime minister (King William IV, who removed Viscount [see PEERAGE] Melbourne from office in 1834, was the last sovereign to take advantage of the rule), and refuse a prime ministerial request to dissolve Parliament (allegedly, King George V threatened such action in 1910). In modern times, the most important reserve power is the right to appoint a prime minister. Normally, that post goes to the leader of the majority party in the House of Commons, so the exercise of the power is purely nominal, but if no party commands an overall majority, the monarch can select the individual most likely to form a government that will command support. In such cases, the decision is made after consultation with senior statesmen, as in 1963, when Harold Macmillan resigned and Queen Elizabeth II talked to leading members of the cabinet before replacing him with Alec DouglasHome. Some writers consider that the reserve powers are simply a hangover from the days when the sovereign’s rule was absolute, but others argue that they are an important element of the British constitution because they allow the state to deal with governmental crises. RESPECT—THE UNITY COALITION. Respect is a left-wing political party formed in 2004 by Guardian journalist George Monbiot and psychotherapist Salma Yaqoob. Its name is an acronym for Respect, Equality, Socialism, Peace, Environmentalism, Community, and Trade Unionism, and its policies—primarily opposition to the Iraq War but also advocacy of increased taxes on the rich (so that funds can be provided for social programs) and of renationalization of public services (including railroad transport)—have attracted


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former supporters of the Labour Party who disapprove of that organization’s willingness to shed traditional socialist beliefs in an effort to capture the middle ground of British politics. Respect contested 26 constituencies at the 2005 general election and won the London seat of Bethnal Green and Bow, where George Galloway defeated Labour’s Oona King, who had been the area’s member of Parliament for the previous eight years. In three other constituencies, it came second, and in 2006, it took 15 seats at local government elections. Critics have argued that those successes reflect deliberate attempts to exploit the Muslim vote, thereby emphasizing cultural differences and prejudices, but the claims are denied by party representatives, who point out that Respect has polled well in predominantly white urban areas. RIFKIND, MALCOLM LESLIE (1946– ). Rifkind is a senior Conservative Party politician and a former secretary of state for foreign affairs. Born in Edinburgh on 21 June 1946 to Mr. and Mrs. Elijah Rifkind, he was educated in the city at George Watson’s College and then at Edinburgh University, where he graduated in law. He entered the House of Commons in 1974, representing the Edinburgh Pentlands constituency. Rifkind differed with his party leadership over devolution, arguing that Scotland and Wales should be given power over their own affairs, and was much more strongly in favor of developing links with Europe than were many of his colleagues, but even so, he rose rapidly in the political ranks under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. He was given his first government post as a parliamentary undersecretary of state at the Scottish Office in 1979. He then gained experience in junior positions at the Foreign Office before entering the cabinet as secretary of state for Scotland in 1986 and introducing a series of educational reforms while helping to attract hi-tech industries to the central lowlands. He moved to the transport ministry in 1990 and to defence in 1992. In 1995, he became the first Jew since the marquess (see PEERAGE) of Reading (1931) to be appointed foreign secretary. In that role, he had to contend with Arab suspicions that he was biased toward Israel on Middle East issues and the suspicions of some Conservative Party members that he was too proEurope.


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In 1997, Rifkind lost his seat when the Labour Party won a landslide general election victory and turned to business, accepting a series of directorships with national and international companies. He was awarded a knighthood following his defeat but failed in his attempt to regain the constituency in 2001, so he looked elsewhere and in 2004 was selected as the candidate for Kensington and Chelsea, a safe Conservative seat in London. Some commentators maintain that he harbors hopes of becoming leader of his party, and he has refused to rule out that possibility, but senior Conservatives believe that such ambitions are unlikely to be fulfilled, partly because he is viewed by many voters as yesterday’s man. See also ONE NATION CONSERVATISM. RIGHT TO ROAM. Since the late 19th century, pressure groups have campaigned for improved access for recreational purposes to privately owned land in the countryside of England and Wales. Prior to the 1997 general election, the Labour Party, sensitive to the demands of town dwellers, promised to provide a statutory “right to roam” and in 2000 piloted the necessary legislation through Parliament in the form of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act. The Countryside Agency (in England) and the Countryside Council for Wales supervised production of maps of “open country”; then from 2004, citizens were given rights to cross on foot areas designated as common land, down, heath, mountain, or moor. In Scotland, there is a traditional right of nonmotorized access to private land for travel and recreation, but that right had no legislative basis, and in recent years, non-Scots who purchased large estates have sometimes attempted to keep visitors away. However, in 2003, the Scottish Parliament passed a Land Reform (Scotland) Act that gave the traditional rights a legal foundation. It also granted tenant crofters powers to buy the land they worked and made provision for local communities to purchase estates that local owners wanted to sell. ROAD TRANSPORT. The United Kingdom has some 245,000 miles of paved road. About 2,200 of those miles are motorway, linking the most important cities and having only a limited number of entrances and exits. A further 29,100 miles built to less stringent standards connect


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smaller urban settlements. In addition, there are 214,000 miles of countryside routes and town streets. Since the end of World War II, road transport has grown at the expense of the railroads, particularly for passenger movements. In the early 1950s, about one quarter of all journeys measured in terms of distance traveled were made by private car. By the early 21st century, that proportion had risen to about 85 percent, fueled by higher incomes (which allowed families to purchase automobiles), increased leisure time (which provided opportunity to travel), a vastly improved road network, and a 50 percent reduction in the length of railroad track. The proportion of journeys made by bus has also declined, from 42 percent of all journeys in 1952 to 6 percent in 2002. As a consequence, many rural settlements have experienced cuts in service and often the abolition of services altogether, adding to the isolation of the elderly, the poor, and those too young to drive. The bus network, previously owned by the state, was returned to private hands by the Transport Act (1980) as part of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s efforts to reduce government intervention in industry (see PRIVATIZATION), so timetables are now determined by a mixture of large companies, such as Arriva and Stagecoach, which operate nationally or over wide regions, and a myriad small-scale operators, some with only a single vehicle. Journeys on many routes are heavily subsidized by local government for social reasons. Between the 1950s and the early 21st century, the proportion of freight carried by road haulers also increased markedly from about 35 percent, by weight, of all goods carried to over 60 percent, greatly facilitated by the development of the motorway system from 1959 and the construction of ring roads around major cities. However, the growth in road usage has led to congestion and pollution in many areas, so local councils have introduced measures designed to keep traffic out of towns, including in London’s case a controversial “congestion charge” levied on all vehicles entering the city center. Also, environmentalist objections to road construction outside urban areas have resulted in increased traffic densities on existing roads. The upkeep of highways is the responsibility of public bodies. Major roads in England are maintained by the Highways Agency, which is part of the Department of Transport. Other roads are maintained by


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local government. In Scotland and Wales, the work is the responsibility of the Scottish Executive and the National Assembly for Wales, respectively, and in Northern Ireland, improvements are carried out by the Roads Service. See also NEWBURY BYPASS. RODGERS, WILLIAM THOMAS “BILL” (1928– ). As the title of his autobiography—Fourth among Equals (2000)—suggests, Bill Rodgers was the least vaunted of the “gang of four” who broke away from the Labour Party in 1981 to form the Social Democratic Party (SDP). The son of William and Gertrude Rodgers, he was born on 28 October 1928 and educated at Quarry Bank High School in Liverpool before going to Oxford University, where he graduated in 1951 with a B.A. in modern history. He first tried to enter Parliament in 1957, competing unsuccessfully at a by-election at the Bristol West constituency, and eventually succeeded in 1962, when he topped the poll at Stockton-on-Tees. By the early 1980s, however, Rodgers and other moderates were becoming concerned about the drift toward extremism in British politics, with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher leading the Right and Michael Foot leading the Left. In the company of Roy Jenkins, David Owen, and Shirley Williams, he renounced his allegiance to Labour in 1981 and formed the SDP but lost his seat at the 1983 general election and never returned to the House of Commons. Arguing that an SDP/Liberal Party coalition was the most likely means of capturing the political middle ground, Rodgers was one of the leaders of a campaign that resulted in a merger of the two organizations in 1987–88 as the Liberal Democrats. After receiving a life peerage in 1992, he became the new group’s spokesman on home affairs (1994–97) and then its leader (1997–2001) in the House of Lords. ROYAL AIR FORCE (RAF). On 1 April 1918, the Royal Flying Corps (previously part of the British Army) merged with the Royal Naval Air Service (part of the Royal Navy) to form the world’s first independent air force. In 2005, the RAF had some 49,000 personnel, of whom about 9,900 were officers and 1,300 were aircrew, but in that year, the government announced that some 8,000 people would lose their jobs by 2008, with the brunt of the losses to be borne by Scottish bases.


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The service is led by the chief of the air staff, who is responsible for its contribution to Britain’s defense, and since 2000 has been divided into two principal organizational units—Air Command, based at High Wycombe (west of London), and Personnel and Training Command, based at Innsworth (near Gloucester in western England). The commands supervise the activity of 54 specialist squadrons that focus on combat, maritime patrols, reconnaissance, transport, and other activities. In addition, there are several ground units, including reporting posts (such as that at Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides) and signals posts (such as Uxbridge on the fringe of London). The principal-strike aircraft are 60 Tornadoes, which first entered service in 1982 and are fitted with sidewinder air-to-air missiles or Sea Eagle antiship missiles. Thirty-four Jaguar fighter-bombers and 45 Harrier jump jets provide support, along with 480 other aircraft, including Chinook helicopters, Hercules transport planes, and Tristars that can be used for air-to-air refueling. In recent years, they have been deployed to several areas of conflict, notably Afghanistan and Iraq. Some units are based at airfields overseas, such as Gibraltar, but most are stationed in the United Kingdom. See also ARMED FORCES. ROYAL ASSENT. The granting of royal assent is the final stage in the legislative processes of the United Kingdom Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales, the Northern Ireland Assembly, and the Scottish Parliament. When a bill has been approved by the House of Commons and the House of Lords, it is sent to the sovereign for approval. In the past, monarchs could withhold their consent, but nowadays kings and queens act on the advice of government ministers, who command the support of a majority of elected representatives, so the proceedings are a formality. Royal assent has not been refused since 1707, when Queen Anne declined to approve a bill “for the settling of the militia in Scotland.” The assent can be granted in person, with the sovereign attending the House of Lords, but that method was last used by Queen Victoria in 1854. Alternatively, the monarch may appoint three or more commissioners who are members both of the Lords and the Privy Council to represent her at the ceremony. The most usual approach, however,


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is to signify approval through the issue of letters patent, a method introduced by the Royal Assent Act of 1997. See also CONSTITUTION; RESERVE POWER; ROYAL PREROGATIVE. ROYAL CHARTER. In the past, royal charters were the only means by which cities, companies, and institutions could be incorporated. Over the years, other forms of legitimization, such as acts of Parliament, have evolved, but the grant of a charter remains a royal prerogative in the gift of the sovereign and is used as a means of according status to professional bodies and other organizations. Recipients include the University of Cambridge, which was chartered in 1231, the London Hospital (1758), the British Broadcasting Corporation (1926), the Institute of Bankers (1987), and Brighton and Hove Borough Council (1997). ROYAL COMMISSION. Royal commissions are appointed by government to investigate matters of public concern and make recommendations for change. The members are normally leading figures in business or the professions, often led by a senior judge, who will have had long experience of hearing witnesses and sifting evidence. Their powers are usually wide, allowing them if necessary to compel individuals to produce documents and testify before them. Some commissions, such as those on Historical Manuscripts (established in 1869) and Environmental Pollution (established in 1970), are standing bodies that issue periodic reports on a variety of matters related to their brief. Others, including the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice (established in 1991) and the Royal Commission on Long-Term Care for the Elderly (established in 1997), deal with a single issue and are dissolved after issuing their findings. Many of the commissions are best known by the name of their chairperson because their formal titles are lengthy. For example, the Royal Commission on the Reform of the House of Lords, which reported in 2000, is usually termed “The Wakeham Commission” because it was headed by Baron (see PEERAGE) Wakeham, a Conservative Party politician who served as leader of the House of Commons under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and as leader of the House of Lords under Prime Minister John Major.


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ROYAL FAMILY. There is no formal legal definition of the term royal family, so different writers ascribe membership in different ways. Most, however, include the sovereign and his or her spouse, siblings, children and their spouses, grandchildren (though some commentators include only male grandchildren), and surviving parent. The present royal family would thus consist of • Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, Duke (see PEERAGE) of Edinburgh; • Charles, Prince of Wales (the queen’s eldest son); his children, Prince William and Prince Harry; and his second wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall; • Prince Andrew, Duke of York (the queen’s second son), and his children, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie; • Anne, Princess Royal (the queen’s only daughter), her husband, Timothy Laurence, and Peter and Zara (her children by her first marriage to Mark Phillips); and • Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex (the queen’s youngest child), the Countess of Wessex (formerly Sophie Helen Rhys-Jones), and their children, Lady Louise and James, Viscount Severn. In addition, first cousins and the wives of first cousins in the male line are frequently added to the list, extending membership of the royal family to the duke and duchess of Gloucester, the duke and duchess of Kent, Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, and Princess Alexandra. See also CIVIL LIST; PRIVY PURSE; SECURITY BREACHES, ROYAL FAMILY. ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. Even before the Normans invaded England, monarchs had administrators who helped them rule their kingdoms and workers who cooked meals, looked after horses, and carried out other domestic chores. The modern royal household, about 1,200 strong, provides the monarch with the support necessary for official duties to be performed efficiently and includes accountants, chefs, housekeepers, press officers, and secretarial staff. Their duties include coordination of travel arrangements, financial management, the organization of ceremonial events, preparation of official


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correspondence, property maintenance, and other logistical tasks. Expenditure is funded from the civil list and the privy purse. ROYAL MAIL. Through its network of more than 14,000 post offices, the Royal Mail provides a national postal service on a “one price goes anywhere” basis. In 1635, it was created as the General Post Office by King Charles I, who gave it monopoly rights to deliver letters and packages. Over the next 300 years, its responsibilities widened (it introduced a telegraph service in 1870, for example), and in 1969, it was converted from government department to state-owned corporation. Since then, it has been under increasing pressure to operate at a profit while being stripped of many of its activities by successive governments. In 1981, as one element of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s campaign to introduce more competition into public service provision, its responsibility for maintaining a telecommunications network was transferred to British Telecom. Five years later, its letter delivery, parcel delivery, and post office functions were allocated to separate business units, and in 1990, its banking infrastructure (known as Girobank) was sold to the Alliance and Leicester Building Society. In 2001, it was renamed Consignia in an attempt to rebrand, but the move proved widely unpopular, with even the postal workers’ trade union refusing to use the new title, so in 2002, it reverted to Royal Mail plc. Then in 2006, it lost its monopoly over letter delivery and its right to issue television reception licenses. In the early years of the 21st century, the Royal Mail employed about 190,000 people, around 1 percent of Britain’s workforce. Each day, it dealt with about 84 million letters collected from 113,000 post boxes and 101,000 other locations. Its post offices were the United Kingdom’s largest financial services provider, Parcelforce (its British package transport service) made 150,000 deliveries each day, and General Logistics Systems (its European parcel service) made more than 1 million deliveries. However, although it was trading at a profit, its post offices were losing over £2 million every week, and services to rural areas were under particular threat. ROYAL NAVY. The Royal Navy dates from the eighth century, when Alfred the Great organized a fleet that would resist the incursions of


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Viking invaders. In its modern form, it is expected to defend British interests at home and abroad and to fulfill commitments to such international defense groupings as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Since 2002, its surface fleet has formed two flotillas, one based at Devonport and the other at Portsmouth, both in southern England. The vessels include 17 frigates, 8 destroyers, and 3 aircraft carriers. In addition, there are 17 submarines, including 4 that carry Trident nuclear weapons and are based at Faslane, on the River Clyde. For most of the period after the end of World War II, the navy focused on cold war concerns and in particular on protecting the North Atlantic seaways by searching for Russian vessels, but the Falklands War (1982) and the demise of the Soviet Union (1991) resulted in a restructuring of priorities, with greater emphasis on “blue water” warfare and action at considerable distances from the British Isles. As a result, ships have been involved in the Gulf War (1991), the conflict in Afghanistan (2001), and the Iraq War (2003– ). In recent years, however, military leaders have expressed concern that the United Kingdom will be unable to sustain its presence on the world’s oceans because the fleet has shrunk from 162 vessels in 1980 to 90 in 2007. Moreover, they point out that although some new ships are being ordered (a number of the aging Type 42 destroyers will be replaced by state-of-the-art, highly computerized Type 45s, for example), government efforts to trim budgets have resulted in the cancellation of plans to build new frigates, and many existing vessels may be mothballed. See also ARMED FORCES. ROYAL PREROGATIVE. As Britain has become more democratic, the rights enjoyed by monarchs have been eroded. Those powers that remain unique to the sovereign are known as “royal prerogatives.” Because they are enshrined in common law rather than statute law, there is no definitive list of them, but they include rights to appoint or dismiss government ministers (including the prime minister), appoint the senior hierarchy of the Church of England, appoint the head of the British Broadcasting Corporation, award honors, create new universities, declare war, give royal assent to bills, open and dissolve Parliament, and make treaties with foreign states. However, the privileges are more apparent than real.


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The appointment of a prime minister is a formality because the post always goes to the leader of the majority party in the House of Commons, and the individual chosen selects the other appointees, including those who will occupy the ecclesiastical posts. With the exception of the Order of the Garter, the Order of Merit, the Order of the Thistle, and the Royal Victorian Order, all orders of chivalry are similarly conferred on the advice of the prime minister. The royal assent to a bill has not been withheld since 1707. The choice of a date for the dissolution of Parliament is made by the government, and the opening of a Parliament is a purely ceremonial event. By implication, occasions on which a monarch could exercise the use of the prerogative by making an independent decision are likely to occur only in emergencies. See also BRITISH INDIAN OCEAN TERRITORY; CITY; ORDER IN COUNCIL; PRIVY COUNCIL; ROYAL CHARTER. ROYAL ULSTER CONSTABULARY (RUC). For 80 years from 1922 until 2002, the RUC policed Northern Ireland. To loyalists in the province, it was the body responsible for maintaining law and order, and unlike police forces in other parts of the United Kingdom, it was armed. To nationalists, it was a repressive authority acting on behalf of a colonial government, so throughout its existence, the Roman Catholic minority in the province was underrepresented in its ranks. Widely condemned for its aggressive treatment of protestors at civil liberties demonstrations, the RUC proved increasingly unable to keep the peace as sectarian violence escalated during the late 1960s. As a result, in 1969, detachments of the British Army were moved to Ulster in an effort to impose calm. In the same year, a government inquiry headed by Lord Hunt recommended sweeping changes to the Constabulary’s organizational structure in order to bring it more into line with other United Kingdom police units. Also, the inquiry team proposed that the B-Specials (the RUC’s paramilitary wing) should be disbanded and replaced by an Ulster Defence Regiment that would support the army’s efforts to reduce injuries to citizens and damage to property. Hunt’s suggestions were implemented but did little to ease tempers. As a result, from 1969 until the 1994 cease-fire between war-


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ring unionist and republican factions, some 300 officers were killed and more than 7,000 injured. However, nationalist concerns were addressed following the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, and in the wake of the Patten Commission’s investigations, the RUC was disbanded and replaced in 2001 by the Police Service of Northern Ireland. In 1999, it was awarded the George Cross, Britain’s highest award for civilian bravery. The only previous occasion on which the medal had been given to a group was in 1942, when the island of Malta was recognized for its courage under enemy bombardment during World War II. See also OMAGH BOMBING; STEVENS INQUIRIES. RUSHDIE, AHMED SALMAN (1947– ). Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses, published in 1989, brought him both celebrity and a death sentence. Born into Bombay’s Muslim community on 19 June 1947, he is the son of lawyer and businessman Anis Ahmed Rushdie and his schoolteacher wife, Negin Butt. He was initially educated in the British tradition at his native city’s Cathedral and John Common School but later moved to Rugby School in England and then to the University of Cambridge, where he earned a history degree. Grimus, Rushdie’s first novel, was published in 1975 to very limited critical acclaim, but Midnight’s Children, which followed in 1980, won him the Booker Prize (then in 1993, the Booker of Bookers Prize—the award for the best novel published in the first 25 years of the Booker). It also earned him notoriety in his native India, where it was interpreted as a condemnation of Pandit Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi. Concerned by threats to his life, he left the country and set up home in London, but the move brought little relief. The depiction of Mohammed in Satanic Verses was considered irreverent by many Muslims, so the book was banned in India on 5 October 1988 and in Bangladesh, Egypt, Malaysia, Pakistan, and other countries shortly afterward. On 14 February the following year, Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran’s leader, accused Rushdie of apostasy (that is, of repudiating Islam), issued a fatwa (or legal opinion) declaring the book blasphemous, and recommended that zealous followers of Mohammed all over the world should execute the author and those publishers who knew of the contents. Ten days later, he announced that the author’s killer


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would earn a reward of £1.5 million. Rushdie immediately went into hiding, moving from one safe house to another 30 times over the next 9 years while he was guarded by security forces. He survived, but others were less fortunate. His Japanese translator was stabbed to death in Tokyo in 1991, and the same year, his Italian translator was assaulted in Milan. In 1993, his Norwegian publisher was attacked at his home in Oslo. In 1997, the price on Rushdie’s head was doubled, but in 1998 under the terms of an agreement to normalize relations with the United Kingdom, the Iranian government revoked the death sentence. The writer came out of hiding and moved to New York, but early in 2005, the sentence was reinstated. Then in 2007, the news that he was to be knighted for services to literature provoked protests in several Muslim countries and led to reiterated demands that he should be put to death. Commentators in Britain have mixed feelings about Rushdie. Many literary critics admire his works, which undoubtedly have influenced the development of fiction in India and the UK. However, others resent the negative sentiments he has expressed about London since his move to the United States, suggest that a man whose words have caused so much violence should show more concern for those who have suffered as a result of his writing, and claim that he has brought most of his troubles upon himself. Also, commentators reflect on his four marriages and criticize his decision to leave his third wife, Elizabeth West (whom he credits with saving his life at the darkest times of depression), with their three-year-old son, Milan, when he departed Britain for North America.

– S – SALMOND, ALEXANDER ELLIOT ANDERSON “ALEX” (1954– ). Alex Salmond was elected leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) in 1990, resigned in 2000, returned to the post following John Swinney’s resignation in 2004, and was appointed first minister in the Scottish Parliament in 2007. The son of Mary and Robert Salmond, he was born on 31 December 1954 and educated at Linlithgow Academy before going to St. Andrew’s University, where


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he studied economics and history. He worked as an economist with the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland from 1978–80 and then moved to the Royal Bank of Scotland, where he specialized in energy finances. In 1987, he won the parliamentary constituency of Banff and Nairn for the nationalists, entering the House of Commons as a confirmed left-winger and speaking on energy issues for both the SNP and Plaid Cymru, the Welsh nationalist party. Salmond took over the helm of the SNP in 1990 and by 1996 had gained an unprecedented grip on its structure and decision making, siphoning power away from the elected executive to an inner cabinet whose members he appointed himself. At the same time, his political views were mellowing, but even so, in 1999, he condemned the North Atlantic Treaty Organization intervention in Serbia as “unpardonable folly,” arguing that it was simply a demonstration of American military supremacy. Those comments were widely criticized by members of other political parties, and the following year, he resigned the leader’s position to concentrate on heading the SNP contingent at Westminster. The nationalist group in the Commons was small, but Salmond is a media-savvy politician with a knack of hitting headlines. A regular on television talk shows, he also made his presence felt in the debating chamber, making no secret of his opposition to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and claiming that Prime Minister Tony Blair had deliberately attempted to deceive the electorate with statements about weapons of mass destruction. In 2004, Salmond’s decision to seek the leadership of the SNP for a second time surprised many analysts, who felt that he was becoming increasingly entrenched in the London political scene. Also they suggested he would have difficulty uniting a party that was hemorrhaging members and whose remaining supporters were bitterly divided between those who wanted a gradualist approach to Scottish independence and those who favored separation from the rest of the United Kingdom as soon as possible. The 2005 general election suggested that efforts to overcome the problems were meeting with mixed success because although the SNP won 6 seats, including 2 that represented the first constituencies it had wrested from the Labour Party in over 30 years, it polled 50,000 votes fewer than at the 2001 election and recorded its lowest


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share of the popular vote since 1987. However, in 2007, Salmond led his party to a one-seat victory in the elections for the Scottish Parliament and formed a minority SNP government with Green Party support, promising to focus on the economy, education, and health care. SAME-SEX MARRIAGES. See CIVIL PARTNERSHIPS. SANDS, ROBERT GEORGE “BOBBY” (1954–1981). Bobby Sands became a martyr for the cause of Irish republicanism after he refused food and fasted until death as a way of attracting attention to his cause. He was born in Rathcoole, a suburb north of Belfast, on 9 March 1954, the son of postal worker John Sands and his wife, Rosaleen. The Roman Catholic family had to move several times in an effort to avoid abuse from Ulster loyalists, so Bobby grew up in an environment of hatred and intimidation. He joined the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) in 1972 and was interned by the British government without trial for four years. In 1977, Sands was given a 14-year jail sentence, convicted of a firearms offense, and taken to one of the H-blocks in the Maze Prison. He and his fellow PIRA sympathizers argued that they were political prisoners and thus entitled to regulations less strict than those imposed on criminals, but the government disagreed, so they launched a series of protests that from 1 March 1981 included a hunger strike. The actions were strongly supported by other advocates of a united Ireland, so when Sands stood as an anti–H Block candidate at the Fermanagh and Tyrone by-election for the national Parliament on 9 April, he polled 30,492 votes and won the seat. A month later—on 5 May—he died, still refusing to take food. Nine other PIRA members followed in succeeding weeks. Inevitably, the events led to international media coverage and widespread condemnation of the United Kingdom. In Milan, the Union Flag was burned at a gathering of some 5,000 students; in New Jersey, the state legislature passed a resolution praising Sands’s “courage and commitment”; in Ghent, the British consulate was invaded; and in the Republic of Ireland, the PIRA gained many new members. More positively, the deaths helped to convince republicans that nonviolent activities could bring political results and therefore


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encouraged the PIRA to place greater emphasis on diplomatic and electoral means of achieving its goals. SARAH, DUCHESS OF YORK (1959– ). The duchess of York, former wife of Prince Andrew, is the daughter of Major Ronald Ferguson and Susan, his first wife. She was born in London on 15 October 1959, played with the children of the royal family while she was growing up because she came into contact with them regularly at her father’s polo events, and became an accomplished horse rider. Never distinguishing herself academically, she had several jobs after leaving Queen’s Secretarial College (London) at the age of 18, working with a public relations firm, an art gallery, and a publisher. She also led an exuberant social life, and the prince was clearly attracted by her flamboyant, extrovert personality. The two developed an intimate relationship from 1985, when they attended a party at Windsor Castle, and were married in Westminster Abbey on 23 July the following year. They have two daughters—Beatrice Elizabeth (born on 8 August 1988) and Eugenia Victoria Helena (born on 23 March 1990). Initially, the couple seemed happy, and Sarah was a popular public figure, seen as a youthful antidote to the traditionally distant, stuffy image of royalty. However, the prince’s naval duties took him away from home for lengthy periods, and for security reasons, his wife could not travel with him. To occupy her time, she involved herself in charity work, learned to fly a helicopter, and wrote a series of children’s books, but inevitably, she was often lonely. The press noted that she was putting on weight; criticized her style sense, comparing her unfavorably to Diana, Princess of Wales; and speculated about the expenses generated by her jet-setting lifestyle. Frequently, too, she was seen in male company. It was clear that the marriage was under pressure and no surprise when Sarah and Andrew separated in March 1992. They divorced in 1996, and Sarah lost the right to use the title “Her Royal Highness.” Since then, however, the duchess has rebuilt her life, regaining credibility and becoming more respected than lampooned. She worked to pay off debts that allegedly amounted to £4 million, acted as a spokesperson for the American branch of Weightwatchers, took part in a publicity campaign for a personal finance company, and made several television appearances, including a stint deputizing for


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Larry King on CNN. She also continues to do much work for children’s charities, and both she and Andrew have remained good friends, sharing the custody of their daughters. After the divorce, Sarah remained at Sunninghill Park, where she had lived with the prince, while she tried to rebuild her finances, but eventually in 2003, she bought her own property in Surrey. In 2004, she watched a polo match with Andrew, Beatrice, and Queen Elizabeth II—the first signs of a reconciliation with her former mother-inlaw. Press rumors suggest that Prince Philip is unwilling to forgive his former daughter-in-law for her peccadilloes, but even so, the duchess was invited to tea by the queen during her summer stay at Balmoral Castle in 2005 and attended the ceremony at which Prince Andrew was invested with the Order of the Garter (see ORDERS OF CHIVALRY) the following year. SCARGILL, ARTHUR (1938– ). Scargill, a left-wing activist, led Britain’s coal miners through a lengthy period of industrial protest in 1984–85, attacking Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s economic policy in a conflict that led to the reshaping of industrial relations in the United Kingdom (see MINERS’ STRIKE [1984–85]). The son and grandson of coal miners, Arthur was born in Worsborough Dale (Yorkshire) to Harold and Alice Scargill on 11 January 1938. An only child, he was reared in a communist household where he learned how the forces of capitalism exploited the poor and the weak. After leaving White Cross Secondary School at the age of 15, he went to work at Woolley Colliery but quickly became involved in politics, joining the Young Communist League, then the Labour Party, and taking part in meetings of the National Union of Mineworkers. By 1973, he was president of the influential Yorkshire branch of the union; by 1975, he was on the organization’s national executive committee; and in 1981, he was elected president. A skillful orator and an astute administrator, Scargill was able to manipulate the union’s system of block voting, getting supporters to cast thousands of ballots on his behalf. Then in a position of power at the head of a membership of some 187,000, he argued that Mrs. Thatcher intended to reduce the country’s dependence on coal as a source of energy, ultimately bringing his men (then the most highly paid industrial workers in the country) out on strike for a year.


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Scargill claimed that a withdrawal of labor was necessary in order to protect the industry and the communities that depended on it, but the Thatcher government refused to bend, and as the months passed, more and more men drifted back to the coal face, driven by a need to pay rents and feed families. In retrospect, his fears were justified because with the miners defeated, the government vigorously promoted the use of North Sea gas supplies rather than coal, particularly for electricity generation. Also, Mrs. Thatcher’s victory in the battle with the miners encouraged her to introduce a series of measures designed to reduce the power of the trade unions and restructure relationships between management and labor in British industry. Over the next decade, Scargill watched as his membership and his power in the trade union movement dwindled. He became increasingly disaffected with the Labour Party, rejecting its drift to the political Right under Tony Blair and eventually in 1996 leaving to form the Socialist Labour Party, which has had very limited electoral success. In 2002, he was made honorary president of the National Union of Mineworkers. The post is unpaid, but the union’s structure means that he retains considerable control over its activities. SCARMAN INQUIRY. Over the weekend of 10–12 April 1981, hundreds of black youths rioted in Brixton, a rundown area on the fringe of London’s inner city. Forty-five members of the public and 279 policemen were injured, more than 80 buildings were damaged, many business premises were looted, and the cost of repairing the damage was estimated at £7.5 million. Within days, the government had appointed a committee headed by Lord Scarman, a lord of appeal in ordinary, to conduct an inquiry and make recommendations. The members reported in November, concluding that the outbreak of violence was not planned but that resentment of authority had built up over a period as a result of high unemployment, housing shortages, perceptions of unsympathetic policing, and other poverty-related factors. Further, they said urgent action was needed if racial disadvantage was not to become an “endemic, ineradicable disease threatening the very survival of our society.” Scarman and his colleagues recommended that more police officers should be recruited from Britain’s ethnic minorities, that groups should be established to liaise between communities and the police,


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and that codes of practice should be drawn up to guide police officers in their duties. Several of the recommendations were implemented—for example, the Police and Criminal Evidence Act of 1984 spelled out the rights of people detained under suspicion of involvement in a crime— but the inquiry was later criticized for its failures to identify the deepseated nature of institutional racism in police forces and stress the need for concerted affirmative action aimed at eliminating the economic and social roots of racial disadvantage in the United Kingdom. On the other hand, some writers have pointed out that the proposals were innovatory for their time and couched in terms that the relatively right-wing Conservative Party government could accept. SCOTLAND. The most northerly part of the British Isles, Scotland had a population of 5,062,011 at the time of the 2001 census, covers an area of 30,400 square miles (slightly less than South Carolina), and can be divided into three physical areas—the highlands and islands, the central valley, and the southern uplands. Population and settlement are heavily concentrated in the central region, focusing on Glasgow in the west and Edinburgh, the Scottish capital, in the east. Traditionally, Glasgow has been a center of heavy industry, particularly shipbuilding and engineering, and Edinburgh a center of administration, while the highlands and southern uplands focused on agriculture (notably sheep and cattle rearing), but as manufacturing activities declined during the second half of the 20th century, the economy became significantly more orientated toward hi-tech sectors (see SILICON GLEN), oil production, and service provision, with Edinburgh developing the sixth-largest financial agglomeration in Europe. Politically, Scotland was an independent state until 1707, when primarily for economic reasons its Parliament united with that of England. Even after that date, however, the Scots retained their distinctive banking, education, and legal systems, as well as a considerable ambivalence toward southern neighbors whom many regarded as the “auld” (or old) enemy. As a result, although statehood vanished, nationhood survived and was evidenced in voting behavior. For much of the 20th century, the Labour Party in the House of Commons depended heavily on representatives sent to Westminster from Scottish parliamentary constituencies with instructions to support


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the socialist cause—so much so that after Labour’s landslide general election victory in 1997, Scots held many of the senior positions in the new government, with Edinburgh-born Tony Blair as prime minister, Gordon Brown as chancellor of the exchequer, Robin Cook as foreign secretary, and Derry Irvine as lord chancellor. In 1999, Labour devolved power over many domestic affairs to a new Parliament, located in Edinburgh, while retaining sovereignty over United Kingdom and international affairs. Debate about the impact of the new legislature dominated Scottish economic and political life during the early years of the 21st century as its decisions added to differences between Scotland and the rest of the UK in areas such as access to private land (see RIGHT TO ROAM), fees paid by university students, and health care for the elderly, with observers disagreeing about whether the new system would satisfy those Scots who wanted to govern their own affairs or whether it would lead to demands for full independence. See also ABERDEEN; CHURCH OF SCOTLAND; DEWAR, DONALD CAMPBELL (1937–2000); FIRST MINISTER; FLAG; THE HERALD; HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS DEVELOPMENT BOARD (HIDB); HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS ENTERPRISE (HIE); MCCONNELL, JACK WILSON (1960– ); MCLEISH, HENRY (1948– ); NATIONAL PARK; NATIONAL TRUST FOR SCOTLAND (NTS); NATIONALIST; THE SCOTSMAN; SCOTTISH CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION; SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE; SCOTTISH NATIONAL PARTY (SSP); SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT; SCOTTISH SOCIALIST PARTY (SSP); STEEL, DAVID MARTIN SCOTT (1938– ); SWINNEY, JOHN RAMSEY (1964– ). SCOTLAND YARD. Scotland Yard is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service, which is responsible for maintaining law and order throughout London (except in the City of London, which retains its own force). It gets its name because “the Met,” when it was founded in 1829, was based at a site formerly occupied by the dwelling where Scottish monarchs lived during their visits to London. The name was retained as New Scotland Yard when more extensive accommodation was built in 1890 and again when a further transfer was made to the present 20-story, 11-acre block in Broadway


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in 1967. “The Yard” remains the central facility of the world’s largest police force, which uses its specialist units, such as the Counter-Terrorism Command, to assist forces throughout the United Kingdom to prevent and solve crimes. SCOTS GAELIC. See LANGUAGE. THE SCOTSMAN. The Scotsman is one of Scotland’s two quality daily newspapers (The Herald is the other). Founded in Edinburgh in 1817, it adopted a liberal, antiestablishment stance on political and social issues and has maintained that position for most of its history. In 1995, the paper was bought from the Thomson Organization by the reclusive David and Frederick Barclay. The Barclays brought Conservative Party supporter Andrew Neil in as editor, increased the operating budget, and in 1999 moved the paper’s offices from the central city site it had occupied since 1905 to premises close to the new Scottish Parliament building at Holyrood. Neil had mixed success. In 2000, an attempt to increase circulation by cutting newsstand prices boosted daily sales to around 120,000, but distribution tumbled when those prices increased. Also, efforts to encroach on the London market by carrying more United Kingdom news at the expense of Scottish stories had little impact. However, the paper’s strong advocacy of devolution of power from Westminster to an Edinburgh-based assembly was undoubtedly popular. In 2005, after a series of cost-cutting measures had considerably reduced the size of the editorial staff, The Scotsman (along with the Edinburgh Evening News and Scotland on Sunday, its sister papers) was sold to the Johnston Press for £160 million. It has a circulation of some 63,000 copies each day. SCOTT REPORT. In the early 1990s, the Conservative Party government was roundly attacked in the House of Commons and in the press following reports that it had allowed British firms to sell arms to Iraq at a time when such sales were illegal. Initial suspicions were aroused by the Iraqi Supergun Affair in 1990 and confirmed two years later when Alan Clark admitted that he had deliberately concealed details of the trade while he was a minister at the Department of Trade and Industry (see MATRIX CHURCHILL AFFAIR). Late in


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1992, in an effort to quell the tide of criticism, Prime Minister John Major asked Sir Richard Scott, a lord of appeal in ordinary, to head an inquiry designed to establish whether ministers had followed official directives on trade with Iraq and to investigate the use of public interest immunity (PII) certificates, which were employed to prevent the release of sensitive information. Scott examined government policy on arms sales over a period of some 10 years and called leading members of the cabinet to give evidence. Kenneth Clarke, Michael Heseltine, Geoffrey Howe, Major, and Margaret Thatcher were all required to appear, as were representatives of the intelligence services and senior civil servants. The five-volume, 1,800-page report was published in 1996 and exposed a culture of secrecy and deception in Whitehall. Ministers were criticized for failing to report to Parliament on decisions about the relaxation of arms sales regulations because any such announcement would undoubtedly have caused a furor in the press. Also, they were condemned for signing PII certificates in order to deny people who were accused of breaking sales embargoes from getting access to documents that might prove their innocence (although there was no suggestion that they had deliberately tried to send innocent men to jail). At the time of the report’s appearance, the prime minister had low ratings in opinion polls, his administration was bickering very publicly over policy toward the European Union, and his party had been rocked by a series of financial scandals (see AITKEN, JONATHAN WILLIAM PATRICK [1942– ]; CASH FOR QUESTIONS). Scott’s conclusions did nothing to help the government’s image and almost certainly contributed to its heavy defeat at the general election the following year. SCOTTISH CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION. In 1989, a group of prominent Scots (including 58 members of Parliament, representatives of the churches, and leading figures from business, civic organizations, and the trade unions) signed a “Claim of Right” that asserted Scotland’s nationhood and declared its entitlement to a Parliament within the political context of the United Kingdom. Shortly afterward, a constitutional convention was organized to provide a blueprint for devolution of powers from the UK Parliament in London to a new assembly in Edinburgh, the Scottish capital. The


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Conservative Party refused to participate, the Scottish National Party withdrew after only a few weeks because the convention was unwilling to consider full independence for Scotland, and many commercial concerns were opposed to the movement, but most local government authorities took part and provided much of the funding. The convention’s meetings were held throughout Scotland in order to encourage public participation. At the first of them, Canon Kenyon Wright, the chairman of the executive committee, defied Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. “What if that other voice we all know so well responds by saying ‘We say no, and we are the state’?” he asked. “Well, we say ‘Yes’ and we are the people.” In 1995, the convention published outline plans for a Scottish assembly, detailing proposals for that body’s composition, functions, and powers. The principles of those plans provided the basis for the structure of the Scottish Parliament that was created four years later. SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE. When the Scottish Parliament meets after an election, it appoints one of its number, normally the leader of the majority party, to act as first minister. The first minister, in turn, appoints ministers—who, with the exception of the senior legal advisors, must also be members of the Parliament—and allocates them specific areas of responsibility, such as “education and young people” or “environment and rural development.” These individuals together with the junior ministers who assist them are known as the Scottish Executive. As a group, they shape the business conducted by the Parliament, initiating legislative change, and greatly influence everyday life in Scotland as they exercise authority over cultural matters (including the arts), health care, local government reform, transport links, and other aspects of economy and society. In September 2007, the Scottish “Executive” announced that it would be rebranded as the Scottish Government after research studies showed that the term Executive was meaningless to most people. The phrase Scottish Executive would be retained for legal purposes but all letters, publicity material and signs would use the new name. At the same time, the royal coat of arms was removed from official documents and replaced with Scotland’s saltire flag. The term Scottish Executive is also used within government to refer to the group of about 15,000 members of the civil service who


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provide support for the political appointees. See also DEVOLUTION; DEWAR, DONALD CAMPBELL (1937–2000); LORD ADVOCATE; MCCONNELL, JACK WILSON (1960– ); MCLEISH, HENRY (1948– ); SALMOND, ALEXANDER ELLIOTT ANDERSON “ALEX” (1954– ). SCOTTISH NATIONAL PARTY (SNP). The SNP was formed in 1932 through the union of the National Party of Scotland and the Scottish Party as a rallying ground for Scots who felt that the major, London-based political parties were unlikely to grant any form of self-government to Scotland. It enjoyed limited electoral success until 1967, when Winnie Ewing unexpectedly defeated the Labour Party candidate at a parliamentary by-election in Hamilton and supporters began to win seats at local-government level. The 1974 general election produced 11 members of Parliament who claimed 30 percent of the popular vote, but the momentum could not be sustained, and in 1979, only two of the victors held on to their seats. Defeat led to bickering as one faction argued for a shift to a more socialist agenda while others wanted to concentrate on garnering support from across the political spectrum and to focus clearly on winning separation from the rest of the United Kingdom. The situation was further complicated by a split in the proseparatist ranks, with one group (usually known as the gradualists) claiming that independence could best be gained by campaigning first for a devolution of power to an Edinburgh-based Parliament and another (the fundamentalists) wanting a more explicit emphasis on an immediate break. By the early 21st century, the party had taken a left-of-center stance, but the internal differences continued to cause problems, and a series of electoral rebuffs provoked much heart searching. In 1999, the SNP won 28.7 percent of the popular vote at the first elections to the Scottish Parliament, its 35 seats making it the largest party after Labour. At the 2003 election, however, it won only 23.8 percent of the vote and 27 seats, and then at the 2005 general election, it fell to third place in the popular vote behind Labour and the Liberal Democrats. Some analysts claimed that the decline had been caused in part by the advances made by more left-wing organizations, such as the Scottish Socialist Party, that also advocated independence, but others


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pointed out that the internecine warfare had disaffected many supporters who had failed to pay their membership dues and thus reduced the funds available to fight elections. However, by 2007, voters were expressing dissatisfaction with the Labour Party governments that controlled both the Scottish Parliament and the London Parliament. The Scottish Conservative Party was even more unpopular, so the SNP took advantage of the disaffection and won an additional 20 seats at the elections for the Edinburgh assembly, claiming a total of 47, 1 more than Labour. As a result, it was able to form a government, even though it did not command an overall majority in the Parliament, and Alex Salmond, its leader, was appointed first minister. See also NATIONALIST; SWINNEY, JOHN RAMSEY (1964– ). For details of representation in the House of Commons, see the entries on general elections held in 1979, 1983, 1987, 1992, 1997, 2001, and 2005. SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT. During its 1997 general election campaign, the Labour Party promised that if it formed the next government, it would hold a referendum that would determine whether the majority of the people living in Scotland (and Wales) wanted a Parliament that would govern domestic affairs. The promise was kept; later that year, 62 percent of the adult population turned out to vote on the issue, and three quarters of them cast their ballot in favor. The new Parliament was established by the Scotland Act (1998) and met for the first time on 12 May 1999. Initially, it held its debates in Church of Scotland premises in central Edinburgh, but in 2004 it moved to purpose-built buildings close to Holyrood Palace. The Parliament has authority to pass legislation on matters, such as education, health care, and the legal system, that are devolved to it by the British Parliament in London and has power to raise or lower income tax rates by up to 3 percent. The conduct of defense, foreign affairs, and other matters deemed critical to the whole of the United Kingdom remains the prerogative of Westminster. Seventy-three of the 129 elected members, who are known as members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs), represent geographical constituencies and are elected on a “first past the post” system. The remaining 56 are elected by proportional representation, with 7 chosen from each of 8 regions. A government, known as the Scottish Executive, is formed by the


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majority party, and order in the debating chamber is maintained by a presiding officer, who is expected to act impartially. The establishment of a Parliament with authority over Scotland’s distinctive legal, educational, and cultural institutions was welcomed by the vast majority of residents, but expectations may have been too high because the new body has been subject to much criticism. Many of the most able Scottish politicians, such as Gordon Brown and Robin Cook, opted to pursue careers in London, depriving the Scottish assembly of both experience and ability (and leading some commentators to suggest that MSPs are second rate). Other complaints stem from the cost of the new Parliament building, designed by Eric Miralles, which rose from an estimated £109 million before construction to a final £431 million when it was completed in 2004. Also, some skeptics claim that proportional representation has resulted in a lack of strong government and thus in an absence of radical change. However, the new Parliament’s supporters point out that in its short existence it has approved legislation that has resulted in significant differences between Scotland and the rest of Britain in many spheres of life, including the introduction of measures of support for the elderly that greatly exceed those available in other parts of the UK, land reform legislation that provides better recreational access to privately owned estates than is available in most of Europe (see RIGHT TO ROAM), and significantly greater financial incentives to attend universities than English, Northern Irish, and Welsh students receive. See also DEWAR, DONALD CAMPBELL (1937–2000); FIRST MINISTER; LORD ADVOCATE; SCOTTISH CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION; SMITH, JOHN (1938–1994). SCOTTISH SOCIALIST PARTY (SSP). In 1998, Scottish supporters of Militant Tendency who had been expelled by or had withdrawn from the Labour Party combined with representatives of other groups to form the SSP. Well to the left of the political mainstream, they advocate the legalization of cannabis use, argue the case for Scotland’s independence from the United Kingdom, and maintain that private, profit-making companies should not be involved in the provision of such public services as health care and education. In 1999, the SSP won a single seat in the first Scottish Parliament, aided by the system of proportional representation adopted for


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the elections. The resultant exposure led to an increase in membership, many of the new recruits disillusioned by the Labour Party and Prime Minister Tony Blair or disgruntled at the Scottish National Party’s apparent unwillingness to campaign for Scottish independence. When the second Parliament met in 2003, the SSP had six representatives, but a democratic structure that promotes expression of a wide range of (albeit far left) views meant that the leadership has to deal with considerable tension over policymaking, particularly on Scottish independence, which is opposed by a significant faction that believes promotion of nationhood is contrary to socialist beliefs in internationalism. The tensions came to a head in 2006, when Tommy Sheridan, one of the group’s founders and undoubtedly its most charismatic figure, sued the News of the World newspaper for defamation after it published allegations that he had had an extramarital affair and visited sex clubs. Sheridan won £200,000 in damages, but many of his former colleagues testified against him in court and within days of the decision he left to form another political party, which he called Solidarity. The publicity surrounding the affair was catastrophic for the SSP, which lost its entire representation in the Scottish Parliament at the elections in May 2007. See also SOCIALIST PARTY OF ENGLAND AND WALES. SECRET INTELLIGENCE SERVICE (SIS). The SIS is responsible for espionage and intelligence gathering outside the boundaries of the United Kingdom. In 1909, Britain formed a secret service bureau, which as it developed divided into sections, with one unit—Military Intelligence Section 6 (or MI6), still the popular name for the SIS— concentrating on foreign countries. Inevitably, most of the organization’s activities were never revealed, but it undoubtedly persuaded several senior Russian officials, including Oleg Gordievesky and Vladimir Kuzichkin, to provide it with information about the Soviet Union during the last two decades of the cold war. Also, it was credited during the 1980s with encouraging conflict between antiwestern groups in Lebanon so that attention would be diverted from efforts to take European and American hostages. Since the passage of the Intelligence Services Act in 1994, SIS structures and operations have been subject to review by a parliamentary intelligence and security committee, and according to some


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sources, budget cuts have reduced efficiency. For example, an inquiry led by Lord Butler of Brockwell (see BUTLER REVIEW) concluded in 2004 that the erroneous British assessment of Iraq’s arsenal of weapons of mass destruction that was used as a justification for the invasion of the country stemmed from faulty information that resulted from changes in intelligence gathering enforced by reduced funding. Contrary to the impression given by some spy stories, the SIS is based in a modern, easily recognized building on the banks of the River Thames in London. The structure features in The World Is Not Enough, a James Bond movie released in 1999. SECRET SERVICES. See BUTLER REVIEW; GOVERNMENT COMMUNICATIONS HEADQUARTERS (GCHQ); JOINT INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE (JIC); OFFICIAL SECRETS ACTS (1911–89); SECRET INTELLIGENCE SERVICE (SIS); SECURITY SERVICE (MI5); SPECIAL AIR SERVICE (SAS). SECRETARY OF STATE. The word secretary is derived from the Latin secretarius, which means “confidential officer.” In medieval England, it was used with reference to people who could be entrusted with a secret, so monarchs employed secretaries to deal with official correspondence. During the second half of the 16th century, the phrase secretary of state was introduced as a title for senior policy advisors to the sovereign. Now, it refers to the heads of several major government departments, all of whom have seats in the cabinet. Except on formal occasions, most of the titles are abbreviated to make them less cumbersome, so for example, “secretary of state for foreign and commonwealth affairs” is usually shortened to “foreign secretary.” SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS. See FOREIGN SECRETARY. SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT. See HOME SECRETARY. SECURITY BREACHES, PARLIAMENT. Although the Houses of Parliament have long been a target for protestors, security officials


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have become increasingly concerned about the ease with which demonstrators have disrupted proceedings in the debating chamber. On 23 February 1988, for example, three lesbians rappelled into the House of Commons in an effort to gain publicity for a campaign opposing the passage of legislation that would prevent local government agencies from giving schoolchildren information designed to promote homosexuality (see also GAY RIGHTS). A decade later on 21 January 1999, two men threw leaflets protesting about British arms sales to Indonesia into the chamber while the Commons was in session. Then on 4 February 2004, nine antiwar campaigners heckled Prime Minister Tony Blair while he was answering questions about the Iraq War, and on 19 May the same year, two representatives of Fathers4Justice (a pressure group that claims that single fathers should have better access to their children) threw condoms full of purple dye at him. On 15 September 2004, five members of the public burst onto the floor of the Commons and berated members of Parliament (MPs) about proposals to introduce laws that would ban hunting with dogs (see FOX HUNTING). These and other less-intrusive incidents (such as the anti–Iraq War protest on 20 March 2004 by two members of Greenpeace, an environmental pressure group, who scaled Big Ben, the clock tower at the eastern end of the Parliament building), led Peter Hain, the leader of the House of Commons, to condemn security at the palace of Westminster, where the House of Commons and the House of Lords are both located, as old-fashioned and in need of serious updating. A bulletproof screen was installed in front of the public gallery in the Commons, though not in front of the area where peers and their guests sit, and security service proposals are said to include suggestions that a bombproof boom should be built on the River Thames to prevent a waterborne attack, that a director of security should be appointed, that MPs should wear identification badges at all times, and that streets around the building should be sealed off to forestall firebombers. However, many MPs argue that stringent security procedures would turn the palace of Westminster into a bunker and claim they would vote against any proposals that would distance the public even further from their elected representatives. See also SECURITY BREACHES, ROYAL FAMILY.


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SECURITY BREACHES, ROYAL FAMILY. The security of the royal family is the responsibility of the Royalty and Diplomatic Protection Department of London’s Metropolitan Police. The group was formed in 1983 following incidents on 13 June 1981 (when 17-yearold Marcus Sarjeant fired blank shots at Queen Elizabeth II during a ceremonial parade) and on 9 July 1982 (when Michael Fagan, an unemployed father of four, gained access to the queen’s apartments in Buckingham Palace and asked her for a cigarette while she lay in bed). However, despite intensive training (all members of the protection squads are firearms and driving experts) and the installation of sophisticated alarm systems at royal homes, security breaches continue to occur regularly. At Buckingham Palace, the sovereign’s principal home, the most serious include the following: • 1992: Twice during the month of July, Kevin McMahon gained entry to the palace grounds and was arrested. On the first occasion, a helicopter carrying the queen and Prince Philip was diverted while he roamed the gardens. • 1994: On 5 February, American James Miller painted himself green and then, naked, strapped himself to a paraglider, circled the palace three times, and landed on the roof. He was fined £200 and deported. • 1995: On 13 January, student John Gillard drove 200 miles from his Wakefield home and rammed his car into the gates of the palace. • 1997: On 28 April, Alastair Coe, who had absconded from a mental hospital, got into the palace grounds and exchanged pleasantries with police officers, who saluted him as he left. The incident was revealed only after a taxi driver phoned the authorities and told them that his fare was claiming to have got inside the palace. • 1999: On 28 December, Australian Brett de la Mare paraglided onto the forecourt of the palace to draw attention to his book, Canine Dawn, which had failed to find a publisher. A police helicopter had chased him over central London. • 2003: On 13 September, Jason Hatch, dressed as Batman, clambered over a fence into the palace grounds, then climbed onto a


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ledge beside a balcony on the front of the building. The escapade was intended to draw attention to the aims of Fathers4Justice, a pressure group that advocates greater rights for single fathers. Then in November, the Daily Mirror newspaper revealed that Ryan Parry, one of its reporters, had used a false reference to get a job as a footman at the palace and worked undiscovered for two months, leaving days before President George W. Bush was scheduled to visit. Many intrusions have occurred at other royal locations. For example, on 21 June 2003, Aaron Barschak donned a false beard, a pink dress, and a turban and gate-crashed Prince William’s 21st birthday party at Windsor Castle. The following spring, two journalists from The Sun newspaper claimed to have hired a van and driven a fake bomb into the same castle just days before the wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles. Each incursion has resulted in a review of security at the affected site and has often been followed by the installation of additional electronic surveillance equipment, such as closed-circuit television cameras, but the breaches have continued, and some insiders, particularly at Windsor, have suggested that the technical improvements may have added to the complacency of staff. See also SECURITY BREACHES, PARLIAMENT. SECURITY SERVICE (MI5). The security service is Britain’s domestic counterintelligence agency, carrying out functions similar to those of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States. In 1909, the government created a secret service bureau, which formed a series of specialized units. One of these—Military Intelligence Section 5 (MI5)—focused on espionage, terrorism, and other serious crimes that threatened the country’s political and economic stability, but its existence was officially admitted only in 1989, when the Security Service Act gave the organization statutory basis, reporting to the Home Secretary. MI5 is known to have played a major role in preventing Provisional Irish Republican Army terrorist activities, largely through infiltration of its decision-making bodies and cultivation of informers. However, it has also been accused of collusion with loyalist


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paramilitary groups, so the government’s decision in 2005 to make it responsible for all security work in Northern Ireland did not meet with unqualified approval in the province. The security service is also believed to be involved in efforts to identify Islamic militants and to have interviewed some of the prisoners held in the American base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. SELECT COMMITTEE. Membership of Parliament’s select committees is drawn from the House of Commons, the House of Lords, or both. Most of the Commons’ committees examine the administration, expenditure, and policy of specific government departments and associated public bodies, such as quangos. The Lords’ committees, however, deal with broader matters, including aspects of the economy and of the European Union. SENIOR COURTS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. In 1873, the Judicature Act created a Supreme Court of Judicature that had authority in England and Wales and consisted of the Court of Appeal, the High Court of Justice, and the Crown Courts. It was not, however, a supreme court in the American sense of the term because appeals against the judges’ decisions could still be made to the House of Lords. The Constitutional Reform Act of 2005 made provision for the court to be renamed the Senior Courts of England and Wales. SEVERN, RIVER. The Severn is the longest river in the United Kingdom. Rising in the mountains of mid-Wales, it follows a semicircular, 215-mile route to the Bristol Channel, initially flowing southeast but then turning toward southwest England. During the 18th and 19th centuries, it was connected to the River Thames by the Kennet and Avon Canal and to the industrial west midlands by other links, but these waterways are now largely disused or maintained only as recreational resources. The upper section of the river has been dammed to form Lake Vyrnwy, which supplies much of Liverpool’s drinking water. At the other end, there is a tidal bore, or wave, some 50 feet in height. Proposals to use the wave for electricity generation have been strongly criticized on grounds of cost and because the construction work would destroy important habitats for wading birds. In 1986, part of the river’s midsection, known as the Ironbridge Gorge,


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was designated a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization because of its importance as one of the cradles of the Industrial Revolution. The Severn is navigable by small barges as far as Welshpool, some 180 miles upstream. SHADOW CABINET. In Parliament, the political party with the largest number of representatives other than the party that forms the government is known as Her (or His) Majesty’s loyal opposition. The opposition appoints from the House of Commons and the House of Lords a team of senior politicians, each of whom is allocated a policy area covered by a secretary of state or other leading government minister. Collectively, that opposition team is known as the shadow cabinet. Under the leader of the opposition, it is expected to demonstrate weaknesses in government policy. Members sit on the front bench opposite their opponents in the debating chamber and individually are known as shadow ministers. SHADOW MINISTER. See SHADOW CABINET. SHIPMAN, HAROLD FREDERICK (1946–2004). Serial killers are relatively uncommon in Britain, but Shipman, a family doctor, is believed to have been one of the world’s most prolific, murdering some 250 people (most of them elderly women) from 1971 until 1998. The first suspicions were raised early in 1998, when a fellow doctor drew attention to the unusually high death rate among patients at Shipman’s Manchester clinic, but a police investigation failed to provide the evidence necessary for an arrest. A few weeks later, however, Angela Woodruff, an attorney, told the authorities that her mother, 81-year-old Kathleen Grundy, who died on 24 June, had apparently left Shipman £386,000 in her will. Grundy had been buried rather than cremated, so the body was exhumed and was found to contain traces of diamorphine, a heroin drug used to control pain. A search of Shipman’s property revealed a typewriter of the kind used to prepare the will. On 31 January 2000, Shipman was found guilty on 15 sample charges of killing patients. He was sentenced to life imprisonment, with the judge recommending that he should never be released, but he hanged himself in his cell four years later on 13 January 2004, and


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The Sun newspaper celebrated with the front-page headline “Ship Ship Hooray!” A public inquiry, ordered by Alan Shipman, the secretary of state for health, and led by Dame Janet Smith (a judge at the High Court of Justice), issued six reports from 2002–5 and concluded that Shipman was responsible for murdering about 250 of the 459 people who died while in his care. The inquiry suggested that his killing spree may have started because he enjoyed experimenting with drugs, but other writers believe that the cause may be related to experiences surrounding the death of his mother from lung cancer while he was a teenager. SHIRE COUNTY. In England and Wales, the term shire county is used to describe any nonmetropolitan local government area that has county status. More loosely, it is also used as a descriptor, usually implying rurality, for any county named after the county town (for example, Leicestershire takes its name from Leicester and Oxfordshire from Oxford). In Anglo-Saxon times, the shires were the territorial unit on which defense, the dispensation of justice, and taxation were organized. The word is derived from the Old English scir, meaning “care.” SILICON GLEN. After World War II, as the fortunes of heavy industry declined in Scotland’s central plain from Ayrshire in the southwest to Dundee in the northeast, tax breaks and investment grants encouraged American and Asian interests to utilize the skilled labor pool and build electronics factories. The first companies, including IBM, arrived during the 1950s, and by the end of the 20th century, the area was producing 35 percent of Europe’s personal computers and half of its laptops, as well as 12 percent of the world’s semiconductors. Journalists increasingly referred to the belt of hi-tech businesses as Silicon Glen, comparing it to California’s Silicon Valley, but in recent years the dangers of relying on outside investment have been exposed as some major firms, including Hyundai and Motorola, have closed or downsized plants and concentrated production in eastern Europe and other parts of the world where manpower costs are lower. As a result, more than 20 percent of the workforce lost their jobs in 2002–4, but software companies and related firms still provide employment for about 40,000 people.


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SINN FÉIN. The largest of the nationalist parties in Northern Ireland, Sinn Féin (the name means “we ourselves” in Irish Gaelic) was formed in 1905 but suffered a series of schisms, with the present grouping emerging in 1970 as a socialist force dedicated to uniting Ireland under a single Dublin-based government and legitimizing the use of violence as a means of bringing an end to British control of Ulster. Under the leadership of Gerry Adams, Sinn Féin served as a political mouthpiece for the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA), but it failed to achieve electoral success while it advocated armed struggle and from the 1980s shifted its ground so that, in the words of Danny Morrison, its director of publicity, it had an “armalite in one hand and a ballot paper in the other.” By the early 1990s, it was becoming evident that the people of Northern Ireland were weary of strife and that support for aggressive tactics was declining. Sinn Féin publicly supported the PIRA’s cease-fire in 1994 and, on that basis, was included in the talks that led to the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. Since then, the group has increased its grassroots support among Roman Catholics, winning four seats at the 2001 general election and adding a fifth in 2005. However, its members of Parliament have never taken their seats in the House of Commons because to do so would require swearing allegiance to the British sovereign. Despite the apparent conversion to peaceful means of achieving its aims, Sinn Féin’s continued links with the PIRA and its activities led to ostracism in many quarters. The organization was linked to a £26.5 million robbery at a Belfast branch of the Northern Bank in 2004, and the following year, the Dáil Eireann condemned its involvement in illegal activity. Shortly afterward, U.S. president George W. Bush and Senator Edward Kennedy both refused to meet Gerry Adams during a visit to Northern Ireland, and Mitchell Reiss, America’s special envoy to Ulster, commented that “It is hard to understand how a European country, in 2005, can have a private army associated with a political party.” The pressure undoubtedly had an impact. In 2005, the PIRA decommissioned its stock of arms before an international delegation of weapons inspectors, and early in 2007, Sinn Féin declared its support for the new Police Service of Northern Ireland, ending an 86-year-long


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opposition to policing in the province. Those moves were reflected in votes because at the 2007 elections for the Northern Ireland Assembly, the party won 28 of the 44 seats taken by republicans, drawing most of its support from rural regions of western and southern Ulster and from Catholic areas of Belfast. Then three weeks later, Adams sat down with Ian Paisley, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, to decide how to share power in the chamber. For details of representation in the House of Commons, see the entries on general elections held in 1983, 1987, 1992, 1997, 2001, and 2005. SIR. Knights and baronets, who rank just below peers in the formal order of precedence by title, are styled “sir.” The prefix may be used with the individual’s full name or with the given name but never with the surname alone so flutist James Galway, who was knighted for services to music in 2001, may be addressed as “Sir James Galway” or “Sir James” but never “Sir Galway.” The wife of a knight or baronet is styled “lady,” so Sir James’s wife is “Lady Jeanne Galway” or “Lady Jeanne,” but a woman who holds one of the titles in her own right is known as “dame.” Occasionally, knighthoods are granted to foreign nationals. Recipients may not use the title “sir” but can use the appropriate initials after their name. For example, Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the board of governors of the United States’ Federal Reserve Bank, was dubbed a knight commander of the British Empire in 2002 and may place the letters KBE after his surname on his business card but cannot sign a letter “Sir Alan.” See also ORDERS OF CHIVALRY. SKY TELEVISION. See BRITISH SKY BROADCASTING (BSKYB). SMITH, JACQUELINE JILL “JACQUI” (1962– ). Jacqui Smith’s inclusion in Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s first cabinet was a surprise to most political commentators, partly because she was the first woman to hold the post of home secretary and partly because she had limited experience in senior government offices. Born on 3 November 1962, the daughter of Michael and Jill Smith, she attended Dyson Perrins High School in Malvern, then studied philosophy, politics, and economics at Oxford University before embarking on a


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teaching career. She contested the Mid-Worcestershire parliamentary constituency unsuccessfully for the Labour Party at the 1992 general election but entered the House of Commons as the member of Parliament (MP) for Redditch in 1997, riding the crest of a wave of Labour electoral support. Smith quickly climbed the career ladder in an administration led by Prime Minister Tony Blair that was bent on giving opportunities for advancement to talented female politicians. In 1999, just two years after becoming an MP, she got her first government post—as parliamentary undersecretary of state at the Department for Education and Employment, where she was allocated the politically sensitive task of maintaining standards in schools; then, after retaining her seat at the 2001 election, she was promoted to minister of state for health and got the social services brief. In 2003 when Blair reshuffled his government, Smith was moved to the Department of Trade and Industry and given responsibility for women and equality, a role in which she played a major part in shaping the civil partnerships legislation that gave same-sex couples a legal status equivalent to that of their heterosexual counterparts. In 2005, she was made minister of state for schools in the Department for Education and Skills, and the following year she entered the cabinet as chief whip. As home secretary, Smith assumed responsibility for counterterrorism and security policy, receiving a baptism of fire when, just hours after she took office, two car bombs were discovered in central London. A committed supporter of New Labour even before entering Parliament, she was a proponent of the moves that led to the modernization of the party during the 1990s. SMITH, JOHN (1938–1994). Leader of the Labour Party from 1992 until 1994, Smith was born in Dalmally (Scotland) on 13 September 1938, the son of school principal Archibald Smith and his wife, Sarah. He was educated at Dunoon Academy and Glasgow University, where he studied law and in 1960 was chairman of the Labour Club. Smith contested the East Fife parliamentary constituency unsuccessfully in 1961 and 1964 but won Lanarkshire North in 1970 and by 1978–79 had become the youngest member of Prime Minister James Callaghan’s cabinet.


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After Labour’s general election defeat in 1979, Smith served as opposition spokesman on trade and on energy, then from 1983 used his considerable oratorical skills to help leader Neil Kinnock move the party to the right and was rewarded with the post of shadow chancellor of the exchequer in 1987. It appeared that his career might be cut short when he suffered a heart attack the following year, but he recovered, lost weight, and returned to the House of Commons in 1989. At the 1992 election, he retained his seat with a majority of nearly 16,000 and, when Neil Kinnock resigned after Labour’s fourth consecutive defeat, was elected leader in his stead. A modest, middle-of-the-road politician, Smith was sometimes accused of lacking the dynamism expected of a leader of the opposition, but his supporters argued that his quiet Scottish brogue, calm demeanor, and moderate views encouraged confidence. He used those attributes to considerable effect, reducing the influence of trade unions on Labour policymaking, committing a future Labour government to establish a Scottish Parliament, and building up a strong following in opinion polls. There was widespread regret at his death from another heart attack on 12 May 1994, with even die-hard political opponents praising his integrity. Since then, he has become something of a hero among Labour traditionalists, who contrast his consensus-based leadership with the more presidential style adopted by Prime Minister Tony Blair. SOCCER. See FOOTBALL. SOCIAL AND LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY. See THE ALLIANCE; LIBERAL DEMOCRATS (LIBDEMS). SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC AND LABOUR PARTY (SDLP). The SDLP was founded in 1970 to provide a base for Northern Ireland’s politically moderate Roman Catholics, some of whom favored union with the Republic of Ireland but rejected the violent means by which the Provisional Irish Republican Army pursued that end, others of whom placed greater emphasis on civil liberties and social democracy. It argued that the Republic of Ireland should have some influence over political decision making in Ulster (a proposal rejected out of hand by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the early 1980s)


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while accepting that changes in the province’s status as part of the United Kingdom would require the approval of the Protestant majority in Northern Ireland. However, much of its support migrated to Sinn Féin after that organization formally committed itself to achieving a united Ireland through peaceful means rather than physical force by approving the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. In 2007, the SDLP won 18 seats in the reconstituted Northern Ireland Assembly, making it the fourth-largest group in the debating chamber. The SDLP was led from 1979–2001 by John Hume, who in 1998 was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with David Trimble of the Ulster Unionist Party in recognition of his contribution to the peace process in Ulster. Mark Durkan, his successor, has reemphasized the party’s nationalist roots, and some members have advocated a merger with Fianna Fáil, the republic’s largest political grouping. For details of representation in the House of Commons, see the entries on general elections held in 1979, 1983, 1987, 1992, 1997, 2001, and 2005. SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY (SDP). The SDP was formed in 1981 by Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Bill Rodgers, and Shirley Williams, disaffected members of the Labour Party who were quickly dubbed the “gang of four” by the press. Opposing Labour’s drift to the left and its anti–European Economic Community stance, they issued a statement known as the Limehouse Declaration, in which they declared their support for closer links with Europe, multilateral nuclear disarmament, and electoral reform (see JENKINS COMMISSION [1997–98]). Later in the year, the new organization linked with the Liberal Party in an alliance designed to ensure that the two middle-of-the-road groups would not chase the same seats at the polls. In one sense, that strategy proved successful, with the combined group winning 25 percent of the popular vote and 23 seats at the 1983 general election. However, only six of those seats were gained by SDP candidates, and following the 1987 election, the number dropped to five. At the suggestion of David Steel, the Liberal leader, the parties formally merged as the Liberal Democrats in 1988 after much rancorous debate. A rump of supporters, including Owen,


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attempted to maintain a separate identity but failed to gain significant support and disbanded in 1990. See also ASHDOWN, JEREMY JOHN DURHAM “PADDY” (1941– ); KENNEDY, CHARLES PETER (1959– ); MONSTER RAVING LOONY PARTY (MRLP). SOCIAL HOUSING. Modern approaches to the provision of housing for low-income families have developed from 19th-century legislation that allowed local government authorities to provide accommodation at subsidized rents. By the 1970s, these councils had built more than 6 million homes, and large areas of Britain’s major cities were covered by state-owned properties that were often constructed to higher standards than private dwellings. In 1980, however, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s government gave tenants the right to buy their houses or apartments at a discount. Within a decade, more than 1 million units had been sold, but these were usually the newest and best of the stock, so the councils were left responsible for older, poorer-quality residences at a time when local authority spending was being restricted. As a result, by the early 1990s, only about 350,000 new council houses were being erected each year—far fewer than were needed—and, increasingly, housing associations (nonprofit organizations) assumed the task of providing shelter for the economically disadvantaged, using grants and loans from private as well as public sources. By 2004, local councils owned some 3 million properties, and the country’s 1,400 housing associations owned about 1.8 million. SOCIALIST PARTY OF ENGLAND AND WALES. The Socialist Party was formed in 1998 by members of the Militant Tendency faction who had withdrawn from or been expelled by the Labour Party. Trotskyist in philosophy, it advocates community control of the police, an increase in house building by local councils, the scrapping of university tuition fees, and state ownership of large companies. At local government elections, it has run candidates under a “Socialist Alternative” banner and won a handful of seats, all of them in working-class, urban areas. It has also placed representatives on the national executive committees of several trade unions but has had little success at parliamentary elections. See also SCOTTISH SOCIALIST PARTY (SSP).


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SOCIALIST WORKERS’ PARTY. In 1949, Tony Cliff, who was born in Palestine to Zionist parents in 1917, formed the Socialist Review Group, a left-wing organization that claimed the Soviet Union was pursuing a form of state capitalism. The group evolved slowly but flourished in the ethos of activism that spread through Britain’s universities during the late 1960s and early 1970s, espousing its views in the Socialist Worker newspaper and taking its present name in 1977. Opposition to the economic restructuring promoted by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s governments and to the antiimmigration policies of such far-right groups as the National Front kept the party in the public eye during the 1980s, but it had less impact in the more-moderate political climate of the following decade. It has put most of its effort into community politics, fighting general elections only from 1976–79 and again from 1998. SOHAM MURDERS. On 4 August 2002, Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells, both aged 10, went missing from their homes in Soham (Cambridgeshire). Two weeks later, their bodies were found in woodland seven miles away near an unused airfield. Ian Huntley, a caretaker at Soham Village College, was charged with their murder, and his girlfriend, Maxine Carr, a teaching assistant at the girls’ school, was charged with perverting the course of justice by giving him a false alibi. They were convicted on 17 December 2003. After the trial, David Blunkett, the home secretary, asked Sir Michael Bichard, a retired civil servant, to head an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the deaths. Noting that Huntley had previously been accused although never convicted of indecent assault, rape, and sexual intercourse with girls below the age of consent, the team heavily criticized the police for destroying records of suspected child abusers and made 32 recommendations, including the introduction of a national code of practice on record keeping by police forces and more detailed checks on the backgrounds of people applying for jobs that involved contact with children and vulnerable adults. All of the recommendations were accepted by the government. SOLICITOR GENERAL. The solicitor general for England and Wales is a legal advisor to the government and deputy to the attorney general. The appointee is chosen by the prime minister and is


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a legally qualified member of the House of Commons or House of Lords. Recent incumbents include Harriet Harman (2001–5), who was elected to the post of deputy leader of the Labour Party in 2007. The solicitor general for Scotland is deputy to the lord advocate and is responsible both for advising the Scottish Executive on matters of Scots law (see LEGAL SYSTEM, SCOTLAND) and for pursuing prosecutions in Scottish courts. The holder of the post is appointed by the executive’s first minister but is a practicing lawyer rather than a member of the Scottish Parliament. ˆ R. See MEIBION GLYNDWˆR. SONS OF GLYNDW SOUTHALL TRAIN CRASH. On 19 September 1997 just before 1:30 p.m., a passenger train operated by the Great Western Railway crashed at around 90 miles per hour into the side of an empty freight train operated by English, Welsh, and Scottish Railways at Southall on the western fringe of London. Six people died, and more than 150 were treated for injuries. A formal inquiry revealed that Larry Harrison, the Great Western driver, had failed to stop at a red light but also showed that his train’s automatic warning system was not functioning properly. Great Western was fined £1.5 million for breaching safety regulations, but charges of manslaughter brought against Harrison were dropped. The incident was one of several that affected public confidence in the railroad system, which had only recently been privatized, and led to a further restructuring of railroad transport. See also HATFIELD TRAIN CRASH; PADDINGTON TRAIN CRASH; POTTERS BAR TRAIN CRASH; RAILTRACK. SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. The speaker is the elected member of Parliament (MP) in charge of proceedings in the House of Commons. Occupants of the post are chosen by members of the house and are expected to forgo political party affiliation, acting impartially even after leaving office. With the three deputy speakers, he or she acts as the Commons’ representative in discussions with the House of Lords and other bodies, ensures that debates follow conventional protocols (for example, MPs who deliberately try to prolong speeches may be asked to sit down), maintains discipline, performs ceremonial and procedural duties, and supervises


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administrative officers. The most recent incumbents have been George Thomas (1976–83), Bernard Weatherill (1983–92), Betty Boothroyd (who served from 1992–2000 and was the first female speaker), and Michael Martin (who, when he was appointed in 2000, became the first Roman Catholic speaker since the Reformation). SPECIAL AIR SERVICE (SAS). The SAS was created during World War II as an elite, secretive British Army special forces group. It is the only army unit that does not undertake public parade ground duties because its responsibilities, which are believed to center on counterterrorist operations and intelligence gathering within the United Kingdom and on military operations behind enemy lines, require that its members remain unidentifiable. Over the years, “the Regiment” has earned a reputation for ruthless efficiency as a result of exploits during the Troubles in Northern Ireland (1970–98), the Falklands War (1982), the Gulf War (1991), the invasion of Afghanistan (2001– ), and the Iraq War (2003– ). Its activities are never officially revealed, but in 1980, millions of television viewers watched as it attempted to release hostages taken captive during the Iranian embassy siege. In 1988, it was accused of a license-to-kill mentality when it shot dead three suspected Provisional Irish Republican Army terrorists on a Gibraltar street, but later in the year, a Gibraltarian jury ruled that the killings were lawful. SPORTS. The United Kingdom has a long tradition of participation in competitive sports, having invented the modern forms of some (such as cricket, curling, golf, and rugby) and played a large part in developing others (as with the framing of the Queensberry Rules for boxing). Soccer, usually known as football in Britain, is the dominant male winter sport, except in Wales and southern Scotland, where rugby union takes precedence. In the summer, cricket is more popular, particularly in England. Women’s sports generally receive less media attention, though field hockey, lacrosse, and netball are played in many schools during the winter months, with track and field events becoming more important as spring brings improved weather. The major North American sports—American football, baseball, basketball, and ice hockey—have limited followings in Britain, and many


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important British sports, such as cricket, lawn bowls, and snooker, have few adherents in the United States. For most sports, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales have their own governing bodies (they have individual football associations, for example), and each nation fields its own teams at the international level. The major exception is the Olympic Games, in which a UK team participates, though Scottish and Welsh authorities have objected to plans to form a British soccer team for the 2012 games, believing that it would threaten their independence in other competitions. Most young people are first introduced to organized sport in school, but physical education has a minor role in the curriculum, and since the 1980s, some local government education authorities have limited participation in competitive activities, feeling that competition can lead to excessive aggressiveness and too much emphasis on winning. Sport also plays a very small part in university life, with few institutions offering scholarships to outstanding athletes, little student interest in the success or failure of university teams, and an absence of television coverage apart from broadcasts of the annual boat race and the annual rugby match between Cambridge and Oxford. The national government, the Assembly for Wales, and the Scottish Parliament all have ministers responsible for the development of sporting activities, and UK Sport, a public agency established by royal charter in 1996, channels public funds (including funds generated by National Lotto) to young cyclists, runners, swimmers, and others who show potential to win medals at European and world championships. However, most leading spectator sports, such as professional cricket and professional football, derive a large proportion of their income from television fees, and at the other end of the scale, the vast majority of participants in the thousands of amateur badminton, cycling, equestrian, gymnastics, soccer, squash, and other local club events pay their own expenses. In addition to the competitive sports, many people participate in physical activities for health or social reasons. The strength of interest in fox hunting was demonstrated in 2004 when protestors turned out in thousands to protest government plans to criminalize hunting with dogs. Also every weekend, hundreds of hikers invade the Scottish Highlands or use the recently improved access to private land in


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England and Wales in order to walk the countryside (see RIGHT TO ROAM), mountain bikers follow trails in forests, paragliders leap from hilltops, yachters sail from harbors, and (during the winter) skiers launch themselves down pistes of varying quality. The economic impact of participation is considerable. One study published in 2004 estimated that in England alone about 400,000 people—nearly 2 percent of the workforce—were employed in sportrelated occupations and that households spent a total of £11.5 billion on sporting activities, goods, and services. See also COUNTRYSIDE ALLIANCE; WIMBLEDON. THE STATIONERY OFFICE (TSO). In 1996, the trading functions of Her Majesty’s The Stationery Office were privatized as the Stationery Office (TSO). TSO stocks all command papers (official British government documents) and is the country’s largest publisher by volume, adding more than 15,000 titles to its shelves every year. It has bookstores in Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, London, and Manchester, with agents in 12 other cities, and advises clients, such as the Confederation of British Industry, on document production and website design. Its publications—it has a backlist of about half a million titles—can be purchased through the World Wide Web at www.tsoshop.co.uk, and its technical services can be reviewed at www.tso.co.uk. STATUTORY INSTRUMENT. Many acts of Parliament give ministers delegated authority to make laws themselves. This form of “secondary legislation” is known as a statutory instrument and is used largely because it allows details, such as the fees charged for the provision of services, to be changed without the need for the cumbersome procedure required by a full act. Some instruments must get the approval of Parliament before they become effective, but many simply pass into law unless Parliament takes action to annul them. Because of the speed with which they can be prepared, around 3,000 are issued each year, whereas only a few dozen acts of Parliament receive the royal assent. STEEL, DAVID MARTIN SCOTT (1938– ). Leader of the Liberal Party from 1976 until 1988 and the first presiding officer (a post


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equivalent to that of speaker of the House of Commons) in the modern Scottish Parliament, Steel was born on 31 March 1938, the eldest of five children in the family of the Reverend David Steel, moderator of the general assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1974–75, and his wife, Sheila. He was educated at the Prince of Wales School in Nairobi, George Watson’s College (Edinburgh), and Edinburgh University, where he was president of the Liberal Club in 1959 and the Students’ Representative Council in 1960. Steel unsuccessfully contested the parliamentary constituency of Roxburgh, Selkirk, and Peebles at the 1964 general election but won the seat at a by-election the following year, becoming the youngest member of Parliament at the time. In 1967, he introduced a controversial private member’s bill that would allow women to have an abortion if two doctors confirmed the need on medical grounds and steered it onto the statute book as the Abortion Act. From 1970 until 1975, he was Liberal chief whip, and in 1976, he was elected leader of the party, the first person to gain the office as a result of a poll of supporters outside Parliament. It was clear that the new leader was an electoral asset, his moderate policies, boyish good looks, and approachable style appealing to many voters. He negotiated a “Lib-Lab Pact” with Prime Minister James Callaghan’s minority Labour Party government in 1977 and in 1982 formed an alliance with the new Social Democratic Party (SDP), sharing leadership of the group with David Owen until 1988. After the 1987 general election, he called for a full Liberal–SDP merger, accepting the role of foreign affairs spokesman when the Liberal Democrats formed the following year. When Steel retired from the House of Commons in 1997, he was elevated to the peerage as Lord Steel of Aikwood. In the following months, he campaigned in favor of the establishment of a Scottish Parliament and, when it was formed in 1999, won election as the member for Lothians, serving as presiding officer until 2003. Since then, he has made several contributions to debates in the House of Lords, notably on African issues. However, commentators claim that his most important contribution to British politics was his melding of Liberals and Social Democrats into a single group powerful enough to challenge the two major parties and thus influence the direction of late-20th-century social change.


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STEPHEN LAWRENCE AFFAIR. On 22 April 1993, Lawrence (1974–93)—a black teenager—was attacked by a group of white youths while he was standing at a bus stop in south London. He attempted to run away but was stabbed to death. Five men were accused of the killing, but two were never brought to court because prosecution attorneys felt that the case against them was insufficiently strong to guarantee a conviction, and the three others were acquitted because the identification evidence presented at their trial was unreliable. Racially motivated violence is not uncommon in the United Kingdom, especially in the big cities, but Stephen Lawrence’s murder attracted unusually widespread attention because the young man was well educated (he aspired to be an architect), well spoken, and not associated with any gangs, nor was there any suggestion that he had provoked the assault. Journalists claimed that the authorities had failed to pursue investigations because the victim was black, and faced with those accusations, the police mounted two internal inquiries, neither of which found any evidence of incompetence. Eventually, as demands for an independent investigation mounted, Home Secretary Jack Straw asked Sir William Macpherson, chief of Clan Macpherson and a retired judge of the High Court of Justice, to lead a public inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death. The report, published in 1999, was scathing in its criticism of the Metropolitan Police (London’s police force), which Macpherson said was “institutionally racist,” adding that its officers had made “fundamental errors” in their handling of events. He made 70 recommendations, some extremely far reaching. In particular, he proposed that the long-standing “double jeopardy” rule, which prevents prosecutors from bringing an individual to trial twice on the same charges, should be abolished (the change was introduced in England and Wales by the Criminal Justice Act, approved by Parliament in 2003), that racist remarks made in private should be unlawful, and that action should be taken by the civil service, educational establishments, and other institutions, as well as by the police service, to ensure that society had “zero tolerance” of racism. STERLING. Britain’s currency is frequently known as sterling, particularly in financial markets. The usage dates from the 12th century,


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when the pound (the basic unit of currency in the United Kingdom) was the value of one troy pound of sterling silver (that is, of silver alloy that contains no more than 7.5 percent by weight of other metals). Sterling is the third-most traded currency in the world, following the American dollar and the European Union euro, and, according to the International Bank of Settlements, accounted for about 12 percent of all foreign bank deposits held by the world’s governments in 2006. See also BANK OF ENGLAND; BLACK WEDNESDAY; EUROPEAN MONETARY SYSTEM (EMS). STEVENS INQUIRIES. Lord Stevens, a former commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, has undertaken three major inquiries in the United Kingdom. On three occasions—1989, 1993, and 1999— Stevens was asked by the government to investigate allegations that the British Army and the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) had colluded with loyalist paramilitary forces over killings in Northern Ireland. In particular, he focused on the murders of Brian Adam Lambert (a Protestant with no criminal record who was murdered, apparently as a result of mistaken identity, on 9 November 1987) and solicitor Pat Finucane (who was shot in his home in front of his wife and children on 12 February 1989). In a report published on 17 April 2003, Stevens claimed that his investigations had been impeded deliberately, both by the RUC and the army. Moreover, he said, collusion between the security forces and Protestant terrorist groups had existed at the time of the deaths and “continues to this day.” Highlighting willful failure to keep records, an absence of accountability, and the involvement of British agents in the murders, he concluded that nationalists were not properly warned or protected when they were in danger and thus were killed or seriously injured. The republican movement, which had claimed for many years that the army and police were in collusion with loyalist organizations, demanded a public inquiry, and David Trimble, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, asked for a parliamentary investigation, but the government agreed to neither. (See also ULSTER DEFENCE REGIMENT [UDR].) On 19 September 2006, Panorama, one of the British Broadcasting Corporation’s television current affairs programs, alleged that managers of English football clubs and the agents employed by some


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footballers had taken bribes to facilitate the transfer of players between clubs. The Football Association—the governing body for English soccer—asked Stevens to investigate the claims. He reported in December that corruption was not rampant in the game but that 17 transfers warranted investigation. On 14 December 2006, Stevens concluded a three-year police investigation into the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales, and her boyfriend, Dodi Al-Fayed, when their car was involved in an accident in Paris on 31 August 1997. While not apportioning blame, he found that Henri Paul, the car’s driver, had drunk more alcohol than was allowed by French law and that he was also exceeding the speed limit. In an exhaustive, 832-page report, he refuted allegations that the princess was pregnant and debunked the conspiracy theories that had been advanced to explain the incident, pointing out that he found nothing to justify further inquiries. Mohamed Al-Fayed, Dodi’s father and owner of the Harrods department store in London, refused to accept the conclusions and vowed to find the “gangsters” who had killed the couple. By contrast, Prince William and Prince Harry, Diana’s sons, issued a statement saying that they “trust that these . . . findings will end the speculation” surrounding their mother’s death. In 2007, Stevens was appointed international security adviser to Prime Minister Gordon Brown. STOCK EXCHANGE. See LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE (LSE). STORMONT. Stormont, a 300-acre estate some four miles east of Belfast city center, has been the seat of Northern Ireland’s government since the province was created in 1921. The complex of buildings consists of Stormont Castle (which houses the offices of the secretary of state for Northern Ireland), the Parliament and assembly buildings (designed by Sir Andrew Thornley in the Greek classical style and completed in 1932), and Stormont House (formerly the official residence of the speaker of the Northern Ireland House of Commons). The buildings now house the Northern Ireland Assembly. STRAW, JOHN WHITAKER “JACK” (1946– ). Under Prime Minister Tony Blair, Jack Straw held two of the great offices of state,


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serving as home secretary from 1997–2001 and foreign secretary from 2001–6. Then when Blair was succeeded by Gordon Brown, he became lord chancellor and secretary of state for justice. The son of Walter and Joan Straw, he was raised by his mother in an underprivileged area of Loughton on the northeastern outskirts of London and attended Brentwood School before entering Leeds University, where in 1967 he was elected president of the students’ union. He qualified as an lawyer in 1972 and initially launched himself on a career in criminal law but then changed tack, entering the House of Commons in 1979 as member of Parliament for Blackburn. From 1981, he was a regular on the Labour Party’s front bench, ultimately finding a place in the cabinet as home secretary (1997–2001) and then, to the surprise of many, foreign secretary. As secretary of state for home affairs, Straw was accused of reducing individual liberties by proposing changes in the rules relating to trial by jury and by increasing police powers against terrorism. On the other hand, he ensured that the European Convention on Human Rights was woven into the fabric of the United Kingdom’s legal systems, and he attempted to root out racism in the police force. Straw’s time as foreign secretary was less marked by public controversy, partly because the prime minister took charge of many aspects of the work following Al-Qaeda’s attacks on the United States in September 2001. However, in 2006 he was replaced by Margaret Beckett and moved to the combined post of leader of the House of Commons and Lord Privy Seal, with responsibility for shaping further reform of the House of Lords. Press reports suggested that Straw’s close friendship with Condoleezza Rice, the American secretary of state, had annoyed Blair and also that U.S. sources had pressed for his removal because of his views on Iran (he had said that it would be “nuts” to bomb the country), but the official explanation for the change in role was that Straw himself had requested a lessstrenuous post after 10 years at the government front line. In 2007, Straw returned to the cabinet in Gordon Brown’s administration, becoming the first member of the House of Commons to hold the post of lord chancellor. He also holds the title of secretary of state for justice, with responsibility for the management of the prison system.


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THE SUN. The Sun is the world’s most popular English-language newspaper, selling over 3 million copies each day. It first appeared in 1964 but fared badly until 1969, when it was purchased by Rupert Murdoch, whose editorial staff moved it down market and introduced Page-3 Girls, changes that brought a change of fortune and made the publication highly profitable. Throughout the 1980s, The Sun was a strong supporter of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and the Conservative Party, but it changed tack in 1997 and backed the new Labour Party government, albeit not uncritically. Content focuses on entertainment, gossip about celebrities, sport, and unsophisticated coverage of news stories. Critics condemn the paper, alleging that it is homophobic, racist, and sensationalist. On the other hand, journalists on other newspapers admit that much of the writing is very clever. Many of The Sun’s headlines have entered the subeditors’ hall of fame, sometimes because of their bad taste, sometimes because of their creativity. The nadir was probably on 4 May 1982, when the paper’s early edition reported the sinking of the General Belgrano, an Argentinean cruiser with more than 1,000 crewmen, during the Falklands War, with the insensitive gotcha in bold capitals on the front page. On the other hand, when Inverness Caledonian Thistle (known as “Caley”) very unexpectedly defeated Glasgow Celtic in a football match in 2000, the Scottish edition led its report of the game with “Super Caley Go Ballistic, Celtic Are Atrocious.” See also ASHDOWN, JEREMY JOHN DURHAM “PADDY” (1941– ); DAVIES, RONALD (1946– ); DIANA, PRINCESS OF WALES (1961–97); NEWS OF THE WORLD; SHIPMAN, HAROLD FREDERICK (1946–2004). SUNDAY TIMES. The Sunday Times is Britain’s biggest-selling quality Sunday newspaper, with a circulation of about 1.3 million broadsheet copies each week. In 1981, it was acquired along with The Times by Rupert Murdoch’s News International plc and, under editor Andrew Neil, supported Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s efforts to restructure the United Kingdom’s economy. However, Neil was no sycophant, nearly causing a constitutional crisis in 1986 when he ran a story that Queen Elizabeth II was dismayed by Mrs. Thatcher’s “uncaring” reforms, and he developed strengths in


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investigative journalism that continued after he left the paper in 1994. He also began a tradition of publishing league tables, including lists of bestselling books, “good” universities, and wealthy people. Since 2005, the Sunday Times has printed and distributed a separate edition in the Irish Republic. See also CASH FOR QUESTIONS; OFFICIAL SECRETS ACTS (1911–89); WAPPING DISPUTE. SUNDAY TRADING. With a few exceptions (such as pharmacies and “corner shops”), Sunday trading by stores in England and Wales was banned by the Shops Act of 1950. However, when the United Kingdom joined the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1973, several large traders argued that the provisions of that legislation conflicted with Article 30 of the Treaty of Rome (to which all EEC members had to adhere) because they were an unlawful restraint on the free movement of goods. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s government tried to change the law in 1986, but their efforts failed as Conservative Party members of Parliament (MPs) spoke out about the threats to church attendance and family life if stores were allowed to open, and Labour Party supporters talked of fears that shop workers would be forced to work on the Sabbath. By the early 1990s, however, many stores were opening illegally, and police authorities were turning a blind eye to the practice, so in 1994, despite continued opposition from the Lord’s Day Observance Society, the Keep Sunday Special Campaign, and other groups, Parliament approved a Sunday Trading Act that allowed shops with a floor space of more than 280 square meters (about 3,000 square feet) to open on Sundays for a maximum of 6 hours between 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., with restraints on the sale of some commodities, such as alcoholic beverages. The act gives employees a right to opt out of Sunday work, but many companies have introduced contracts that require staff to turn up on any five designated days in seven, so some writers have alleged that job candidates who cite their rights to opt out are not offered employment. The 1950 act did not apply to Scotland, where control of shopopening hours is a matter for individual local authorities, and as a result, stores trade for longer than their counterparts in England and Wales can do. Scottish shop workers did not have any legal right to opt out of Sunday working, but religious and family commitments


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were widely respected until 2001, when the Argos chain fired three employees who refused to turn up for duty. The move was almost universally condemned in the media, and the company eventually reversed its decision, but the outcry encouraged Malcolm Savidge, the member of Parliament for Aberdeen North, to steer a private member’s bill through the House of Commons and give Scottish workers the same rights as those in England and Wales. The legislation received the royal assent as the Sunday Working (Scotland) Act in 2003. In Ulster, where the political power of religious groups is stronger than in most other parts of Britain, store-opening hours are governed by the Sunday Trading (Northern Ireland) Order of 1997. Shops normally open between 1:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m., so that there is a gap between the end of church services and the start of business. SUPREME COURT OF JUDICATURE. See SENIOR COURTS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. In 2005, the Constitutional Reform Act made provision for the establishment of a Supreme Court of the United Kingdom that would assume the duties of the law lords (see LORD OF APPEAL IN ORDINARY) and the judicial committee of the Privy Council. The judges would form the final court of appeal for English law, Northern Irish law, and Welsh law and would also take appeals from the Court of Session (see LEGAL SYSTEM, SCOTLAND) but not from the High Court of Justiciary in Scotland. The court will be housed in London at Middlesex Guildhall, close to the Houses of Parliament, and will begin work in 2009 after its new premises have been refurbished. SWINNEY, JOHN RAMSEY (1964– ). John Swinney was elected leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) in 2000 but resigned four years later, having failed to quell internal bickering or reverse a series of electoral setbacks. Born in Edinburgh on 13 April 1964, the son of Kenneth and Nancy Swinney, he was educated at the local Forrester High School and Edinburgh University, where he studied politics. He joined the SNP in 1979 and by 1986, still only 22, had become national secretary. In 1992, he was appointed senior vice


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convener (in effect, deputy leader) of the organization and captured the North Tayside parliamentary constituency at the 1997 general election, relinquishing it four years later so that he could concentrate his efforts on the Scottish Parliament, which he had entered on its formation in 1999. When Alex Salmond resigned the SNP leadership in 2000, the contest to replace him turned into a battle between the gradualists (represented by Swinney and advocating a step-by-step approach to Scottish independence) and the fundamentalists (represented by Alex Neil and advocating a clear policy focus on independence as soon as possible). Swinney won but never commanded the authority needed to heal the ideological rift. Lacking Salmond’s ebullience and charisma, he attempted to create the image of a politician who could be trusted, but although he managed to persuade party members to accept a series of organizational reforms, he was the subject of continual sniping from some colleagues. Also, he came under pressure from the Scottish press, which regularly speculated about his ability to hold the opposing factions together, questioning his ability to lead in the face of a series of disappointing SNP performances at the elections for the House of Commons in 2001 and the Scottish Parliament in 2003. Eventually in June 2004, following a disappointing SNP performance at the polls for the European Parliament, he resigned.

– T – TAXATION. See BROWN, JAMES “GORDON” (1951– ); THE BUDGET; CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER; CHANNEL ISLANDS; CIVIL PARTNERSHIPS; CONSOLIDATED FUND; COUNCIL TAX; DEVOLUTION; ENTERPRISE ZONE; HER MAJESTY’S REVENUE AND CUSTOMS (HMRC); INCOME TAX; INHERITANCE TAX; ISLE OF MAN; LAWSON, NIGEL (1932– ); PARLIAMENT ACTS (1911 and 1949); PAYMASTER GENERAL; POLL TAX; PRIVATIZATION; RELIGION; SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT; SILICON GLEN; THATCHER, MARGARET HILDA (1925– ). TAYLOR REPORT. See HILLSBOROUGH DISASTER.


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TELEVISION. The development of television broadcasting in Britain has been much shaped by government regulation and an emphasis on public service provision. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) presented its first programs in 1936 and still offers schedules uninterrupted by advertisements, with much of its income coming from an annual license fee paid by owners of television sets. The corporation had a monopoly until 1955, when Independent Television (ITV), which operates on a franchise basis and earns revenue from advertisers, was established under the terms of the Television Act passed by Parliament the previous year. In 1981, further legislation created Channel Four, which has a specific public service mandate like the BBC but can show commercials in order to raise funds. Channel Five was added in 1997 after the government considered bids for a new station. Satellite television broadcasts began in 1989 and now reach about one in three homes, with British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) the main provider. The early 21st century has been characterized by growing demands for digital television, which offers a better-quality picture than the earlier analogue system could provide and widens opportunities for interactive programming (for example, by allowing viewers to participate in quiz shows). In 2002, the BBC, BSkyB, and National Grid Wireless combined to provide Freeview, a nonsubscription, terrestrial digital service that gives viewers a choice of some 40 channels, none of which are offered on a pay-per-view basis. The popularity of the programs was one of the factors that encouraged the government to announce plans for a conversion of all television broadcasting technology from analogue to digital, a four-year process that will be completed in 2012. See also LANGUAGE. TERRORISM. Although buildings in Scotland and Wales were occasionally subject to acts of vandalism by extremist nationalist groups after World War II, the use of terrorism as a means to political ends was not common in the United Kingdom until the 1970s, when the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) attacked life and property in an effort to encourage the British government to cede Ulster to the Republic of Ireland. Initially, Northern Ireland was the main area affected, as republicans bombed strategic targets and loyalists responded by killing alleged supporters of the nationalist cause.


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Eventually, however, the campaign of violence spread to the British mainland, focusing primarily on London but on occasion affecting other cities as well (see BRIGHTON HOTEL BOMBING). However, as the death toll mounted and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s government continued to insist that Ulster would remain part of the UK, the PIRA increasingly turned to negotiation in order to achieve its aims. The organization called a cease-fire in 1994, and Sinn Féin, its political wing, took part in discussions that led to the signing in 1998 of the Good Friday Agreement that bound all political parties to seek peaceful solutions to their differences. Then in 2005, international inspectors were able to announce that the Provisionals’ stock of arms had been “decommissioned.” By that time, some 3,500 people had been killed, but the province was experiencing an economic and social renaissance as it returned to more normal conditions. In the last years of the 20th century and the first years of the 21st, Muslim groups posed a more potent terrorist threat than the Irish republicans were presenting as they protested Western involvement in the Middle East. Attacks concentrated primarily on transport infrastructure, including the explosion that destroyed Pan Am flight 103 over Scotland just before Christmas 1988, with the loss of 270 lives (see LOCKERBIE DISASTER), and the bombings that killed 56 people and injured some 700 others, who were traveling on the London Underground and a London bus in July 2005 (see LONDON BOMBING). Other efforts to cause disruption were less successful. An attempt to replicate the July bombing a week later failed because the devices did not explode; in June 2007, two car bombs in central London were made safe before they could detonate; and a burning jeep driven into the terminal building at Glasgow Airport the same month caused only minor damage. The government responded to the threat with a series of measures designed to improve public safety, but that legislation has been much criticized by civil liberties groups, which claim that it places unduly harsh restrictions on human rights, and those protests have received some support from the courts (see ANTI-TERRORISM, CRIME AND SECURITY ACT [ATCSA; 2001]). Responsibility for introducing the bills to Parliament and for other counterterrorism measures lies with the home secretary. See also PREVENTION OF


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TERRORISM ACT (2005); PREVENTION OF TERRORISM ACTS (1974–89); SECURITY SERVICE (MI5); TERRORISM ACT (2000); TERRORISM ACT (2006); THE TROUBLES. TERRORISM ACT (2000). Until the end of the 20th century, Britain’s antiterrorism laws related primarily to the disturbances caused by sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland. The Terrorism Act of 2000 reflected changing priorities as peace initiatives in Ulster led to reductions in violence but as political unrest in other parts of the world was accompanied by an increased threat from Muslim extremists. The new legislation repealed earlier laws (the Prevention of Terrorism Acts [1974–89], for example), extended police powers to search and detain suspects, made the training of terrorists a criminal offense, and proscribed specified terrorist groups (in effect making them illegal organizations in an effort to prevent them from functioning openly in the United Kingdom). Civil liberties groups were vocal in their criticism, claiming that the law limited freedom of speech and other human rights, and their case was given substance by some heavy-handed application of the rules, as when the act was used to justify the removal of 82-year-old Walter Wolfgang from the Labour Party’s annual conference in 2005 because he was heckling foreign secretary Jack Straw. See also ANTI-TERRORISM, CRIME AND SECURITY ACT (ATCSA; 2001); PREVENTION OF TERRORISM ACT (2005); TERRORISM ACT (2006). TERRORISM ACT (2006). The 2006 Terrorism Act was passed in the emotional wake of the London bombings on 7 July the previous year, although Charles Clarke, the home secretary, told members of Parliament (MPs) that new laws were being considered by the government prior to those incidents. The legislation criminalized a series of activities, including the encouragement of terrorism, the manufacture and use of radioactive devices, participation in terrorist training sessions and preparations for terrorist attacks, and trespass on nuclear sites. Individuals could be charged with some offenses even if they were committed outside the United Kingdom. Several of the government’s proposals were widely accepted, but many MPs expressed doubts about plans to extend the period for which suspects could be held by police without being charged with a


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crime from the 14 days specified by the Terrorism Act (2000) to 90 days, arguing that the extension was too much of an infringement of civil liberties, that it enhanced perceptions of Britain as a police state, and that it was likely to antagonize many British Muslims, encouraging them to join the very groups that the authorities were attempting to outlaw. Initially, the government stuck to its guns, but faced with the opposition of the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats, as well as a threatened rebellion by some of its Labour Party supporters, Clarke eventually backtracked and agreed to reduce the period to 28 days. Other clauses of the new act were approved by very narrow majorities in the House of Commons, leading several political commentators to suggest that Prime Minister Tony Blair was losing control of his support base in Parliament. See also ANTITERRORISM, CRIME AND SECURITY ACT (ATCSA; 2001); PREVENTION OF TERRORISM ACT (2005); PREVENTION OF TERRORISM ACTS (1974–89). THAMES, RIVER. The Thames is the longest river wholly within England and second in length only to the River Severn in the United Kingdom. Four tributaries rise in the Cotswold Hills in western England and unite to form the Thames proper at Lechlade. From there, the river flows east for some 215 miles, passing through Oxford, Reading, and London before reaching the North Sea. Above Oxford, it is also known as the Isis (a truncation of Thamesis, its Latin name). For most of the route, the banks of the Thames are lined with meadows, woodlands, and arable crops, and the river itself is used largely as a drainage channel and as a focus for boating, fishing, hiking, and other recreational activities. Downstream from London, however, and particularly on the north bank, the soft clays were easily dug out and harbor facilities were constructed, allowing the city to develop as a major international trading center in the 19th century. In certain weather conditions, these low-lying areas were liable to flooding, but the construction of a flood barrier in the 1980s has limited that risk. THATCHER, MARGARET HILDA (1925– ). Margaret Thatcher was the United Kingdom’s first female prime minister, holding the


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office from 1979 until 1990 and initiating far-reaching changes to the country’s economy and social life. Born in Grantham on 13 October 1925 and one of two daughters in the family of greengrocer Alfred Roberts and his wife, Muriel, she was educated at Kesteven and Grantham Girls’ High School before going to Oxford University, where she studied chemistry and in 1946 served as president of the Conservative Party Association. After graduation, she worked for a short period as a research chemist but in 1951 married Denis Thatcher, an affluent businessman who paid for her to retrain as a barrister. Mrs. Thatcher contested the Dartford parliamentary constituency for the Conservatives in 1950 and 1951, both times unsuccessfully, but eventually entered the House of Commons in 1959 as the representative for Finchley. She was given her first government post— parliamentary secretary at the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance—two years later and held it until the Conservatives were ousted from power at the 1964 general election. While in opposition, she was allocated the pensions and national insurance brief (1964) before moving to housing and land (1965), Treasury affairs (1966), power (1967), and transport (1969). During that time, she showed evidence of a liberal streak, voting in favor of the Sexual Offences Act (1967), which decriminalized homosexuality, and in the same year supporting the legalization of abortion. However, she also made her objections to proposals to abolish hanging very clear and condemned the governing Labour Party’s tax policies as steps on the road to communism. After the Conservatives returned to power in 1970, Prime Minister Edward Heath, who was later to become a bitter enemy, made Mrs. Thatcher secretary of state for education. In 1974, again in opposition, she became party spokesperson on the environment; then in 1975, she challenged Heath for the leadership and, somewhat unexpectedly, defeated him. Dubbed the “Iron Lady” by the Russian press because of her intransigent opposition to socialism in any form, she capitalized on a series of trade union disputes in the winter of 1978–79 to lead the Conservatives to victory at the 1979 general election. As prime minister, she adopted a hard line against the Soviet Union as well as against the European Economic Community, labor unions,


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nonmonetarist economists, and Provisional Irish Republican Army sympathizers. Finding a philosophical soul mate in United States’ president Ronald Reagan, with whom she developed a close political relationship, she increased interest rates and indirect taxation. As a result, inflation rose and unemployment increased, but criticism was initially tempered by her strong stand against Argentina during the Falklands War (1982) and because voters were skeptical about the Labour Party’s ability under left-wing leader Michael Foot to form a credible alternative government. Buoyed by success at the 1983 general election, she embarked on a program of privatizing publicly owned enterprises, including electricity supply and other utilities, extractive and manufacturing industries, and transport systems. Also, success in forcing the coal miners back to work after the lengthy miners’ strike in 1984–85 encouraged her to take further measures designed to reduce the power of the trade unions and abolish Britain’s metropolitan local government authorities, all of which were Labour controlled. By the late 1980s, however, criticism of Thatcherite policies was building, even among former supporters. In northern England, Scotland, and Wales—all of which had had large proportions of their employed population in the manufacturing industry and were experiencing high rates of unemployment—Conservatives were being voted off local councils. Mrs. Thatcher’s unwillingness to consider closer political and economic integration among countries of the European Economic Community was creating a split in her own party, and her hectoring, dictatorial, apparently uncaring personality was wearing down those who worked with her (see HOWE, RICHARD EDWARD GEOFFREY [1926– ]). Ultimately, her insistence on the introduction of a community charge (or poll tax) led to her downfall. The charge was intended to replace property taxes, but whereas those taxes were levied most heavily on the rich (who could afford the largest, most spacious homes) the new charge was the same for everybody regardless of income. The vast majority of house owners believed that was unfair, and millions joined public protests or withheld payment. In 1990, Michael Heseltine, a senior figure in the Conservative Party, announced that he intended to challenge Margaret Thatcher for the leadership. With 204 votes, compared to Heseltine’s 152, the


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prime minister won the election, but the regulations required that the victor must beat the challenger by 15 percent of all the ballots cast, and she was two short of the total required. Mrs. Thatcher held interviews with her closest colleagues, most of whom advised her that she would lose a rerun of the election, so on 22 November, she resigned. Since then, commentators have taken sharply different views of her premiership. Some condemn her as unconcerned about poorer members of society, claim that she destroyed much of the United Kingdom’s manufacturing industry, insist that her attempts to abolish many welfare state provisions had a powerful negative impact on vulnerable citizens (such as the elderly and the mentally unstable), and believe that the improvement in the country’s economic performance that characterized her last years in office was caused by a change in world trading conditions rather than her government’s policies. However, other writers argue that by creating a share-owning society, enhancing opportunities for business, and tackling the trade unions, she revitalized British commerce, particularly through the expansion of the service sector. They also argue that her impact on the welfare state was less profound than her opponents suggest and point out that Prime Minister Tony Blair, ostensibly the leader of a socialist party, opted not to reverse her policies when he formed a government in 1997. After her resignation, Mrs. Thatcher served as a consultant to tobacco company Philip Morris, undertook regular speaking engagements, and made her feelings known about national and international political issues, as in 1998, when she expressed support for former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, who was under house arrest in England while awaiting trial for torture and conspiracy to murder in his home country. More recently, she has suffered a series of strokes and so has limited her public commitments on health grounds. She was raised to the peerage as Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven in 1992. See also ELIZABETH II (1926– ); EUROPEAN UNION (EU); GRENADA; LAWSON, NIGEL (1932– ). THATCHERISM. The term Thatcherism is much used, often pejoratively, as a concise means of describing the policies pursued by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher from 1979 until 1990. The approach placed heavy emphasis on monetarist economics, free markets, reduced


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provision of welfare benefits, and state withdrawal from the ownership of industry and public utilities. See MINERS’ STRIKE (198485); NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE (NHS); POLL TAX; PRIVATIZATION; RAILROAD TRANSPORT; ROAD TRANSPORT; TRADE UNIONS. THE TIMES. The Times is one of Britain’s principal quality newspapers, with a daily circulation of some 650,000 copies and a readership heavily concentrated in the male professional classes. It first appeared as The Daily Universal Register in 1785, adopted its present title in 1788, and has been published continuously ever since, printing news stories (rather than advertisements) on its front page for the first time in 1967 and converting from broadsheet to tabloid format in 2004. During the 19th century, The Times regularly broke new ground, becoming, for example, the first paper to employ foreign and war correspondents. That tradition continued in the late 20th century following the paper’s purchase from the Thomson Corporation by Rupert Murdoch’s News International group in 1981. Murdoch immediately introduced a program of technological change that was to have ramifications for the whole British newspaper industry. In 1982, he converted to modern printing techniques, abandoning hot metal Linotype machines and halving the print room staff, which had traditionally commanded high wages and exerted considerable influence over production. Four years later, with production moved from a location near Fleet Street in central London to premises on the eastern edge of the city, the process was completed as Times journalists began to input their own stories on personal computers; then in 1993, he cut the paper’s price by one third in an effort to win readers from other quality broadsheets. That battle lasted until 2005, when The Times matched its cover price with that of the Daily Telegraph and The Guardian. Editorial policy is right of center, favoring the Conservative Party, and journalistic standards are widely considered to be high, but some critics have condemned a growing tendency to popularize news coverage by increasing the number of column inches devoted to the activities of celebrities and sporting events. See also WAPPING DISPUTE.


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TORY. The modern Conservative Party can trace its roots to the Tory Party, which formed during the 17th century. The term Tory is still used as a synonym for Conservative supporter. TOTTENHAM THREE. In the autumn of 1985, police in north London questioned Floyd Jarrett, a young black man, when he was found in a car that had inaccuracies on its tax documentation. On 6 October, officers were sent to search his home, and while they were on the property, his mother, Cynthia, who had a weak heart, collapsed and died. The tragedy fueled racial tensions on the nearby Broadwater Farm housing estate, which had a large immigrant population with a West Indian heritage. Rioting broke out, a newsagent’s shop was set alight, and Police Constable Keith Blakelock was savagely butchered to death as he tried to protect firemen who were being attacked by the mob. Fifty-eight policemen and more than 20 other people were taken to hospital. Mark Braithwaite, Engin Raghip, and Winston Silcott were given life sentences for the murder in 1987 but were released four years later when new scientific evidence indicated that the police had fabricated the evidence against them. The events led to a Metropolitan Police review of training in public order tactics for senior officers, the purchase of armored Land Rovers that would protect officers during serious public disorder, and the introduction of measures designed to speed up the response of emergency services to incidents involving large crowds. By the early 21st century, the Broadwater Estate was being hailed as a model for partnership between the community, local government, and the police, but the unsafe convictions undoubtedly added to controversy about miscarriages of justice in the United Kingdom. See also BIRMINGHAM SIX; BRIDGEWATER FOUR; GUILDFORD FOUR; MAGUIRE SEVEN. TOURISM. The tourist industry contributes some £76 billion to the British economy each year and supports more than 2.1 million jobs (about 7.5 percent of the workforce). The most popular attraction is Blackpool Pleasure Beach, which gets around 5.7 million visitors annually, but the other major foci are cultural sites in London, notably the Tate Modern art gallery (which caters about 4.9 million visitors), the British Museum (4.8 million), and the National Gallery (4.6 million).


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Elsewhere, the largest numbers are recorded at Edinburgh Castle, Chester Zoo, and the Eden environmental project, each of which is visited by 1.2 million patrons. The most popular tourist focus in Northern Ireland, where the number of vacationers has been increasing since the 1998 Good Friday Agreement ended the years of violence in the province, is the Giant’s Causeway, which is viewed by 465,000 every year. Wales’s principal attraction is St. Fagans Folk Museum, with 590,000 visitors. Overseas residents made 32 million trips to the United Kingdom in 2006 and spent around £15.4 billion, with the majority of the visitors coming from the United States, France, Germany, and the Republic of Ireland. British residents make over 66 million trips abroad, principally (with the exception of Germany) to the same countries, and spend £32 billion. Organizations such as the Scottish Tourist Board (www.visitscotland.com) and Visit Britain (www.visitbritain .com) market the UK to holidaymakers from abroad, making the country the sixth most visited in the world. However, many professionals in the trade warn that the high cost of accommodation is a deterrent to travelers, pointing out that taxes on tourism services are among the highest in the European Union. Also, fears of terrorism and variations in exchange rates can cause marked fluctuations in visitor numbers from year to year. TRADE. See ECONOMY. TRADE UNIONS. As Britain industrialized from the late 18th century, workers in manufacturing industries banded together in an effort to prevent exploitation, improve wages, and win more congenial conditions in mills and factories. By the 1970s, those unions had acquired considerable influence, particularly on the Labour Party, and after her general election victory in 1979, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher embarked on a campaign to curb their impact. From 1980, successive Conservative Party governments passed a series of laws that greatly limited the unions’ ability to call members out on strike. Leaders had to ballot members before calling a strike, picketing was limited, sympathy strikes (the withdrawal of labor in support of industrial action by workers in a different industry) were outlawed, and “wildcat strikes” (those that gave employers no advance notice of the


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action) were made illegal. In addition, businesses could gain court injunctions to prevent strikes that did not accord with the law and in certain circumstances could also sue the unions for damages. Not surprisingly, the 1980s was marked by industrial disputes (see MINERS’ STRIKE [1984–85]; WAPPING DISPUTE), but the government prevailed, and in the 1990s, the number of workdays lost due to mass withdrawals of labor was significantly lower. Over the 25 years between 1979 and 2004, union membership also declined from about 12.6 million to about 7.8 million. A proportion of that drop was undoubtedly the result of employment losses in heavily unionized industries, such as steelmaking and textile manufacture, but even so, by the early years of the 21st century, only some 30 percent of the country’s workforce could claim a union affiliation compared with 55 percent when Mrs. Thatcher took office, suggesting that employees in growth sectors of the economy, such as electronics and service provision, were eschewing the labor organizations’ services. Many hard-core union activists believed that a socialist government would reinstate the old rights, but in practice, Labour reduced union influence on its decision-making processes—for example, by abolishing the system of block votes that permitted individual union delegates to cast thousands of votes at the annual party conference— and, when it came to power in 1997, retained the antiunion legislation introduced by its Conservative Party predecessors. As a consequence of the declining membership and the continued limitations on their power, many unions have amalgamated and modernized, shedding the white male image that characterized their leaderships during the 1970s and bringing more women and more representatives of ethnic minorities onto their committees. Most unions are affiliated with the Trades Union Congress, which meets once a year to determine common policies. It also acts as a pressure group on government, serves as a mediator in disputes between member organizations, and campaigns on domestic and international social and economic issues. See also AWKWARD SQUAD. TRANSPORT. See AIR TRANSPORT; CANAL TRANSPORT; RAILROAD TRANSPORT; ROAD TRANSPORT.


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THE TREASURY. Her Majesty’s Treasury is the government department charged with developing and implementing economic, financial, and fiscal policies. Technically, its head is the first lord of the Treasury, but that post is held by the prime minister, so for all practical purposes, it is led by the second lord, who is more commonly known as the chancellor of the exchequer. The department gets its name because in its early days during the 12th century, it was the physical storehouse of the English king’s treasures and thus a major source of the nation’s wealth. See also CHIEF SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY; ECONOMIC SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY; FINANCIAL SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY; PAYMASTER GENERAL. TRIMBLE, WILLIAM DAVID (1944– ). Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) from 1995 until 2005, David Trimble was born in Belfast on 15 October 1944, the son of William and Ivy Trimble, and educated at Bangor Grammar School before going to Queen’s University in his hometown. Initially, he embarked on an academic career, lecturing in the law department of his alma mater from 1968, but he also had a practical interest in politics, joining the rightwing Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party and rising to the post of deputy leader. Schisms within that organization led to a merger with the Ulster Unionists in 1978 but did nothing to inhibit Trimble’s climb up the political ladder. He entered the House of Commons in 1990, representing the Upper Bann constituency, and five years later (to the surprise of many writers, who had ignored him because of his apparent unwillingness to court publicity) was chosen to head the UUP. Although he was politically the least experienced of the five candidates for the leadership post, Trimble appealed to many loyalists because of his hard-line background. He had vociferously opposed the 1985 Anglo–Irish Agreement (which gave politicians in the Republic of Ireland a role in the administration of Northern Ireland’s affairs), uncompromisingly rejected the inclusion of Sinn Féin (a nationalist organization) in talks about the province’s future unless it unequivocally rejected terrorism, and maintained his membership of the Orange Order (a Protestant group committed to keeping Ulster


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tied to the United Kingdom). However, after his promotion to the leadership, he undertook a series of meetings in Belfast, Dublin, London, and Washington and early in 1996 suggested that elections should form the core of the Ulster peace process—a proposal that was endorsed by Prime Minister John Major and that led some journalists to suggest that Trimble might be mellowing. At the time, Major’s Conservative Party government had only a small majority in Parliament, so he relied heavily on Ulster Unionist representatives for support. As a result, Trimble had considerable influence on British policies relating to Northern Ireland. However, that situation changed the following year, when a convincing general election victory gave the Labour Party a 179-seat majority in the Commons. Within weeks, Tony Blair, the new prime minister, had initiated talks with Sinn Féin. Initially, Trimble remained aloof, continuing to argue that he would not participate in discussions until the Provisional Irish Republican Army laid down its arms. However, under pressure from Ulster business leaders and influenced by polls in the province, he eventually agreed to join the negotiations, becoming the first Protestant unionist leader to sit at the same table as Sinn Féin representatives since Ireland was partitioned in 1921. Trimble was one of the architects of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement that advanced the peace process, won the approval of most political parties, and provided for the establishment of a Northern Ireland Assembly, to which he was elected and served as first minister. However, in the early years of the 21st century, support for the UUP hemorrhaged as hard-line Protestants turned increasingly to the significantly less moderate Democratic Unionist Party, and at the 2005 general election, Trimble lost his seat in Parliament. He resigned the party leadership shortly afterward and the following year was raised to the peerage as Baron Trimble of Lisnagarvey in the County of Antrim. In 1998, Trimble and John Hume (of the Social Democratic and Labour Party) were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of their efforts to solve Northern Ireland’s problems by nonviolent means. THE TROUBLES. Although originally used with reference to the period from 1918–21 when the whole of Ireland was plagued by civil


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war, the term the Troubles has more recently been applied to the period of sectarian strife in Northern Ireland that lasted from the 1960s until the 1990s. From about 1968, civil liberties marches and violent disturbances became increasingly common as largely Roman Catholic groups campaigned for a greater say in the government of the province (a march in Londonderry in October 1968, broken up by a police baton charge, is often regarded as the start of this phase of the Troubles). The Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) began a bombing campaign that was intended to force the United Kingdom to cede Ulster to the Republic of Ireland, troops were drafted to the area in increasing numbers, internment without the benefit of jury trial was imposed on some of those alleged to have broken the law, and eventually in 1972, the British government suspended the Stormont-based Northern Ireland administration, claiming that it was no longer able to guarantee the safety of citizens (see DIRECT RULE). Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, the violence continued, both in Northern Ireland and on the British mainland. In July 1982, 11 British Army bandsmen were killed by an explosion in Regents Park (London). In 1983 just before Christmas, five people were killed by a bomb outside Harrods’ department store, also in London. In October 1984, a further five died following a bomb explosion at the Grand Hotel (Brighton) during the Conservative Party’s annual conference, and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher narrowly escaped with her life (see BRIGHTON HOTEL BOMBING). In November 1987, 11 people died at a Remembrance Sunday Service in Enniskillen. A bomb killed 11 bandsmen at Deal in September 1989, and in April 1992, central London was rocked by a bomb at the Baltic Exchange. In March 1993, two children died in an attack on shoppers at Warrington (Cheshire), and the following month, a massive bomb destroyed large areas of Bishopsgate, another central London location, with damage costing billions of pounds to repair. As the death toll mounted—by the early years of the 21st century, some 3,500 people had been killed—politicians were making efforts to find ways of rebuilding the peace. After hunger striker Bobby Sands had drawn worldwide attention to the nationalist cause by fasting to death in 1981, Sinn Féin (the PIRA’s political wing) increasingly turned to nonviolent methods of demonstrating support for


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its campaigning for a united Ireland, and gradually, wary negotiators began to talk to each other about possible settlements. In 1985, the governments of Britain and the Irish Republic signed an Anglo–Irish Agreement confirming that Northern Ireland would remain part of the United Kingdom; then in 1988, the two major Catholic leaders— John Hume of the Social Democratic and Labour Party and Gerry Adams of Sinn Féin—held a series of conversations. By 1994, the PIRA was ready to announce a cease-fire, and although that was broken two years later, it helped to establish a more positive mood in the province. At the end of the same year, former U.S. senator George Mitchell drew the political parties into talks, and in April 1998, these culminated in a Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to the province. Since then, there have been sporadic killings, but policing in Northern Ireland has been restructured, the agency established to oversee the decommissioning of the republican and loyalist arsenals has claimed that the major paramilitary groups have put their weapons beyond use, and Ulster has experienced a major injection of funds into its economy as business has taken advantage of settled conditions to rebuild a commercial infrastructure. See also BIRMINGHAM SIX; COMBINED LOYALIST MILITARY COMMAND (CLMC); CONTINUITY IRISH REPUBLICAN ARMY (CIRA); DIPLOCK COURTS; DOWNING STREET DECLARATION; GUILDFORD FOUR; IRISH NATIONAL LIBERATION ARMY (INLA); IRISH NORTHERN AID COMMITTEE (NORAID); IRISH PEOPLE’S LIBERATION ORGANIZATION (IPLO); LONDON BOMBING; LOYALIST; LOYALIST VOLUNTEER FORCE (LVF); MAGUIRE SEVEN; MAZE PRISON; NORTHERN IRELAND ASSEMBLY; NORTHERN IRELAND WOMEN’S COALITION; OMAGH BOMBING; ORANGE ORDER; PAISLEY, IAN RICHARD KYLE (1926– ); PATTEN COMMISSION (1998–99); POLICE SERVICE OF NORTHERN IRELAND; PREVENTION OF TERRORISM ACTS (1974–89); REAL IRISH REPUBLICAN ARMY (REAL IRA); RED HAND COMMANDO; REPUBLICAN; ROYAL ULSTER CONSTABULARY (RUC); SANDS, ROBERT GEORGE “BOBBY” (1954–81); STEVENS INQUIRIES; ULSTER DEFENCE ASSOCIATION (UDA); ULSTER DEFENCE REGIMENT (UDR); UNIONIST.


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– U – ULSTER. Although the term Ulster is now most frequently used as a synonym for Northern Ireland, the name has a long historical pedigree. During the fifth century, the northeast part of the island of Ireland was known as Cúige Uladh, which in Irish Gaelic means “the Province of the Ulaid people.” At that time, it was an important base for St. Patrick’s Christian missions, but from about 800, it suffered a series of attacks by the Vikings, and, with the addition of the Norse stadr (meaning “place” or “territory”) to its name, became known as Uladh Stadr, which was anglicized as Ulster. During the reign of England’s Henry II (1154–89), Ulster fell under Norman domination, and in 1205, King John (Henry’s youngest son) created an earldom of Ulster, conferring it on Hugh de Lacy and confirming English authority, which has survived (albeit now in the form of United Kingdom authority) ever since. The modern province of Northern Ireland, created by the Anglo–Irish Treaty of 1921, is slightly smaller than the historic Kingdom of Ulster, consisting of the counties of Antrim, Armagh, Derry, Down, Fermanagh, and Tyrone. ULSTER DEFENCE ASSOCIATION (UDA). The UDA formed in 1971, advocating independence for Northern Ireland and a policy of settling disputes by negotiation rather than violence. However, by the late 1980s, it was operating as a loyalist paramilitary group known as the Ulster Freedom Fighters, so in 1991, the British government made membership illegal. The UDA has a long history of internal feuds and clashes with the Ulster Volunteer Force, another Protestant organization. It is also known to be deeply involved in the drugs trade and other criminal activities. Analysts suggest that over the period of the Troubles it killed well over 100 people, most of them Roman Catholic civilians rather than members of paramilitary groups, but in 2003, it announced that it would observe a “complete and utter cessation” of violence for one year, with reviews every three months thereafter. ULSTER DEFENCE REGIMENT (UDR). The UDR was created in 1970 following the recommendation of a government inquiry into policing in Northern Ireland. The intention was that the regiment,


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which would be a unit of the British Army, would have representatives from both the Protestant and the Roman Catholic communities and that it would not be heavily armed, but in practice, it very quickly became the focus of complaint by nationalist sympathizers, who felt that it was being dominated by members of loyalist paramilitary groups. Ultimately, those allegations were justified by events because several members of the regiment were convicted of sectarian murders, and an investigation in 1989–90 by John Stevens, deputy chief constable of Cambridgeshire, revealed that UDR soldiers had passed information about suspected republican terrorists to the loyalist organizations (see STEVENS INQUIRIES). Under influence from Protestant pressure groups, the government steadily increased the power of the weapons carried by members of the regiment, and it became one of the Provisional Irish Republican Army’s main targets. By the time its seven battalions were merged with the Irish Rangers to form the Royal Irish Regiment in 1992, 197 serving officers and 47 former officers had been killed. See also ROYAL ULSTER CONSTABULARY (RUC); THE TROUBLES. ULSTER FREEDOM FIGHTERS. See ULSTER DEFENCE ASSOCIATION (UDA). ULSTER LOYALIST. See LOYALIST. ULSTER POPULAR UNIONIST PARTY (UPUP). James Kilfedder won the North Down parliamentary constituency for the Ulster Unionist Party in 1970 but left in 1977, disenchanted by his leaders’ apparent intention to press for full integration of Northern Ireland with the rest of the United Kingdom rather than campaign for a restoration of devolved government to the province. Three years later, he founded the UPUP, but he never attracted more than a handful of acolytes to his cause, though one or two of them did win seats on local government bodies and Kilfedder himself held onto his place in the House of Commons at general elections in 1983, 1987, and 1992. On 20 March 1995, he received a letter from Outrage!, a gay pressure group, inviting him to declare publicly that he was a homosexual. Later that day, he died of a heart attack. His party disintegrated shortly afterward.


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ULSTER UNIONIST PARTY (UUP). The UUP is an offshoot of the Irish Unionist Party, which formed in 1905 to resist demands that some measure of home rule should be granted to Ireland, the whole of which was then an integral part of the British state. Following partition of the island in 1921, the party formed the regional government at Stormont and remained in power without a break until Prime Minister Edward Heath’s administration imposed direct rule from London more than 50 years later. Prior to the 1960s, the UUP was a broad church (albeit a Protestant church), reflecting opinion across a wide range of the political spectrum and held together largely by opposition to the loosening of ties with the rest of the United Kingdom. However, the tensions caused by growing civil liberties protests during the 1960s and 1970s led to the formation of splinter groups and a strained relationship in the House of Commons with the Conservative Party, its traditional political ally on the British mainland. In 1985, when Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher signed the Anglo–Irish Agreement, which gave representatives of the Republic of Ireland a formal role in the administration of Ulster’s affairs, all 15 of the UUP members of Parliament resigned their seats in protest. Fourteen of them were promptly reappointed at by-elections, a result that the party leadership interpreted as a demonstration of support for its unwillingness to deal with Dublin, but the return of the Conservative government at the 1987 general election, implying widespread British support for Mrs. Thatcher’s tactics on the Northern Ireland issue, provoked a policy rethink. Change was gradual, but in 1992, the UUP leader, James Molyneaux, and other senior members of the organization, took part in talks with Irish Republic politicians, and the following year, criticism of the Downing Street Declaration was significantly less strident than that emanating from other unionist camps in Ulster. In 1995, Molyneaux was replaced by David Trimble, who had a reputation as a hard-liner but who mellowed during his years in office and had significant influence on the shaping of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which committed all interests in Northern Ireland to seek political ends through democratic processes rather than through violence. Entrenched loyalist supporters responded by transferring their allegiance to the markedly less-moderate Democratic


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Unionist Party, and as a result, UUP candidates fared very badly at the 2005 general election, winning only one seat in Parliament. Trimble immediately resigned the leadership and handed the reins to Sir Reg Empey, a former ally. The decline continued at the elections for the reformed Northern Ireland Assembly in 2007, when the party won 18 seats, 9 fewer than it had taken in the previous ballot in 2003. See also OFFICIAL UNIONISTS. For details of representation in the House of Commons, see the entries on general elections held in 1979, 1983, 1987, 1992, 1997, 2001, and 2005. ULSTER VOLUNTEER FORCE (UVF). The UVF is one of the principal Protestant paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland, naming itself after an early-20th-century organization that opposed plans for Ireland to break away from Britain and become an independent state. It formed in 1966; immediately launched a series of attacks on Roman Catholics; continued its campaign of violence through the 1970s and 1980s, allegedly with the help of members of the Ulster Defence Regiment; then in 1990, aligned itself with the Combined Loyalist Military Command and with other loyalist paramilitaries announced a cease-fire in 1994. By that time, according to analysts, it had killed some 400 people, most of them civilians, and the death toll continued to rise even after the supposed cessation of hostilities. In 1996, a faction that wanted to continue armed resistance to the Provisional Irish Republican Army and other nationalist groups broke away from the UVF and formed the Loyalist Volunteer Force. Over the next decade, the two Protestant groups were constantly at loggerheads, and the UVF was also involved in feuds with the Ulster Defence Association, killing some 30 individuals. However, in May 2007, the UVF and Red Hand Commando, with which it is closely associated, announced that it intended to bring the violence to an end, that it had put its weapons “beyond reach,” and that it intended to cooperate with the police. Not everybody took that statement at face value, with the Belfast Telegraph and other Ulster newspapers asking for clear evidence that the arms had been destroyed. Politically, the organization is linked to the Progressive Unionist Party. UNION FLAG. See FLAG.


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UNIONIST. In the United Kingdom, the term unionist is used in two contexts. Most frequently, it refers to a citizen of Northern Ireland who wants Ulster to remain part of the UK rather than be ceded to the Republic of Ireland. Some writers used the word synonymously with loyalist, but others prefer to reserve the latter term as a descriptor for an individual who supports the use of violence as a means of defeating the republican movement in the province. The term is also sometimes used with reference to people who oppose the nationalist movements in Scotland and Wales, arguing that the UK should not be broken up into independent states. UNITED KINGDOM (UK). The UK is an island state lying off the northwest coast of Europe. It consists of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, covers an area of approximately 94,500 square miles (making it slightly smaller than the U.S. state of Michigan), and had a population of 58.78 million at the time of the 2001 census. Formally, it is known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, but that lengthy title is usually abbreviated to Britain, Great Britain, or the UK. The American practice of referring to the country as England is considered offensive by many Northern Irish, Scots, and Welsh. The first steps toward the formation of the modern state were taken when Wales was absorbed into England between 1283 and 1543. In 1603, King James VI of Scotland succeeded to the English throne (as James I), and in 1707, his two countries united as Great Britain. Then, in 1921, most of Ireland won its independence, leaving six counties in the northeast attached to a new country named the United Kingdom. The UK is governed as a constitutional, hereditary monarchy. The monarch is head of state, but power is exercised largely by the prime minister, who leads the largest political party in the House of Commons, which is elected by universal adult suffrage. Traditionally, control has been heavily centralized in London, the national capital, but from 1921 until 1972 Northern Ireland had a Parliament based at Stormont near Belfast that had power to govern domestic affairs, and from 1999 Scotland and Wales have had similar assemblies in Edinburgh and Cardiff respectively.


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The country’s economy, formerly heavily reliant on manufacturing but now dominated by service industries, is the fifth- or sixthlargest in the world, with a gross domestic product in 2006 of £1.93 trillion, and its population is heavily concentrated in urban areas. The population density, at around 622 people per square mile, is nearly 8 times that of the United States. The principal language is English, though Scots Gaelic and the Welsh language are still spoken and many immigrant communities still use their own tongues. Christianity is the dominant religion, but outside Northern Ireland, fewer than 1 person in 10 attends church regularly. UNITED KINGDOM INDEPENDENCE PARTY (UKIP). The UKIP was formed in 1993 as a rallying ground for euroskeptics who wanted Britain to withdraw from the European Union. It surprised analysts by winning three seats and 7 percent of the vote in the polls for membership of the European Parliament in 1999, failed to return any of more than 400 candidates to the House of Commons at the 2001 general election, increased its representation in Europe to 12 in 2004 (with nearly 17 percent of the vote), and failed again at the general election in 2005, despite fielding candidates in nearly 500 of the 646 constituencies. At the local-government level, it has some 30 councilors. In part, the variations in performance were undoubtedly due to internal bickering and schisms—the UKIP had 6 different leaders during its first 13 years—but the organization has also suffered because of allegations that it attracts members from such extreme right-wing groups as the British National Party. Moreover, its critics have claimed that it champions some of the less-popular causes advocated during the 1980s by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, including closer alignment with the United States in foreign policy matters, elimination of impediments to free trade, reductions of restraint in business, and withdrawal from many aspects of welfare state provision. However, UKIP spokespeople have consistently denied many of those assertions, claiming, for example, that the party strongly supports continued provision of socialized health care through the National Health Service and pointing out that in 2002 it opposed an American-led invasion of Iraq unless the United Nations sanctioned military action.


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UNITED KINGDOM UNIONIST PARTY (UKUP). The UKUP was created in 1995 by Robert McCartney, formerly a member of the Ulster Unionist Party, in an effort to gather support for the view that Northern Ireland should be fully integrated with the United Kingdom and ruled from London with no devolution of power to any assembly in the province. McCartney won the North Down constituency at the 1997 general election, and his party gained five seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly the following year. However, four of the assembly representatives defected in 1999, leaving only its founder, who lost his House of Commons seat at the 2001 general election and his assembly seat in 2007. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. The United Kingdom and the United States have long had a close economic and political association, aided partly by a common language and their location at opposite sides of a major seaway. The United States is Britain’s largest single market for exports, taking chemicals, fuels, machinery, and other manufactured articles that earned the country over £30 billion in foreign exchange in 2005. Imports, also largely of manufactured products, cost around £22 billion, leaving the UK with a considerable trade surplus. Services, such as banking, add to that surplus, earning about £23 billion through exports and costing £15 billion in imports. Britain is the principal recipient of American direct investment overseas, attracting about £150 billion annually, with just over one third going to financial services (other than banking), one third to manufacturing, and the remainder to other sectors of the economy. Also, the United Kingdom is the major foreign investor in the United States, contributing, each year, about £140 billion to American-based enterprises. Major investors include British Petroleum (which has oil exploitation and gasoline retail interests), GlaxoSmithKline (which manufactures pharmaceuticals), Intercontinental Hotels (owners of Holiday Inn), National Grid (the third-largest supplier of gas and electricity in the United States), the Pearson Group (which is the second-largest publisher in North America, owning imprints such as the New American Library and Penguin), and the Edinburgh-based Royal Bank of Scotland Group (which controls Citizens Bank, America’s eighth biggest).


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In 1946, during a speech delivered at Fulton, Missouri, Winston Churchill referred to a “special relationship between the British Commonwealth and Empire and the United States.” In succeeding decades, the term was applied more specifically to UK–U.S. relations, which sometimes appeared to benefit from close personal friendships between the countries’ leaders, as was the case when Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan were heads of government during the 1980s. However, several scholars have commented that the relationship was always more important to Britain than to America, and others have pointed out that the liaison was often less than passionate, as when the UK refrained from committing troops to assist American military operations during the war in Vietnam (1959–75) and when the United States refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol, a multinational effort to reduce air pollution that was championed by Prime Minister Tony Blair when the G8 group of countries met in Gleneagles, Scotland, in 2005. Most recently, Blair has supported the U.S.-led “war on terror,” committing more troops than any other American ally to the Iraq War (2003– ). Even so, many American officials admit that the prime minister got no payback for that support and, noting that both David Cameron (the Conservative Party leader) and Menzies Campbell (who led the Liberal Democrats in 2006–7) have distanced themselves from aspects of U.S. policy, anticipate that Gordon Brown (Blair’s successor) will be less accommodating, even though he is known to be a strong supporter of transatlantic links. Despite the political ups and downs, however, there is a long tradition of sharing military intelligence and cooperation on such international bodies as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the United Nations Security Council. See also BRITISH INDIAN OCEAN TERRITORY; GALLOWAY, GEORGE (1954– ); GRENADA. UNIVERSITIES. The United Kingdom’s 114 universities range in size from the Open University (which has more than 180,000 students) to the University of Buckingham (which has fewer than 800). The earliest, such as Oxford and Cambridge, evolved from schools attached to monasteries and cathedrals during the 12th century. Others, such as Edinburgh, followed after the Reformation, but it was not until the late 19th and in particular the 20th centuries that the number of


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institutions increased significantly. Many were established after the Industrial Revolution, particularly in northern England, where cities were growing and technology was advancing rapidly. Liverpool, for example, gained its royal charter in 1903. More university foundations followed after World War II and especially in the 1960s; East Anglia, Essex, Keele, Stirling, and others were all products of a growth in demand for higher education at that time. Also in 1964, the Open University was established, using radio and television to take part-time distance learning to mature students. Then in 1992, the polytechnics—originally created in 1967 to provide broader, more vocational, degree-level syllabuses that would provide an alternative to the courses offered by traditional centers of learning—were granted university status. With the exception of Buckingham, all British universities are state funded. Those in Scotland take freshmen at the age of 18 and offer a 4-year degree program; those in the rest of the country take 19-yearolds and offer a 3-year program. Potential graduate students apply to individual universities, but undergraduate applications are coordinated by a centralized Universities and Colleges Admissions System. Students who are accepted follow a highly specialized curriculum much like the majors offered by U.S. institutions but without the general education requirements. Welfare state policies meant that, until comparatively recently, students paid no tuition costs and in addition received grants linked to family income. However, as numbers rose, the cost of providing university education mounted, so in 1998, the Labour Party government introduced tuition fees and from the following year reorganized the grant arrangements and devised a scheme of loans. Initially, these tuition fees, which amounted to a maximum of £3,000 in 2007, were intended to be common to all students at all universities throughout the United Kingdom, but the Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales have since varied the arrangements for undergraduates from their own nations. Graduate students are charged for classes, though many receive scholarships that cover the fees and, if they attend lectures for less than 16 hours a week, may qualify for unemployment and housing benefits from the state. International students attending British universities must pay market rates for their education. See also DEARING REPORT (1997).


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– V – VISCOUNT. See PEERAGE.

– W – WALES. Wales is a large peninsula that occupies some 8,000 square miles (a land area slightly less than that of New Jersey) in the southwestern United Kingdom. It is bordered in the east by England, in the north by the Irish Sea, in the west by St. George’s Channel, and in the south by the Bristol Channel. Much of the land is mountainous, with hills rising to over 3,000 feet in the north, so most of the population, which numbered 2.9 million at the time of the 2001 census, lives in coastal areas and particularly in south Wales, where the major settlements (including Cardiff, the capital) are located. In the 11th century, the territory was divided into native princedoms, but the English kings gradually defeated the local rulers—Llywelyn ap Gruffudd in 1286 was the last to succumb to English might—then ruled the area as a colony before legally absorbing it by passing a series of acts of Parliament from 1536–43. For the next 400 years, Wales had no independent political existence, with the laws of England applying to Wales as well. However, as voters expressed growing interest in national identity during the 20th century, governments were forced to take action. Cardiff was declared capital of Wales in 1955, a secretary of state for Wales (with a seat in the cabinet) was appointed in 1963, and a Welsh Office (with responsibility for implementing government policy in the principality) was created in 1964. In 1979, despite those moves, Welsh residents voted by an overwhelming 4:1 majority against the establishment of a Welsh Parliament with powers to legislate on domestic affairs, but 19 years later, a similar poll resulted in a small majority, with 50.3 percent voting in favor. As a result, in 1999, the Labour Party government formed a 60-member National Assembly for Wales, albeit without granting any power to raise taxes. The hilly landscapes and relatively high rainfall, which can reach well over 100 inches a year in some places, make crop production


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difficult, so animal rearing and forestry are the principal rural land uses. During the 19th century, however, the landscapes of the southern valleys were transformed by coal and iron mines that provided the raw material for steelworks and engineering plants in Cardiff, Ebbw Vale, Newport, Swansea, and other towns. Changing technologies and competition from producers elsewhere have resulted in a decline in those industries in recent years, so though the tradition of metalworking and manufacturing continues (the Ford Motor Company has an engine production plant at Bridgend, for instance), the modern economy is more heavily dependent on provision of services. Many of the jobs generated are in the public sector, but Cardiff in particular has developed a significant media complex, and the bed and breakfast industry attracts many tourists to the smaller towns in the countryside. See also CELTIC FRINGE; CHANNEL FOUR TELEVISION; DAVIES, RONALD (1946– ); DEVOLUTION; EDUCATION; FLAG; FOOTBALL; FORWARD WALES; IWAN, DAFYDD (1943– ); LEGAL SYSTEM, WALES; LOCAL GOVERNMENT, WALES; MEIBION GLYNDWˇ R; MORGAN, HYWEL RHODR; NATIONAL ANTHEMS; PLAID CYMRU—THE PARTY OF WALES; PRINCIPALITY; WESTERN MAIL; WIGLEY, DAFYDD (1943– ); WYN JONES; IEUAN (1949– ). WAPPING DISPUTE. In 1981, Rupert Murdoch’s News International bought The Times and the Sunday Times but with them inherited a deep-seated resistance to change on the part of print workers. At the time, most British newspapers were produced using linotype machines and “hot metal,” a labor-intensive technology that kept costs high. Moreover, the printers’ trade unions had a stranglehold over employment and insisted on clearly defined job descriptions that limited flexibility by preventing managers from transferring workers from one task to another. In 1986, Murdoch moved production from central London to a new plant at Wapping in the eastern part of the city. The 6,000 printers called a strike, so News International fired them and refused to budge despite efforts to blockade the Wapping site. The strike lasted for more than 12 months and was frequently marked by violence, but it collapsed in February 1987, opening the doors to radical reform in the newspaper industry. Journalists now use computers to enter copy


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directly, eliminating the need for compositors and linotype operators and thus reducing costs and cutting production times. More broadly, the Wapping experience, coupled with the collapse of the coal miners’ strike two years earlier, convinced trade union administrators that they had lost their battle with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who had introduced legislation designed to reduce their power, and so forced them to rethink the role of labor organizations in British industrial relations. WELFARE STATE. Although Britain’s welfare state can trace its beginnings to the activities of 19th-century philanthropists and early20th-century legislation, such as the National Health Insurance Act of 1911, in its modern form, it dates from William Beveridge’s report on Social Insurance and Allied Services to Winston Churchill’s Second World War coalition cabinet in 1942. Beveridge argued for a unified social security system that would care for citizens from the cradle to the grave, and his recommendations were accepted by the postwar Labour Party government elected in 1945. Over the next few years, Parliament gave citizens rights to bereavement grants, a free education up to university level, health care that was free at the point of delivery through a National Health Service, improved standards of social housing, maternity grants, retirement pensions, and other benefits. The nature of provision changed during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, but governments of all political hues paid lip service to the Beveridge principles until Margaret Thatcher became prime minister in 1979. In part, Mrs. Thatcher’s objections to the welfare system stemmed from a belief that individuals should take more responsibility for looking after themselves rather than rely on the government, but she also faced problems caused by rising costs, particularly for health care, and an aging society that required ever-greater expenditure on pensions and placed ever-increasing demand on medical services. Her administrations attempted to reduce costs by making a greater number of benefits available only to families with limited incomes and by raising state retirement pensions in line with prices rather than with the more rapidly growing earnings. Pension laws were reformed to encourage individuals to invest in their own retirement funds rather than rely solely on occupational or state schemes, and local


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authorities were required to sell their stock of subsidized homes to the tenants who lived in them. The results of those efforts were mixed. More people did invest in pension schemes, for example, but many were badly informed about the options, to their financial detriment. Also, tenants in the subsidized housing built to the highest standards took the opportunity to purchase their property, leaving councils to cope with poor families living in older, lower-standard homes at a time when housing budgets were strongly controlled by central government. Moreover, the total cost of welfare provision continued to rise despite the efforts to contain it. The Labour Party, when it was elected to office in 1997, made little change to existing provisions but promised to provide adequate funding for health care. It also in 1998 began charging fees to students attending universities and the following year introduced further reform to pensions legislation through the Welfare Reform and Pensions Act. By the early years of the 21st century, however, the cost of welfare state benefits still amounted to about one fifth of the United Kingdom’s gross domestic product, and opinion polls showed that voters were still concerned about an underfunded health service. WELSH ASSEMBLY. See NATIONAL ASSEMBLY FOR WALES. WELSH LANGUAGE. See CHANNEL FOUR TELEVISION; EDUCATION; IWAN, DAFYDD (1943– ); LANGUAGE; LEGAL SYSTEM, WALES. WEST LOTHIAN QUESTION. In the late 1970s, the Labour Party government suggested that a Parliament should be established in Edinburgh and given authority to legislate on matters relating solely to Scotland. Tam Dalyell, a Labour member of the House of Commons, questioned aspects of the plan, asking in a parliamentary debate in 1977, “For how long will English constituencies and English [members of Parliament (MPs)] tolerate . . . [members of Parliament from Scotland] . . . exercising an important, and probably often decisive, effect on [English] politics while they themselves have no say on the same matters in Scotland?” Enoch Powell, another MP, termed the query the “West Lothian Question” after the parliamentary constituency that Dalyell represented.


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When a Scottish Parliament was eventually created in 1999, the question assumed practical importance. The Labour government reduced the number of Scottish representatives at Westminster from 72 to 59 in 2005 but, heavily dependent on the Scottish vote, could not make further reductions if it was to maintain its overall majority in the Commons. As a result, several critics argue that the anomaly remains, pointing out that some health care legislation, highly unpopular in England, got through Parliament only because it was supported by Labour MPs representing Scottish constituencies. However, other commentators point out that English MPs do, in fact, vote on matters affecting Scotland because the Westminster Parliament passes laws relating to defense and other matters that affect the whole of the United Kingdom. Also, they claim there is an administrative arrangement, known as the Sewel Convention, that allows provisions concerning matters devolved to the Scottish Parliament to be included in legislation passed by the UK Parliament, as happened with the Higher Education Act of 2004. Other defenders of the status quo point out that the Westminster Parliament has sovereignty over the Edinburgh one and can vote on Scottish matters if it wishes. WESTERN MAIL. The Western Mail is the only national morning newspaper printed and published in Wales. It was founded by John Crichton-Stuart, the third marquess (see PEERAGE) of Bute, in 1869 and used to promote his Conservative Party views, so it was treated with much suspicion by the more strongly socialist coal miners, steelworkers, and other manual groups who formed the majority of the workforce in the southern part of the principality for much of the 20th century. Now owned by Trinity Mirror plc, it has attempted to broaden its appeal in recent years and has a daily circulation of about 43,000 copies. Based in Cardiff, it moved its printing works to a site in the redeveloped docklands in 2003 and underwent major design changes, making fuller use of color and introducing features designed to attract younger age groups. The Mail converted from broadsheet to tabloid format the following year but still relies heavily on an educated, middle-class market. Its sister papers include the evening South Wales Echo and the weekend Wales on Sunday.


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WESTMINSTER. The House of Commons and the House of Lords are located in the palace of Westminster. For that reason, the words Parliament and Westminster are often used as synonyms. The term Westminster is also employed with reference to the whole system of government, so for example, Australia is sometimes said to have a Westminster style of government because its lawmaking institutions are modeled on those of the United Kingdom. WETS. In the vernacular of the English public schools in which many Conservative Party politicians were educated, the term wet meant “weak.” During the 1980s, it was much used as a collective noun for party members who were not wholly committed to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s often unpopular policies of lowering government expenditure on welfare benefits, reducing the power of trade unions, and restructuring the economy. Those individuals who supported the Thatcherite agenda were known as dries. WHIP. A whip is a member of the House of Commons or the House of Lords who is responsible for ensuring that representatives of his or her political party are available to vote when required by the leadership. In practice, government and opposition whips arrange a system of “pairing,” so if one individual is ill or unavoidably absent from Westminster when a vote is called, his or her partner in the other party refrains from voting, thereby maintaining a balance and allowing members of Parliament (MPs) to make constituency visits and undertake other activities away from London. On occasions when the system has not operated, MPs have been treated to the undignified sight of colleagues brought from hospital beds to vote. MPs are sent papers by the whips to indicate the importance of a vote. Refusal to toe the line on a “one-line whip,” when a single line underlines an item, may simply result in a quiet reprimand, but rebellion when there is a “three-line whip” could result in consequences as serious as expulsion from the party. MPs are said to “take the party whip” if they accede to the party line. Each party’s whips are led by a chief whip. The government chief whip, who has offices at 9 Downing Street next to the home of the prime minister has particular political influence, speaking to MPs


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with the authority of the party leader but also conveying the views of backbenchers to the decision makers at the top of the hierarchy. WHITE PAPER. White papers describe future government policy on a specific topic. Often, they are essentially a draft of proposed legislation, published so that the cabinet can gather feedback and make final alterations before presenting a bill for approval by Parliament. See also COMMAND PAPER; GREEN PAPER. WHITEHALL. Whitehall is a street that runs for some 600 yards from Trafalgar Square to the Houses of Parliament in London, taking its name from Whitehall Palace, which stood on its western side from 1529 until 1698. Over the past 200 years, as the duties of Parliament have multiplied, offices for civil servants and ministers have replaced the homes that once lined the roadway, so much so that Whitehall is now a synonym for government administration. WIGLEY, DAFYDD (1943– ). Wigley led Plaid Cymru (the Welsh nationalist party) from 1981 until 1984 and again from 1991 until 2000. He was born on 1 April 1943 in Caernarfon, where his father, Elfyn, was county treasurer, and educated at the local grammar school and at Rydal School in Colwyn Bay before going to Manchester University and graduating with a physics degree in 1964. Initially, he sought to establish a career in business but quickly turned to politics, unsuccessfully contesting Merioneth for the nationalists at the 1970 general election, then winning at Caernarfon in 1974. In the House of Commons, he took particular interest in matters relating to industry, employment, and minority groups, as well as in issues dealing specifically with Wales. Also, he had a particular concern for the mentally and physically handicapped, sponsoring the Disabled Persons Act in 1981. Wigley was elected president of Plaid Cymru in 1981 and held the post for three years, standing down because his twin sons were dying of a rare genetic disease. He returned to the post in 1991, earning respect for both his charismatic leadership and his moderate views, though in 1985 during a debate on embryo research, which he passionately supports, he had become so angry that he thumped the speaker’s chair and broke its arm.


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Largely through Wigley’s energy and commitment, Plaid Cymru became a significant political force in Wales during the 1990s, increasing its share of the popular vote from 9 percent to 30 percent and winning two of the five Welsh seats at the European Parliament. He also campaigned forcefully for the establishment of a National Assembly for Wales and won the Caernarfon seat when that body was created in 1999, leading the opposition to the Labour Party administration. However, he was weakened by heart problems, and after a bypass operation, announced his resignation from the party leadership in 2000 at a time when colleagues were rumored to be plotting his removal. An enormously popular figure in the principality, he was made pro-chancellor of the University of Wales in 2003, but Plaid Cymru undoubtedly suffered from his departure, experiencing serious internal schisms and electoral setbacks. Wigley attempted a political comeback in 2007 but failed to regain a seat in the National Assembly. WILLIAM, PRINCE (1982– ). Prince William is the elder son of Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales. He is second in line to the throne after his father. The prince was born at St. Mary’s Hospital, London, on 21 June 1982 and educated at Eton College. After leaving school, he spent a year in South America, spending part of the time on a training exercise with the British Army and the remainder with Raleigh International, a charity that involves young people from a wide range of social backgrounds in environmental and community projects around the world (the press made much of pictures of William cleaning restrooms in Chile). From there, he went to St. Andrews University, where he initially studied art history but found that his interests were changing and in 2005 graduated with a degree in geography. The prince is known to dislike many of the restraints on his behavior that stem from royal family protocol and tries to avoid the attentions of the media, but in July 2005, he performed his first official royal engagement, representing Queen Elizabeth II at events in New Zealand that marked the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. He has expressed an interest in pursuing a career in the armed forces—in 2006, he entered the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst for training as a British Army officer—but as heir to the throne, it is likely that his options in that profession would be severely limited.


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WILLIAMS, ROWAN DOUGLAS (1950– ). Rowan Williams succeeded George Carey as archbishop of Canterbury—and, therefore, as head of the Anglican communion worldwide—in 2002. The son of Aneurin and Nancy Williams, he was born in Ystradgynlais (south Wales) on 14 June 1950 and educated at Dynevor School (Swansea) before going to Cambridge University, where he graduated with a B.A. in 1971 and an M.A. in 1975. From there, he went to Oxford University, earning his doctorate with a thesis on Christianity in Russia. Williams entered the priesthood in 1978 but, while he was in his 20s and 30s, earned the bulk of his living from teaching, initially at the College of the Resurrection at Mirfield near Huddersfield from 1975–77 and then at Westcott House (a theological college) in Cambridge from 1977–80 and at the University of Cambridge from 1980–86. He returned to Oxford as the Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity and the youngest full professor in the university in 1986 but left academic life five years later, when he was made bishop of Monmouth in the Church of Wales. He became archbishop of Wales in 1999. Williams’ appointment as archbishop of Canterbury raised eyebrows in some quarters of the Church of England, particularly among reactionary Anglicans who were unhappy both about his liberal views, particularly on homosexuality and the ordination of women, and about aspects of his theology, including his claim that non-Christians can achieve salvation. Controversy has continued to dog him during his time in the post. In the early spring of 2004, for instance, he criticized the popular television drama Footballers’ Wives because it represented a “world in which charity and fairness, generosity [and] a sense of perspective about yourself are all set aside,” and later the same year, along with the archbishop of York, he wrote to Prime Minister Tony Blair, complaining about the abuse of detainees in Iraq and arguing that the Labour Party administration’s double standards did much to “diminish the credibility of western governments.” The archbishop’s supporters point out that Williams is one of the church’s leading intellectuals, using erudite language to make important contributions to theological debate through a long string of publications, and is a warm, self-effacing man who communicates easily


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with laypeople. They also write approvingly of his eloquence, his concern about the decline of the church’s influence in England, and his willingness to listen to rather than simply condemn views with which he disagrees. More dispassionate commentators suggest that the success of his term in office will depend on his ability to hold the Church of England together at a time when it is deeply divided over doctrinal and moral issues. WILLIAMS, SHIRLEY VIVIEN TERESA BRITTAIN (1930– ). Shirley Williams was one of the “gang of four” Labour Party rebels who formed the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1981 and changed the landscape of British politics. The daughter of political scientist George Caitlin (who later became professor of politics at Cornell University and was knighted in 1970) and his wife, the feminist and pacifist novelist Vera Brittain, she was born on 27 July 1930 and educated in Britain and the United States, ultimately graduating from Oxford University, where she read philosophy, politics, and economics. She contested the Harwich parliamentary constituency unsuccessfully in 1954 and 1955 and Southampton Test, again unsuccessfully, in 1959 before topping the poll at Hitchin in 1964, but once in the House of Commons, she rose fairly rapidly through the ranks, ultimately serving as secretary of state for prices and consumer protection under Prime Minister Harold Wilson (1974–76) and jointly as paymaster general and secretary of state for education under Prime Minister James Callaghan (1976–79). Always a political moderate and an advocate of close ties with countries on the European mainland, Mrs. Williams found her views increasingly at odds with party policies after Michael Foot assumed the leadership in 1980 and took a distinctly left-wing stance, calling for unilateral nuclear disarmament, increased state control of industry, and Britain’s withdrawal from the European Economic Community. With Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative Party government emphasizing monetarist policies and the privatization of state-owned businesses, United Kingdom voters found themselves with a choice between two diametrically opposed views of the way the country should be run. As her disaffection with both strategies grew, Shirley Williams found allies in Roy Jenkins, David Owen, and Bill Rodgers and


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with them broke from the Labour Party in 1981 to form the SDP in an effort to command the middle ground. She had lost her seat at the 1979 general election but was elected president of the new organization and won a by-election at Crosby in 1981, becoming the SDP’s first member of Parliament. In 1988, she supported the SDP’s merger with the Liberal Party to form the Liberal Democrats, and in 1993 she was raised to the peerage as Baroness Williams of Crosby. From 2001–4, she was the leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords. WIMBLEDON. The tennis competition held by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club at its courts in the Wimbledon suburb of south London is often regarded as the major event in the sport’s annual calendar. British entrants have been conspicuously unsuccessful in recent years (the last female winner of the singles championship was Virginia Wade in 1977 and the last male champion was Fred Perry in 1936), but that has not dampened the enthusiasm of spectators, for whom the two-week extravaganza is as much a social event as a sporting one. Competitors must wear clothing that is almost completely white (no other “grand slam” event has such a strict dress code), and until recently, ladies were conventionally referred to as Miss or Mrs., with married ladies taking their husband’s name, so for example, Chris Evert of the United States was known as Mrs. J. M. Lloyd during her marriage to Britain’s John Lloyd. Members of the royal family attend many of the center-court matches, gentlemen of all nations bow to Queen Elizabeth II or Prince Charles at the end of a contest, ladies curtsey, and the crowd washes down over 62,000 lbs. of strawberries with 1,500 gallons of cream. In 2007, for the first time, women competitors were paid the same as men. WINDSOR CASTLE FIRE. The world’s largest inhabited castle, Windsor lies some 25 miles west of London and was built, from the 11th century, as both a royal residence and a barracks for troops who could defend the city. On 20 November 1992, while Prince Andrew was in residence, fire broke out, affecting more than 100 rooms and causing damage originally estimated at more than £60 million. The incident occurred at a time when the cost of maintaining the monarchy


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was the subject of much debate in Britain, so many people expressed concern that public funds would be used to pay for the repairs. Ultimately, Queen Elizabeth II agreed to pay 70 percent of the cost, which amounted to £40 million, and, in order to recoup some of the expenditure, opened Buckingham Palace, her London home, to visitors for the first time. Only a few days later, she announced that she would also pay taxes on her income, becoming the first sovereign to do so since the 1930s. See also ANNUS HORRIBILIS. WOMEN. In the United Kingdom, most forms of sexual discrimination in terms of pay, conditions of employment, and other social and economic criteria are outlawed by such legislation as the Equal Pay Act (1970) and the Sex Discrimination Act (1975). Efforts to promote gender equality have been coordinated in England, Scotland, and Wales by the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC), which was merged in 2007 with bodies that deal with other forms of discrimination to form a Commission for Equality and Human Rights. In Ulster, the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland exercises similar responsibilities. However, despite the legal steps taken to promote equality between the sexes, men still dominate the higher levels of management in commerce, industry, and the professions, with some studies suggesting that women are paid about 20 percent less than men who are doing equivalent work and the EOC reporting that in 2005 females occupied only 9 percent of senior judicial posts, 10 percent of senior police posts, and 17 percent of top media jobs. Also, recruitment agencies claim that as many as three of every four businesses refuse to employ women in their 20s and 30s because legislation regarding maternity leave is perceived as a burden. Nevertheless, other observers stress that discrimination is far less serious that it was in the 1970s and that many women have been successful in business and politics. Anita Roddick, founder of Body Shop, is a frequently quoted example, as are former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Clare Furse, who became the first female chief executive of the London Stock Exchange in 2001. Also, there were six male undergraduates for every four females in Britain’s universities during the 1980s, but by 2007, the ratio was the other way round, with mathematics and engineering courses, as well as law and


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medical schools, dominated by women. As a result, some forecasters suggest that in 30 years’ time—when current university students reach the peak of their careers—management structures will be much more feminized. See also ABORTION; NORTHERN IRELAND WOMEN’S COALITION; ORDINATION OF WOMEN; PAGE-3 GIRLS. WORLD HERITAGE SITES. World Heritage Sites are areas designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on the basis of their cultural or natural importance. In 2007, there were 24 sites in the United Kingdom. Two—the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland and the Dorset and east Devon coast in England—were natural. Twenty-one (including the cathedrals of Canterbury and Durham, the city of Bath, the industrial landscapes of Blaenavon and Ironbridge, and the old and new towns of Edinburgh) were cultural. St. Kilda—a remote archipelago lying 40 miles west of the Outer Hebrides—was one of only 24 sites around the world to be awarded designation in both categories. See also ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION. WYN JONES, IEUAN (1949– ). Ieuan Wyn Jones led Plaid Cymru, the Welsh nationalist party, from 2000 until 2003 and again from 2006. The son of John and Mair Jones, he was born in Denbigh on 22 May 1949 and educated at Ponterdawe Grammar School, Ysgol-yBerwyn (Bala), and Liverpool Polytechnic, where he studied law, qualifying as a solicitor in 1973. He won the Ynys Môn parliamentary seat for the nationalists in 1987 and held it until 2001, when he retired from the House of Commons in order to devote more time to the National Assembly for Wales. Wyn Jones served as party chairman from 1980–82 and again from 1990–92 but lived his political life in the shadow of the more charismatic Plaid Cymru president, Dafydd Wigley, until Wigley resigned for health reasons in 2000. With a reputation as a pragmatist, he won the ensuing leadership election easily, garnering nearly 80 percent of the votes cast in a ballot of party members, but he had difficulty holding the separate factions of a deeply divided organization together. In particular, his consistent references to “full national status” rather than to “independence” annoyed hard-liners who wanted a complete


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break from the United Kingdom, and his unwillingness to form a coalition with Conservative Party representatives in the National Assembly was criticized by Plaid Cymru supporters who wanted to oust the Labour Party administration and gain power. The party’s poor performance at the 2003 Assembly elections, when it lost 5 of its 17 seats, brought matters to a head. Wyn Jones was forced to resign both the presidency and the nationalist leadership in the assembly. The first post passed to Dafydd Iwan, who favored independence as soon as possible, but Wyn Jones declared himself a candidate for the assembly leadership and regained the position. Amid constitutional changes to the organization, he won back the party leadership in 2006, though Iwan retained the title of president.

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Appendix: Members of the Cabinet, 1979–2007

PRIME MINISTER MARGARET THATCHER’S CABINETS: 1979–1990 Some ministers appointed by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher continued to serve in the same post under her successor, Prime Minister John Major. In those cases, the last date shown is the date on which the incumbent left office. Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Norman St. John-Stevas (1979–81); Francis Pym (January–September 1981); Lady Young (1981–82); Cecil Parkinson (1982–83); Lord Cockfield (1983–84); Earl of Gowrie (1984-85); Norman Tebbit (1985–87); Kenneth Clarke (1987–88); Anthony Newton (1988–89); Kenneth Baker (1989–90) Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir Geoffrey Howe (1979–83); Nigel Lawson (1983–89); John Major (1989–90) Chief Secretary to the Treasury John Biffen (1979–81); Leon Brittan (1981-83); Peter Rees (1983–85); John MacGregor (1985–87); John Major (1987–89); Norman Lamont (1989–90)

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Deputy Prime Minister William Whitelaw (1979–88); Geoffrey Howe (1989–90) Lord Chancellor Lord Hailsham (1979–87); Lord Havers (June–October 1987); Lord Mackay of Clashfern (1987–97) Lord President of the Council Lord Soames (1979–81); Francis Pym (1981–82); John Biffen (1982–83); William Whitelaw (1983–88); John Wakeham (1988–89); Geoffrey Howe (1989–90); John MacGregor (1990–92) Lord Privy Seal Sir Ian Gilmour (1979–81); Humphrey Atkins (1981–82); Baroness Young (1982–83); John Biffen (1983–87); John Wakeham (1987–88); Lord Belstead (1988–90) Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Peter Walker (1979–83); Michael Jopling (1983–87); John MacGregor (1987–89); John Gummer (1989–93) Minister without Portfolio Lord Young of Graffham (1984–85) Paymaster General Angus Maude (1979–81); Francis Pym (January–September 1981); Cecil Parkinson (1981–83); Kenneth Clarke (1985–87) Secretary of State for Defence Francis Pym (1979–81); John Nott (1981–83); Michael Heseltine (1983–86); George Younger (1986–89); Thomas King (1989–92)


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Secretary of State for Education and Science Mark Carlisle (1979–81); Sir Keith Joseph (1981–86); Kenneth Baker (1986–89); John MacGregor (1989–90); Kenneth Clarke (1990–92) Secretary of State for Employment James Prior (1979–81); Norman Tebbit (1981–83); Thomas King (1983–85); Lord Young of Graffham (1985–87); Norman Fowler (1987–90); Michael Howard (1990–92) Secretary of State for Energy David Howell (1979–81); Nigel Lawson (1981–83); Peter Walker (1983–87); Cecil Parkinson (1987–89); John Wakeham (1989–92) Secretary of State for the Environment Michael Heseltine (1979–83); Thomas King (June–October 1983); Patrick Jenkin (1983–85); Kenneth Baker (1985–86); Nicholas Ridley (1986–89); Christopher Patten (1989–90) Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Lord Carrington (1979–82); Francis Pym (1982–83); Geoffrey Howe (1983–89); John Major (July–October 1989); Douglas Hurd (1989–95) Secretary of State for Health Kenneth Clarke (1988–90); William Waldegrave (1990–92) Secretary of State for the Home Department William Whitelaw (1979–83); Leon Brittan (1983–85); Douglas Hurd (1985–89); David Waddington (1989–90) Secretary of State for Industry Keith Joseph (1979–81); Patrick Jenkin (1981–83)


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Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Humphrey Atkins (1979–81); James Prior (1981–84); Douglas Hurd (1984–85); Thomas King (1985–89); Peter Brooke (1989–92) Secretary of State for Scotland George Younger (1979–86); Malcolm Rifkind (1986–90) Secretary of State for Social Security John Moore (1988–89); Anthony Newton (1989–92) Secretary of State for Social Services Patrick Jenkin (1979–81); Norman Fowler (1981–87); John Moore (1987–88) Secretary of State for Trade John Nott (1979–81); John Biffen (1981–82); Lord Cockfield (1982–83) Secretary of State for Trade and Industry Cecil Parkinson (June–October 1983); Norman Tebbit (1983–85); Leon Brittan (1985–86); Paul Channon (1986–87); Lord Young of Graffham (1987–89); Nicholas Ridley (1989–90); Peter Lilley (1990–92) Secretary of State for Transport Norman Fowler (January–September 1981); David Howell (1981–83); Thomas King (June–October 1983); Nicholas Ridley (1983–86); John Moore (1986–87); Paul Channon (1987–89); Cecil Parkinson (1989–90)


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Secretary of State for Wales Nicholas Edwards (1979–87); Peter Walker (1987–90); David Hunt (1990–93)

PRIME MINISTER JOHN MAJOR’S CABINETS: 1990–1997 Some ministers appointed by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher between 1979 and 1990 continued to serve in the same post under her successor, Prime Minister John Major. In all cases, the first date shown below is the date on which the incumbent assumed office. Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Christopher Patten (1990–92); William Waldegrave (1992–94); David Hunt (1994–95); Roger Freeman (1995–97) Chancellor of the Exchequer Norman Lamont (1990–93); Kenneth Clarke (1993–97) Chief Secretary to the Treasury David Mellor (1990–92); Michael Portillo (1992–94); Jonathan Aitken (1994–95); William Waldegrave (1995–97) Deputy Prime Minister Michael Heseltine (1995–97) Lord Chancellor Lord Mackay of Clashfern (1987–97) Lord President of the Council John MacGregor (1990–92); Anthony Newton (1992–97)


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Lord Privy Seal Lord Waddington (1990–92); Lord Wakeham (1992–94); Viscount Cranbourne (1994–97) Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food John Gummer (1989–93); Gillian Shepherd (1993–94); William Waldegrave (1994–95); Douglas Hogg (1995–97) Minister without Portfolio Jeremy Hanley (1994–95); Brian Mawhinney (1995–97) Secretary of State for Defence Thomas King (1989–92); Malcolm Rifkind (1992–95); Michael Portillo (1995–97) Secretary of State for Education John Patten (1992–94); Gillian Shepherd (1994–95) Secretary of State for Education and Employment Gillian Shepherd (1995–97) Secretary of State for Education and Science Kenneth Clarke (1990–92) Secretary of State for Employment Michael Howard (1990–92); Gillian Shepherd (1992–93); David Hunt (1993–94); Michael Portillo (1994–95) Secretary of State for Energy John Wakeham (1989–92)


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Secretary of State for the Environment Michael Heseltine (1990–92); Michael Howard (1992–93); John Gummer (1993–97) Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Douglas Hurd (1989–95); Malcolm Rifkind (1995–97) Secretary of State for Health William Waldegrave (1990–92); Virginia Bottomley (1992–95); Stephen Dorrell (1995–97) Secretary of State for the Home Department Kenneth Baker (1990–92); Kenneth Clarke (1992–93); Michael Howard (1993–97) Secretary of State for National Heritage David Mellor (April–September 1992); Peter Brooke (1992–94); Stephen Dorrell (1994–95); Virginia Bottomley (1995–97) Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Peter Brooke (1989–92); Sir Patrick Mayhew (1992–97) Secretary of State for Scotland Ian Lang (1990–95); Michael Forsyth (1995–97) Secretary of State for Social Security Anthony Newton (1989–92); Peter Lilley (1992–97) Secretary of State for Trade and Industry Peter Lilley (1990–92); Michael Heseltine (1992–95); Ian Lang (1995–97)


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Secretary of State for Transport Malcolm Rifkind (1990–92); John MacGregor (1992–94); Brian Mawhinney (1994–95); Sir George Young (1995–97) Secretary of State for Wales David Hunt (1990–93); John Redwood (1993–95); David Hunt (June–July 1995); William Hague (1995–97)

PRIME MINISTER TONY BLAIR’S CABINETS: 1997–2007 Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster David Clark (1997–98); Jack Cunningham (1998–99); Marjorie “Mo” Mowlam (1999–2001); Lord Macdonald of Tradeston (2001–3); Douglas Alexander (2003–4); Alan Milburn (2004–5); John Hutton (May–November 2005); Hilary Armstrong (2006–7) Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown (1997–2007) Chief Secretary to the Treasury Alistair Darling (1997–98); Stephen Byers (July–December 1998); Alan Milburn (1998–99); Andrew Smith (1999–2002); Paul Boateng (2002–5); Desmond Browne (2005–6); Stephen Timms (2006–7) Chief Whip Ann Taylor (1998–2001) Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott (1997–2007)


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Leader of the House of Commons Ann Taylor (1997–98); Margaret Beckett (1998–2001); Robin Cook (2001–3); John Reid (April–June 2003); Peter Hain (2003–5); Geoffrey Hoon (2005–6); Jack Straw (2006–7) Leader of the House of Lords Lord Richard of Ammanford (1997–98); Lady Jay of Paddington (1998–2001); Lord Williams of Mostyn (2001–3); Lady Amos (2003–7) Lord Chancellor Lord Irvine of Lairg (1997–2003); Lord Falconer of Thoroton (2003–7) Lord President of the Council Ann Taylor (1997–98); Margaret Beckett (1998–2001); Robin Cook (2001–3); John Reid (April–June 2003); Lord Williams of Mostyn (June–September 2003); Lady Amos (2003–7) Lord Privy Seal Lord Richard of Ammanford (1997–98); Lady Jay of Paddington (1998–2001); Lord Williams of Mostyn (2001–3); Peter Hain (2003–5); Geoffrey Hoon (2005–6); Jack Straw (2006–7) Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Jack Cunningham (1997–98); Nicholas Brown (1998–2001) Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Ruth Kelly (2006–7)


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Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Christopher Smith (1997–2001); Tessa Jowell (2001–7) Secretary of State for Defence George Robertson (1997–99); Geoffrey Hoon (1999–2005); John Reid (2005–6); Desmond Browne (2006– ) Secretary of State for Education and Employment David Blunkett (1997–2001) Secretary of State for Education and Skills Estelle Morris (2001–2); Charles Clarke (2002–4); Ruth Kelly (2004–6); Alan Johnson (2006–7) Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Margaret Beckett (2001–6); David Miliband (2006–7) Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions Gavin Strang (1997–98) Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Robin Cook (1997–2001); Jack Straw (2001–6); Margaret Beckett (2006–7) Secretary of State for Health Frank Dobson (1997–99); Alan Milburn (1999–2003); John Reid (2003–5); Patricia Hewitt (2005–7)


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Secretary of State for the Home Department Jack Straw (1997–2001); David Blunkett (2001–4); Charles Clarke (2004–6); John Reid (2006–7) Secretary of State for International Development Clare Short (1997–2003); Lady Amos (May–October 2003); Hilary Benn (2003–7) Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Marjorie “Mo” Mowlam (1997–99); Peter Mandelson (1999–2001); John Reid (2001–2); Paul Murphy (2002–5); Peter Hain (2005–7) Secretary of State for Scotland Donald Dewar (1997–99); John Reid (1999–2001); Helen Liddell (2001–3); Alistair Darling (2003–6): Douglas Alexander (2006–7) Secretary of State for Social Security Harriet Harman (1997–98); Alistair Darling (1998–2001) Secretary of State for Trade and Industry Margaret Beckett (1997–98); Peter Mandelson (July–December 1998); Stephen Byers (1998–2001); Patricia Hewitt (2001–5); Alan Johnson (2005–6); Alistair Darling (2006–7) Secretary of State for Transport Alistair Darling (2002–6); Douglas Alexander (2006–7) Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions Stephen Byers (2001–2)


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Secretary of State for Wales Ronald Davies (1997–98); Alun Michael (1998–99); Paul Murphy (1999–2002); Peter Hain (2002– ) Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Alistair Darling (2001–2); Andrew Smith (2002–4); Alan Johnson (2004–5); David Blunkett (May–November 2005); John Hutton (2005–7)

PRIME MINISTER GORDON BROWN’S CABINETS: 2007– Desmond Browne (secretary of state for defence) and Peter Hain (secretary of state for Wales) were appointed by Prime Minister Tony Blair and continued to serve under Prime Minister Gordon Brown. In all cases, the first date shown below is the date on which the incumbent assumed office. Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Edward Miliband (2007– ) Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling (2007– ) Chief Secretary to the Treasury Andrew Burnham (2007– ) Leader of the House of Commons Harriet Harman (2007– ) Leader of the House of Lords Lady Ashton of Upholland (2007– )


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Lord Chancellor Jack Straw (2007– ) Lord President of the Council Lady Ashton of Upholland (2007– ) Lord Privy Seal Harriet Harman (2007– ) Secretary of State for Children, Schools, and Families Edward Balls (2007– ) Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Hazel Blears (2007– ) Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport James Purnell (2007– ) Secretary of State for Defence Desmond Browne (2006– ) Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Hilary Benn (2007– ) Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs David Miliband (2007– ) Secretary of State for Health Alan Johnson (2007– )


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Secretary of State for the Home Department Jacqueline Smith (2007– ) Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills John Denham Secretary of State for International Development Douglas Alexander Secretary of State for Justice Jack Straw (2007– ) Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Shaun Woodward (2007– ) Secretary of State for Scotland Desmond Browne (2007– ) Secretary of State for Trade and Industry John Hutton (2007– ) Secretary of State for Transport Ruth Kelly (2007– ) Secretary of State for Wales Peter Hain (2002– ) Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Peter Hain (2007– )

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CONTENTS Introduction Biography and Autobiography Commerce and Industry Culture and Society Defense, Terrorism, and the Armed Forces Government and Politics Northern Ireland Scotland Wales Reference and General Works

515 518 526 532 541 546 567 572 578 581

INTRODUCTION The major problem facing scholars who attempt to compile bibliographies dealing with the contemporary United Kingdom is that of selecting citations from the vast range of publications made available each year. In order to keep this historical dictionary within manageable limits, the works listed (apart from those in the “Reference and General Works” section) are books printed since 1985, with the majority appearing from 1995 onward. All are noted on the British Library website (www.bl.uk), where fuller details (including ISBN numbers) are available, and many contain extensive bibliographies that researchers can utilize for additional material. Readers seeking a basic understanding of Britain’s transformation from a manufacturing economy to a service economy and the social implications of the economic realignment may find Vince Gardiner and Hugh Matthews’s The Changing Geography of the United Kingdom (2000) helpful, particularly if used with John Mohan’s A United Kingdom? Economic, Social and Political Geographies (1999). Both books are written primarily for undergraduates and provide commentary as well as factual information; both, too, have bibliographies and maps that will help

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scholars unfamiliar with locations in Britain. For a less dispassionate, more conservative assessment of moral, political, and social change, Peter Hitchens’s The Abolition of Britain: The British Cultural Revolution from Lady Chatterley to Tony Blair (2000) is worth considering. Structural Change and Growth: 1939–2000 (the third volume in the Cambridge Economic History of Modern Britain, edited by Roderick Floud and Paul Johnson and published by Cambridge University Press in 2003–4) provides a more detailed coverage of changing patterns of production and trade during the late 20th century, with a consideration of the impact of growing commercial links between the United Kingdom and the European mainland. David Brighouse and Janet Hontoir provide an overview of the UK’s principal financial markets and institutions as well as details of regulatory change in The Financial Services Environment (2002). There are also several worthwhile surveys of British political systems. In Politics UK (2006), Bill Jones and colleagues adopt a traditional approach, covering such topics as elections, institutions, the judiciary, political parties, and pressure groups. On the other hand, Richard Heffernan and Grahame Thompson, academics with the Open University, tread a more analytical path in their edited volume on Politics and Power in the UK (2005) as they identify changing patterns of political participation and examine the constitutional implications of the devolution of power over domestic affairs to assemblies in Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. In British Politics (2006), Dennis Kavanagh and his colleagues look at the country from yet another angle, emphasizing the international context and dealing with immigration, terrorism, and similar contemporary issues, and in A History of Modern Britain (2007), Andrew Marr (formerly editor of The Independent newspaper and political editor with the British Broadcasting Corporation) details the relationship between political, cultural, and social change. Political autobiographies tend to be self-serving but even so often provide flashes of insight into the workings of government. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s account of the The Downing Street Years (1993) was warmly received by her supporters and equally strongly condemned by her critics but according to some reviewers is useful because it sheds light on decision-making processes, even though it is short on self-criticism. John Major, Mrs. Thatcher’s successor at 10 Downing Street, was more defensive in John Major: The Autobiography (2000) and demonstrated a different approach to leadership. Biographies, too, often display biases, though Anthony Seldon’s Blair (2005) was highly praised as “well-informed” and “exhaustively researched.” In Ulster, concerns in recent decades have focused largely on sectarian strife. Journalist David McKittrick and historian David McVea provide a useful guide for readers who know little about the roots of the conflict in Making Sense of the Troubles: The Story of the Conflict in Northern Ireland (2001), and Michael Cox, Adrian Guelke, and Fiona Stephen assess the difficulties of implementing a permanent peace in A Farewell to Arms? Beyond the Good Friday Agreeement (2006).


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In Scotland and Wales, political antennae have focused strongly on the devolution of powers over domestic affairs from the British Parliament in London to national assemblies in Edinburgh and Cardiff. Brian Taylor outlines the background to the Scottish situation in The Road to the Scottish Parliament (2002), and Denis Balsom and J. Barry Jones deal with the Welsh context in Road to the National Assembly for Wales (2000). There are also many encyclopedias and other reference works related to Britain that can round out the information provided in this book, including several companion volumes in the series of historical dictionaries published by Scarecrow Press. Of particular interest is the two-volume Historical Dictionary of the United Kingdom, with volume 1 (1997) covering England and the United Kingdom and volume 2 (1998) covering Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Written by the same authors as the Historical Dictionary of the Contemporary United Kingdom, they cover earlier periods and so provide a suitable context in which to study recent events. Narrower but still important given the capital’s role is Kenneth J. Panton’s Historical Dictionary of London (2001). For many scholars, Colin Buchanan’s Historical Dictionary of Anglicanism (2006), Nigel West’s Historical Dictionary of British Intelligence (2005), and Gordon Gillespie’s Historical Dictionary of the Northern Ireland Conflict (2008) will also contain much of relevance. In addition to its book market, the UK has a healthy press that provides coverage of economic and social issues from a range of political viewpoints. London-based newspapers—Daily Telegraph, The Daily Financial Times, The Guardian, The Independent, and The Times, in particular—provide news, supported by commentary, for the whole country. The regional press (such as The Belfast Telegraph in Northern Ireland, The Herald and The Scotsman in Scotland, and The Western Mail in Wales) add detail to matters affecting their circulation areas. Weekly magazines (The Economist, for example) and scholarly journals complement that material. Many government publications are now available only on the Internet, although the Office of Public Sector Information (formerly Her Majesty’s Stationery Office and with a website at www.opsi.gov.uk) still provides some official documents (such as acts of Parliament) and some information sources (such as guidebooks) in more traditional formats. Information relating to public service provision is available at www.direct.gov.uk, and economic and social data compiled by the Office of National Statistics can be found at www.statistics.gov.uk. In addition, the devolved Parliament in Scotland (www.scottish.parliament.uk/home.htm), the National Assembly for Wales (www.wales.gov.uk/index.htm), and the Northern Ireland Assembly (www.niassembly.gov.uk) regularly update their websites, and the General Register Office supplements the Scotland information with census and other data. The United Kingdom Official Publications Database (UKOP)—a complete catalogue of all publications issued by government agencies—is maintained at www.ukop.co.uk. American readers can gain access to all of the texts through interlibrary loan services but should also note that many U.S. universities have strong collections of


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British material. Current publications can often be purchased through local booksellers or by way of the Internet from Amazon (www.amazon.com). Aso, Abebooks (www.abebooks.com) carries a vast selection of used and out-of-print books, many of which can be purchased very cheaply. Researchers in the United Kingdom clearly have a greater range of sources at their disposal. The British Library in London is a legal deposit library, receiving copies of all books and journals published in the United Kingdom, and is open to everyone but is best suited perhaps to scholars seeking specialized material not available elsewhere. University collections are particularly strong; the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford (www.bodley.ox.ac.uk) and the Cambridge University Library (www.lib.cam.ac.uk) are entitled to request free copies of all books published in Britain within a year of their appearance, and the British Library of Political and Economic Science at the London School of Economics (www.lse.ac.uk/library) has the world’s largest collection of social science literature. Most institutions will make their library resources available to serious scholars, but lending and other privileges may be restricted. However, the Mitchell Library in Glasgow (www.mitchelllibrary.org) houses Europe’s most extensive public reference library, and in other cities, branches of the public library system concentrate on specific themes, allowing them to build up strength in depth. The National Library of Scotland based in Edinburgh (www.nls.uk) should be an important point of call for serious students in Scotland, and the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth (www.llgc.org.uk) provides similar facilities for those researching topics in Wales. Northern Ireland does not have a national library, but all of the province’s public libraries are linked electronically, so researchers in one location can easily determine the availability of books at other sites (www.ni-libraries.net).

BIOGRAPHY AND AUTOBIOGRAPHY Abse, Leo. Margaret, Daughter of Beatrice: A Politician’s Psychobiography of Margaret Thatcher. London: Cape, 1989. ———. Tony Blair: The Man behind the Smile. London: Robson, 2001. Adams, Gerry. Before the Dawn: An Autobiography. London: Heinemann, 1996. Aitken, Jonathan. Pride and Perjury. London: Continuum, 2003. Alcraft, Rob. Richard Branson. Oxford: Heinemann Library, 1998. Anderson, Bruce. John Major. London: Headline, 1992. Archer, Jeffrey. A Prison Diary. London: Macmillan, 2003. Aronson, Theo. Princess Margaret: A Biography. London: Michael O’Mara, 2001. Arthur, Jane. The Princes and the Duchess. London: Hale, 1990. Ashdown, Paddy. The Ashdown Diaries. 2 vols. London: Allen Lane, 2000 (vol. 1); 2001 (vol. 2). Baker, Kenneth. The Turbulent Years: My Life in Politics. London: Faber and Faber, 1993.


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Balen, Malcolm. Kenneth Clarke. London: Fourth Estate, 1994. Beckett, Francis, and David Hencke. The Blairs and Their Court. London: Aurum, 2004. Bell, Martin. An Accidental MP. London: Penguin, 2001. Benson, Ross. Charles: The Man, the Myths, the Marriage. London: Gollancz, 1995. Blundell, Nigel. The Boy Who Would Be King. London: Parkgate, 1999. ———. Windsor v. Windsor. London: Blake, 1995. Blunkett, David. On a Clear Day. London: Michael O’Mara, 2002. Bond, Jenny. Elizabeth: Fifty Glorious Years. London: Carlton, 2003. Botham, Noel. Margaret: The Untold Story. London: Blake, 1994. Bousfield, Arthur, and Gary Toffoli. The Queen Mother and Her Century: An Illustrated Biography of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, on Her 100th Birthday. Toronto: Dundurn, 2000. Bower, Tom. Branson. London: Fourth Estate, 2000. ———. Gordon Brown. London: HarperCollins, 2004. ———. The Paymaster: Geoffrey Robinson, Maxwell and New Labour. London: Simon and Schuster, 2001. Bradford, Sarah. Elizabeth: A Biography of Her Majesty the Queen. London: Penguin, 2002. Brandreth, Gyles. Philip and Elizabeth: Portrait of a Marriage. London: Arrow, 2004. Branson, Richard. Losing My Virginity. London: Virgin, 1998. Brody, Wendy. Prince Harry. New York: Pinnacle, 2000. Brown, Colin. Fighting Talk: The Biography of John Prescott. London: Simon and Schuster, 1997. Brown, Gordon, and James Naughtie. John Smith: Life and Soul of the Party. Edinburgh: Mainstream, 1994. Brown, Tina. The Diana Chronicles. New York: Doubleday, 2007. Bruce, Steve. God Save Ulster: The Religion and Politics of Paisleyism. Oxford: Clarendon, 1986. Burchill, Julie. Diana. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1998. Campbell, John. Margaret Thatcher. 2 vols. London: Pimlico, 2004. Carter, Miranda. Anthony Blunt: His Lives. London: Macmillan, 2001. Church, Charlotte. Voice of an Angel: My Life (So Far). London: Little, Brown, 2001. Clark, Alan. The Alan Clark Diaries: Thatcher’s Fall. London: Phoenix, 1996. ———. Diaries: Into Politics, 1972–1982. London: Phoenix, 2001. ———. The Last Diaries: In and Out of the Wilderness. London: Phoenix, 2003. Clay, Catrine. Princess to Queen. London: British Broadcasting Corporation, 1996. Clayton, Tim, and Phil Craig. Diana: Story of a Princess. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 2001. Cooke, Dennis. Persecuting Zeal: A Portrait of Ian Paisley. Dingle, Republic of Ireland: Brandon, 1996.


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Courtney, Nicholas. Sisters-in-Law: A Palace Revolution. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1988. Crawford, Marion. The Little Princesses: The Story of the Queen’s Childhood by Her Governess. London: Orion, 2002. Crick, Michael. In Search of Michael Howard. London: Simon and Schuster, 2005. ———. Jeffrey Archer: Stranger than Fiction. London: Fourth Estate, 2000. Critchley, Julian. A Bag of Boiled Sweets: An Autobiography. London: Faber, 1994 ———. Heseltine. London: Andre Deutsch, 1994. ———. Some of Us: People Who Did Well under Thatcher. London: John Murray, 1992. Currie, Edwina. Diaries, 1987–1992. London: Time Warner, 2003. Curtis, Nicky. Faith and Duty. London: Andre Deutsch, 1998. Dale, Iain, ed. Memories of Maggie: A Portrait of Margaret Thatcher. London: Politico’s, 2000. Davies, Jude. Diana: A Cultural History—Gender, Race, Nation and the People’s Princess. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave, 2001. Davies, Nicholas. Elizabeth: Behind Palace Doors. Edinburgh: Mainstream, 2000. ———. William: The Rebel Prince. London: Blake, 2001. Davies, Russell. Foreign Body: The Secret Life of Robert Maxwell. London: Bloomsbury, 1995. De-La-Noy, Michael. The Queen behind the Throne. London: Arrow, 1995. Denham, Andrew, and Mark Garnett. Keith Joseph. Teddington, UK: Acumen, 2001. Denniston, Robin. Trevor Huddlestone: A Life. London: Macmillan, 1999 Dimbleby, Jonathan. The Last Governor: Chris Patten and the Handover of Hong Kong. London: Little, Brown, 1997. ———. The Prince of Wales: A Biography. London: Warner, 1995. Draper, Derek. Blair’s Hundred Days. London: Faber and Faber, 1997. Drower, George. John Hume: A Man of Peace. London: Vista, 1996. ———. Kinnock. South Woodham Ferrers, UK: Publishing Corporation, 1994. Edwards, Anne. Diana and the Rise of the House of Spencer. London: Coronet, 1999. Edwards, Arthur, and Charles Rae. The Queen Mum: Her First 100 Years. London: HarperCollins, 2000. Egan, Dominic. Irvine: Politically Correct? Edinburgh: Mainstream, 1999. Elliott, Francis, and James Hanning. Cameron: The Rise of the New Conservative. London: HarperPress, 2007. Ellis, Nesta Wyn. John Major. London: Futura, 1991. Ferguson, Sarah. What I Know Now: Simple Lessons Learned the Hard Way. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2003. Foley, Michael. John Major, Tony Blair and the Conflict of Leadership: Collision Course. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2002. Forbes, Grania. Elizabeth, the Queen Mother: A Twentieth Century Life. London: Pavilion, 1999.


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Galbraith, Russell. Inside, Outside: The Biography of Tam Dalyell—The Man They Can’t Gag. Edinburgh: Mainstream, 2000. Gardiner, George. A Bastard’s Tale: The Political Memoirs of George Gardiner. London: Aurum, 1999. Garner, Valerie. Debrett’s Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. London: Headline, 2002. Garnett, Mark, and Ian Aitken. Splendid! Splendid!: The Authorized Biography of Willie Whitelaw. London: Jonathan Cape, 2002. Gibbs, Garth, and Sean Smith. Sophie’s Kiss: The True Love Story of Prince Edward and Sophie Rhys-Jones. London: Blake, 1999. Godson, Dean. Himself Alone: David Trimble and the Ordeal of Unionism. London: HarperCollins, 2004. Gorman, Teresa. No Prime Minister. London: Blake, 2001. Gould, Brian. Goodbye to All That. London: Macmillan, 1995. Gove, Michael. Michael Portillo: The Future of the Right. London: Fourth Estate, 1995. Graham, Caroline. Camilla: Her True Story. London: Blake, 2003. Graham, Tim, and Peter Archer. William: HRH Prince William of Wales. London: Simon and Schuster, 2003. Gregory, Martin. Diana: The Last Days. London: Virgin, 1999. Harding, Luke, David Leigh, and David Pallister. The Liar: The Fall of Jonathan Aitken. London: Penguin, 1997. Harris, Kenneth. The Queen. London: Orion, 1995. ———. Thatcher. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1988. Hattersley, Roy. Who Goes Home? Scenes from a Political Life. London: Abacus, 2003. ———. A Yorkshire Boyhood. London: Abacus, 2003. Healey, Denis. A Life in Our Times. London: Little, Brown, 2002. ———. The Time of My Life. London: Michael Joseph, 1989. Heseltine, Michael. Life in the Jungle: My Autobiography. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 2000. Hewitt, Gavin. Terry Waite: Why Was He Kidnapped? London: Bloomsbury, 1991. Hewitt, James. Love and War. London: Blake, 1999. Hoey, Brian. Anne: The Private Princess Revealed. London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1997. ———. Her Majesty: Fifty Royal Years. London: HarperCollins, 2001. ———. Prince William. Stroud, UK: Sutton, 2003. Hogg, James, and Michael Mortimer, eds. The Queen Mother Remembered: The Intimate Recollections of Her Friends, 1900–2002. London: British Broadcasting Corporation, 2002. Hogg, Sarah, and Jonathan Hill. Too Close to Call: Power and Politics—John Major in No 10. London: Warner, 1996. Holden, Anthony. Charles: A Biography. London: Corgi, 1999.


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Howe, Geoffrey. Conflict of Loyalty. London: Macmillan, 1994. Hurd, Douglas. Memoirs. London: Little, Brown, 2003. Hutchins, Chris, and Peter Thompson. Fergie Confidential: The Full Story. London: Pocket, 2003. James, Paul. Margaret: A Woman of Conflict. London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1990. Jay, Anthony. Elizabeth R: The Role of the Monarchy Today. London: British Broadcasting Corporation, 1992. Jeffreys, Kevin, ed. Leading Labour: From Keir Hardie to Tony Blair. London: I. B. Tauris, 1999. Jenkins, Roy. A Life at the Centre. London: Papermac, 1994. Jephson, P. D. Shadows of a Princess—Diana, Princess of Wales: 1987–1996—An Intimate Account by Her Private Secretary. London: HarperCollins, 2000. Jones, Mervyn. Michael Foot. London: Gollancz, 1994. Junor, Peggy. Charles: Victim or Villain. London: HarperCollins, 1998. ———. John Major: From Brixton to Downing Street. London: Penguin, 1996. Kampfner, John. Robin Cook. London: Phoenix, 1999. Keenan, Brian. An Evil Cradling. London: Hutchinson, 1992. Kets de Vries, Manfred F. R. The New Global Leaders: Richard Branson, Percy Barnevik, and David Simon. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1999. Kiggell, Marcus, and Denys Blakeway. The Queen’s Story. London: Headline, 2002. Knight, Jill. About the House: A Parliamentarian’s Commentary. London: Churchill, 1995. Kochan, Nicholas. Anne Widdecombe: Right from the Beginning. London: Politico’s, 2000. Kortesis, Vasso. The Duchess of York: Uncensored. London: Blake, 1996. Lacey, Robert. The Queen Mother’s Century. London: Little, Brown, 1999. ———. Royal: Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. London: Time Warner, 2002. Lally, Pat. Lazarus Only Done It Once: The Story of My Lives. London: HarperCollins, 2000. Lamont, Norman. In Office. London: Little, Brown, 1999. Lang, Ian. Blue Remembered Years: A Political Memoir. London: Politico’s, 2001. Langdon, Julia. Mo Mowlam: The Biography. London: Warner, 2000. Lawson, Nigel. The View from No. 11: Memoirs of a Tory Radical. London: Bantam, 1992. Leapman, Michael. Kinnock. London: Unwin Hyman, 1987. Leeson, Nick. Rogue Trader. London: Little, Brown, 1996. Lorimer, David. Radical Prince: The Radical Vision of Prince Charles. Edinburgh: Floris, 2003. MacIntyre, Donald. Mandelson and the Making of New Labour. London: HarperCollins, 1999. Maddox, Brenda. Maggie: The First Lady. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 2003. Maguire, Anne. For Brian’s Sake: The Story of the Keenan Sisters. Belfast: Blackstaff, 1991.


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Sunday Times. Sunday newspaper with a website at www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/ newspapers/sunday_times. The Times. Daily newspaper with a website at www.timesonline.co.uk. Thomas, Dennis, and Dot Jones. Welsh Economy and Society Post-1945: A Database of Statistical and Documentary Material. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1996. United Kingdom Health Statistics. Compiled by the Office for National Statistics and available online at www.statistics.gov.uk. Vacher’s Quarterly. London: Vacher Dod. Weller, Paul, ed. Religions in the UK: Directory, 2001–2003. Derby, UK: University of Derby, 2001. West, Nigel. Historical Dictionary of British Intelligence. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2005. Western Mail. Daily newspaper published in Wales with a website at www.icwales.co.uk. Whitaker’s Almanac. London: A. & C. Black. Whitehall Companion. London: Stationery Office. Who Was Who. London: A & C. Black. Who’s Who. London: A & C. Black. Who’s Who in Northern Ireland. Mauchline, UK: Inglewood, 2002. Young, Hugo. Political Lives. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.


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About the Authors

Keith A. Cowlard is head of educational partnerships at the University of Greenwich in London, where he manages six broad areas of the university’s internal, external, and international partnerships with colleges and universities across the globe. A native of Canterbury, where he was educated, he became a graduate of Leeds University, later earning his Ph.D. in the field of historical geography. He was formerly the head of the Department of Geography at London Guildhall University, where he and Ken Panton were colleagues for many years and where they both honed their expertise in the geography and history of the UK that resulted in their earlier two-volume Historical Dictionary of the United Kingdom (1997–98). His academic interests include urban geography, town planning, history, genealogy, and international education, and he has published in these areas and in the art and science of decision making, being awarded the Geographical Association’s commendation award for his Decision-Making in Geography: Handbook of Method and Practice (1998). He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. Kenneth J. Panton is a graduate of the University of Edinburgh and King’s College, University of London. He has taught at Kansas State University, London Guildhall University, and the Open University and has a particular research interest in spatial aspects of education, language, and religion, contributing to several academic fields through publications in such journals as First Language, Geography, and The Sociological Yearbook of Religion in Britain. He has previously written two books for Scarecrow—the two-volume Historical Dictionary of the United Kingdom (coauthored with Keith Cowlard; 1997–98) and the

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Historical Dictionary of London (2001)—and is now based at the University of Southern Mississippi, where he is professor of geography and dean of the Honors College. He also directs one of America’s largest study-abroad programs, taking over 200 undergraduates to classes in London each summer.

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