ON THIS DAY    Themes      Graphics version >>   BBC News >>
Search ON THIS DAY by date   
Front Page |  Years |  Themes |  Witness
Politicians

24 Feb
1950: Labour wins slim majority

31 Dec
1951: Churchill sets sail for talks with Truman

05 Apr
1955: Sir Winston Churchill resigns

17 May
1955: Eden takes to the airwaves

27 May
1955: Election victory for Tories under Eden

07 Dec
1955: Attlee steps down as Labour leader

14 Dec
1955: Gaitskell elected Labour leader

29 Feb
1956: Hopes for Mid East peace mission

09 Jan
1957: Sir Anthony Eden resigns

15 May
1957: Britain drops its first H-bomb

09 Oct
1959: 'Supermac' leads Tories to victory

31 Jul
1962: Violence flares at Mosley rally

18 Jan
1963: Labour leader Hugh Gaitskell dies

22 Mar
1963: Profumo denies affair with model

05 Jun
1963: Profumo resigns over sex scandal

24 Jan
1965: Winston Churchill dies

30 Jan
1965: Last farewell to Churchill

22 Jul
1965: Sir Alec steps down from top of Tory tree

12 Jan
1966: UK politicians assaulted in Rhodesia

11 Oct
1967: Harold Wilson wins Moving apology

20 Apr
1968: Powell slates immigration policy

19 Jun
1970: Shock election win for Heath

12 Jan
1971: British minister's home bombed

23 Jun
1972: Chancellor orders pound flotation

10 Jul
1972: Whitelaw's secret meeting with IRA

28 May
1974: Strikes topple NI power-sharing body

11 Oct
1974: Labour scrapes working majority

28 Oct
1974: Minister's wife survives bomb attack

22 Dec
1974: Heath's home is bombed

24 Dec
1974: 'Drowned' Stonehouse found alive

11 Feb
1975: Tories choose first woman leader

16 Mar
1976: Prime Minister Harold Wilson resigns

05 Apr
1976: Callaghan is new prime minister

07 Apr
1976: Government crisis as Stonehouse quits

09 Apr
1976: Young Liberal leader cleared of robbery

03 Jan
1977: Jenkins quits Commons for Brussels

27 Oct
1977: Liberal MP denies murder plot

07 Sep
1978: Callaghan accused of running scared

20 Nov
1978: Liberal MP accused of murder plot

14 Dec
1978: Labour faces vote of confidence

10 Jan
1979: 'No chaos here' declares Callaghan

30 Mar
1979: Car bomb kills Airey Neave

22 Mar
1979: British ambassador assassinated in Holland

28 Mar
1979: Early election as Callaghan defeated

04 May
1979: Election victory for Margaret Thatcher

14 Aug
1979: Disgraced ex-MP released from jail

07 Dec
1979: Lord Soames to govern Rhodesia

10 Oct
1980: Thatcher 'not for turning'

10 Nov
1980: Michael Foot is new Labour leader

05 May
1981: Bobby Sands dies in prison

21 Oct
1982: Sinn Fein triumph in elections

15 Jan
1982: Mark Thatcher found safe and well

09 Jun
1983: Thatcher wins landslide victory

02 Oct
1983: 'Dream ticket' wins Labour leadership

14 Oct
1983: Parkinson quits over lovechild scandal

15 Jan
1984: Benn back on road to Westminster

14 Mar
1984: Sinn Fein leader shot in street attack

12 Oct
1984: Tory Cabinet in Brighton bomb blast

29 Jan
1985: Thatcher snubbed by Oxford dons

27 Nov
1985: Kinnock moves against Militant

09 Jan
1986: Heseltine quits over Westland

24 Jan
1986: Leon Brittan quits over Westland

12 Jun
1986: Labour expels Militant Hatton

26 Oct
1986: Archer quits over prostitute allegations

29 Dec
1986: Harold Macmillan dies

06 Aug
1987: David Owen resigns as leader of SDP

16 Apr
1987: MP on gay sex charges

11 Jun
1987: Thatcher wins record third term

24 Jul
1987: Archer wins record damages

27 Aug
1987: Maclennan replaces Owen in SDP

28 Jul
1988: Ashdown to lead Britain's third party

03 Dec
1988: Egg industry fury over salmonella claim

05 Dec
1989: Thatcher beats off leadership rival

20 Jun
1990: Major proposes new Euro currency

08 Oct
1990: Britain's first full day in ERM

01 Nov
1990: Howe resigns over Europe policy

22 Nov
1990: Thatcher quits as prime minister

27 Nov
1990: Tories choose Major for Number 10

28 Nov
1990: Tearful farewell from Iron Lady

28 Jun
1991: Thatcher to retire from Commons

11 Jul
1991: Anti-poll tax MP jailed

22 Jul
1991: Citizen's charter promises better services

27 Apr
1992: Betty Boothroyd is new Speaker

30 Jun
1992: Thatcher takes her place in Lords

13 Apr
1992: Labour's Neil Kinnock resigns

24 Sep
1992: Mellor resigns over sex scandal

26 Apr
1993: Recession over - it's official

24 Jun
1993: Minister resigns over business links

08 Feb
1994: Police probe MP's suspicious death

12 May
1994: Labour leader John Smith dies at 55

21 Jul
1994: Labour chooses Blair

04 Jul
1995: Major wins Conservative leadership

12 Jun
1997: Straw to reconsider Bulger killers' fate

19 Jul
1997: IRA declares ceasefire

18 Dec
1997: Dawn of Scottish parliament

19 Dec
1997: Tory leader weds

24 Dec
1997: Minister's son arrested in drug probe

10 May
1998: Sinn Fein backs peace deal

08 Jun
1999: Liar Aitken jailed for 18 months

07 Jan
2000: Aitken freed from prison early

26 Apr
2000: Minister sees immigrants captured

04 May
2000: Ken Livingstone voted London mayor

20 May
2000: Blairs' delight at birth of fourth child

07 Jun
2000: Blair 'handbagged' by the WI

03 Jul
2000: Livingstone to take on government

24 Jan
2001: Mandelson resigns - again

16 May
2001: Prescott punches protester

13 Sep
2001: Duncan Smith is new Tory leader

29 Oct
2003: Tory Party leader resigns

18 Nov
2003: High security as Bush visits UK

15 Dec
2004: Blunkett resigns over visa accusations

Search ON THIS DAY by date   
Front Page |  Years |  Themes |  Witness
^^ Back to top | ©