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| Official name: The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland (UK) Head of State: Queen Elizabeth II (crowned 2 Jun 1953) Head of government: Prime Minister Tony Blair (since 1997; re-elected 2001 and 5 May 2005) Ruling party: Labour Party (since 1997; re-elected 2001 and 5 May 2005) Area: 244,103 square km Population: 59.16 million (2004) Capital: London Official language: English (English and Welsh in Wales) Currency: (£) = 100 pence Exchange rate: £0.54 per US$ (Nov 2004) GDP per capita: US$29,493 (2003) GDP real growth: 2.30% (2003) Labour force: 29.47 million (2003) Unemployment: 5.00% (2003) Inflation: 1.30% (2003) Oil production: 2.25 million bpd (2003) Balance of trade: -US$64.39 billion (2003) |
Historical profile
After a thousand year period of Roman, Saxon and Viking occupation, feudal England
was invaded by the Normans in 1066. The Norman-ruled Kingdom eventually emerged
as an organised English state, headed by a monarch. Wales was united with England
in 1536, while the 1707 Act of Union united England and Scotland as part of
the United Kingdom (UK) of Great Britain. Ireland was united with Great Britain
in 1801. By the eighteenth century, Great Britain had emerged as a major industrial,
colonial and military power.
1837–1901 The long reign of Queen Victoria saw the British Empire at the height of its power.
1914--1918 The British Empire was involved in the First World War against Germany and its allies.
1922 The Irish Free State (Eire) was created in southern Ireland. The remaining six north-eastern counties of Ireland remained part of Great Britain.
1939–45 The British Empire was joined by the US and the Soviet Union in the Second World War against the Axis powers of Germany, Italy and Japan. Facing near to economic collapse as a result of the war, the UK began to relinquish control of its colonies after 1945 and its role in the world as a major power declined.
1945--51 The Labour Party was elected into government. Led by Prime Minister Clement Attlee, the government implemented reforms to education, healthcare, housing and the social security system.
1953 Queen Elizabeth II was crowned on 2 June.
1969 The start of 'The Troubles' in Northern Ireland as violence between the Catholic civil rights movement and the Unionists, who perceived it as republicanism, intensified.
1973 The UK joined the European Economic Community (EEC) (now the EU).
1979 Following a decade marred by economic stagnation and endemic inflation, the Conservative Party gained a parliamentary majority in the general election, and Margaret Thatcher, leader of the party, became the UK's first woman prime minister.
1979–1990 Thatcher's radical domestic policies, including privatisation and local government reforms did not prevent her securing two further election victories, in addition to securing a victory in the 1982 Falklands conflict.
1990 Introduction of the poll tax (community charge) and a loss of party confidence stemming from her vociferous opposition to the European Community (EC) finally led to Thatcher being replaced by John Major as leader of the Conservative Party and prime minister.
1992 The Treaty on European Union (also known as the Maastricht Treaty) was signed. The Treaty harmonised legislation in key areas of European Union (EU) social policy, immigration and finance, although the UK successfully opted out of the Social Chapter. The UK was forced out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) after the pound dropped below the permitted parity with the deutschmark. The Conservatives won the general election.
1997 The Labour Party, under the leadership of Tony Blair, won an overwhelming victory in the general election.
1998 The UK and Irish governments attempted to bring to an end the problems in Northern Ireland through the signing of the Good Friday Peace Agreement. The political settlement established a precedent for Eire's direct involvement in Northern Ireland's affairs, with cross-border co-operation and the decommissioning of paramilitary arms.
1999 Scotland's first legislature for 300 years and Wales' first for 600 years were opened in June. Powers were also devolved in Northern Ireland in December.
2001 The Labour Party was returned to power in a second landslide victory.
2002 Deaths of the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret, Queen Elizabeth II's younger sister.
2003 A US-led military force (with assistance from a number of other countries, including the UK and Australia) invaded Iraq in March.
2004 The Butler enquiry found no evidence of `deliberate distortion or culpable negligence' by the government in the treatment of pre-Iraq War intelligence. The home secretary, David Blunkett, resigned in December after some weeks of pressure over his affair with a married woman and attempts to speed up a visa approval allowing her nanny to stay in Britain.
2005 Incumbent Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour Party won the 5 May parliamentary elections with a significantly reduced majority of 67, down from 161 in 2001. On 7 July, there were several near-simultaneous bomb explosions in London, hitting buses and underground trains during the morning rush hour. The explosions came a day after London was awarded the 2012 Olympics and as the G-8 summit was getting under way in Scotland.
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