By IRNA
London : Events during 2007 in Britain were marked by the departure of Prime Minister Tony Blair, nationalists winning elections for the first time in Scotland and a power-sharing executive being set up in Northern Ireland.
Foreign affairs were dominated by the beginning of Britain’s military retreat from Iraq in contrast to a deepening quagmire in Afghanistan.
Despite Blair finally relinquishing power after 10 years, his replacement Gordon Brown did little to revive the fortunes of the Labour government. By the end of the year, there were also cast clouds over the country’s economy amid fears of a world recession.
By the end of 2007, Brown’s government was again embroiled in controversy over party funds and a whole series of questions over the prime minister’s competence.
A final poll in the Independent newspaper reported that a majority of British voters felt it was “time for a change” to an opposition Conservative government.
The year began with the ‘cash-for-honours’ scandal hanging over Blair, whose popularity had already been eroded away due mainly to his support for the Iraq war and his close association with the foreign policy excesses of US President George W Bush.
Even though several of his top aides escaped criminal prosecution, his government was tainted with corruption and it was not until after Labour suffered defeats in Scottish, Welsh and local elections in May that he announced his exit date.
It was the triumph of Scottish Nationalists over Labour that led the party leader Alex Salmond to optimistically predict that Scotland would eventually win full independence from England and lead to a break-up of the UK.
On leaving office in June, Blair’s legacy was in tatters with many of his achievements overshadowed by his discredited image, no more than his decade-long of efforts that led to a power-sharing executive in Northern Ireland.
Yet the accomplishment of seeing the pro-British Democratic Unionists join their Irish republican arch-rivals, Sinn Fein, in a devolved government and effectively ending decades of bitter conflict cannot be under-estimated.
As expected, Brown enjoyed an upsurge in support after being elected unopposed to replace Blair in June but his so-called honeymoon period proved to be short-lived.
Taking up the reigns of power, he pledged to have a government of “all talents” and hinted at trying to distance himself from some of his predecessor’s controversial policies.
Announcing cabinet changes, David Miliband became Britain’s youngest ever foreign secretary, and Jacqui Smith the first female Home Secretary. Sadeq Khan and Shahid Malik also became the first Muslim MPs to be given government posts.
Brown’s dour personality brought a welcoming seriousness back to British politics, but it was a change seen as more of style than substance.
The crush blow appeared to come in October when the prime minister dithered before calling off plans to hold an early general election to win his own personality mandate when Labour was ahead in opinion polls.
It was a blow that he never seemed to recover from and was followed by a series of gaffe that gave the impression of an incompetent government. Questions at the end of 2007 were whether Brown would ever again be able to win back public confidence.
The result put the Conservatives in the ascendancy and their leader David Cameron favourite to become the prime minister at the next general election, but which does not have to be called until June 2010 at the latest.
Other events during the year included Britain suffering from its worst flooding in more than half a century in July as fears continue to grow about the effects of climate change.
February saw the first case in the country of deadly avian flu at an east England turkey farm and the second case in the same area in November. Farmers also suffered from a sporadic outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease among cattle in south east England.
One of the most controversial decisions in 2007 was the government pressing ahead with plans to renew the country’s submarine-based Trident nuclear missiles despite concern that it may breach the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The decision won the support of parliament in March, when the government had to depend upon the support of the opposition Conservatives after 87 Labour MPs, including former home secretary Charles Clarke, rebelled against the upgrade.
During the year, a more and more recurring theme were fears about the UK economy with banking problems in the US and effects of a world recession looming.
The biggest casualty on Britain was the collapse of the fifth biggest mortgage lender Northern Rock, resulting in unprecedented customer queues seeking to rescue their life savings and costing the government bail-outs exceeding Pnds 50 billion (Dlrs 100 bn.) The subsequent credit crunch on the British public, whose average debt was estimated to be more than Pnds 7,000, and slowdown in the economy is expected to dominate political events in 2008.
Foreign affairs in 2007 was again the disastrous consequence of the Iraq war and Britain’s deepening military involvement in Afghanistan, two of Blair’s most infamous legacies.
As early as January, Blair described the violence in Iraq as a “sickening level of carnage” but throughout the year remained reluctant to issue any apology for Britain’s part in creating the debacle or order any inquiry to learn future lessons.
But as plans were being developed to draw down troop numbers to just 2,500 by spring 2008 by moving from a combat role to one of overwatch, numbers were greatly increased in Afghanistan to 7,700.
One of the deadly consequences was that the number of British military fatalities in both theatres overtook the 255 killed during the 1982 Falklands war, with the number in Afghanistan almost equally the 47 troop deaths in Iraq during 2007.
By November, a group of former senior military leaders and politicians had joined together to issue an unprecedented wake-up warning about the situation of Britain’s armed forces being embroiled in two separate fronts in Iraq.
The UK National Defence Association (UKNDA), led by three ex- chiefs of the defence staff, called for increased spending on the country’s military forces, which it said was not only over-stretched but also under-funded.
One of the most humiliating events was the capture of 15 sailors and Royal Marines after straying into Iranian waters of the Persian Gulf in March that was seen damaging to the country’s international standing.
Head of the navy, Admiral Sir Jonathon Band, described the incident at the time as “one bad day in our proud 400-year history.” A subsequent parliamentary report in December said the capture by Iranian personnel was a “national embarrassment,” compounded by the decision to allow the sailors to sell their stories to the media after their eventual release.