2013 in the United Kingdom


Events from the year 2013 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

Events

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

  • 1 August – temperatures of 33.7C are recorded at Heathrow Airport and 34.1 in London – the hottest since 2006 – as the hot weather makes a brief return. The Met Office says it is the hottest day since 2003 and the warmest summer since 2006.
  • 2 August – Magdelena Luczak and her partner, Mariusz Krezolek, are jailed for life with a minimum of 30 years for the murder of Luczak's four-year-old son Daniel Pelka, who was beaten, and starved to death.
  • 3 August – Tony Wang, head of Twitter, apologises after women received bombing and rape threats by users of the site. The apology comes as the company updates its rules to help clamp down on threats and harassment.
  • 5 August – the world's first lab-grown burger – produced from bovine stem cells – is cooked and eaten at a news conference in London.
  • 6 August – it is reported that sewage workers from Thames Water have removed a fifteen ton bus-sized "fatberg" – thought to be Britain's largest – from a sewer beneath London, after the mass caused a 95% blockage and threatened to send raw sewage spurting from manhole covers.
  • 7 August – Bank of England governor Mark Carney says the Bank will not consider raising interest rates until the unemployment rate has fallen to 7% or below.
  • 10 August – 56 police officers are injured in Belfast after a night of loyalist rioting.
  • 11 August – two women who are UK nationals have been arrested on suspicion of smuggling drugs from Peru, the country's police confirm.
  • 19 August
  • *Senior politicians urge police to explain why the partner of a Guardian journalist who published leaked documents from US whistleblower Edward Snowden was detained at Heathrow Airport for nine hours.
  • *Green MP Caroline Lucas and her son are among protesters arrested at a site in West Sussex where energy firm Cuadrilla is drilling for oil.
  • *Chief executive of the UK Independence Party, Will Gilpin steps down from his post.
  • 20 August – Britons Michaella McCollum and Melissa Reid are formally charged with attempting to smuggle £1.5m worth of cocaine out of Peru. They are remanded in custody the following day.
  • 21 August – an inspection report reveals that a female inmate at HMP Bronzefield was kept in solitary confinement for more than five years.
  • 22 August – Yes Scotland is forced to close its computer systems after being hacked by "forces unknown". Police Scotland's Digital Forensic Unit launches an investigation but uncovers no evidence of criminality.
  • 23 August – a Super Puma L2 helicopter crashes near Sumburgh Airport in the Shetland Islands, resulting in four fatalities among the oil rig workers being carried. Operation of the helicopter model is globally suspended.
  • 27 August – David Cameron recalls Parliament from its summer recess to discuss responses to the Syrian crisis in the wake of a chemical weapons attack in Damascus.
  • 29 August
  • *MPs vote 285–272 against the principle of British involvement in any military intervention in the Syrian conflict.
  • *Members of the Fire Brigades Union vote to take industrial action in a dispute over pensions, threatening the first firefighters' strike across England, Scotland and Wales since 2002.

September

October

  • 3 October – The Mail on Sunday editor Geordie Greig issues an unreserved apology to Ed Miliband after a reporter was sent to a private memorial service for one of his relatives in an attempt to gather opinions from his family about a recent Daily Mail article that had accused the Labour Leader's late father, Ralph of hating Britain. Two reporters are suspended as a result of the incident.
  • 7 October – launch of the National Crime Agency, a new body designed to tackle some of Britain's most serious crimes.
  • 8 October
  • *Banks begin to unveil details of the mortgages they will offer under the government's expanded Help to Buy scheme.
  • *The Scottish Government announces that the loss making Prestwick Airport in Glasgow is to be taken into public ownership.
  • *British physicist Peter Higgs is awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his theory of the Higgs boson.
  • 10 October – Justice Minister Jeremy Wright confirms that former Liberian President Charles Taylor will serve his jail sentence for war crimes in the UK.
  • 11 October – the UK government publishes a draft Royal Charter aimed at underpinning self-regulation of the press following an agreement by the three main political parties. However, the proposals are greeted with concerns about press freedom by the industry. Proposals put forward by the press has previously been rejected by the Privy council.
  • 15 October – Charles Taylor arrives in the UK to serve the remainder of his 50-year prison sentence, the first head of state to be convicted of war crimes since World War II.
  • 18 October – a planned firefighters strike in England and Wales for the following day is called off at the eleventh hour, following progress in talks over pensions.
  • 19 October – The Sidemen are formed.
  • 20 October – about 100 homes are damaged when a "tornado" hits Hayling Island in Hampshire.
  • 21 October – the government approves Hinkley Point C, the first nuclear plant to be constructed in the UK since 1995. Originally due to be completed in 2023, completion is now due in 2028. The plant is intended to remain operational for 60 years, supplying about 7% of the country's electricity.
  • 22 October – former Prime Minister Sir John Major calls for the government to levy a windfall tax on Britain's energy companies after three of the six major gas and electricity suppliers raise their prices by between eight and ten percent.
  • 23 October – Prime Minister David Cameron announces a review of green energy taxes after saying they had pushed up household bills to "unacceptable" levels.
  • 26 October – the Rugby League World Cup begins.
  • 28 October – St Judes Day storm: 99 mph gust recorded at the Needles on the Isle of Wight
  • 30 October – the Privy council grants a Royal charter on press regulations after the newspaper industry loses a last minute legal bid to seek an injunction against the plans.

November

  • 1 November – firefighters in England and Wales stage a four and a half-hour strike in a row over pension ages, as "contingency" crews battle a large scrapyard blaze in London.
  • 14 November – the last living British person to be born in the 1800s, Grace Jones, dies aged 113.
  • 18 November – Prime Minister David Cameron welcomes a decision by search engine companies Google and Microsoft to block online images of child abuse.
  • 20 November – the General Synod of the Church of England votes in favour of legislation to allow the ordination of women as bishops by 2014.
  • 21 November
  • *Former non-executive chairman of the Co-operative Bank Paul Flowers is arrested by police in a drugs supply investigation, having been exposed agreeing to buy cocaine and methamphetamine by The Mail on Sunday newspaper. Flowers is also suspended from the Labour Party and Methodist Church as a result of the allegations.
  • *It is reported that three women believed to have been held as slaves for the last three decades were rescued from a residence in London on 25 October.
  • 23 November – The fiftieth anniversary of science fiction TV series Doctor Who is celebrated with the broadcast and cinema screenings of the anniversary special The Day of the Doctor
  • 26 November – Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond launches the Scottish Government's White Paper setting out its vision for an independent Scotland.
  • 27 November – following a trial at Northampton Crown Court, businessman Anxiang Du is convicted of the 2011 murder of a family of four in a revenge attack after losing a legal case against them.
  • 29 November – eight people are killed and 19 seriously injured after a police helicopter crashes into The Clutha pub in Glasgow.

December

  • 4 December – pig semen exports from Britain to China are the subject of a protocol signed in Beijing by Environment Secretary Owen Paterson as part of a trade mission that includes the Prime Minister, David Cameron. The Chinese wish to improve their semen stock from boars in England and Northern Ireland.
  • 5 December – Cyclone Bodil hits the UK, Netherlands, Denmark and Germany, disrupting traffic and causing widespread damage amid fears of flooding along the North Sea coast.
  • 15 December – Andy Murray wins BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2013.
  • 16 December – Home Secretary Theresa May announces draft legislation to introduce tougher prison sentences for people convicted of offences relating to human trafficking.
  • 19 December – part of the ornate ceiling of the Apollo Theatre in London collapses during a performance, injuring at least 81 people in the audience.
  • 20 December – following a trial at Isleworth Crown Court, sisters Elisabetta and Francesca Grillo, who worked as personal assistants to food writer Nigella Lawson and her husband Charles Saatchi for several years, are found not guilty on charges of stealing from the couple.
  • 23 December
  • *Former MP Denis MacShane is sentenced to six months in jail for expenses fraud after he admitted to submitting 19 false receipts totalling £12,900.
  • *World War II computer pioneer and codebreaker Alan Turing, who had been chemically castrated in 1952 following his conviction for homosexuality, is given a posthumous royal pardon.

Publications

The Quarry novel by Iain BanksDiary of A Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck by Jeff Kinney

Births

Deaths

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December