2007 at Westminster
2007 was a tumultuous one for British politics – not least because it saw the first change in leader in a decade.
politics.co.uk takes a look back at the best and worst of the year that was.
From Blair to Brown – the best political quotes of 2007
January
The year began with the execution of disposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, setting the tone for what would become a year marked by milestones. What US and UK leaders hoped would be a triumphant end to their much-criticised invasion of Iraq was marred by international unease at the overly vitriolic manner of his execution. Gordon Brown urged then-prime minister Tony Blair to condemn the humiliation of Saddam, which many feared would inflame tensions across the Middle East.
Mr Blair began the year midway through what was to become one of the longest political epilogues in Westminster history. Having indicated in September 2006 that he would stand down before the 2007 Labour conference, much of Westminster spent the first half of the year speculating precisely when he would stand aside for the long-promised handover to his chancellor Gordon Brown.
He may have wished he was out of the public eye sooner rather than later in January when Downing Street aide Ruth Turner was arrested in connection with the cash-for-honours inquiry. She was later released without charge but the damaging affair would rumble on throughout the last months of Mr Blair’s leadership.
Manchester was named as the location for the UK’s first supercasino. The decision surprised everyone and embarrassed much of the media who had only bothered sending teams to the favourites Blackpool and Greenwich. Blackpool MPs were angered that east Manchester had been judged in greater need of regeneration, but the selection would later prove an irrelevance, with supercasinos one of the first targets for the new prime minister’s reviews.
Few predicted how erratic the opinion polls would prove to be in 2007. Labour began the year on 32 per cent support, eight points behind the Tories on 39 per cent. The Liberal Democrats, led by Menzies Campbell, were on 19 per cent.
February
The cash-for-honours inquiry continued to gain momentum in February, with the news that Mr Blair had been spoken to, earning him the dubious distinction of becoming the first serving prime minister to be interviewed by police.
Rumblings began within the Labour party that Mr Brown would be denied a smooth ascension to the leadership, as rumours gathered throughout the spring that David Miliband, then serving as environment secretary, could be persuaded to stand against Mr Brown. Charles Clarke and Alan Milburn stoked up speculation of a coup by urging Labour to conduct an “open participatory debate” about its future.
The Conservative leadership hit its own problems in February, with Mr Cameron once again quizzed about his drug use. Amid allegations he had smoked cannabis at Eton, the Tory leader insisted politicians were entitled to a “private past” before they entered politics.
March
Northern Ireland went to the polls on March 7th ahead of the March 26th deadline to agree power-sharing for the Stormont assembly, which has been suspended since October 2002. Although the initial deadline was missed, power would be restored in May with Ian Paisley and Martin McGuiness agreeing to divide power as leader and deputy leader respectively. In one of the truly historic moments of the year, the two former advisories were pictured together for the first time and relations have been harmonious in Stormont since.
Britain’s diplomatic relations with Iran worsened when the Iranian Revolutionary Guard captured 15 Royal Navy personnel in the Persian Gulf. Britain maintained the crew from the HMS Cornwall were in Iraqi waters operating under a UN mandate, but Iran forced one of the crew, leading seaman Faye Turney, to appear on state television to confess to “trespassing” in Iranian waters.
With Mr Blair fast approaching his tenth anniversary as prime minister, the public gave the impression of being heartily sick of the New Labour leader, as the government slumped to a low of 27 per cent in the polls. The Conservatives had reasons to be optimistic, seeing their own approval rating rise above the crucial 40 per cent benchmark.
April
The captured naval personnel were released on April 4th, in a highly choreographed manoeuvre by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. While maintaining the sailors’ guilt, the Iranian leader said he would pardon the 15 as a “gift” to the British people. Britain’s own goodwill towards the sailors proved less generous when two, Faye Turney and able seaman Arthur Batchelor, sold their stories to the tabloid press on their return. Critics claimed the dignity and reputation of the British armed forces were damaged by Mr Batchelor’s admission that he cried when the Iranians took away his iPod. He also provided ammunition for the first airing of “Mr Bean”, in what was to become the insult of 2007.
Labour continued to suffer in the polls, prompting Mr Blair to urge his party to “hold its nerve”. Momentum continued to gather around Mr Miliband as a potential challenger to Mr Brown, but he warned he would not be seduced or bullied into running.
May
May marked the turning point of the year, with a new administration for Scotland and Wales, a raft of changes in local councils and long-awaited confirmation of Mr Blair’s plans to leave Downing Street.
Labour finally lost control of Scotland with the Scottish Nationalist party scrapping through the Scottish parliament election to emerge as the single largest party. With 47 seats to Labour’s 46, SNP leader Alex Salmond was ultimately declared first minister after Jack McConnell was forced to accept he had been ousted from the top job. However, polls showed the public were still opposed to the SNP’s ultimate goal of an independent Scotland and with opposition politicians on both sides of the border wedded to the union the SNP’s hold on power was not to go unchallenged.
Labour also lost seats in the Welsh assembly, emerging with just 26 out of the available 60. Shambolic attempts to create a “rainbow coalition” broke down after political wrangling went right up to the deadline and Rhodri Morgan was allowed to remain as first minister, albeit leading a coalition with Plaid Cymru.
Local elections held across England and Scotland offered little relief for Labour, with the party suffering badly while the Conservatives made inroads into the all-important northern seats.
The election results were particularly stark, coming ten years after New Labour had celebrated its landslide election victory. Having achieved a decade in power, Mr Blair finally confirmed on May 10th he would be standing down as Labour leader and prime minister triggering a leadership contest. John Prescott also confirmed his intention to stand down as deputy leader.
Mr Cameron clashed with his own party over grammar schools. As the Tory leader attempted to distance his party from selective education a succession of prominent Conservatives spoke out in favour of grammar schools. After challenging his party to modernise or risk becoming relegated to a “debating society”, Mr Cameron was eventually forced to say the next Tory government would build more grammar schools in areas already served by the 11 plus.
June
The race for the deputy leadership proved the most interesting part of the Labour handover, with six Labour hopefuls fighting to succeed Mr Prescott. Despite months of speculation, no challenger to Mr Brown came forward and the co-architect of New Labour was named leader of the Labour party on June 24th, alongside Harriet Harman as his deputy.
Labour supporters claimed the smooth transitional period was testament to the party’s discipline, while critics complained of a New Labour “coronation”, with Mr Brown set to receive the proverbial keys to Number Ten never having faced a vote of either the public or his party.
In a meticulously-managed handover, Mr Blair stood down as prime minister on June 27th, leaving the House of Commons to a standing ovation, which saw Mr Cameron hurry his own front bench to their feet. Mr Brown accepted the Queen’s invitation to form a government the same afternoon and promptly launched into a mantra promising “change”. In a swipe at his predecessor’s unpopularity by the end, Mr Brown promised an end to spin and a return to a government that would “listen and learn”.
July
No sooner had Mr Brown appointed his first Cabinet than Britain’s first female home secretary, Jacqui Smith, faced a terrorist threat, with failed attacks on London and Glasgow.
Mr Brown’s literal baptism by fire was followed by a near-Biblical introduction to running the country as he faced flood and pestilence, in the shape of foot and mouth. Heavy rain ravaged the country in June and July, but the government won praise for the speed of its response. Mr Cameron, however, suffered after an embarrassing diary clash saw him booked for a photo-op in Rwanda at the same time as his Witney constituents were bailing out the flood waters.
August
With support for Mr Brown soaring – and cynics may say the parliamentary recess creating a vacuum – the media began talking up the prospects of a snap general election, encouraged in no small part by unofficial briefings from the prime minister’s camp. After undermining his rivals with his “parliament of all the talents”, Mr Brown seemed poised to obliterate the Tory party with an early vote and many Conservatives openly speculated about Mr Cameron’s future.
Support for the Liberal Democrats dwindled over the summer, following on from poor local election results and continued questions over Ming Campbell’s leadership.
September
The credit crunch that had hit America in the summer finally washed up in the UK in September when the Northern Rock bank was forced to apply to the Bank of England for emergency funding, prompting a run on the bank. Although opposition politicians initially backed state support, criticisms of the government’s handling of Northern Rock would harm the Brown-Darling team into 2008, when the bank is expected to be temporarily nationalised.
September saw all the political parties head off for their traditional jaunt by the seaside. The gathering of the trade unions saw Mr Brown face down dissent over public-sector pay, in a stand-off that would rumble uncomfortably through out the year.
The Liberal Democrats’ week in Brighton was dominated by speculation over Sir Menzies’ future. An ill-advised photo shot of the Lib Dem leader pointing down an environmentally friendly toilet garnered more press excitement than the party’s green taxes and Nick Clegg’s vague acknowledgement of a future post-Campbell sent the rumour mill into overdrive.
By mid-September speculation of an early general election had reached fever pitch, with diaries across Westminster pre-emptively marking down likely polling days in October or November. Despite his aides talking up the possibility, Mr Brown declined to name the date at the Labour conference in Bournemouth, but continued to taunt the Tories.
Labour’s popularity continued to surge among the public – not to mention a remarkably amenable press. Mr Brown’s approval rating had risen to 44 per cent by September. The Conservatives were hit badly by the new prime minister’s popularity, falling to 31 per cent in the polls.
On the eve of their conference, the Liberal Democrats were briefly buoyed by a poll rating of 20 per cent, with the more sceptical commentators observing that the coverage of their week-long trip to Brighton had perhaps simply reminded voters the third party existed.
October
Mr Brown’s grandstanding over the election was to backfire spectacularly, as it saw the normally fractious Tories decamp to Blackpool as a dignified whole, seemingly ready to back their leader even if he declared that Eton’s entire upper-sixth would be forcibly moved to the local comprehensive. A pledge to cut inheritance tax made the right wing press remember that it was the Conservative party and not Mr Brown they really loved.
By October, the Conservatives were beginning to cancel Labour’s summer poll lead, attributed in part to their tax cut and Mr Cameron’s “unscripted” Blackpool conference speech. One poll placed the Tories on 43 per cent as commentators began to observe support for the Conservatives was once again reminiscent of Margaret Thatcher’s heyday.
By mid-October, Mr Brown was forced to break his evasive assertion that he was getting on with the business of governing and finally rule out the possibility of an autumn general election. He denied this was in any way connected to the reversal of Labour’s fortunes in the opinion polls and insisted he simply wanted more time to set out his vision for government. Nevertheless, the Tories accused Mr Brown of “bottling it” and the prime minister began his own autumn of discontent with the first in a series of highly uncomfortable exchanges at prime minister’s questions.
Meanwhile a dismal 11 per cent rating for the Liberal Democrats in one poll was followed five days later by Sir Menzies’ resignation. Mr Clegg, hailed as the media favourite and Lib Dems’ answer to Mr Cameron, took on Chris Huhne in a two-month long leadership contest.
November
Labour continued its slow slump down in the opinion polls throughout November, although optimists duly noted that it was not as bad as during the final weeks of Mr Blair. With the botched snap election already looming embarrassingly behind Mr Brown, the government was undermined further by a series of minor scandals, including the news thousands of illegal foreign workers had been cleared for security jobs.
This, however, paled in comparison to the revelation that two computer discs containing the personal information of 25 million child benefit claimants had been lost in the post. The government tried to blame a junior official at HM Revenue and Customs but scandal hit closer to home when it emerged the Labour party had unlawfully accepted more than £650,000 in donations channelled through intermediaries for the wealthy property developer David Abrahams. Scotland Yard once again began investigating the Labour party’s accounts and the party’s general secretary resigned.
The Conservatives could barely contain their glee at Labour’s downfall, but it was acting Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable who won the best press for his criticism of Mr Brown, mocking the prime minister’s transition from “Stalin to Mr Bean”.
December
December saw the Liberal Democrats elect a new leader. As predicted, 40-year-old Mr Clegg was selected as the third leader in as many years. But with little over two-thirds of the Lib Dem membership bothering to vote, it remained to be seen whether the third party would recapture the political imagination.
By the end of 2007, the opinion polls looked much as they had 12 months ago but this gave little indication of the frenetic change in fortunes that had been seen in the summer. An end-of-year poll placed the Conservatives on 40 per cent, Labour on 32 per cent and Liberal Democrats on 16 per cent.
Mr Brown attempted to downplay a traumatic few months, insisting by 2008 voters would see the government had taken the right decisions for the long-term stability of the country. Nevertheless, by the time parliament rose for the Christmas recess, commentators were openly speculating on potential successors to the prime minister.
