United Kingdom in 1997 | Britannica.com
United Kingdom in 1997
Originally published in the Britannica Book of the Year. Presented as archival content.
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Area: 244,100 sq km (94,251 sq mi)
Population (1997 est.): 58,919,000
Chief of State: Queen Elizabeth II
Head of Government: Prime Ministers John Major and, from May 2, Tony Blair
Domestic Affairs
Three separate events--one widely predicted, one long-hoped-for, and one a sudden shock--made 1997 an important year for the United Kingdom. The widely predicted event was the election on May 1 of a Labour government after 18 years in opposition (see Sidebar) and the resultant arrival of a new prime minister, Tony Blair.  The long-hoped-for event was the renewal of the Irish Republican Army’s (IRA’s) cease-fire on July 20. (See Northern Ireland, below.) The sudden shock was the death of Diana, princess of Wales, in Paris on August 31.
Following Labour’s election victory, Blair said, "We ran for office as New Labour and we will govern as New Labour." By this, the new prime minister indicated that his government would keep to the centrist political strategy he had developed in opposition and not revert to the party’s former left-wing policies. On May 7 Blair addressed a meeting of Labour MPs and warned them not to step out of line: "You are here because of the Labour Party under which you fought. You are the ambassadors for New Labour and ambassadors for the Government." Only a tiny minority of MPs, describing themselves as "old Labour," were reluctant to accept this discipline. The great majority acquiesced, either because they were enthusiastically pro-Blair or because they acknowledged that the size of Labour’s victory owed much to the way Blair had transformed the party since his election as leader in July 1994.
Blair appointed Labour’s deputy leader, John Prescott, deputy prime minister and secretary of state for the environment, transport, and the regions; his long-standing political ally Gordon Brown chancellor of the Exchequer; one of Labour’s sharpest brains and best debaters, Robin Cook, foreign secretary; the man who had run Blair’s party leadership campaign in 1994, Jack Straw, home secretary; the U.K.’s first blind Cabinet minister, David Blunkett, education secretary; and Lord Simon, former chairman of British Petroleum, the minister for trade and competitiveness in Europe.
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On May 14 the Queen’s Speech (a ritual event at the beginning of each parliamentary session) set out the new government’s priorities. These included measures to reduce class sizes and raise education targets in state-run schools, a "welfare-to-work" plan, and legislation to introduce a national minimum wage. The Queen’s Speech also contained a package of constitutional measures, including an exploration of the need for a Freedom of Information Act and the incorporation into British law of the European Convention on Human Rights. Two of the most significant proposals concerned referenda on devolution in Scotland and Wales.
Scotland’s referendum was held on September 11. This comprised two separate questions. First, did the Scots want to set up their own parliament in Edinburgh, with wide law-making powers and control over services such as health and education? Second, did the Scots want this new parliament to have the power to vary the standard rate (which would still be levied on a U.K.-wide basis from London) of income tax and set a rate that would differ from the rest of the country by up to 3%? On a 60% turnout, both questions produced an emphatic "yes" majority, with 74% voting "yes" on question one and 63% on question two.
Wales’s referendum, held on September 18, had one question on the ballot: Did the Welsh want their own assembly, with the power to administer public services in Wales? (Since the assembly would not have its own powers to levy taxes or pass laws, it was not to be called a parliament.) The Welsh proved less enthusiastic than the Scots. On a 50% turnout, voters divided 50.3% "yes" and 49.7% "no." Despite the narrowness of the victory, Blair claimed a mandate to proceed with the legislation to set up both a parliament for Scotland and an assembly for Wales.
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In spite of Labour’s large majority, Blair established a special Cabinet committee on constitutional issues and invited the Liberal Democrats to join it. The committee’s purpose was to establish as broad a cross-party consensus as possible on steps toward incorporating the European Convention on Human Rights into British law, reform of the House of Lords, and the implementation of a preelection agreement between the two parties to hold a referendum, due in 1999, on whether to change the voting system for the House of Commons.
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The Conservatives, meanwhile, had to come to terms with their massive defeat. On May 2 John Major, having lost his post as prime minister, announced his intention to resign as party leader. In both of the first two ballots, on June 10 and June 17, the pro-European former chancellor of the Exchequer Kenneth Clarke held a narrow lead, but he failed to secure an outright majority. In the third ballot William Hague  defeated Clarke by 92 votes to 70.
Hague immediately announced a radical overhaul of the party: changes in its constitution to give ordinary members a greater say in its affairs, a ban on foreign donations to party funds (an issue that had embarrassed the Conservatives before the election), and the publication of the sources and details of all large donations. His biggest organizational task was to revive the party’s membership, which had fallen by 80% in 20 years from 1,500,000 to 300,000.
Hague’s early months as Tory leader were plagued by continuing divisions within the party over its policy toward Europe. In October Hague announced that he would oppose British membership in Europe’s single currency union throughout the current Parliament and the following one--that is, for up to 10 years.
Apart from politics, the event that overshadowed the year was the death of Diana almost exactly one year after her divorce from Prince Charles.  In a spontaneous outpouring of public grief, crowds of people laid millions of bouquets of flowers worth an estimated £25 million outside the princess’s London residence, Kensington Palace, and outside Buckingham Palace. In addution, many thousands stood in line for hours at Buckingham Palace and elsewhere to sign books of condolence. At her funeral, in Westminster Abbey on September 6, the singer Elton John performed a new version of his song "Candle in the Wind," the CD of which quickly set sales records worldwide.
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The reaction of Great Britain’s royal family to Diana’s death came under criticism from sections of the media, which questioned Queen Elizabeth’s reluctance to allow the union flag to fly at half-staff over Buckingham Palace. Tradition dictated that the only flag to adorn the large pole was the royal standard, and then only when the queen was in residence. At the time of Diana’s death, the queen was on holiday at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, and the pole was empty. Eventually, the queen relented; the union flag flew at half-staff over Buckingham Palace on the day of Diana’s funeral. This incident sparked a wider debate about the future role of the monarchy in British life. By year’s end feelings about the royal family had improved somewhat. Prince Charles had worked to improve his public image; the queen and Prince Philip celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary; and several popular reforms were announced, including plans to convert Kensington Palace to a museum.
Diana’s brother, Charles, Earl Spencer, among others, blamed the press for her death. In response to widespread public revulsion at the aggressive photographers known as paparazzi and the use of their photographs by some British newspapers, the leading editors announced that they would henceforth not buy pictures obtained under circumstances that invaded the privacy of public figures, except when justified by compelling public interest. In particular, the editors agreed to abide by a request from Prince Charles that his and Diana’s two sons, Princes William and Henry, be allowed to grow up without being harassed by reporters or photographers.
Economic Affairs
The first major decision of the incoming Labour government was to grant the Bank of England the right to determine interest rates independently of the chancellor of the Exchequer. The bank was instructed to operate within a general framework of keeping inflation down but also of maintaining steady economic growth. This decision, announced on May 6, was widely welcomed by London’s financial community as a sign of the government’s intention to maintain inflation within its new target range of 1.5-3.5%.
The bank used its powers to increase its base interest rates in a series of quarter-point steps, from 6% at the time of the election to 7% by August. Clarke, the outgoing Conservative chancellor, rejected criticism that he had kept the base rate artificially low before the election. The bank acted in order to prevent Britain’s economy from overheating. In July the government forecast that output would grow by 3.5% in 1997 and 2.5% in 1998. Unemployment continued to fall throughout 1997, from 1.9 million in December 1996 to 1.4 million a year later, the lowest figure since 1980.
The new government decided to confirm the overall levels of public spending that had been set for 1997-98 and 1998-99 by the previous Conservative administration--with one exception. On July 2, in his first budget speech, Brown announced a windfall tax totaling £5.2 billion on the profits of utility companies--such as gas, water, and electricity--that had been privatized during the 1980s and early ’90s. Most of the money was to be spent on a new welfare-to-work program aimed at providing training, job subsidies, child care, and other support services to help people join, or rejoin, the labour market. Brown also announced extra funds for health and education in 1998-99, but this money was to come from the contingency reserve (general, unallocated funds) and not increase the overall total of public spending.
Brown reported modest increases in taxation in order to reduce government borrowing, which he forecast would fall from £13,250,000,000 in 1997-98 to £5.5 billion, or well under 1% of gross domestic product, in 1998-99. Although Brown redeemed Labour’s election promise not to increase income tax rates, he revealed plans for tax relief on mortgage interest payments and changes in company taxation that would reduce the value of the tax shelter enjoyed by people building up a company or private pension.
On October 27 Brown ruled out British participation in the European Union’s (EU’s) single currency until after the next general election (due by June 2002), "barring fundamental unforeseen change in economic circumstances." Brown also announced that preparations would begin to enable Britain to join the single currency shortly after the next election if conditions were right.
Foreign Affairs
On May 12 Foreign Secretary Cook launched a mission statement outlining the foreign policy aims and objectives of the incoming Labour government. Its overall purpose was uncontroversial--"to promote the national interests of the United Kingdom and to contribute to a strong world economy." What received the most attention, however, was a specific pledge "to spread the values of human rights, civil liberties and democracy which we demand for ourselves."
On May 21 the government announced a complete ban on the manufacture, transfer, export, and import of antipersonnel land mines. At midnight on June 30/July 1 the U.K. handed Hong Kong over to China in a short ceremony attended by Blair and Prince Charles. (See Spotlight: Hong Kong’s Return to China.) Hong Kong had been the last significant colony ruled by Britain; the few remaining dependent territories all had tiny populations. On July 1 the U.K. rejoined UNESCO.
On July 28 the government announced that in line with its ethical principles, "we will not issue an export license if there is a clearly identifiable risk that the proposed export might be used for internal repression." Despite this declaration, the government allowed the delivery to Indonesia of Hawk jets and Alvis armoured vehicles, even though the former Conservative government had admitted that previous British-supplied armoured vehicles had been used to suppress protests against the Indonesian government. Cook defended the sale on the grounds that export licenses had been used before Britain’s general election and could not be revoked.
The new Labour government pursued a policy on Europe which differed from that of its Conservative predecessors. As well as signifying a wish in principle to join the EU’s single currency, though not in the first wave (see Economic Affairs, above), the new government signed the social chapter of the 1992 Maastricht Treaty. Britain also agreed to sign the "Amsterdam Treaty" following the summit of EU heads of government in Amsterdam in June; this reversed the policy of the previous Conservative government.
Northern Ireland
The IRA continued its campaign of sporadic violence during the early months of 1997, although at a more subdued level than before the 1995-96 cease-fire.
On June 25 Blair announced that a new round of talks on the future of Northern Ireland would start in September, whether or not the IRA had called a new cease-fire. The prime minister told the House of Commons that the British government had written to Sinn Fein (the political arm of the IRA) that it could participate in the new talks six weeks after the IRA had called a new cease-fire. The British and Irish governments published joint proposals on an agreement that there would have to be "some decommissioning" of weapons during negotiations on a long-term political settlement but that Sinn Fein would be able to take part in those negotiations before the IRA started to hand over any of its weapons.
On July 19 the IRA announced that a new cease-fire would come into effect at noon the following day, and on August 6 Marjorie Mowlam, the Northern Ireland secretary for Great Britain, met Gerry Adams, the president of Sinn Fein, for talks in Belfast. Mowlam announced on August 29 that Sinn Fein would be admitted to the peace talks, which were scheduled to start on September 15. A small IRA splinter group, calling itself the Continuity IRA, rejected the cease-fire, but its attempts to maintain a campaign of violence against British rule proved to be more of a minor irritant during the latter months of 1997 than a serious threat to the peace process.
Initially both of the main Unionist parties refused to join the talks. On September 17, however, David Trimble, the leader of the larger of the two parties, the Ulster Unionist Party, announced that his party would join the talks in order to "expose their [Sinn Fein’s] fascist character." Trimble initially refused to conduct face-to-face negotiations with Sinn Fein, but tense talks began on September 23.
On December 11 the IRA received a further bonus from its cease-fire when Blair welcomed two leading members of Sinn Fein to the prime minister’s residence in Downing Street, the first time since 1921 that leading figures associated with the IRA had been received there.