UK: 2008 Rundown
Looking at Britain in 2008 certain themes of course stand out more than others, and perhaps none more than the introduction of sharia law, the possibility of which had first been to public attention by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams. The fall and rise of the Labour Party, the rise of the Conservatives, the dashed SNP hopes for Scottish independence characterize much of politics this year.
Other issues that stand out include youth violence; a terrorist attack on Glasgow airport, and another on a Giraffe restaurant in Exeter; the launch of the BBC’s controversial ‘White Season’ in March, exploring the White working class; continuing contention over mass immigration; the ratification of the Lisbon treaty; the death of “baby P”; the months-long campaign and final victory of the Gurkha war heroes to be allowed to stay in Britain; and the unprecedented arrest of Conservative MP Damian Green.
I have divided the year under four different heading: ‘sharia,’ ‘terrorism,’ ‘law and order,’ and ‘politics,’ in the hope that this will help elucidate the history of particular events. However, naturally, an event appearing in one section might overlap with another, and the contents of each section is sometimes broader than the title might suggest. Events are listed chronologically with a minimum of commentary.
SHARIA
February:
o The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, suggests that the adoption of certain aspects of sharia law in Britain seems “unavoidable.”
o Britain becomes the first major Western country to start issuing sharia bonds.
o It also emerges that police recruits will soon be taught Islamic culture, including the importance of the Koran and sharia law.
July:
o Lord Chief Justice Lord Phillips (then Britain’s most senior judge) speaks at an East London mosque, suggesting that sharia could be used in Britain.
o The Centre for Islamic Pluralism conducts research on the views of Muslims in Britain, and finds that sharia law is rejected by almost two thirds. Stephen Schwartz, the center’s executive director, states, “For non-Muslim authorities to propose the introduction of Sharia as a legal standard for Muslims in any non-Muslim land is not only absurdly patronising and discriminatory, but also violates the canons of traditional Sharia law. Sharia has always held that Muslims emigrating to non-Muslim lands are obliged to accept the laws and customs of their new homes.”
September:
o It emerges that sharia courts have been reclassified as tribunals through use of the Arbitration Act. Sheikh Faiz-ul-Aqtab Siddiqi of the Muslim Arbitration Tribunal, which runs Britain’s sharia courts, says that in one inheritance case involving three daughters and two sons, a sharia court had awarded each of the daughters half the amount awarded to the sons, while in several domestic abuse cases the husbands had been ordered to take anger management classes and mentoring with community elders. The reclassification of the sharia courts causes outcry among opposition politicians and journalists.
November:
o Stephen Hockman QC, a former chairman of the Bar Council, speaks at a meeting jointly arranged by web-based organization Islam4UK and the National Liberal Club, to urge the incorporation of elements of sharia into the English legal system. Here Hockman suggests that a committee of parliamentarians, lawyers and religious leaders might be established, to consider “how this could be achieved and what legal changes might be framed.” He claims that such changes are necessary if Muslims in Britain were not to be alienated, “with very dangerous results.”
o It is announced that the government will begin offering sharia-compliant pensions. Martin Beckford, Social Affairs Correspondent for The Telegraph comments that this is “another sign of the growing influence of Islamic law in British public life and in particular the country's finance industry.” Britain’s first sharia insurance company and Mastercard also appeared in 2008.
TERRORISM
February:
o Worried about alienating the Muslim community, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith announces that such phrases as “Islamic extremism” and “war on terror” will no longer be used by British officials. Instead terrorist acts by Islamists will be referred to as “anti-Islamic.”
o In the same month, Parviz Khan, the leader of a five-man Islamist cell is convicted for his part in a plot to kidnap a British Muslim soldier in Britain, and behead him “like a pig,” as a warning to Britain, and, in particular, to British Muslims not to join the army.
May:
o A Muslim convert is arrested after he explodes a bomb in a lavatory at a Giraffe restaurant in Exeter. The device was intended to cause mass casualties, but is detonated prematurely. The man who exploded the bomb was Nicky Reilly, a Muslim convert with a history of mental illness. Devon and Cornwall Deputy Chief Constable Tony Melvilledescribes Reilly as a “vulnerable” young man, believed to have been “preyed upon, radicalised and taken advantage of.”
September:
o So-called “Al-Qaeda representative in Europe” Abu Qatada is photographed strolling along the streets of Britain with Yasser Al-Sirri, the latter of whom was convicted in absentia by an Egyptian court for his role in a 1993 car-bombing. Qatada is later deemed to have breached his bail conditions on numerous points.
o Hammaad Munshi becomes Britain’s youngest convicted terrorist. At the age of 15 Munshi had been recruited into a cell of cyber-groomers by Aabid Hussain Khan, The group had collected information on the senior members of the Royal family, Buckingham Palace, the London Underground, and bomb-making.
October:
o A young Muslim advisory group is established. It will advise the government on how to stop the spread of radicalism among the young. Among its members is Sabiha Iqbal, 18, a member of the Socialist Workers Party.
November:
o It emerges that a convicted Al-Qaeda terrorist who had planned a dirty bomb attack on London has taken part in a prison “comedy workshop.” This revelation prompts Justice Secretary Jack Straw to close the workshop down as “totally unacceptable.”
December:
o British-born Iraqi doctor Bilal Abdulla is convicted for a suicide car-bomb attack on Glasgow airport, and for planning remote-controlled car bombs in London’s West End.
o It emerges that Mohamed Ali Harrath, an advisor to the Metropolitan Police on countering Muslim extremism, is wanted by Interpol for terrorist offenses. He is allegedly a founder member of the Tunisian Islamic Front, dedicated to the establishment of “an Islamic state by means of armed revolutionary violence.”
LAW and ORDER
March:
o The brutal and unprovoked attack on Robert Maltby and murder of Sophie Lancaster brings youth violence squarely into view. David Cameron described this, as well as other high profile attacks, as “a line in the sand.” The attack was so severe that paramedics were initially unable to tell if Ms. Lancaster was male or female. Five boys aged 15 to 17 were later found guilty.
o Also in this month, Britain’s epidemic of youth violence and teenage binge drinking makes the cover of the US edition of Time magazine. The caption on the cover describes Britain’s youth as “Unhappy, Unloved and Out of Control.”
April:
o A survey commissioned to mark the 40th anniversary of Enoch Powell's 'rivers of blood' speech, shows that nearly two thirds of British residents fear mass immigration will lead to violence. Equality and Human Rights Commission head Trevor Phillips describes the findings as “alarming.”
June:
o The governing Labour Party narrowly wins a vote in parliament that will allow police to detain terror suspects for up to 42 days (up from 28 days) without charge. The vote was decided by nine votes from the Ulster Unionist Party, which had been given various inducements, such as increased rail investment, and even lifting sanctions on Cuba.
July:
o It is revealed that 130,000 knife crimes are committed every year in Britain – one knife crime every four minutes. The Labour Party claims that violent crime is declining.
August:
o The death of “baby P” (see section on ‘politics’ below).
September:
o 2,000 Gurkha war heroes are allowed to stay in the country after a long campaign supported by the Daily Mail, LibDems leader Nick Clegg, and actress Joanna Lumley. Immigration officials had previously refused permanent residence to the Gurkhas on the grounds that they had not shown “strong ties” to Britain, despite the fact that they had risked their lives for the country.
October:
o Home Secretary Jacqui Smith announces plans for a central database containing information on every telephone call made, and every email sent or received in Britain, as well as every internet site visited on each computer. The LibDems called the plan “incompatible with a free country.”
o Sir Ian Blair is forced to resign as commissioner of the Metropolitan police. Blair was generally disliked by the public, and widely regarded as incompetent. Many journalists have expressed the opinion that he was effectively doing Labour’s bidding, and had politicized the police to the point of incapacitation.
o In the same month, 42 day detention is rejected by the House of Lords, prompting the government to draft an “emergency bill” that could be rushed through parliament in a few hours in the event of a terrorist attack.
November:
o Half of all local councils responding to a request for information by the Daily Mail, say they have used anti-terror legislation to spy on residents suspected of “domestic waste, littering or fly-tipping offences.”
December:
o The European Court of Human Rights declares in a unanimous verdict that the storage of the fingerprints and DNA on the National DNA Database is a breach of the right to a private life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Liberty’s Director Shami Chakrabarti comments, “This is one of the most strongly worded judgments that Liberty has ever seen from the Court of Human Rights. That Court has used human rights principles and common sense to deliver the privacy protection of innocent people that the British Government has shamefully failed to deliver.”
POLITICS
January:
o Labour is investigated by the police for failing to declare donations within the required 30 days of each quarterly reporting period.
February:
o Labour Party leader Wendy Alexander faces calls to resign over allegations that she failed to declare donations to her leadership campaign.
March:
o Businessman David Abrahams says that top Labour Party officials knew of his illegal donations to the party. Abrahams donated 668,975 pounds via his secretary, solicitor, and others to avoid being listed as a party donor.
April:
o A report by the Lords Economic Affairs Committee suggests that the benefit of immigration to Britain is 58 pence per week for each of the native population.
o A YouGov poll carried out for Channel 4’s program ‘Immigration: The Inconvenient Truth,’ found that 83 percent of those questioned said that the country had a “population crisis.” Among settled migrants and their British-born children, the figure was 53 percent.
May:
o Official figures show more than 200,000 British citizens emigrating each year. Conservative immigration spokesman Damian Green says, “Gordon Brown has been Prime Minister barely a year and people are fleeing the country. This is a sad reflection of life in Britain under Labour.”
o Labour suffers its biggest electoral defeat for 40 years in local elections in England and Wales. The Labour Party loses 331 councilors, mostly to the Conservatives, who gain 256. The LibDems come second, gaining 34 more councilors than previous. Boris Johnson beats Ken Livingstone in the London Mayoral race. The British National Party (BNP) get 5.54% of the vote in London, giving BNP mayoral candidate Richard Barnbrook a seat on the London Assembly.
June:
o Conservative frontbencher David Davis resigns his seat in protest at the vote for 42 day detention without trial, forcing a bi-election at his constituency, Haltemprice and Howden. Gordon Brown calls it a “stunt.” The LibDems decline to run in the election in support of Davis, who wins and becomes a Conservative backbencher.
o Wendy Alexander resigns over her failure to declare donations to her leadership campaign.
o Hariett Harman proposes the Equality Bill in parliament. This will allow employers to hire a female or ethnic minority candidate over a White male candidate where equally qualified.
July:
o Britain ratifies Lisbon treaty. (The Labour Party manifesto had promised a vote on the treaty, but this has not occurred. Labour now claims that the general election was itself a vote on the treaty.)
o Also in this month, talk of ousting Gordon Brown peaks, with Foreign Secretary David Miliband appearing to position himself to take over as prime minister and leader of the Labour Party, publishing an article in the Guardian newspaper about his vision for Labour.
o Labour loses the Glasgow East by-election to the Scottish National Party (SNP). Glasgow East had been one of the safest Labour seats in the United Kingdom. Scottish independence begins to look increasingly certain, but this aim of the SNP is abandoned later as the economy declines. Brown’s position as Labour Party leader and prime minister looks increasingly untenable.
September:
o Conservative leader David Cameron appears on the front cover of the European, Middle Eastern, and African editions of Time magazine.
October:
o Trevor Phillips says that the economic downturn may stir resentment of immigrants and fuel a rise in the far-Right. He suggests that poor Whites must be helped if this is to be averted: “We may need to do so with the sort of special measures we’ve previously targeted at ethnic minorities. But the name of the game today is to tackle inequality, not racial special pleading. We will fail to do so at our peril.”
November:
o David Cameron clashes with the prime minister in the House of Commons as circumstances surrounding the death of “baby P” occupies the press and public. The 17-month old baby died in August after months of physical torture at the hands of his stepfather. He had at least 50 separate injuries on his body at the time of death. Social workers had seen the baby at 60 times in the months prior to his death.
o Conservative MP and Shadow Immigration Minister Damian Green is arrested and held for nine hours while his home, constituency office and Commons office are searched by anti-terror police, his parliamentary email is closed down, and some of his papers are removed. He is charged with “suspicion of conspiring to commit misconduct in a public office,” an offence carrying a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Green had exposed information of a nature embarrassing to the Labour Party (e.g., a memo implicating that Home Secretary Jacqui Smith in the cover-up of some 5,000 illegal immigrants licensed as security guards). It later transpires that the police did not have a warrant to search his parliamentary office, and that the search had only been approved by the Serjeant at Arms (a Labour MP widely regarded as incompetent). There is broad condemnation of Green’s arrest, with the police accused of being an extension of the governing Labour Party. Liberty Director Shami Chakrabarti says, “The fundamental duty of the Metropolitan police is to protect Londoners from harm, not the Government from political embarrassment.” David Cameron calls the arrest “Starlinesque,” while LibDems leader Nick Clegg says, “Our political system is […] in deep trouble […] This unprecedented arrest is a wake-up call. We must save our broken democracy.”
o At the end of November, a ComRes survey shows that the Conservative’s lead has been slashed. According to The Independent, “The figures would give Gordon Brown an overall majority of 10 if repeated at a general election. The gap between the two main parties is the narrowest in any poll since January […]” The economic downturn is regarded as helping Labour in the short term, but as probably damaging to the party in the long term.
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