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Politicians
24 Feb
1950: Labour wins slim majority
31 Dec
1951: Churchill sets sail for talks with Truman
05 Apr
1955: Sir Winston Churchill resigns
17 May
1955: Eden takes to the airwaves
27 May
1955: Election victory for Tories under Eden
07 Dec
1955: Attlee steps down as Labour leader
14 Dec
1955: Gaitskell elected Labour leader
29 Feb
1956: Hopes for Mid East peace mission
09 Jan
1957: Sir Anthony Eden resigns
15 May
1957: Britain drops its first H-bomb
09 Oct
1959: 'Supermac' leads Tories to victory
31 Jul
1962: Violence flares at Mosley rally
18 Jan
1963: Labour leader Hugh Gaitskell dies
22 Mar
1963: Profumo denies affair with model
05 Jun
1963: Profumo resigns over sex scandal
24 Jan
1965: Winston Churchill dies
30 Jan
1965: Last farewell to Churchill
22 Jul
1965: Sir Alec steps down from top of Tory tree
12 Jan
1966: UK politicians assaulted in Rhodesia
11 Oct
1967: Harold Wilson wins Moving apology
20 Apr
1968: Powell slates immigration policy
19 Jun
1970: Shock election win for Heath
12 Jan
1971: British minister's home bombed
23 Jun
1972: Chancellor orders pound flotation
10 Jul
1972: Whitelaw's secret meeting with IRA
28 May
1974: Strikes topple NI power-sharing body
11 Oct
1974: Labour scrapes working majority
28 Oct
1974: Minister's wife survives bomb attack
22 Dec
1974: Heath's home is bombed
24 Dec
1974: 'Drowned' Stonehouse found alive
11 Feb
1975: Tories choose first woman leader
16 Mar
1976: Prime Minister Harold Wilson resigns
05 Apr
1976: Callaghan is new prime minister
07 Apr
1976: Government crisis as Stonehouse quits
09 Apr
1976: Young Liberal leader cleared of robbery
03 Jan
1977: Jenkins quits Commons for Brussels
27 Oct
1977: Liberal MP denies murder plot
07 Sep
1978: Callaghan accused of running scared
20 Nov
1978: Liberal MP accused of murder plot
14 Dec
1978: Labour faces vote of confidence
10 Jan
1979: 'No chaos here' declares Callaghan
30 Mar
1979: Car bomb kills Airey Neave
22 Mar
1979: British ambassador assassinated in Holland
28 Mar
1979: Early election as Callaghan defeated
04 May
1979: Election victory for Margaret Thatcher
14 Aug
1979: Disgraced ex-MP released from jail
07 Dec
1979: Lord Soames to govern Rhodesia
10 Oct
1980: Thatcher 'not for turning'
10 Nov
1980: Michael Foot is new Labour leader
05 May
1981: Bobby Sands dies in prison
21 Oct
1982: Sinn Fein triumph in elections
15 Jan
1982: Mark Thatcher found safe and well
09 Jun
1983: Thatcher wins landslide victory
02 Oct
1983: 'Dream ticket' wins Labour leadership
14 Oct
1983: Parkinson quits over lovechild scandal
15 Jan
1984: Benn back on road to Westminster
14 Mar
1984: Sinn Fein leader shot in street attack
12 Oct
1984: Tory Cabinet in Brighton bomb blast
29 Jan
1985: Thatcher snubbed by Oxford dons
27 Nov
1985: Kinnock moves against Militant
09 Jan
1986: Heseltine quits over Westland
24 Jan
1986: Leon Brittan quits over Westland
12 Jun
1986: Labour expels Militant Hatton
26 Oct
1986: Archer quits over prostitute allegations
29 Dec
1986: Harold Macmillan dies
06 Aug
1987: David Owen resigns as leader of SDP
16 Apr
1987: MP on gay sex charges
11 Jun
1987: Thatcher wins record third term
24 Jul
1987: Archer wins record damages
27 Aug
1987: Maclennan replaces Owen in SDP
28 Jul
1988: Ashdown to lead Britain's third party
03 Dec
1988: Egg industry fury over salmonella claim
05 Dec
1989: Thatcher beats off leadership rival
20 Jun
1990: Major proposes new Euro currency
08 Oct
1990: Britain's first full day in ERM
01 Nov
1990: Howe resigns over Europe policy
22 Nov
1990: Thatcher quits as prime minister
27 Nov
1990: Tories choose Major for Number 10
28 Nov
1990: Tearful farewell from Iron Lady
28 Jun
1991: Thatcher to retire from Commons
11 Jul
1991: Anti-poll tax MP jailed
22 Jul
1991: Citizen's charter promises better services
27 Apr
1992: Betty Boothroyd is new Speaker
30 Jun
1992: Thatcher takes her place in Lords
13 Apr
1992: Labour's Neil Kinnock resigns
24 Sep
1992: Mellor resigns over sex scandal
26 Apr
1993: Recession over - it's official
24 Jun
1993: Minister resigns over business links
08 Feb
1994: Police probe MP's suspicious death
12 May
1994: Labour leader John Smith dies at 55
21 Jul
1994: Labour chooses Blair
04 Jul
1995: Major wins Conservative leadership
12 Jun
1997: Straw to reconsider Bulger killers' fate
19 Jul
1997: IRA declares ceasefire
18 Dec
1997: Dawn of Scottish parliament
19 Dec
1997: Tory leader weds
24 Dec
1997: Minister's son arrested in drug probe
10 May
1998: Sinn Fein backs peace deal
08 Jun
1999: Liar Aitken jailed for 18 months
07 Jan
2000: Aitken freed from prison early
26 Apr
2000: Minister sees immigrants captured
04 May
2000: Ken Livingstone voted London mayor
20 May
2000: Blairs' delight at birth of fourth child
07 Jun
2000: Blair 'handbagged' by the WI
03 Jul
2000: Livingstone to take on government
24 Jan
2001: Mandelson resigns - again
16 May
2001: Prescott punches protester
13 Sep
2001: Duncan Smith is new Tory leader
29 Oct
2003: Tory Party leader resigns
18 Nov
2003: High security as Bush visits UK
15 Dec
2004: Blunkett resigns over visa accusations
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