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Assassination Of Airey Neave
On 30 March 1979, Airey Neave, British Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, was assassinated by the Irish National Liberation Army with a bomb fixed under his car. The bomb detonated in the car park of the Palace of Westminster in London and mortally wounded Neave, who died shortly after being admitted to hospital. Background The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA), and its political wing the Irish Republican Socialist Party, was formed at a meeting in a Dublin hotel in December 1974. In 1975 it began carrying out a paramilitary campaign in Northern Ireland on British Government facilities and officials with the strategic objective of removing Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom, using the front names of the "People's Liberation Army", and the "Armagh People's Republican Army". Through the 1970s Neave, an influential Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament, had been advocating within British political ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Troubles
The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an "irregular war" or "Low-intensity conflict, low-level war". The conflict began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed to have ended with the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. Although the Troubles mostly took place in Northern Ireland, at times violence spilled over into parts of the Republic of Ireland, England and mainland Europe. The conflict was primarily political and nationalistic, fuelled by historical events. It also had an Ethnic group, ethnic or sectarian dimension but despite use of the terms 'Protestant' and 'Catholic' to refer to the two sides, it was not a Religious war, religious conflict. A key issue was the Partition of Ireland, status of Northern Ireland. Unionism in Ireland, Unionists and Ulster loyalism, loyalists, who for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roy Mason
Roy Mason, Baron Mason of Barnsley, (18 April 1924 – 19 April 2015), was a British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician and Cabinet minister who was Secretary of State for Defence and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in the 1970s. Early life He was born in Royston, South Yorkshire, Royston, West Riding of Yorkshire, on 18 April 1924, and grew up in Carlton, Barnsley, also in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Mason first went down the mines at the age of fourteen and he became a branch official of the National Union of Mineworkers (Great Britain), National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in his early twenties. Aged 26, he studied at the London School of Economics as a mature student on a Trades Union Congress (TUC) scholarship. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1979 United Kingdom General Election
The 1979 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 3 May 1979 to elect 635 members to the British House of Commons. The Conservative Party, led by Margaret Thatcher, ousted the incumbent Labour government of James Callaghan with a parliamentary majority of 44 seats. The election was the first of four consecutive election victories for the Conservative Party, and Thatcher became the United Kingdom's and Europe's first elected female head of government, marking the beginning of 18 years in government for the Conservatives and 18 years in opposition for Labour. Unusually, the date chosen coincided with the 1979 local elections. The local government results provided some source of comfort to the Labour Party, who recovered some lost ground from local election reversals in previous years, despite losing the general election. The parish council elections were pushed back a few weeks. The previous parliamentary term had begun in October 1974, when Harold Wilson led La ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1979 Vote Of No Confidence In The Government Of James Callaghan
A vote of no confidence in the British Labour government of James Callaghan occurred on 28 March 1979. The vote was brought by opposition leader Margaret Thatcher and was lost by the Labour government by one vote (311 votes to 310), which was announced at 10:19 pm. The result mandated a general election which was won by Thatcher's Conservative Party. The last time an election had been forced by the House of Commons was in 1924, when Ramsay MacDonald, the first Labour Prime Minister, lost a vote of confidence. Labour politician Roy Hattersley later remarked that the vote marked "the last rites" of 'old Labour'. Labour did not return to government for another 18 years. The BBC has referred to the vote as "one of the most dramatic nights in Westminster history". Background The general election at the end of February 1974 resulted in a hung parliament where Labour had slightly more seats than any other party but no overall majority. The Conservatives tried to negotiate a c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Norman St John-Stevas
Norman Antony Francis St John-Stevas, Baron St John of Fawsley, ( ; born Norman Panayea St John Stevas; 18 May 1929 – 2 March 2012) was a British Conservative politician, author and barrister. He served as Leader of the House of Commons in the government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher from 1979 to 1981. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Chelmsford from 1964 to 1987, and was made a life peer in 1987. His surname was created by compounding those of his father (Stevas) and mother (St John-O'Connor). Early life Stevas was born in London. His birth certificate specified that his Christian names were Norman Panayea St John, and that his father was Spyro Stevas, a hotel proprietor of Greek origin. His ''Who's Who'' entry specified that his father was Stephen Stevas, an engineer and company director. His mother was Kitty St John O'Connor. His parents divorced, whereupon his mother hyphenated the name St John. He was reputedly closer to his mother than to his father. His older ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Cocks
Michael Francis Lovell Cocks, Baron Cocks of Hartcliffe, PC (19 August 1929 – 26 March 2001) was a British Labour Party politician. He was the member of parliament for Bristol South from 1970 to 1987, and was the Labour Party's chief whip from 1976 to 1985. Early life Cocks was born in Leeds, and was educated at George Watson's College, Edinburgh, and Silcoates School, Wakefield. After obtaining a BSc at Bristol University he became a geography teacher and later lectured at Bristol Polytechnic. Political career Cocks contested Bristol West in 1959 and South Gloucestershire in 1964 and 1966. He was Member of Parliament for Bristol South from 1970 until 1987, after being deselected as a candidate in 1986 and replaced by Dawn Primarolo, in a challenge from the left. During his time in the House of Commons, Cocks served as a Labour whip in government and in opposition, being Chief Whip from 1976 to 1985. Cocks was created a life peer on 6 October 1987, becoming Baron Cocks ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chief Whip Of The Labour Party
The Chief Whip of the Labour Party oversees the whipping system in the party, which is responsible for ensuring that Labour MPs or members of the House of Lords attend and vote in parliament in the desired way of the party leadership. Chief Whips, of which two are appointed in the party, a member of the House of Commons and a member of the House of Lords, also help to organise their party's contribution to parliamentary business. The Chief Whip manages a team of whips, who they may appoint from the Parliamentary Labour Party, to support the work of the whips’ office. The party leadership may allow members to have a free vote, based on their own decision, rather than party policy, which means the chief whip is not required to influence the way members vote. The role of Chief Whip is regarded as secretive, as the Whip is concerned with the discipline of their own party's Members of Parliament. By convention, Chief Whips do not sign early day motions or table questions to Min ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a political party in the United Kingdom that has been described as an alliance of social democrats, democratic socialists and trade unionists. The Labour Party sits on the centre-left of the political spectrum. In all general elections since 1922, Labour has been either the governing party or the Official Opposition. There have been six Labour prime ministers and thirteen Labour ministries. The party holds the annual Labour Party Conference, at which party policy is formulated. The party was founded in 1900, having grown out of the trade union movement and socialist parties of the 19th century. It overtook the Liberal Party to become the main opposition to the Conservative Party in the early 1920s, forming two minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in the 1920s and early 1930s. Labour served in the wartime coalition of 1940–1945, after which Clement Attlee's Labour government established the National Health Service and expanded the welfa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime minister and the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century. As prime minister, she implemented economic policies that became known as Thatcherism. A Soviet journalist dubbed her the "Iron Lady", a nickname that became associated with her uncompromising politics and leadership style. Thatcher studied chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford, and worked briefly as a research chemist, before becoming a barrister. She was List of MPs elected in the 1959 United Kingdom general election, elected Member of Parliament for Finchley (UK Parliament constituency), Finchley in 1959 United Kingdom general election, 1959. Edward Heath appointed her Secretary of State for Education and Science in his H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Starry Plough (newspaper)
''The Starry Plough'' () () is the official newsletter (Initally a newspaper, then a magazine) of the Irish Republican Socialist Party. In 2006 it proclaimed on its website that "The Starry Plough is the only paper that stands firmly against British rule and for the destruction of capitalism in Ireland." The paper also focuses on socialist solidarity issues around the world. History The name of the paper is taken from the flag of the same name. The decision to use the name ''the Starry Plough'' was inspired by a newspaper produced by Official Sinn Féin in Derry City in the early 1970s. Produced by the local branch of Official Sinn Féin in Derry, it was edited by Jackie Ward (who went on to edit ''The United Irishman'') and Joe Sweeney (who sided with the IRSP following the split with the Officials). The suggestion for the IRSP newspaper was made by Derry members to the IRSP Ard Comhairle in early 1975. The Irish translation An Camchéachta was provided by Mairin Bean Ui Chion ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Westminster Hospital
Westminster Hospital was a hospital in London, England, founded in 1719. In 1834 a medical school attached to the hospital was formally founded. In 1939 a newly built hospital and medical school opened in Horseferry Road, Westminster. In 1994 the hospital closed, and its resources were moved to the new Chelsea and Westminster Hospital at the old St Stephen's Hospital site in Fulham Road. History Foundation The Westminster Hospital was established in 1719 as a charitable society "for relieving the sick and needy at the Public Infirmary in Westminster", and promoted by Henry Hoare (1677–1725), otherwise "Good Henry", son of Sir Richard Hoare and a partner in Hoare's Bank, and his associates the writer William Wogan, a vintner called Robert Witham, and the Reverend Patrick Cockburn. In 1719, a house was rented in Petty France, to accommodate the new Infirmary for the Sick and Needy, which opened in 1720 with 10 beds. The following document, which may be styled the firs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Time Bomb
A time bomb (or a timebomb, time-bomb) is a bomb whose detonation is triggered by a timer. The use (or attempted use) of time bombs has been for various purposes including insurance fraud, terrorism, assassination, sabotage and warfare. They are a popular feature in fictional thriller and action films as they offer a way of imparting a dramatic sense of urgency. Construction The explosive charge is the main component of any bomb, and makes up most of the size and weight of it. It is the damaging element of the bomb (along with any fragments or shrapnel the explosion might produce with its container or neighboring objects). The explosive charge is detonated by a detonator. A time bomb's timing mechanism may be professionally manufactured either separately or as part of the device, or it may be improvised from an ordinary household timer such as a wind-up alarm clock, wrist watch, digital kitchen timer, or notebook computer. The timer can be programmed to count up or count do ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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