11 January – As the recession deepens, 335 employees at the Peugeot car factory in Coventry are made redundant, while Ford is looking for up to 1,000 voluntary redundancies at its British factories. Thousands of jobs in the financial services sector are reportedly at threat, as the total UK unemployment figure is currently standing at nearly 1,800,000, but is expected to rise to well over 2,000,000 by the end of the year.
17 January – The Gulf War begins, as the Royal Air Force joins Allied aircraft in bombing raids on Iraq.[5]
18 January – In spite of the deepening recession, the Conservatives have climbed back to the top of the opinion polls, a MORI poll placing them five points ahead of Labour on 46%.[6]
19 January – It is announced that unemployment has reached more than 1.8 million, and experts warn that the figure will exceed 2 million later this year.
29 January – John Major resists calls from the Labour Party for interest rates to be cut, in a bid to combat the recession.
25 February – Alan Green, Director of Public Prosecution, announces that the Birmingham Six could soon be free from prison after seventeen years as their convictions for terrorism and mass murder are no longer considered safe and satisfactory.[7]
10 March – The UK reportedly has the fastest pace in rising unemployment of all the European Community countries.
14 March – The Birmingham Six are freed after the Court of Appeal quashes their convictions over the 1974 pub bombings in Birmingham which killed 21 people and injured more than 160 others.[9]
15 March – Unemployment is now above 2,000,000 for the first time in two years. The number of British workers employed in the manufacturing industry has fallen below 5,000,000 for the first time since records began.
19 March – Norman Lamont predicts 2% economic contraction for this year.
21 March – Education Secretary Kenneth Clarke announces plans to remove further education and sixth form colleges from local authority control.
28 March – An inquest in Sheffield into the Hillsborough disaster records a verdict of accidental death on the 95 people who died as a result of the tragedy in 1989. Many of the victims' families criticise the verdict in open court, as many of them had been hoping for a verdict of unlawful killing (which is eventually obtained in 2016), or an open verdict, and for criminal charges to be brought against the police officers who patrolled the game.[11]
3 April – Novelist Graham Greene dies aged 86 at his home in Vevey, Switzerland.
4 April
Social services in the Orkney Islands are criticised for their handling of more than 100 children who have returned to their families after being taken away over allegations of child abuse.[12]
The Neath by-election in Wales, caused by the death of Labour MP Donald Coleman on 14 January, is held; Labour retains the seat, with the candidate, Peter Hain, receiving more than half of the vote.
8 April – The Football Association announces plans for a new "super league" of eighteen clubs to replace the Football League First Division as the highest division of English football. The move is attacked by smaller Football League clubs, who fear that they could go out of business if TV revenue was confined to the proposed super league.
18 April – Despite the continuing recession, the Conservatives are still top of the opinion polls as the latest MORI poll puts them two points ahead of Labour on 42%. The Liberal Democrats have trebled their showing in the last fifteen months, now gaining 15% of the vote.[6]
Tottenham Hotspur win the FA Cup for a record eighth time with a 2–1 win over Nottingham Forest. Midfielder Paul Gascoigne, a multimillion-pound transfer target for Italian side Lazio, suffers cruciate knee ligament damage early in the game and is not expected to play again in 1991.
21 May – South Wales, which has some of the worst unemployment rates in Britain, receives a boost when the go-ahead is given for Japanese electrical company Sony to build a new factory in Bridgend that will create 1,400 jobs when it opens in 1993.
22 May – Nearly six months after the breakthrough in the Channel Tunnel service tunnel, the breakthrough in the North rail tunnel is achieved. On the same day, road links to the British terminal are improved when the final section of the M20 motorway is opened between Maidstone and Ashford, meaning that the tunnel's unbroken motorway link with London has already been completed an estimated three years before the first trains move between Britain and France.[15][16]
24 May
Labour tops a MORI poll for the first time this year, as they stand six points ahead of the Conservatives on 43%.[6]
29 May – Economists warn that the economy is still in an "exceptionally steep" recession and that it could be another year before the first real signs of recovery become visible.
June
June – Kia, the Korean car company, begin importing cars to the United Kingdom for the first time, initially it will only import the Pride (a rebadged version of the Japanese Mazda 121), but at least one further model is expected to join it by 1994.[18]
25 June – Nissan, the Japanese carmaker with a plant atSunderland, starts "price wars" by reducing the cost of its cars in order to boost flagging sales brought on by the recession.
28 June
Seven months after her resignation as Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher announces that she will stand down as a Member of parliament at the next general election, which has to be held within the next twelve months.[22]
The final breakthrough in the Channel Tunnel is achieved when the last section of clay in the South rail tunnel is bored away.[16]
July
July
South African-produced cars are imported to Britain for the first time, with the launch of the Sao Penza, a rebadged version of the Mazda 323. However, the brand and the car is not a success and imports end just 2 years later.[23]
Production of the Vauxhall Belmont compact saloon ends ahead of the launch of the third generation Astra range of hatchbacks and estates which goes the sale in the Autumn with saloon and convertible models arriving later.
3 July – Michael Shorey is convicted at the Old Bailey of the July 1990 murders of Elaine Forsyth and Patricia Morrison, two estate agents with whom he shared a basement flat in north London. He is sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment. The former EastEnders actress Sandy Ratcliff, who provided Shorey with an alibi on the night of the murders, is subsequently convicted of perjury.[24]
8 July – Two suspected IRA terrorists shoot their way out of Brixton Prison in London.
11 July – Labour MP, Terry Fields, joins the list of people jailed for refusal to pay the poll tax after he receives a sixty-day prison sentence. He is the first MP to be jailed for refusing to pay the controversial tax which was introduced early last year.[26]
16 July – A government survey of children's school reading reveals that Roald Dahl, who died eight months earlier, has now overtaken Enid Blyton as the most popular author of children's books.
18 July – Economists warn that unemployment will reach 3,000,000 people (a level not seen since early-1987) by the end of next year.
19 July – Dean Saunders becomes the most expensive footballer to be signed by an English club when he joins Liverpool in a £2.9million transfer from Derby County.
21 July – Motor racing driver Paul Warwick, 21, is killed when his car crashes into a barrier during the fifth Formula 3000 race at Oulton Park.
23 July – The Ministry of Defence proposes the merger of 22 army regiments as part of a general reform programme.[8]
12 August – The Times reports that every job vacancy is being chased by 22 applicants.
16 August – The Bank of England declares that the worst of the current recession is now over.
23 August – Growing confidence over economic recovery has helped boost the Conservative government's popularity, as they return to the top of the MORI poll with a two-point lead over Labour putting them on 42%.[6]
Rioting breaks out on the Ely council estate in Cardiff.[28]
September
September – Gordon Roddick and A. John Bird launch The Big Issue, a then-monthly magazine to be sold by homeless people in response to growing number of rough sleepers on the streets of London.[29]
9 September – Rioting breaks out on the Meadow Well council estate on Tyneside, with local youths attacking police officers following the recent death of two local teenagers in a police pursuit. Racially motivated attacks on Asian owned shops also involve looting and arson.
12 September – Unemployment has hit 2,400,000 – the highest level since the spring of 1988 – completing a 50% rise in just over a year. However, the rate of rising unemployment is slowing down and retail sales are improving.
13 September – Further rioting breaks out in Tyneside.
17 September – Neil Kinnock hits out at claims that he is to blame for his party falling behind in the opinion polls, sparking speculation that John Major will call a general election within the next two months.
25 September – Kidnappers in Beirut release elderly hostage Jackie Mann after over two years in captivity.[8]
October
October – Vauxhall launches the third generation of its popular Astra with hatchback and estate models with the saloon and convertible models arriving later.
2 October – Just over two weeks after Neil Kinnock was damned by a poll as a "liability" to the Labour Party, the leader and his MPs are celebrating after they overtake the Conservatives by two points in the opinion polls.
11 October – John Major outlines his vision of a "classless" Britain at a Conservative Party conference at Blackpool, where his predecessor Margaret Thatcher voices her support for him.
16 October – The ITV franchise auction results are announced and many notable names will go off the air, including Thames Television, TVS, TSW, TV-am and ORACLE Teletext. The changes will take effect at midnight on 1 January 1993.
17 October – The smallest monthly rise in unemployment since last November is cited by the government as an "unmistakable" sign that the recession is drawing to a close.
18 October – Labour's hopes of election success are boosted by the latest MORI poll, which shows them six points ahead of the Conservatives on 45%.[32]
23 October – In the legal case of R v R decided on appeal, the Law Lords unanimously decide that spousal rape is a crime in England and Wales, overturning the principle established by Chief Justice Hale in 1736.[34]
29 October – Hopes that the recession is drawing to a close are boosted by CBI findings, which show that manufacturers are now more optimistic than at any time in the past three years.
5 November – Robert Maxwell, owner of numerous business interests including the Daily Mirror newspaper, is found dead off the coast of Tenerife; his cause of death is unconfirmed, but reports suggest that he has committed suicide.[37]
9 November – First ever controlled and substantial production of fusion energy achieved at the Joint European Torus in Oxford.[38]
15 November – Britain's hopes of economic recovery are dealt with a major blow when shares on the Wall StreetStock Exchange fall by 120 points.
16 November – Two IRA bombers die in St Albans, Hertfordshire, when a bomb explodes prematurely.
18 November – Terry Waite, a British hostage held in Lebanon, is freed after four-and-a-half years in captivity.[39]
22–23 November – The Communist Party of Great Britain votes to abandon its Marxist-Leninist constitution and reform itself as Democratic Left.[40]
23 November – Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of rock band Queen, announces that he is suffering from AIDS, following lengthy media speculation about his health.
24 November – Freddie Mercury dies aged 45 at his home in London, just 24 hours after going public with the news that he was suffering from AIDS.[41]
25 November – The Court of Appeal quashes the convictions of Winston Silcott, Engin Raghip and Mark Braithwaite, for the murder of PC Keith Blakelock in the Broadwater Farm riot at Tottenham, North London, six years ago. Raghip and Braithwaite are released from prison, but Silcott remains imprisoned for a separate murder.
Freddie Mercury is cremated after a funeral service held at West London Crematorium.[43]
The government announces that joyriders who are found guilty should face a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment as well as unlimited fines and unlimited automatic driving bans. Joyriding has recently surged across Britain, with almost all of those involved being children and teenagers.[44]
1 December – Thousands of British shops, including retail giants Asda and Tesco, defy trading laws, and open their doors on a Sunday in a bid to boost trade that has been badly hit by the ongoing recession.
5 December – The Robert Maxwell business empire goes into receivership with debts in excess of £1,000,000,000, exactly one month after Robert Maxwell's death. The Daily Mirror reports that Maxwell had wrongly removed £350,000,000 from its pension fund shortly before he died.[45]
10 December – Ronald Coase wins the Nobel Prize in Economics "for his discovery and clarification of the significance of transaction costs and property rights for the institutional structure and functioning of the economy".[47]
12–15 December – Concentration of vehicle exhausts in London causes an estimated 160 deaths.[48]
19 December – Unemployment is now above 2,500,000 for the first time since early-1988.[50]
23 December – Bohemian Rhapsody returns to the top of the British singles charts after sixteen years, with the proceeds from the rerelease being donated to the Terence Higgins Trust.
27 December – The last MORI poll of 1991 shows that Labour are six points ahead of the Conservatives with 44% of the vote.[6]
29 December – A quarterly opinion poll shows that Neil Kinnock and Labour are three points ahead of John Major and the Conservatives, sparking hope for Labour that they will win the next general election (which has to be held within five months) or at least the election will result in a hung parliament for the first time since 1974.
Undated
The economy remains rooted in the recession which began last year.[51]
Despite the deepening recession, inflation has been substantially decreased to 5.9%.[52]
The National Curriculum assessment ("standard attainment tests" or SATs) is first carried out, at Key Stage 1 in primary schools in England.
Scout Groups may admit girls to all their sections.
Despite the onset of the recession and a sharp fall in new car sales (with fewer than 1,600,000 new cars being sold in 1991 compared to the record of more than 2,300,000 in 1989), Nissan Motor Manufacturing UK's car plant at Sunderland returns a profit for the first time, making £18,400,000 this year. It currently only makes the Primera family saloon and hatchbacks there, but from August next year it will be joined by the new version of the smaller Micra.[54]
^Howell, Dan. "@danisnotonfire". Twitter. Archived from the original on 1 October 2013. Retrieved 9 August 2015. thanks to everyone celebrating my 22nd year into the countdown of death!
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