September 2006 in Britain and Ireland

• In Ireland the controversy continues over payments by businessmen friends to Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Bertie Ahern in 1993 when he was Minister for Finance; it has come to light that the largest of the payments was drawn on a company cheque. (Irish Times) (RTÉ)

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• Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond leaves Leeds General Infirmary for an undisclosed hospital near his home to recuperate after major car crash whilst filming the week before. (AFP via News Limited)

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• Tony Blair makes his final Labour Party conference speech as leader in Manchester. (Sydney Morning Herald)

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• BBC TV's Richard Hammond is released from intensive care following a serious crash whilst filming for Top Gear. Hammond has been listed as stable. Doctors are monitoring his progress. (Sky News) (Wikinews)
• A Virgin Pendolino train sets a new record for travelling from Glasgow to London in under four hours.(BBC)

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• A corporal in the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment becomes the first British soldier to confess to committing a war crime in Iraq, after admitting inhumane treatment of civilians, at a court martial. (BBC)
• Bolton Wanderers manager Sam Allardyce, and his son Craig are implicated in a BBC Panorama documentary for taking "bungs" (backhanders) from agents for signing certain players. Allardyce denies the allegations. (BBC)

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• New laws come into force across England, Wales and Scotland making the use of child seats in cars compulsory for all children under the age of 12 who are less than 4ft 5in (135cm) tall. (BBC)

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• The fourth Liverpool Biennial international art festival begins, lasting for ten weeks. (Liverpool Daily Post) (Wikinews)

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• Hundreds of firearms are seized in raids by Metropolitan Police on three houses in Dartford, Kent. (BBC) (Wikinews)
• The charity DrugScope publishes a study of [...] abuse in the UK, highlighting an increase in "speedballing" i.e. taking [...] and crack [...] together. (BBC)

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• Tony Blair faces protests as he visits Beirut to meet with the Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. (Independent) (BBC)

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• A 15-year-old boy is shot and killed in Moss Side, Manchester. (BBC)
• Hinckley United footballer Matt Gadsby, 27, dies after collapsing during a match. (Reuters)
• BBC's The Proms 'Last Night at the Proms' took place at Royal Albert Hall in London. The proms were simulcasted to cities across the United Kingdom like Glasgow, Swansea, Belfast, Manchester and London's Hyde Park. More than 100,000 people attended the festival in London and elsewhere. The proms are currently in their 112th season. (BBC)

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• Former Home Secretary Charles Clarke criticises Gordon Brown's recent behaviour as "absolutely stupid", and questions his fitness to become prime minister. (BBC)

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• Tony Blair announces that he will step down as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom within 12 months but declines to give an exact date for his departure. (BBC) (Wikinews)
• Mary Harney, Ireland's first female Tánaiste, announces that she is stepping down as leader of the Progressive Democrats. (RTE) (Wikinews)

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• Junior defence minister Tom Watson and six Parliamentary Private Secretaries (Khalid Mahmood, Wayne David, Ian Lucas, Mark Tami, Chris Mole and David Wright) resign over Tony Blair's continuing refusal to declare when he will step down. {BBC) (Guardian) (Wikinews)
• A British soldier is killed and six others injured by a landmine in Helmand, Afghanistan. (Reuters) (Guardian)

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• Ian Huntley, serving two life terms for the Soham murders, is found unconscious in his cell at Wakefield Prison after a suspected [...] overdose. (BBC)
• Arctic Monkeys win the 2006 Mercury Music Prize for their album Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not. (BBC)

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• A British soldier is among those killed in a [...] bomb attack in Afghanistan. Another soldier is injured. (BBC) (Wikinews)
• Two British soldiers are killed in a [...] bomb attack near Basra, Iraq. (BBC) (Wikinews)
• A lone gunman shoots and kills a British tourist and wounds six others in Amman, Jordan. The gunman is arrested and police are investigating if the gunman belongs to any groups. (Reuters) (Wikinews)

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• Artist Banksy replaces 500 copies of Paris Hilton's debut album in 48 different UK record stores with his own parodical remixes and cover art. (BBC)

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• In Afghanistan, 14 British armed forces personnel are killed after their aircraft crashes in Kandahar. (BBC) (Wikinews)
• British police hold 14 men after overnight anti-[...] raids on locations in south and east London including one restaurant. (Boston Globe), (BBC)

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• The missing Scottish schoolgirl Misbah Rana (also known as Molly Campbell) tells a news conference in Pakistan that she left her home in Scotland of her own free will and that she wishes to remain in Pakistan with her father. (BBC)
• Blackpool Illuminations are switched on by Dale Winton. (BBC)

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