Events from the year '2010 in the United Kingdom Incumbents Monarch – Elizabeth II Prime Minister Gordon Brown (Labour) (until 11 May) David Cameron (Coalition) (starting 11 May) Deputy Prime Minister – Nick Clegg (Coalition) (starting 11 May) Parliament 54th (until 12 April) 55th (starting 25 May) Events January 3 January – Prime Minister Gordon Brown announces that full body scanners will be introduced at UK airports following the failed attack on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on 25 December 2009. 5 January – The country is once again deluged by heavy snowfall as it endures its worst cold spell since the winter of 1981–82. 10 January – The Sunday Mirror defence correspondent Rupert Hamer is killed in an explosion in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence confirms. 12 January – Alastair Campbell, former government advisor, is interviewed by the Chilcot Inquiry, and said he is prepared to defend "every word" of the September 2002 dossier on Iraq's supposed weapons of mass destruction which led to the invasion of Iraq. 18 January – Following the collapse of strike talks late last year, British Airways cabin crew decides to vote again on possible strike action. 20 January – Unemployment falls for the first time in nearly two years, with the national total for November 2009 dipping by 7,000 to 2,460,000. However, some regions of Britain are still enduring a rise in unemployment, and experts say that the slight reduction in unemployment was largely due to an increase in people taking part-time work and work in occupations largely unrelated to their skills and experience. 26 January – The Office for National Statistics announces that the UK is no longer in recession, with gross domestic product having grown by 0.1%, a weaker rise than many economists had expected. 29 January – Former Prime Minister Tony Blair appears at the Iraq Inquiry and is questioned in public for the first time about his decision to take the United Kingdom to war against Iraq. February 2 February – The Birmingham based confectionery giant Cadbury is taken over by American rival Kraft Foods in an £11.5 billion deal. 3 February – Opinion polls indicate that Labour have reduced the Conservative lead to as little as seven points, increasing the possibility of a hung parliament after the forthcoming general election. 5 February – After a long period of negotiations, the political parties of Northern Ireland, including the Democratic Unionist