Jim Callaghan

Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, (27 March 1912 – 26 March 2005), often known as Jim Callaghan, was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1976 to 1980. Callaghan is to date, the only British politician in history to have served in all four of the Great Offices of State, having been Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1964–67, Home Secretary from 1967-70, and Foreign Secretary from 1974, until his appointment as Prime Minister in 1976. As Prime Minister, he had some successes, but is mainly remembered for the Winter of Discontent of 1978–79. During a very cold winter, his battle with trade unions led to massive strikes that seriously inconvenienced the public, leading to his defeat in the polls by Conservative leader Margaret Thatcher.Upon entering the House of Commons in 1945, he was on the left-wing of the party. Callaghan steadily moved towards the right, but maintained his reputation as The Keeper of the Cloth Cap – that is he was seen as dedicated to maintaining close ties between the Labour Party and the trade unions. Callaghans period as Chancellor of the Exchequer coincided with a turbulent period for the British economy, during which he had to wrestle with a balance of payments deficit and speculative attacks on the pound sterling (its exchange rate to other currencies was almost fixed by the Bretton Woods system). On 18 November 1967, the government devalued the pound sterling. Callaghan became Home Secretary. He sent the British Army to support the police in Northern Ireland, after a request from the Northern Ireland Government.After Labour were defeated at the 1970 general election, Callaghan played a key role in the Shadow Cabinet. He became Foreign Secretary in 1974, taking responsibility for renegotiating the terms of the UKs membership of the European Economic Community, and supporting a Yes vote in the 1975 referendum to remain in the EEC. When Prime Minister Harold Wilson resigned in 1976, Callaghan defeated five other candidates to be elected as his replacement. Labour had already lost its narrow majority in the House of Commons by the time he became Prime Minister, and further by-election defeats and defections forced Callaghan to deal with minor parties such as the Liberal Party, particularly in the Lib–Lab pact from 1977 to 1978. Industrial disputes and widespread strikes in the 1978 Winter of Discontent made Callaghans government unpopular, and the defeat of the referendum on devolution for Scotland led to the successful passage of a motion of no confidence on 28 March 1979. This was followed by a defeat at the ensuing general election.Callaghan remained as Leader of the Labour Party until November 1980, to reform the process by which the party elected its leader, before returning to the backbenches where he remained until he was made a life peer as Baron Callaghan of Cardiff.

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