Editing James Callaghan (section)

{{short description|Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979}}
{{redirect|Jim Callaghan||James Callaghan (disambiguation)}}
{{Use British English|date=November 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]
| name             = The Lord Callaghan of Cardiff
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KG|PC}}
| image            = James Callaghan (1975).jpg
| alt              = Callaghan, 63, in a monochrome photograph
| caption          = Callaghan in 1975
| office           = [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom]]
| monarch          = [[Elizabeth II]]
| term_start       = 5 April 1976
| term_end         = 4 May 1979
| predecessor      = [[Harold Wilson]]
| successor        = [[Margaret Thatcher]]
| office1          = [[Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom)|Leader of the Opposition]]
| monarch1         = Elizabeth II
| primeminister1   = Margaret Thatcher
| term_start1      = 4 May 1979
| term_end1        = 10 November 1980
| predecessor1     = Margaret Thatcher
| successor1       = [[Michael Foot]]
| office2          = [[Leader of the Labour Party (UK)|Leader of the Labour Party]]
| deputy2          = Michael Foot
| term_start2      = 5 April 1976
| term_end2        = 10 November 1980
| predecessor2     = Harold Wilson
| successor2       = Michael Foot
| office3          = [[Foreign Secretary (United Kingdom)|Foreign Secretary]]
| primeminister3   = Harold Wilson
| term_start3      = 5 March 1974
| term_end3        = 8 April 1976
| predecessor3     = [[Alec Douglas-Home]]
| successor3       = [[Anthony Crosland]]
| office4          = [[Home Secretary]]
| primeminister4   = Harold Wilson
| term_start4      = 30 November 1967
| term_end4        = 19 June 1970
| predecessor4     = [[Roy Jenkins]]
| successor4       = [[Reginald Maudling]]
| office5          = [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]]
| primeminister5   = Harold Wilson
| term_start5      = 16 October 1964
| term_end5        = 30 November 1967
| predecessor5     = Reginald Maudling
| successor5       = Roy Jenkins
{{collapsed infobox section begin
| cont             = yes
| [[Shadow cabinet]] offices
| titlestyle       = border:1px dashed lightgrey}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| embed            = yes
| title            = [[Shadow Secretary of State]]
| subterm1         = 1970–1971
| suboffice1       = [[Shadow Home Secretary|Home Department]]
| subterm2         = 1971–1972
| suboffice2       = [[Shadow Secretary of State for Employment|Employment]]
| subterm3         = 1972–1974
| suboffice3       = [[Shadow Foreign Secretary|Foreign and Commonwealth&nbsp;Affairs]]
| office4          = [[Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer]]
| leader4          = {{plainlist|
* [[Hugh Gaitskell]]
* [[George Brown, Baron George-Brown|George Brown]] (acting)
* Harold Wilson
}}
| term_start4      = 2 November 1961
| term_end4        = 16 October 1964
| predecessor4     = Harold Wilson
| successor4       = Reginald Maudling
{{collapsed infobox section end}}
}}
{{collapsed infobox section begin
| cont             = yes
| Junior ministerial offices
| titlestyle       = border:1px dashed lightgrey}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| embed            = yes
| title            = [[Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State]]
| subterm          = 1947–1950
| suboffice        = [[Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport|Ministry of Transport]]
| subterm1         = 1950–1951
| suboffice1       = [[Parliamentary and Financial Secretary to the Admiralty|Admiralty]]
{{collapsed infobox section end}}
}}
{{collapsed infobox section begin
| last             = yes
| Parliamentary offices
| titlestyle       = border:1px dashed lightgrey}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| embed            = yes
| office           = [[Member of the House of Lords]]
| status           = [[Lord Temporal]]
| term_label       = [[Life peer]]age
| term_start       = 5 November 1987
| term_end         = 26 March 2005
| office1          = [[Father of the House (United Kingdom)|Father of the House of Commons]]
| term_start1      = 9 June 1983
| term_end1        = 18 May 1987
| predecessor1     = [[John Parker (Labour politician)|John Parker]]
| successor1       = [[Bernard Braine]]
| parliament2      = United Kingdom
| constituency_MP2 = [[Cardiff South and Penarth (UK Parliament constituency)|Cardiff South and Penarth]]
| prior_term2      = {{cslist|[[Cardiff South East]] (1950–1983)|[[Cardiff South (UK Parliament constituency)|Cardiff South]] (1945–1950)}}
| term_start2      = 5 July 1945
| term_end2        = 18 May 1987
| predecessor2     = [[Arthur Evans (politician)|Arthur Evans]]
| successor2       = [[Alun Michael]]
{{collapsed infobox section end}}
}}
| birth_name       = Leonard James Callaghan
| birth_date       = {{birth date|1912|3|27|df=y}}
| birth_place      = [[Portsmouth]], Hampshire, England
| death_date       = {{death date and age|2005|3|26|1912|3|27|df=y}}
| death_place      = [[Ringmer]], East Sussex, England
| party            = [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]]
| spouse           = {{marriage|[[Audrey Moulton]]|28 July 1938|15 March 2005|reason=died}}
| children         = 3, including [[Margaret Jay]]
| education        = [[Mayfield School, Portsmouth|Portsmouth Northern Secondary School]]
| signature        = Signature of James Callaghan.png
| allegiance       = <!-- United Kingdom -->
| branch           = [[Royal Navy]]
| rank             = [[Sub-lieutenant]]
| battles          = Second World War
}}
{{James Callaghan sidebar}}
'''Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|æ|l|ə|h|æ|n|audio=En-Leonard-James-Callaghan.oga}} {{respell|KAL|ə|han}}; 27 March 1912{{spaced ndash}}26 March 2005) was a British statesman<ref>{{cite web |title=James Callaghan |url=https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commemorations/commemorations/james-callaghan}}</ref> and [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] politician who served as [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom]] from 1976 to 1979 and [[Leader of the Labour Party (UK)|Leader of the Labour Party]] from 1976 to 1980. Callaghan is the only person to have held all four [[Great Offices of State]], having also served as [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]] from 1964 to 1967, [[Home Secretary]] from 1967 to 1970 and [[Foreign Secretary (United Kingdom)|Foreign Secretary]] from 1974 to 1976. He was a [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP) from 1945 to 1987.

Born into a working-class family in [[Portsmouth]], Callaghan left school early and began his career as a tax inspector, before becoming a trade union official in the 1930s. He served as a [[Lieutenant (navy)|lieutenant]] in the [[Royal Navy]] during the Second World War. He was elected to [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]] at the [[1945 United Kingdom general election|1945 election]], and was regarded as being on the left wing of the Labour Party. He was appointed to the [[Attlee government]] as a [[parliamentary secretary]] in 1947, and began to move increasingly towards the right wing of the Labour Party, while maintaining his reputation as a "Keeper of the Cloth Cap"{{spaced ndash}}that is, seen as maintaining close ties between Labour and the trade unions. Following Labour's defeat at the [[1951 United Kingdom general election|1951 election]], Callaghan increasingly became regarded as a leader of the right wing of the Labour Party, and stood for the positions of deputy leader in [[1960 Labour Party deputy leadership election|1960]] and for leader in [[1963 Labour Party leadership election (UK)|1963]], but was defeated by [[George Brown, Baron George-Brown|George Brown]] for the former and [[Harold Wilson]] for the latter.

Following Labour's victory at the [[1964 United Kingdom general election|1964 election]], Wilson appointed Callaghan as Chancellor of the Exchequer; this appointment coincided with a turbulent period for the British economy, during which Callaghan had to tackle both a chronic [[balance of payments]] deficit and various [[speculative attack]]s on the [[pound sterling]], with its exchange rate to other currencies being fixed by the [[Bretton Woods system]]. On 18 November 1967, having initially denied that it would do so, the Government [[1967 sterling devaluation|devalued the pound sterling]]. In the wake of the decision, Wilson moved Callaghan to the role of Home Secretary. During this time, Callaghan was responsible for overseeing the [[Operation Banner|operations of the British Army]] to support the [[Royal Ulster Constabulary|police in Northern Ireland]], following a request from the [[O'Neill ministry|Northern Ireland government]]. Callaghan remained in the [[Second Shadow Cabinet of Harold Wilson|Shadow Cabinet]] during Labour's period in Opposition from 1970 to 1974; upon Labour's victory at the [[February 1974 United Kingdom general election|1974 election]], Wilson appointed Callaghan as Foreign Secretary. Callaghan was responsible for renegotiating the terms of Britain's membership of the [[European Communities]] (EC), and strongly supported the successful "Yes" vote campaign in the [[1975 United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum|1975 referendum]], which confirmed the UK's membership of the EC.

When Wilson suddenly announced his retirement in March 1976, Callaghan [[1976 Labour Party leadership election|defeated five other candidates]] to be elected Leader of the Labour Party; he was appointed prime minister on 5 April 1976. Labour had won a narrow majority in the House of Commons at the October 1974 election but, through by-election defeats, had lost this by the time Callaghan became prime minister; and several by-election defeats and defections in his early months of power forced him to strike a [[confidence and supply agreement]] with the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]]. This had ended by the time of significant industrial disputes and widespread strikes in the 1978–79 "[[Winter of Discontent]]" – which, followed by the defeat of the [[1979 Scottish devolution referendum|referendum on devolution for Scotland]], led to minor parties joining with the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] to pass a [[1979 vote of no confidence in the Callaghan ministry|motion of no-confidence]] in Callaghan on 28 March 1979. Although remaining personally popular in opinion polls, he led Labour to defeat at the [[1979 United Kingdom general election|1979 election]] and was replaced by Conservative [[Margaret Thatcher]]. The 1979 defeat marked the beginning of 18 years in opposition for the Labour Party, the longest in its history.

Callaghan served as Labour leader and [[Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom)|Leader of the Opposition]] until November 1980. He attempted to reform the process by which Labour elected its leader. After leaving the leadership he returned to the backbenches, and between 1983 and 1987 was [[Father of the House (United Kingdom)|Father of the House of Commons]]. On retiring from the Commons in 1987, he was elevated to the [[House of Lords]] as Baron Callaghan of Cardiff. He died in 2005 at the age of 92, and remains to date the UK's [[List of prime ministers of the United Kingdom by age|longest-lived former prime minister]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Sherrin |first=Richard |date=22 September 2021 |title=10 Facts About James Callaghan |url=https://www.historyhit.com/facts-about-james-callaghan/?utm_source=chatgpt.com |url-status=dead |access-date=25 January 2025 |website=History Hit |language=en-GB |quote=Callaghan went on to become the longest living Prime Minister in history. He died on 26 March 2005, aged 92.}}</ref> He is the most recent prime minister to have served in the [[British Armed Forces]] and the only prime minister to have served in the [[Royal Navy]].<ref name= "UK Parliament">{{Cite web |title=James Callaghan, Lord Callaghan of Cardiff |url=https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/private-lives/yourcountry/collections/collections-second-world-war/parliamentarians-and-people/james-callaghan/?utm_source=chatgpt.com |access-date=25 January 2025 |website=www.parliament.uk |language=en |quote=When he became Prime Minister in 1976, he became the last armed forces veteran to enter that office and the only Prime Minister who served in the Royal Navy.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=27 March 2005 |title=Kindness and candour |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2005/mar/28/labour.obituaries1?utm_source=chatgpt.com |access-date=25 January 2025 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077 |quote=He saw war service, the last British prime minister to do so, volunteering for the navy, in which his father had served.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Stewart |first=Graham |date=25 November 2020 |title=Britain's last conservative prime minister |url=https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/december-2020/britains-last-conservative-prime-minister/?utm_source=chatgpt.com |access-date=25 January 2025 |website=The Critic Magazine |language=en-GB |quote=He was the last prime minister of Great Britain to have served in her armed forces.}}</ref> He is also the only person, to date, to have held all four of the Great Offices of State.<ref name=":0" />