Leonard James Callaghan Baron Callaghan of Cardiff

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Callaghan, Leonard James, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff (b. 27 Mar. 1912, d. 26 Mar. 2005). British Prime Minister 1976–9 Born in Portsmouth, he grew up there, and worked as a clerk in the Inland Revenue before joining the Royal Navy during World War II. He was elected as Labour Party MP for Cardiff South in 1945, and became Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Transport in 1947. In opposition, he gained experience of a variety of issues, first shadowing foreign affairs, then becoming Labour's Treasury spokesperson. He lost the 1963 leadership election to Wilson, who made him Chancellor of the Exchequer (1964–7) in his government. Faced with strong pressure on the pound, he implemented policies such as the creation of a prices and incomes board, cuts in public spending, and, finally in 1967, the devaluation of the pound. In the wake of this humiliating measure, he became Foreign Secretary (1967–70), where he had to deal with the emerging IRA violence in Northern Ireland, and calls for immigration restrictions (immigration legislation (UK)).

After Labour's return to power in 1974 Callaghan became Foreign Secretary, and in 1976 succeeded Wilson as Prime Minister. He was handicapped by the lack of an overall majority, economic recession caused by the 1973 oil-price shock, and his unwillingness (and inability) to overcome trade-union hostility to his economic austerity measures. The disastrous outcomes of the referendums on Scottish and Welsh devolution respectively triggered a successful vote of no confidence in Parliament in March 1979, which was followed by a general election. However, it was the large-scale trade-union strikes of 1978–9, popularly remembered as the ‘Winter of Discontent’, that destroyed the party's popular image and foiled its political prospects for over a decade. His party was routed at the 1979 general elections, and he resigned as party leader in 1980.

Leonard James Callaghan Callaghan of Cardiff, Baron 1912–2005, British statesman. He was first elected to Parliament as a Labour member in 1945. As chancellor of the exchequer (1964–67), he introduced extremely controversial taxation policies, including employment taxes; he resigned when he was forced to accept devaluation of the pound. Prime Minister Harold Wilson then appointed him home secretary (1967–70), and in that post he ordered British troops into Northern Ireland to deal with the rising violence there. Callaghan also served as foreign secretary (1974–76). He succeeded Wilson when the latter resigned as prime minister in 1976. Callaghan was by nature a moderate man, but his government was plagued by inflation, unemployment, and its inability to restrain trade unions' wage demands, and foundered after a series of paralyzing labor strikes in the winter of 1978–79. In the elections later in 1979, the Labour party lost to the Conservatives, led by Margaret Thatcher . Callaghan resigned as party leader in 1980 and was created a life peer in 1987.

Bibliography: See his autobiography Time and Chance (1987); biography by B. Donoughue, Prime Minister (1987).

Callaghan, (Leonard) James, Baron (1912– ) British statesman, prime minister (1976–79). Callaghan entered Parliament in 1945, and succeeded Harold Wilson as Labour Party leader in 1976. He is the only prime minister in British history to have held all three major offices of state: chancellor of the exchequer (1964–67), home secretary (1967–70) and foreign secretary (1974–76). Callaghan also has the dubious distinction of being only the second post-war prime minister never to have won a general election. His tenure was marked by delicate negotiations with David Steel in the Lib-Lab Pact, and strife with the trade unions which culminated in the ‘winter of discontent’. He was defeated by Margaret Thatcher in the 1979 general election and became a life peer in 1987.

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Callaghan, (Leonard) James, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff (1912–2005) British Labour statesman, Prime Minister (1976–79). He became Prime Minister following Harold Wilson's resignation; the leader of a minority government, he was forced in 1977 to negotiate an agreement with the Liberal Party (known as the Lib-Lab Pact) to stay in power. After widespread strikes in the so-called ‘winter of discontent’ (1978–79), Callaghan received a vote of no confidence; the Labour Party was defeated by the Conservatives in the subsequent election.