Callaghan of Cardiff, James Callaghan, Baron

▪ 2006

      British politician (b. March 27, 1912, Portsmouth, Hampshire, Eng.—d. March 26, 2005, Ringmer, East Sussex, Eng.), was the only person to hold the four highest offices in the United Kingdom—chancellor of the Exchequer (1964–67), home secretary (1967–70), foreign secretary (1974–76), and prime minister (1976–79)—but he was perhaps best remembered for the “Winter of Discontent” (1978–79), a period of high unemployment and massive trade-union strikes that brought the country to a standstill and ultimately toppled his government. Callaghan, who left school at age 17, became a full-time trade-union official in the mid-1930s. In 1945 he entered Parliament as a member of the Labour Party, and when Labour came to power in 1964 he joined the government. As chancellor of the Exchequer, he repeatedly resisted devaluing the pound but was compelled to do so in 1967 and subsequently resigned. Callaghan enjoyed greater success as home secretary, earning particular praise for his handling of unrest in Northern Ireland. As foreign secretary he negotiated the U.K.'s continued membership in the European Economic Community (now the European Union). After succeeding Harold Wilson as prime minister in 1976, Callaghan faced high inflation, a tight budget, and union unrest. Objections concerning pay constraints helped trigger a series of strikes in 1978–79. Callaghan was denounced for his failure to rein in the industrial actions and for his apparently cavalier attitude to the growing chaos, including understaffed hospitals and streets filled with uncollected garbage. In March 1979 his government narrowly lost a no-confidence vote, and at the subsequent general elections in May, Labour was defeated by the Conservative Party led by Margaret Thatcher. Callaghan resigned the Labour leadership in 1980 but remained active in politics. He was made a life peer in 1987.

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