James Callaghan - Prime Minister

Prime Minister

Callaghan was the only Prime Minister to have held all three leading Cabinet positions – Chancellor of the Exchequer, Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary – prior to becoming Prime Minister.

During his first year in office, Callaghan started what has since become known as 'The Great Debate', when he spoke at Ruskin College, Oxford about the 'legitimate concerns' of a public about education as it took place in the nation's maintained schools. This discussion led to greater involvement of the government, through its ministries, in the curriculum and administration of state education, leading to the eventual introduction of the National Curriculum some ten years later.

Callaghan's time as Prime Minister was dominated by the troubles in running a Government with a minority in the House of Commons: he was forced to make deals with minor parties in order to survive – including the Lib-Lab pact, and he had been forced to accept referendums on devolution in Scotland and Wales (the former went in favour but did not reach the required majority, and the latter went heavily against). He also became prime minister at a time when Britain was suffering from double-digit inflation and rising unemployment. He responded to the economic crises by adopting deflationary policies in order to reduce inflation, and cutting public expenditure – a precursor to the monetarist economic policies that the next government, a Conservative one led by Margaret Thatcher, would pursue in order to ease the crises.

Callaghan and his ministers did, however, introduce a number of reforms during their time in office. The Rent (Agricultural) Act of November 1976 provided security of tenure for agricultural workers in tied accommodation, while the Bail Act introduced that same year reformed bail conditions with courts having to explain refusal of bail. The Police Act of August 1976 set up a Police Complaints Board “to formalise the procedure for dealing with public complaints.” The Education Act of November 1976 limited the taking up of independent and direct-grant school places and required all local authorities who had failed to do so “to submit proposals for comprehensive schools,” while the Housing (Homeless Persons) Act of 1977 extended local authority responsibility “to provide accommodation for homeless people in their area,” and instituted the right of homeless families to a permanent local authority tenancy.

Despite these difficulties, over the summer of 1978 (shortly after the end of the Lib-Lab pact) most opinion polls showed Labour ahead, and the expectation grew that Callaghan would call an autumn election that would have given him a second term in office until autumn 1983.

Famously, he strung along the opposition and was expected to make his declaration of election in a broadcast on 7 September 1978. His decision to put off the election, at the time, seen by many as a sign of his domination of the political scene and he ridiculed his opponents by singing old-time music hall star Vesta Victoria's song "Waiting at the Church" at that month's Trades Union Congress meeting: now seen as one of the greatest moments of hubris in modern British politics, but celebrated at the time. Callaghan intended to convey the message that he had not promised an election, but most observers misread his message as an assertion that he would call an election, and the Conservatives would not be ready for it.