Obituary: James Callaghan

* James Callaghan, former British Prime Minister. Died aged 92.

Lord Callaghan of Cardiff, an affable, self-educated sailor's son, rose from poverty to become Prime Minister in the dying years of consensus politics in postwar Britain.

Callaghan, who entered Parliament as a Labour Party member in 1945, was the only British politician to hold, at different times, the four posts of Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Foreign Secretary and Home Secretary.

Prime Minister Tony Blair described him as "one of the giants of the Labour movement".

"He was one of the generation who fought in the war and came back determined to build a better, fairer and different Britain in peace."

Callaghan succeeded Harold Wilson as PM in April 1976 and governed until May 1979, when strikes, financial crises and party divisions lost him the election against Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Party.

Baroness Thatcher saw Callaghan as "a formidable opponent across the dispatch box".

"He was a superb party manager. Despite our disagreements, I always respected him because I knew he was moved by deep patriotism."

 

Abroad, Callaghan sought to align British interests with Washington's rather than Europe's, and to maintain nuclear deterrence while working for arms control. At home, he sought to safeguard Labour's alliance with its chief financial backers, the unions.

As Treasury chief, appointed in 1964, "Sunny Jim", as he was known, refused to devalue the pound and was proved right.

He acceded to Catholic appeals to send the Army into Northern Ireland in 1969 to protect them from Protestant mobs. However, he warned: "I can send the Army in, but I'll have the devil of a time getting it out again."

The troops are still there.

In 1980, Callaghan gave up the party leadership to Michael Foot, and in 1985 resigned from Parliament and was elevated to the House of Lords. He is survived by a son and two daughters. His wife of 67 years, Audrey, died on March 15.

- AGENCIES