James Callaghan, 1979–80

Abstract

James Callaghan falls into the small category of British Prime Ministers who remained as party leader and Leader of the Opposition after a General Election defeat, and the even smaller category of Premiers who had not previously performed the role. In Callaghan’s case, as is generally the norm in the circumstances, it was only for a relatively brief period and in a highly disputatious and factional party context, and these factors obviously remain of paramount significant in any evaluation of Callaghan’s Opposition leadership style and performance.

Jim Callaghan told me within a week of the election that he planned to stay on as Leader of the Labour Party for eighteen months — ‘to take the shine off the ball’ for me. I did not complain, nor would I have changed Jim’s mind if I had. … I did not look forward to the idea of succeeding him as Leader of the Labour Party in Opposition; I had seen that there is no more difficult job in British politics.

(Healey, 1990: 466)