Callaghan’s Journey to Downing Street

237 Pages·2010·0.983 MB·English

by  Paul J. Deveney (auth.)

Callaghan’s Journey to Downing Street
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Callaghan’s Journey
to Downing Street
Paul J. Deveney
©PaulJ.Deveney2010
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2010 978-0-230-57958-3
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Firstpublished2010by
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Deveney,PaulJ.,
Callaghan’sjourneytoDowningStreet/PaulJ.Deveney.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
1. Callaghan,James,1912–2005. 2. GreatBritain—Politicsand
government—1945– 3. LabourParty(GreatBritain)—History—
20thcentury 4. Primeministers—GreatBritain—Biography.
5. Financeministers—GreatBritain—Biography. 6. Politicians—Great
Britain—Biography. I. Title.
DA591.C34D482010
941.085(cid:2)7092—dc22
[B] 2010023752
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10
For Ed, the artist, and Eleanor, the poet
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Contents
Preface viii
Acknowledgements ix
CastofCharacters xi
1 Introduction 1
2 TheSwap:FromTreasurytoHomeOffice 9
3 APoliticalOpening:TheNECandNigeria 37
4 SettingtheStage:InPlaceofStrife 67
5 FleetStreet:ASpecialRelationship 93
6 NorthernIreland:ImageorSubstance? 124
7 InOpposition:BookWritingandEurope 156
8 Conclusion 191
Epilogue 203
Appendix 204
Glossary 205
Bibliography 207
Index 214
vii
Preface
DowningStreetisoneofthemostfamousdead-endstreetsintheworld.
InOctober1964,JamesCallaghanbeganhisministerialcareeratNo.11,
the home and office of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, then the sec-
ondmostpowerfulpostintheBritishgovernment.Afterhewasforced
toresigninNovember1967,amidastringofpolicyfailuresthatledto
thedevaluationofthepound,heheldothergreatofficesofstate.Butit
tookhimnearlyadecadetoreturnhometoDowningStreet,andwhen
hedidhewouldbeensconcednextdooratNo.10,thehomeandoffice
of Britain’s Prime Minister. This is the episodic story of that journey
whichbeginsandendsinDowningStreet.
PaulJ.Deveney
viii
Acknowledgements
This project owes a debt of gratitude to those archivists and insti-
tutions that granted me permission to access their collections. They
includetheBritishLibraryofPolitical&EconomicScience,theBodleian
Library at Oxford University, the John Rylands Library at the Univer-
sity of Manchester, the British Library, the Public Records Office at
the National Archives of the United Kingdom, the National Archives
of Ireland, the Labour History Archive and Study Centre, the archives
of Churchill College at Cambridge University, the Institute of Histor-
ical Research, the Guardian News & Media Archive, the BBC Written
Archives,andtheLibraryofCongress.Itshouldbegratefullynotedthat
some of the work in Dublin was assisted by a grant from the Univer-
sity of London’s Central Research Fund and that additional funding
for later research work at Cambridge University was provided by the
UniversityofPennsylvania.
I am also appreciative to the former Cabinet ministers, Members of
Parliament, senior civil servants, trade union officials, journalists and
otherswhoagreedtobeinterviewedforthisproject.Theyarenotedin
the bibliography. Some have been quoted in the text, but all provided
insightsandunderstandingonanimportantperiodinpost-warhistory.
Thanks is extended as well to those who provided invaluable sugges-
tionsafterreadingpartsorallofthemanuscript,inparticularProfessor
DavidEdgertonofImperialCollege,ProfessorJohnYoungoftheUniver-
sityofNottingham,andtwoanonymousreaderscommissionedbythe
publisher, Palgrave Macmillan. All of their comments were taken into
consideration, although the opinions expressed throughout are mine.
Partsofthemanuscriptwerealsoreadbytwoindividualswithnocon-
nectiontotheacademybutwhosegoodsenseandadviceIvalue.They
areBillMcIlwainandThomasE.Joseph.
Sincethismanuscripthadtobecompletedamidmyteachingrespon-
sibilities, a word of thanks must be extended to my colleagues at the
Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing at the University of
Pennsylvania. Their understanding and patience, particularly in the
final stages of this project, was greatly appreciated. As was the help
of several individuals at Palgrave Macmillan, including the two com-
missioning editors Amy Lankester-Owen and Alison Howson and their
ix