Labour Party | Prime Minister James Callaghan | 1979
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- Опубликовано: 22 май 2017
- A cutdown version of an interview conducted by journalist Llew Gardner with Labour Prime Minister James Callaghan. In this interview the Prime Minister is asked about the state of the nation and what affect the recent strikes is having on the countries economy.
First shown: 09/02/1979
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Quote: VTR:20779
What a gentleman with honesty and dignity
He is a lot more serious and clever than people think he was
Of course he was, remember he held all the highest offices of the land - Chancellor of the Exchequer, Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary and then Prime Minister. You do not get into those positions without a great deal of skill, cunning and ability.
@Derek Nippl-e no true at all
@@dianabrown1409 Callaghan is underappreciated and I say that as a Conservative supporter. The 1979s were a very difficult time and the unions went mad and betrayed him and the Labour movement with their militancy (Scargill for example).
Any twat can, if slimy enough - well, that is the attitude to the Tories.
One of the best PM 's next to Harold Wilson and Jeremy Corbyn.
Now these where proper Labour leaders. Not these sad excuses now.
He was a good man with good intent ' makes me sick looking at the crisis were in now ' what a bunch of clowns.
Were*
This is when prime ministers thought deeply about their country
James Henderson Why do you think that?
James Henderson Was he really? I had no idea. Why does it matter?
Explain plz.
@J LD It was Callaghan who in 1976 said 'you cannot spend your way out of recession.' I don't think Margaret Thatcher would have disagreed with that.
He was an Israeli.
An outstanding politician and a good man, as honest as the the low, murky realities of politics at a time of crisis could be. He was one of the most impressive advocates of traditional, middle of the road Labour ideas, combining solidity, clarity and purpose. When he told Healey in confidence (though it was hardly a secret) that a secular change had taken hold of the country and the post war consensus was over, it was a summary of the age, and the end of a kind of Labour politics. Since then, we (I include my own country of Australia) have been spectators to an era of conservatism.
winifred atwell - good observation. Things change. People want to keep more of there own money and make their own decisions.
Yes I broadly agree with your comment. Callaghan will be mostly remembered for his conference speech of 1976. Had this speech been delivered by a Tory, no one would have noticed. But what Jim Callaghan said in 1976 might well have been written by Milton Friedman himself !! But the Labour party was more than willing to " shoot the messenger " They could not get their act together and Thatcher came in and cleaned up .
Callaghan was a Zionist Jew and he betrayed Scotland. He also started a 30-year war in Ulster.
Yes agreed a true niceman he had no skeletons in his closet in my opinion till his passing he was without doubt a good Man with a good heart I wish people Woudnt Rank him on hand with clowns like bojo and Liz no trust
I liked JIm Callaghan. He always made it clear there was a limit on pay, but the unions bashed him about, and in doing so, we go Thatcher! Yeah, thanks guys!
Really honest and speaking to the point, what a tragedy people in UK didn't give him the chance
I like your foxy face and please let me see your face.
I liked your PM and he was not well supported by some insider dealers.
+gespilk I think there's a tone of bigotry with Chaz Young. You're not going to change that person's mind! There is an argument, that if Nationalization was still in place, then the Union of the UK would be stronger. Perhaps there wouldn't have been a cry for Scottish independence. How would you divide the wealth of Nationalized companies between four countries?
ironic the unions all loved thatcher in 79. regretted that soon after didn't they
Thank you, Chris Younger, I shall write that in my diary if I can find a spare spot. Evan Bernard. Show us a link where we can see that, matey!
From a Thatcher admirer, I have to respect Callaghan for standing his ground, particularly when he was expected to call a snap election in 1978 - at a time he easily could have won an majority. In gambling for another year, he was saying, this is our best option, if it works it works, if it doesn't it doesn't and I'm going down with it.
There was a very short window of opportunity for Callaghan to have called a general election, and in all respects he would have won with a fairly decent majority, probably around 25 to 35 was the best guess, around the same majority Edward Heath had when he won in 1970, much to Labour and Harold Wilson's shock. Late July to mid November 1978 was the lull, the window of opportunity, but he declined, fearing opinion polls were wrong. Labour have never trusted polls since their shock defeat in June 1970.
@@johnking5174 True. Feel bad for him though, he seemed like a good leader, but circumstances just capsized at the wrong time.
It was the bin men strike that did it
@@broadstreet21 I couldn't put it better myself.
@@tardistime6857 Yup. He easily could have done something about it - except it would have gone against his own conviction and policy.
A seasoned politician & a professional journalist. Lost on todays muppets.
He suffered from ADHD in his later years. It is evident in this interview.
The UK governments of the 1970s underline a basic truth: that unless there are other special circumstances at play, high inflation destabilises everything and the pain that is needed to reduce it usually means that the governing party at the time is going to find it incredibly difficult to get re-elected. The situation was repeated in the USA where Ford lost the 1976 election and Carter lost the 1980 election.
The last straight talking Prime Minister we had. A man that was genuine but ended up with a bad name due to the unions and more than 50% of all trade unionists that failed to vote Labour in the 79 Election.
The Labour Party was Communist leaning then as it is now.
Elements of it were but certainly not Sunny Jim or most of his Cabinet.
Tony Benn excepted.
You truly don't understand communism if you think that. Socialist policies for certain, but a mixed economy (something supported by the Tories themselves from '45 to '79 - until Thatcher drummed out the 'wets' - and even post '79 Thatcher kept the NHS and the Post Office) does not communism make. At all.
The unions behaved like morons when he was prime minister. Asking for 30% pay rises when productivity wasn't increasing is ridiculous, it just leads to massive inflation.
Thatcher was the last straight talking PM. But I like Callaghan too.
A relatively decent man trying to defend a relatively decent ideal - that of Trade Unionism, but it had gone completely rotten, and it had to be destroyed because of its tendency to go rotten in this way, which, of course, was disastrous for everyone. Particularly Jim Callaghan.
I once had the opportunity to meet someone who spent his entire career at Hansard, and met every PM while he was there. According to him, JC was the most gentlemanly (used generically to include women). I am not surprised. He never mentioned who he liked least :).
Gordon Brown I expect
@@GA-wq8xq He had retired by then. I think he retired when Major was PM.
I bet that by this stage Callaghan was wishing he'd supported Barbara Castle's 'In Place Of Strife' proposals in 1969. If those had been acted upon, instead of being blocked by Sunny Jim, then he might not have found himself in this situation a decade later. Just sayin', ya know?
Exactly. A massive ‘what if’ there if that had been passed
Fair point!
Obviously this is one of those 'if only' statements, but I agree it was foolish of him not to accept Barbara Castle's proposals back in 1969. if he had accepted Callaghan might have prevented a Thatcher win, with a hung parliament or slightly increased Labour majority. It's sad because he was much more likeable than Thatcher.
If only we had listened and heeded some of this man's advice we would not be in the free-for-all mess we're in now.
What mess? Yeah right - without Thatcher we would of been strewed by unions and everyone else.
@@DieselTreleaver99 I think you mean screwed. I was thinking of the personality of the Prime Minister, his gentlemanliness and attempt at consensus, whose vote in 1979 was not surpassed until 1997. Don't get me wrong: the trades unions destroyed Callaghan and Heath, but the medicine was hard to swallow and brought casualties in its wake.
@@stevebbuk You're quite right, he was a true gentleman, he was kind and cherished his family. New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern is the modern modern day equivalent in that sense - she displays a great kind personality, has a nice smile etc. But, here is the problem when we elect leaders solely on their personalities: Ardern is utterly useless and leads the most incompetent government New Zealand has seen in a very long time where not delivering on promises has become the norm and campaigns are won on New Zealand's inevitably great handling of covid (simular situation to Bush dubya using 911 for his reelection). New Zealand now has more children in poverty (Ardern's champaign mission 4 years ago), failing economy and high house prices. Ardern also created 'fair pay agreement that has given into unions and will result in compusory unionism and a workforce looking miserable like back in 1970s Britain. Many NZers are relishing that they made a mistake now.
Wonder if he would back leave eu now. Btw he was a better leader than Jeremy Corbyn (tho the latter wasn’t PM)
The trade unions stuffed Britain in the 1970s. In Thatcher they got the retribution they deserved.
Ordinary person still suffered Labour conservatives unions bankers the rich all got rich or richer
Very true Karl.
ITV unions were watching this interview very carefully, as come August 1979, the ACTT union at ITV ordered a strike over pay, resulting all but Channel TV on the Channel Islands falling off air from August 10th to October 24th 1979, with ITV forced to pay a whopping pay rise to ACTT.
Jim Callaghan was a rarity in Prime Ministers, meaning he was never elected and gained a mandate by the electorate at a general election. He was appointed Prime Minister in 1976, just like Alexander Douglas Home in 1963, Gordon Brown in 2007 and Theresa May in 2016.
And john major in 1990.
@@wonjubhoy But unlike the others, Major actually won a general election in 1992 and got his own mandate. The others I mentioned didn't, which is why I didn't include John Major.
Major would NEVER have won in early 91 he needed the 18 months
@@johnking5174 Theresa may got her own mandate in 2017.
@@wonjubhoy What, by losing her majority won by David Cameron? Hardly a successful election mandate Kevin.
Im not a Socialist/Labour fan but Callaghan was a great PM and would be glad if he was PM now rather than Con/Lab alternatives !.
Honest jim
18:45 - Jim decided to ignore the fact here, that the reason the Liberals pulled out of the Lib-Lab pact was they had the understanding that a general election would be called for the early autumn of 1978. So of course they ended the pact, getting ready to fight an election. However bottler Jim caved in and decided not to go for an early election, and that was the end of that. Typical Callaghan, providing the facts as he sees it and not as they were.
Shame he declined the opportunity ' his poll ratings looked promising before the winter of strikes destroyed everything.
He didn't go to the polls in autumn 1978 because his lead in the opinion polls was very modest and he wasn't convinced that it was large enough or durable enough to get him and his party through a general election and win a decent working majority. He was sick to the back teeth with having to kowtow to the Liberals, SNP, Plaid Cymru and Ulster Unionists to get the government's business through the Commons. The polls at the time pointed to another hung parliament with Labour as the biggest party, which meant more wheeling and dealing with the minor parties. The very last thing he wanted.
@@baltasarnoreno5973 I felt he bottled it. He also made the big mistake of showing himself to be clinging onto power for as long as he could. John Major did the same in 1997, clinging on to the last moment to call the election and then having a 6 week election, which ruined him even more. Gordon Brown did the same, clinging on to the bitter end in 2010 and look what happened to Labour then. Sunak is going the same way as Callaghan, Major and Brown, with most likely the same end result.
@@johnking5174 No. He didn't bottle anything. It is perfectly rational for a politician to avoid calling an election when it is not entirely clear that the election can be won. Callaghan held on on 1978 because the economic tides were moving gradually towards him, and the opinion polls were not very convincing. He thought that waiting until the following year would work in his benefit. It wasn't Callaghan that screwed up Labour's chances at the next election. It was the trade unions. He also remembered what happened to his former boss in 1970. Wilson called an election in June 1970 when the opinion polls suddenly shifted in his favour after three years of deep unpopularity, and when he still had the best part of a year to go before an election had to be held. And he lost. Badly. Conclusion? A few vaguely positive opinion polls is not enough to guarantee an election win.
John Major also 'clung on to the bitter end' in 1992. He was endlessly accused by Labour of bottling it. And he won anyway. The tactic worked, and against all expectations. We were all told that the most likely outcome was going to be a Labour government. Later poll analysis found that the polls were systematically underestimating the strength of Conservative support and overestimating Labour's strength -- the so called 'shy Tory' effect.
John Major's chances were ruined after 1992 and above all after 1994 no matter on what day he decided to hold the general election. Ditto Brown in 2010. He was also going to lose, regardless of what day he selected for the general election. Ditto Sunak.
I missed out on James Callaghan in office, this was before I was born. I came into the world when Margaret Thatcher was in office.
Yes, Jim was a nice man. But he was a disaster as PM. What you missed out on was Jim’s winter of discontent, nearly 30% inflation, constant power cuts due to strikes, hospital worker strikes, grave digger strikes, and the list goes on. Don’t let anyone tell you those were good times.
The first PM I remember was Wilson ' and when Callaghan took over' the first changing of the guard in a manner of speaking ' I was nine years old (1976)
@@oliverrward909 I thought the power cuts were under Heath.
@@oliverrward909 My understanding was until that winter of discontent, he was doing well, times were trending up. That winter destroyed his credibility.
Jim Callaghan tried to find a middle way. A prices and incomes policy to contain wages to hold down prices - but increase the money supply. The idea was to keep unemployment lower. Thatcher was a monetarist and embraced privatisation. She hated the soft economics and compassionate politics of Callaghan. Thatcher did care when her economic policy caused an increase of unemployment from 1.7 million to 3.8 million by 1984. Strikes and the castration of unionism
I think there’s an error in the description. If this actually aired in September of 79 Callaghan would have opposition leader because thatcher was elected in May of that year
It was aired in February - 9/2 = 9th February in the European date format. By September we had Thatcher in power.
@@luckhurstrobert By 'European date format' you mean the 'logical date format'.
@@dawnof-the-triffids601 : Logical to me but I try to be neutral.
@@luckhurstrobert I wish I had your principles....
Back then the Labour Party was a party for the People the 1979 Labour Government was the last time Britain had a proper Socialist Government since then the Labour party has become more and more right wing thanks to Tory Blair
You have to remember, the only way Labour was ever going to be elected was for them to move more to the centre. Remember in 1992, with the prince of grey John Major got re-elected despite all opinion polls saying otherwise, causing Kinnock to lose TWICE to a conservative Prime Minister. The writing was on the wall. Move to the centre to get elected, so I do not blame Tony Blair or even the late John Smith for moving Labour there. It was their only option, other than remain in opposition.
Yes, and he has been the most successful Labour leader since, he had to do it then and that's where Labour should be if they want to get into power again
Then Maastricht ruined Britain and Tony Blair wanted to wreck our opt outs (tho we fought it off luckily but who knows what would happen if we stayed).
@@johnking5174 Interesting. I think Labour is doing exactly the same thing with Starmer.
@@johnking5174 objectively incorrect, 1992 proved that centrism could lose elections and 1997 anyone could have defeated Major
Lovey man
He was a war criminal.
Shakespeare would have found have found this man interesting
How so?
@@MrDavey2010 "Now is the winter of our discontent" from Shakespeare's Richard III was used as a name for the winter of 1978-79
@@callumsykes1307”Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this daughter of Grantham.” The opening line of The Tragedie of Arthur Scargill
Oh God bring back Uncle Jim as PM - he would know what to do
Me too tho hes dead and I wasn’t around back then
@@andybray9791 Wilson was the first pm I remember ' when he resigned was the first changeover I recall when Jim took over ' was 9 years old.
In reality fewer than 1% of working hours were lost in the '70s due to strike action, almost all of it due to the (transitory) oil crisis which was passing by the start of the '80s. But never mind, let's continue to blame the Labour Party.
Well said.
Is it similar to the current crisis?
I believe strikes would of naturally reduced due to technology and people becoming more materialistic
I did nt agree with jim callahan and his right ring views in the labour party but he was gentleman and compassionate !
He would never have done what Thacher did to the NHS, benefits system and unemployment levels
British industries were dependent on Marshall Aid even in the 1950s.
Is this the same Llew Gardner who was once an editor of the Daily Worker ?
Is that true?
In 1979, I was 14 ... I remember thinking to myself " I would have this Labour Government (yes we have disagreements) in comparason to a Conservitive government ... The Stupid People chose The Conservitives !!!!
Poor Jim, such a shame that he wasn’t able to continue in government. Tories who afterwards were awful, absolute nightmare.
Agree ' but less bad by far than todays.
The unions stabbed him and then they got thatcher,
He was a good man but totally misguided in his appeasement of militant trade unionism that brought the UK economy to it knees. Despite being an honourable man - he was the PM who let all that happen and nearly distroyed the country in the process. Watching all these interviews from the time - you can’t help be struck by just how wrong his approach was.
At least he wasn’t far left 💯
Thames TV - Please STOP this, having the first five seconds come on with the classic Thames ident, followed straight into an ad, before the programme begins.
Thames TV as a television station ceased to exist in 1992 . It then continued as an independent producer of some British Programming for some years after before it was taken over by Freemantle, an Australian multi-national media organisation . This is a recording of a Thames programme that has been converted from film and uploaded to a digital platform by a member of the public .
@@muk8804 Not true. This has been posted by Freemantle. Check the 'about' information.
The Thames ident is essential to acknowledge the ITV franchise which produced the programme. There is no ad after the ident. It goes straight into the interview.
@@Candolad The advert is not on the original video, I meant Thames on their RUclips channel keep putting in an advert into the video within the first five seconds of it starting.
Can commenters stop mythologising Callaghan and weeping that he was brought down by the unions. The whole point of Callaghan, his raison d'etre, was that he was a union man: that he had come up through the clerical union before becoming an MP, that he was "the keeper of the cloth cap", that he had scuppered 'In Place of Strife', that he was the one man who could talk to the unions. He knew the unions backwards and he was their darling.
If in 78/79 even Callaghan couldn't get the unions to behave with decency, if even under the keeper of the cloth cap the rubbish piled up in Leicester Square and the Liverpool dead went unburied, if even under him pickets stopped medicine getting to the hospital where his Health Secretary's wife was lying sick out of sheer malice, what was left but to lash them into submission?
I was born in 1990 so I'm sort of trying to educate myself on the history of politics in this country, mainly trying to get as accurate of a view as I can without being hit with too much tribalistic rhetoric of Labour/Tory haters. I had no idea there was a grave diggers strike during his period of office.
Labour Party is a type of socialism.
Well what do you expect?! They are social democrats - it is in the party blood. Are you surprised or just a complete idiot who does not know what a party stands for?
So is the Tory Party except for Margaret Thatcher and Liz Truss.
last good pm
Last good PM was Major
Awesome. Did lose control yes Thomas. Unemployment 1.5 million. He socialist Thomas.
To me he was an Honest Prime Minister his worst mistake was calling the Election and letting Margaret Thatcher in but even though I’m on the Left I more centrist so I respect democracy a bit more
Callahan did not call an election Conservatives called a vote of no confidence in the government and won so he had no choice but to call an election
He didn't call an election, it was forced in him by a vote of no confidence. The SNP, Liberals and smaller parties teamed up with the Tories to vote against him
The country was in crisis not caused by external factors but by a useless Socialist government - the country was at a standstill and they did not have the ability to do anything about it .Although inflation and strikes were out of hand and people suffered they still blamed the media - Who does that sound like??
Same here ' central left.
As a voter in 1979 & 2019.Tragedy that in 1969/70 the working people rejected Labour & voted for Tories.Another self inflicted wound was the 1979 winter of discontent that brought in Thatcher.She privatised everything going.The unions became meek as lambs.Today Unions gone,Steel industry gone,shipbuilding gone,
Coal industry gone,Building societies gone,Council Housing gone.Post Office gone,BT gone,
Railways gone,Bus services gone,
School meals & milk gone,Water gone,Gas & Electricity gone,.Understand most of the privatised Industry owned by Germans French etc
All this the working people yes good % of working class voted for Maggie &Tories again & again.Now again we've Voted for Maggie sorry Boris Johnson,Gove,
Pritti Patel,..
70+ millions of Americans Voted for Trump.75+millions voted Biden.thank God?
Sad if under Starmer all parties end up Rightwing like Israel &USA..
Read how Stephen Pollard,Dame Margaret,Tom Watson etc proudly
destroyed Jeremy Corbyn & made Starmer puppet of some definition that trying to make #BDS illegal. Amazing our freedoms of thought speech dictated by Chosen White European Immigrant Settlers Colony of Apartheid LED by Racist Netanyahu Mileikowsky & Gen Gantz,Shaked,Bennett,.
Soon to say Gaza is a concentration camp of Israel,that
West Bank under brutal occupation of Israel, that Israel was founded on Race on Racism would be deemed to be Antisemitic..No I'm not in any way anti Jewish,anti Muslim,anti Hindu
anti Christian etc.Love John Lennon's Imagine.
double figure inflation !!
This is the time were socialism was falling apart in the UK. The strain of the strikes and the damage to the economy was past the tipping point.
tubularbill The UK was never a socialist country, if you think it was a socialist country then you don't understand what socialism is.
Beta Leftist - I guess it was more “social democratic”in total but it was the socialist polices of high taxation, unproductive unions and economic planning was falling apart. It imploded.
it imploded under thatcher, strikes increased, unemployment increased selfishness increased. callagahan was a good pm and warm man thatcher was a dreadful pm and cold woman
the economy was utter shite in 1983. 3 million unemployed
yes it started under sunny jim however when he left inflation and unemployed had just started to decrease then the bitch sold everything off
seems clever but couldnt handle prime ministership
Didn't like his politics. Was glad to see the back of socialism. BUT give me a decent chap like him over the current jokers of any party any day!
One Nation Tory is what we need
I think he was a decent man ' with many good policies ' I also a socialist myself.
Sadly he lost the election
Foreign sectary chancellor home secretary prime minister
The medias responsibility? Cobblers - you union prisoner.
He says you can not deal with trade unions excesses through the law, but only through consent. Probably he never understood what went wrong with his government...
The last proper Labour PM