Callaghan’s Journey to Downing Street This page intentionally left blank Callaghan’s Journey to Downing Street Paul J. Deveney ©PaulJ.Deveney2010 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2010 978-0-230-57958-3 Allrightsreserved.Noreproduction,copyortransmissionofthis publicationmaybemadewithoutwrittenpermission. Noportionofthispublicationmaybereproduced,copiedortransmitted savewithwrittenpermissionorinaccordancewiththeprovisionsofthe Copyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988,orunderthetermsofanylicence permittinglimitedcopyingissuedbytheCopyrightLicensingAgency, SaffronHouse,6-10KirbyStreet,LondonEC1N8TS. Anypersonwhodoesanyunauthorizedactinrelationtothispublication maybeliabletocriminalprosecutionandcivilclaimsfordamages. Theauthorhasassertedhisrighttobeidentified astheauthorofthisworkinaccordancewiththeCopyright, DesignsandPatentsAct1988. Firstpublished2010by PALGRAVEMACMILLAN PalgraveMacmillanintheUKisanimprintofMacmillanPublishersLimited, registeredinEngland,companynumber785998,ofHoundmills,Basingstoke, HampshireRG216XS. PalgraveMacmillanintheUSisadivisionofStMartin’sPressLLC, 175FifthAvenue,NewYork,NY10010. PalgraveMacmillanistheglobalacademicimprintoftheabovecompanies andhascompaniesandrepresentativesthroughouttheworld. Palgrave®andMacmillan®areregisteredtrademarksintheUnitedStates, theUnitedKingdom,Europeandothercountries. ISBN 978-1-349-36822-8 ISBN 978-0-230-29800-2 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230298002 Thisbookisprintedonpapersuitableforrecyclingandmadefromfully managedandsustainedforestsources.Logging,pulpingandmanufacturing processesareexpectedtoconformtotheenvironmentalregulationsofthe countryoforigin. AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData 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 This page intentionally left blank 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