James Callaghan (28 January 1927 – 29 March 2018) was a British Labour Party politician who was a member of parliament between 1974 and 1997.

Early life

Callaghan was educated at

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

and

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

universities, and he worked as a lecturer in art at St John's College,

, before entering Parliament.

Political career

At the February 1974 general election, Callaghan was elected as the

member of parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) for Middleton and Prestwich. He served this constituency and its successor, Heywood and Middleton, until he retired in 1997. He was a member of several

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

Select Committees Select or SELECT may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Select'' (album), an album by Kim Wilde * ''Select'' (magazine), a British music magazine * ''MTV Select'', a television program * ''Select Live'', New Zealand's C4 music program ...

– on Transport, on the Cardiff Barrage scheme, and on Education, Science & the Arts. He served as

Parliamentary Private Secretary A Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) is a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom who acts as an unpaid assistant to a minister or shadow minister. They are selected from backbench MPs as the 'eyes and ears' of the minister in the H ...

Joel Barnett Joel Barnett, Baron Barnett, (14 October 1923 – 1 November 2014) was a Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician. As Chief Secretary to the Treasury in the late 1970s, he devised the Barnett Formula that allocates public spending in Scotland, ...

, the

Chief Secretary to the Treasury The chief secretary to the Treasury is a ministerial office in the government of the United Kingdom. The office is the second most senior in the Treasury, after the chancellor of the Exchequer. The office was created in 1961, to share the burde ...

. He was removed from this role in March 1976, after abstaining in a division on spending cuts which the Government lost, forcing a vote of confidence against Prime Minister

Harold Wilson James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, (11 March 1916 – 24 May 1995) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from October 1964 to June 1970, and again from March 1974 to April 1976. He ...

. He later also served as PPS to the Sports Minister

Denis Howell Denis Herbert Howell, Baron Howell (4 September 1923 – 19 April 1998) was a British Labour Party politician. He was a councillor on Birmingham City Council between 1946 and 1956. He was the Member of Parliament for Birmingham All Saints fro ...

. He was a member of the

Tribune Group ''Tribune'' is a democratic socialist political magazine founded in 1937 and published in London, initially as a newspaper, then converting to a magazine in 2001. While it is independent, it has usually supported the Labour Party from the left ...

of Labour MPs.

Death

Callaghan died on 29 March 2018 at the age of 91.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Callaghan, James 1927 births 2018 deaths Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1974 UK MPs 1974–1979 UK MPs 1979–1983 UK MPs 1983–1987 UK MPs 1987–1992 UK MPs 1992–1997 Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Heywood and Middleton