Tributes paid to Callaghan
Tony Blair and Michael Howard have today led tributes to former Labour Prime Minister Jim Callaghan, who died last week at the age of 92.
Lord Callaghan, who died on 26 March, was the only modern politician to hold all of the four great offices of state – Prime Minister, Chancellor, Foreign Secretary and Home Secretary.
A member of the Labour governments of 1960s and 1970s, he had a career that touched many of the great political moments of the age.
He resigned from the post of Chancellor after his decision not to revalue the pound proved disastrous, before moving to Home Secretary, where he sent British troops into Northern Ireland. Then as Foreign Secretary he negotiated the terms of the UK’s membership of the EU and finally as Prime Minister faced the 1979 Winter of Discontent.
Speaking in the House of Commons this afternoon, Mr Blair said Callaghan had been renowned for his “decency, honesty, his integrity, his friendship and loyalty”.
The Prime Minister said Callaghan had an “unswerving commitment to the country” and that he had personally sought his counsel “many times” over the last 10 years.
In his ministerial career Mr Blair said Callaghan had been “severely tested” in each post but that his achievements included winning the referendum on EC membership and the ending of capital punishment for murder.
“If he had been given time Jim Callaghan would have made not just a good Prime Minister but a great one,” he said.
Conservative leader Michael Howard said that Callaghan has been “universally respected” and had a “profound influence” on Britain’s political life.
He welcomed Lord Callaghan’s political bravery, stating that he faced “long-term problems with no short-term solutions” and pointing out that many of these, such as the security situation in Northern Ireland and the UK’s relationship with the European Union, were issues to this day.
Even following Labour’s defeat in the 1979 election he “never lost his personal popularity”, Mr Howard observed, citing tributes from his Conservative opponents, Baroness Thatcher and Lord Tebbit.
