Callaghan, << KAL uh huhn, >> James (1912-2005), served as prime minister of the United Kingdom from April 1976 to May 1979. He succeeded Harold Wilson as prime minister and Labour Party leader after Wilson resigned. During Callaghan’s term as prime minister, Britain faced inflation and major labor strikes. In 1979, the Conservative Party defeated the Labour Party in a general parliamentary election, and Conservative Party leader Margaret Thatcher replaced Callaghan as prime minister. Callaghan resigned as leader of the Labour Party in 1980.
Leonard James Callaghan was born on March 27, 1912, in Portsmouth, Hampshire. He left school to work as a tax clerk before serving in the Royal Navy during World War II (1939-1945). In 1945, he entered Parliament as representative for Cardiff South, Wales, in the House of Commons. From 1964 until 1967, he served as chancellor of the exchequer, the head of the British Treasury. From 1967 to 1970, he was in charge of the Home Office and responsible for British policy toward Northern Ireland. He was foreign secretary from 1974 until he became prime minister. He retired from Parliament in 1987 and was made a Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter. Callaghan was married to Audrey Elizabeth Moulton, with whom he had three children. He died on March 26, 2005, in Ringmer, East Sussex.
