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.

He was a good man with good intent ' makes me sick looking at the crisis were in now ' what a bunch of clowns.

Were*

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!

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

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.

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.

He suffered from ADHD in his later years. It is evident in this interview.

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.

Gordon Brown I expect

@@GA-wq8xq He had retired by then. I think he retired when Major was PM.

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.

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)

Ordinary person still suffered Labour conservatives unions bankers the rich all got rich or richer

Very true Karl.

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.

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

He was a war criminal.

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.

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....

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

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.

Well said.

Is it similar to the current crisis?

I believe strikes would of naturally reduced due to technology and people becoming more materialistic

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

British industries were dependent on Marshall Aid even in the 1950s.

Is that true?

Agree ' but less bad by far than todays.

Last good PM was Major

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.

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 KZfaq channel keep putting in an advert into the video within the first five seconds of it starting.

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.

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.

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

One Nation Tory is what we need

I think he was a decent man ' with many good policies ' I also a socialist myself.