Commissioned Book Review: Kevin Hickson and Jasper Miles, James Callaghan: An Underrated Prime Minister
| Date | 01 May 2022 |
| Published date | 01 May 2022 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1478929921990995 |
| Author | Joseph Tiplady |
| Subject Matter | Commissioned Book Review |
Political Studies Review
2022, Vol. 20(2) NP1 –NP2
journals.sagepub.com/home/psrev
Commissioned Book Review
990995PSW0010.1177/1478929921990995Political Studies ReviewCommissioned Book Review
book-review2021
Commissioned Book Review
James Callaghan: An Underrated Prime
Minister by Kevin Hickson and Jasper Miles.
London: Biteback Publishing, 2020. 352 pp., £25
(hardcover), ISBN 9781785906336.
In their new edited collection, James Callaghan:
An Underrated Prime Minister?, Hickson and
Miles offer a balanced reappraisal of a Labour
prime minister who governed during the 1970s,
a period that saw significant social, political and
economic disquiet and is a decade which is
increasingly considered as influential in the
making of the modern Britain. Building on exist-
ing literature which evaluates Callaghan’s pre-
miership, the editors and their impressive range
of pertinent contributors serve a diversity of
opinion: from leading academics such as Lord
Norton of Louth and Professor Jane Martin, to
Callaghan’s contemporaries who offer their per-
sonal accounts. Although the editorial view is
implied in the sub-title, both the successes and
failures of Callaghan’s premiership are consid-
ered with the express intent of enabling the
reader to form their own conclusion.
The book refines a thematic structure used in
previous publications by Hickson, similar re-
evaluations of prime ministers Harold Wilson
and John Major, with the material split into three
sections: contexts, policies and perspectives.
The first section places the Callaghan gov-
ernment in historical context. Several contribu-
tors highlight the challenges faced by Callaghan
and attest to his mastery of political tactics,
illustrated by his minority government continu-
ing to hold office and the successful cabinet dis-
cussions during the 1976 IMF Crisis.
A particularly strong chapter that encapsu-
lates the broader themes present is Eric Shaw’s
‘Callaghan and the extra-parliamentary Labour
Party’. Shaw contends that, despite Callaghan’s
talent, position in the party and wider trade
union movement, the Labour Party became
increasingly divided during his leadership.
Shaw outlines how institutional and environ-
mental factors decisively influenced Callaghan’s
leadership. The growing dominance of the left
within the party and Callaghan’s disregard for
party democracy both contributed to greater
fragmentation, despite attempts by him to
assuage relations. Shaw correctly identifies this
fracturing as being exacerbated by the break-
down of the post-war consensus of Keynesian
economics and significant welfare spending, a
commitment which had previously mitigated
internal divisions was now challenged openly
by the distinctive responses adopted by
Callaghan and the left within the party.
The second section addresses the policies of
the Callaghan government. Two insightful chap-
ters are by Jasper Miles and Jane Martin. Miles
provides a particularly pertinent examination of
Callaghan and Europe. He begins by making an
important distinction, that Callaghan’s stance
cannot be ascribed the dichotomy of pro- or anti-
Europe. Instead, Miles argues that Callaghan
approached the subject dispassionately, seeking
instead to evaluate Britain’s prospects in each
matter. This method is examined through
Callaghan’s decision making on direct elections
to the then European Assembly, the Common
Agricultural Policy and the European Monetary
System. Miles offers a convincing interpretation
of Callaghan’s approach. By recognising the
basic political reality of the importance of
Europe, Callaghan utilised his detachment and
political skill to take key strategic decisions
while pursuing an approach to maximise
Britain’s interests at every opportunity.
The most original contribution in the book
is the chapter by Professor Jane Martin on edu-
cation policy, which utilises the newly availa-
ble material of Caroline Benn, a lifelong
education activist and supporter of comprehen-
sive education, to trace Callaghan’s education
agenda. Martin demonstrates the significance
of Callaghan’s 1976 Ruskin College speech
and subsequent ‘Great Debate’, which initiated
serious thinking within the Labour Party about
the importance and impact of education, as
well as the need to move the discourse beyond
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