Overview

James Callaghan (1912–2005) was a Labour politician who held all four of the ‘great offices of state’ —Chancellor of the Exchequer, Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary, and Prime Minister.

James Callaghan, Home Secretary when the SDS was formed.
James Callaghan, Home Secretary when the SDS was formed.

As Home Secretary from 1967 to 1970, Callaghan oversaw the Metropolitan Police’s Special Branch, including the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) in 1968.

Callaghan became Prime Minister in 1976. The Grunwick strike of 1976–78, led mainly by Asian and female workers demanding union recognition, tested his government’s relationship with the trade union movement. 

Though publicly sympathetic to collective bargaining, Callaghan refused to intervene decisively in support of the strikers, wary of alienating employers and right-wing opinion. His caution alienated sections of the labour movement and exposed the gap between Labour’s rhetoric of solidarity and its actions in practice.

Reports

CSV
Date
Originator
MPS-UCPI
Title
Ministry of Defence
MPS-0748324
Ministry of Defence letter to Home Secretary on potential troop involvement in Oct 1968 Vietnam War demo and future demos
The Guardian
MPS-0742219
Guardian article ‘Mr Callaghan will stop "violent" students entering’, Home Secretary barring foreign students with records of violence from entering the UK ahead of the Oct 1968 Vietnam demo
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
UCPI0000035241
Letter from Foreign and Commonwealth Office saying Foreign Secretary approves of counter-subversion activities (CAB 301-488)
Metropolitan Police Special Branch
UCPI0000021532
Report on a planned demo by N London International Socialists against cuts in public expenditure, to be held during PM James Callaghan's visit to Woodberry Dean estate on 9 Nov 1976