Cunning Callaghan’s plot to trick Thatcher with phoney election
LABOUR Prime Minister James Callaghan plotted desperately to derail Margaret Thatcher’s rise to the top of British politics, official papers made public today reveal.
He abandoned plans for a snap General Election in 1978 out of a “malicious” delight in confounding the Tories.
Mr Callaghan’s obsession grew so great that he plotted to sideline the first female leader of a major party during celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of women gaining the vote.
According to papers released under the 30-year rule by the National Archives in Kew, Surrey, Mr Callaghan’s fixation on blocking Mrs Thatcher’s career stooped to surprisingly petty levels.
In 1978, he had the Tory leader banned from the royal box at a gala performance at the London Palladium attended by Princess Margaret.
It was arranged that impresario Lord Grade and his wife would join the royal party and the Callaghans, ensuring that there was no space in the box for Mrs Thatcher.
That year, “Sunny Jim” Callaghan was in a similar position to Gordon Brown last year, toying with the idea of an early election as Labour picked up in the polls following a long spell in the doldrums.
But Mr Callaghan’s decision to carry on into 1979 proved disastrous as Britain collapsed into the anarchy of the “winter of discontent”, paving the way for Mrs Thatcher’s election victory which ushered in 18 years of Tory rule.
