So long Jim Callaghan
 

I noted the passing today of former PM James Callaghan, the last Labour PM before Mrs. T took over in the late '70s.

I sat at a table next to his once in one of the (several) bars inside the Palace of Westminster (kept the very cool beer mat with just the Portcullis emblem on it.) Alhough we didn't speak, I could listen to him in discussion with the others at his table and my impression was of a genuinely nice and very intelligent man. For comparison sake, the last governmental leader in whose presence (much farther removed) I'd been was R. Milhous N., who sadly did <i>not</i> leave a similar impression.

Callaghan's term as PM may appear as something of a footnote in the history books regarding a rather difficult time in the UK, but it's one of those occasions I'll look back on with some warmth and optimism that decent people can still achieve high office.

Sorry this really isn't travel related, so back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Thanks, Gardyloo. I for one found that of interest, and I'm sure you don't need to worry about relevance, given the large number of threads that manage to lack both relevance and substance.

Funny , really, from an &quot;across the ponder&quot;.but I do remember the name quite well. Maybe because when we are driving in the UK ..my favorite thing to do is to listen to your parliment sessions and the Q&amp;A.
I can't even begin to imagine if SOME of our leaders would have to stand and answer!!

I googled him to refresh my memory and there were many of his quotes listed..
my favorite, so far..


&quot;A lie can be half way around the world befor the truth has it's boots on!&quot;

James Callaghan was PM when I was a lad in London. I can remember one of my teachers, a Miss Sesame, telling our class that he wasn't elected, but appointed because PM Wilson had resigned. (This seemed to peeve her.) I can also remember him on telly with his big glasses, which I thought made him look like a mad scientist. Mother always like PM Callaghan. Aunt Pat despised him and said he was responsible for INFLATION (a grievous sin to Aunt Pat)!!!!! Aunt Pat was very relieved when Mrs. Milksnatcher took over.

The last I had heard of PM Callaghan was when Princess Di's funeral service from Westminster Abbey was broadcast here in the US. A BBC announcer stated, &quot;And now coming up to the West Door of Westminster is Baroness Jay, daughter of former PM James Callaghan.&quot;

Rest in Peace.

There was the famous occasion when the economy here was in freefall and he went to, I think, a Commonwealth conference somewhere in the Caribbean. Asked what he was doing about the crisis at home, he answered &quot;Crisis? What crisis?&quot; leading to a front page in Private Eye and being the inspiration of the 10cc album

Well, no, he didn't actually, Sheila - that was the Sun's 'paraphrase' of something a lot wordier.

Yes, Question Time is one of the great entertainments in Westminster-type parliaments. In this country at least, though, it tends to be manipulated through the medium of so-called &quot;Dorothy Dix&quot; questions - pre-arranged feeds from members of the governing party along the lines of &quot;Would the Minister inform the House of the brilliant job he's doing in administering his portfolio, and how the Opposition would bankrupt us all?&quot;

I did once have the pleasure of attending a parliamentary Question Time here in Canberra and hearing our then PM, Paul Keating, wearily respond to one vigorous offensive with &quot;Mister Speaker, I must say that being attacked by the Leader of the Opposition is rather like being savaged by a dead sheep.&quot; This was an unusually mild rebuke from PK, who was fond of referring to his debonair opponent as a &quot;souffle&quot; and &quot;the Sunlamp Kid&quot;.

(Forgive the highjack, got carried away...)

ThinGorjus, your old teacher didn't quite get it, did she? The point is that the PM isn't elected directly by the people like the US President - he or she happens to be the leader that's been chosen by the party to whom the punters have given a majority in the House. On that basis Jim Callaghan's ascension was entirely legitimate.

&quot;I must say that being attacked by the Leader of the Opposition is rather like being savaged by a dead sheep.&quot;

<i>Thank you Neil.
If only there were more politicians who could at least amuse us with their quotes..(I think it takes a certain amount of intelligence that seems to be lacking these days)

I confess I did not know of Mr Callaghan..Being quite young and having my hands full in the 70's, I plead ignorance.</i>

I had heard the &quot;dead sheep&quot; remark attributed to Denis Healey (in response to Geoffrey Howe). And when Callaghan made the remark about a lie getting half way around the world, I think he was quoting Mark Twain.

Neil, and to clarify a little more, the person elected to be PM is already a Member of Parliament, and so has in fact been elected by his or her constituents to be their representative in the House of Commons. I believe that the only people who can vote in the elections for PM are the other MPs of the majority party.

Well to be really pedantic, there are no elections for the PM in the UK. The PM is simply the person who can form a government which can demonstrably command the support of a majority of the House of Commons. By custom and convention, that's obviously the leader of the majority party, but it doesn't necessarily follow. All the parties now elect their leaders by some sort of system involving all members of the party, though I think some may have different arrangements if the party is in government and electing leader implies electing a PM. But there's nothing in theory to prevent a situation in which the PM is not formally the leader of the majority party (though the last such case was Churchill in 1940, when slightly unusual circumstances applied).

And Neil, wasn't it Keating who described one of his persistent critics in Parliament as having 'all the charm of a used suppository'? Mind, I was surprised that no-one riposted that at least a used suppository hasn't spent its entire existence up itself.

Yes, Patrick, I ran a search yesterday after I posted and found the original. the rest of the story is appropriate, tho'.