The Latest Breaking News from Jim Callaghan

Veer left or double down on the right? Either way, the prime minister needs to commit and sell it to an impatient electorate, says Guardian columnist Andy Beckett

From northern soul to rugby league beef, here’s what I learned while writing We Were There

Tributes paid to one of the UK’s foremost economics commentators who was also ambassador to Washington

Rachel Reeves had hardly stepped down from the dispatch box to make her first big statement as chancellor of the exchequer before facing a furious backlash. She had claimed to have discovered a £22bn hole in public finances upon taking office and was using it to explain why the new…

With Labour heavily predicted to win the upcoming UK election, there has been much talk about future tax plans.

And it will be joined by a battered and bruised Vox wah pedal that Jimi Hendrix used live and in the studio

Cast your mind back – if you can – to September 1978. Jim Callaghan announced he would not call an early election (which he might have won), Pope John Paul I died after 33 days of papacy and the Commodores were number one with their hit, 'Three Times A Lady".

British politics has been drained of all credibility. The Labour leader could turn low expectations to his advantage – for a time, says Guardian columnist Andy Beckett

On reflection, David Owen was probably too “leading man handsome” to help the SDP break the mould of British politics. That’s right, I’ve been re-watching old BBC election night broadcasts again. This time, it’s back to the Seventies and Eighties for Ted Heath’s miscalculation, Jim Callaghan’s sunny (albeit misplaced) optimism…