Editing Barbara Castle (section)

==European Parliament (1979–1989)==
[[File:1649910309255 NP0434 Barbara CASTLE 002 MOBILE.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Barbara Castle in 1984]]
Less than a month after she left Westminster in 1979 she stood for and was elected to the [[European Parliament]], writing in the ''[[Tribune (magazine)|Tribune]]'' that "politics is not just about policies: it is about fighting for them in every available forum and at every opportunity." In 1982 she wrote in the ''New Statesman'' that Labour should abandon its opposition to British membership of the EEC and that the UK should fight its corner inside it.<ref>Barbara Castle, 'Let them throw us out', ''New Statesman'' (17 September 1982), pp. 10–11.</ref> This led her former ally [[Ian Mikardo]] to say to her: "Your name is mud".<ref>''The Times'' (10 June 1993), p. 37.</ref>

She represented [[Greater Manchester North (European Parliament constituency)|Greater Manchester North]] from 1979 to 1984, and was then elected to represent [[Greater Manchester West (European Parliament constituency)|Greater Manchester West]] from 1984 to 1989. She was at that time the only British MEP to have held a cabinet position.

Castle led Labour's delegation in the European Parliament. She also served as vice-chair of the Socialist Group, a member of the [[Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development|Committee on Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development]], and a member of the Delegation for Relations with [[Malta]].

''The Castle Diaries'' were published in two volumes in 1980 and 1984, chronicling her time in office from 1964 to 1976 and providing insights into the workings of cabinet government. [[Edmund Dell]], reviewing the diaries that cover the years 1974–76 in the ''[[London Review of Books]]'', wrote that the volume "shows more about the nature of cabinet government – even though it deals with only one Cabinet – than any previous publication, academic, political or biographical. It is, I think, better than [[Richard Crossman|Crossman]]".<ref>Edmund Dell, '[https://www.lrb.co.uk/v02/n19/edmund-dell/keeping-left Keeping Left] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191026202155/https://www.lrb.co.uk/v02/n19/edmund-dell/keeping-left |date=26 October 2019 }}', ''London Review of Books'', Vol. 2 No. 19 (2 October 1980), pp. 13–14.</ref> [[Michael Foot]] in the ''Listener'' claimed that the book, "whatever else it is or not, is a human document, hopelessly absorbing".<ref name="Times">''The Times'' (16 October 1980), p. 7.</ref> [[Paul Johnson (writer)|Paul Johnson]] wrote in the ''Sunday Telegraph'' that it was "a contribution of first-rate importance to our knowledge of modern politics".<ref name="Times"/>