Editing James Callaghan (section)

===Proposed 1978 election===
Over the summer of 1978, most opinion polls showed Labour with a lead of up to five points, and the expectation grew that Callaghan would call an autumn election which would have given him a second term in office until autumn 1983.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Clark |first1=Neil |title=How Jim Callaghan Changed the World |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/sep/20/howjimcallaghanchangedthe |access-date=3 November 2018 |work=The Guardian |date=20 September 2007 |archive-date=3 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181103210215/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/sep/20/howjimcallaghanchangedthe |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Thorpe70s"/> The economy had started to improve by this time: 1978 was a year of economic recovery for Britain, with inflation falling to single digits, unemployment declining during the year from a peak of 1.5 million in the third quarter of 1977, to 1.3 million a year later, and general living standards going up by more than 8%.<ref>Henry Pelling (1993), ''A Short History of the Labour Party'', p 171.</ref><ref name="Thorpe70s"/> Famously, he strung along the opposition and was expected to make his declaration of election in a broadcast on 7 September 1978.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/7/newsid_2502000/2502781.stm|title=1978: Callaghan accused of running scared|work=On This Day|date=7 September 1978|access-date=28 March 2012|archive-date=10 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120410202005/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/7/newsid_2502000/2502781.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> Instead he announced that the election would be delayed until the following year, which was met with almost universal surprise.{{sfn|Conroy|2006|pp=109–116}} His decision not to call an election was seen by many as a sign of his dominance of the political scene and he ridiculed his opponents by singing old-time music hall star [[Vesta Victoria]]'s song "[[Waiting at the Church]]" at that month's [[Trades Union Congress]] meeting.<ref name="Beckett-461-462">{{cite book |first1=Andy |last1=Beckett |author-link=Andy Beckett |title=When the Lights Went Out. Britain in the Seventies |date= 2009 |publisher=[[Faber and Faber]] |pages=461–462}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Byrne |first1=Eugene |title=Waiting at the Church |url=https://www.historyextra.com/period/waiting-at-the-church/ |work=History Extra |date=4 November 2011|access-date=3 November 2018 |archive-date=3 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181103210126/https://www.historyextra.com/period/waiting-at-the-church/ |url-status=live }}</ref> This was celebrated by the TUC but has since been interpreted as a moment of [[hubris]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Taylor |first1=Matthew |author-link=Matthew Taylor (political strategist) |title=Tony, you can leave the stage with them still wanting more |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/jan/07/comment.politics1 |access-date=3 November 2018 |work=The Guardian |date=7 January 2007 |archive-date=3 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181103210155/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/jan/07/comment.politics1 |url-status=live }}</ref> Callaghan intended to convey the message that he had not promised an election.<ref name="Beckett-461-462"/>

Callaghan's failure to call an election during 1978 was later widely seen as a political miscalculation;<ref name="Beckett-463">{{cite book |first1=Andy |last1=Beckett |author-link=Andy Beckett |title=When the Lights Went Out. Britain in the Seventies |date= 2009 |publisher=[[Faber and Faber]] |page=463}}</ref> indeed, he himself later admitted that not calling an election was an error of judgement. However, private polling by the Labour Party in the autumn of 1978 had shown the two main parties with about the same level of support.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Andy |last1=Beckett |author-link=Andy Beckett |title=When the Lights Went Out. Britain in the Seventies |date= 2009 |publisher=[[Faber and Faber]] |page=460}}</ref>