Editing James Callaghan (section)

==Backbenches and retirement, 1980–2005==
In 1982, along with his friend [[Gerald Ford]], he co-founded the annual [[AEI World Forum]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Remembering Gerald Ford, 1913–2006 {{!}} AEI|url=https://www.aei.org/articles/remembering-gerald-ford-1913-2006/|access-date=8 March 2021|website=American Enterprise Institute – AEI|language=en-US|archive-date=1 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200301112344/https://www.aei.org/articles/remembering-gerald-ford-1913-2006/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1983, he attacked Labour's plans to reduce defence,<ref>Britannica Concise Encyclopedia:
Leonard James Callaghan Baron Callaghan of Cardiff</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://socialistworld.net/doc/4585 |title=Britain: The road to New Labour |publisher=socialistworld.net |access-date=28 March 2012 |archive-date=2 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402174339/http://www.socialistworld.net/doc/4585 |url-status=live }}</ref> and the same year became [[Father of the House (United Kingdom)|Father of the House]] as the longest continually-serving member of the Commons.

In 1987, he was made a [[Order of the Garter|Knight Companion of the Garter]] and stood down at the [[1987 United Kingdom general election|1987 general election]] after 42 years as an MP. He was one of the last remaining MPs elected in the Labour landslide of 1945. Shortly afterwards, he was elevated to the [[House of Lords]] on 5 November 1987 as a [[life peer]] with the title '''Baron Callaghan of Cardiff''', ''of the [[City of Cardiff]] in the [[South Glamorgan|County of South Glamorgan]]''.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=51118 |date=12 November 1987 |page=13941}}</ref> In 1987, his autobiography, ''Time and Chance'', was published. He also served as a non-executive director of the [[Bank of Wales]].

His wife [[Audrey Callaghan|Audrey]], a former chairman (1969–82) of [[Great Ormond Street Hospital]], spotted a letter to a newspaper which pointed out that the [[copyright]] of ''[[Peter Pan]]'', which had been assigned by [[J. M. Barrie]] to the hospital, was going to expire at the end of that year, 1987 (50 years after Barrie's death, the then-current copyright term). In 1988, Callaghan moved an amendment to the [[Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988|Copyright Designs & Patents Act]], then under consideration in the House of Lords, to grant the hospital a right to royalty in perpetuity despite the lapse of copyright, and it was passed by the government.

During the 1980s, Lord Callaghan supported the work of the [https://www.jim-conway-foundation.co.uk/annual-memorial-lecture.php Jim Conway Memorial Foundation] (JCF), a registered educational charity. He gave the foundation's inaugural memorial lecture in 1981 and took the Chair for a JCF symposium in 1990, being the final event of that ten-year lecture series.<ref>'''Trade Unions: The Thatcher years''' '''ISBN 0950930849, 9780950930806'''</ref>

[[Tony Benn]] recorded in his diary entry of 3 April 1997 that during the [[1997 United Kingdom general election|1997 general election]] campaign, Callaghan was telephoned by a volunteer at Labour headquarters asking him if he would be willing to become more active in the party. According to Benn:<blockquote>One young woman in her mid-twenties rang up Jim Callaghan and said to him on the phone, "Have you ever thought of being a bit more active in politics?" So Callaghan said, "Well I was a Labour Prime Minister{{snd}}what more could I do?"<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=9fcUC8JmpxYC&dq=One%20young%20woman%20in%20her%20mid-twenties%20rang%20up%20Jim%20Callaghan%20and%20said%20to%20him%20on%20the%20phone%2C%20%22Have%20you%20ever%20thought%20of%20being%20a%20bit%20more%20active%20in%20politics%3F%22%20So%20Callaghan%20said%2C%20%22Well%20I%20was%20a%20Labour%20Prime%20Minister%20%E2%80%93%20what%20more%20could%20I%20do%3F%22&pg=PA401 ''Free at Last!: Diaries, 1991–2001''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108141106/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=9fcUC8JmpxYC&lpg=PA401&ots=NJJLMggsnI&dq=One+young+woman+in+her+mid-twenties+rang+up+Jim+Callaghan+and+said+to+him+on+the+phone%2C+%22Have+you+ever+thought+of+being+a+bit+more+active+in+politics%3F%22+So+Callaghan+said%2C+%22Well+I+was+a+Labour+Prime+Minister+%E2%80%93+what+more+could+I+do%3F%22&pg=PA401 |date=8 November 2021 }}, Tony Benn, Random House, 2003, page 401</ref></blockquote>

During an interview broadcast on the [[BBC Radio 4]] programme ''[[Letters of last resort|The Human Button]]'', Callaghan became the only prime minister to go on record with his opinion on ordering a retaliation in the event of a nuclear attack on the United Kingdom:<blockquote>"If it were to become necessary or vital, it would have meant the deterrent had failed, because the value of the nuclear weapon is frankly only as a deterrent", he said. "But if we had got to that point, where it was, I felt, necessary to do it, then I would have done it. I've had terrible doubts, of course, about this. I say to you, if I had lived after having pressed that button, I could never, ever have forgiven myself."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Knight |first1=Richard |title=Finger on the Nuclear Button |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7758000/7758347.stm |website=BBC Today Programme |publisher=BBC |access-date=3 November 2018 |date=2 December 2008 |archive-date=9 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181109113623/http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7758000/7758347.stm |url-status=live }}</ref></blockquote>

In October 1999, Callaghan told ''The Oldie Magazine'' that he would not be surprised to be considered as Britain's worst prime minister in 200 years. He also said in this interview that he "must carry the can" for the Winter of Discontent.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/468625.stm | work=BBC News | title=Callaghan expects 'worst PM' tag | date=8 October 1999 | access-date=16 April 2011 | archive-date=6 May 2004 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040506152754/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/468625.stm | url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Queen Elizabeth II with her British Prime Ministers during her Golden Jubilee in 2002.jpg|thumb|Callaghan (second from right) in 2002 with Queen Elizabeth II, [[Tony Blair]] (left) and three other former Prime Ministers; [[Margaret Thatcher]], [[Edward Heath]] and [[John Major]].]]
One of his final public appearances came on 29 April 2002, when shortly after his 90th birthday, he sat alongside the then-Prime Minister [[Tony Blair]] and three other surviving former prime ministers at the time{{snd}}[[Edward Heath]], [[Margaret Thatcher]] and [[John Major]] at [[Buckingham Palace]] for a dinner which formed part of the celebrations for the [[Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II]], alongside his daughter [[Margaret Jay, Baroness Jay of Paddington|Margaret, Baroness Jay]], who had served as leader of the [[House of Lords]] from 1998 until 2001.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/1957292.stm | work=BBC News | title=Queen dines with her prime ministers | date=29 April 2002 | access-date=11 January 2011 | archive-date=12 February 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070212082602/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/1957292.stm | url-status=live }}</ref>