Editing Barbara Castle (section)

====First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Employment, 1968–1970====
As [[Secretary of State for Employment]], Castle was also appointed [[First Secretary of State]] by Wilson, bringing her firmly into the heart of government. She was never far from controversy which reached a fever pitch when the trade unions rebelled against her proposals to reduce their powers in her 1969 [[white paper]], '[[In Place of Strife]]'. This also involved a major cabinet split, with threatened resignations, hot tempers and her future nemesis [[James Callaghan]] breaking ranks to publicly try to undermine the bill. The whole episode alienated her from many of her friends on the left, with the ''[[Tribune (magazine)|Tribune]]'' newspaper railing very hard against the bill, which they held to be attacking the workers without attacking the bosses. The split is often said to have been partly responsible for Labour's defeat at the [[1970 United Kingdom general election|1970 general election]]. The eventual deal with the unions dropped most of the contentious clauses.

Castle also helped make history when she intervened in the [[Ford sewing machinists strike of 1968|Ford sewing machinists' strike of 1968]], in which the women of the [[Dagenham Ford Plant]] demanded to be paid the same as their male counterparts. She helped resolve the strike, which resulted in a pay rise for Ford's female workers bringing them to 92 per cent of what the men received. Most significantly, as a consequence of this strike, Castle put through the [[Equal Pay Act 1970]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.unionhistory.info/timeline/Tl_Display.php?Where=Dc1Title+contains+'Ford+sewing+machinists,+1968'|title=TUC {{!}} History Online|website=www.unionhistory.info|access-date=20 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161114184346/http://www.unionhistory.info/timeline/Tl_Display.php?Where=Dc1Title+contains+%27Ford+sewing+machinists%2C+1968%27|archive-date=14 November 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> A 2010 British film, ''[[Made in Dagenham]]'', was based on the Ford strike. She was portrayed by [[Miranda Richardson]].

In April 1970, Castle's husband, Ted, lost his position as an alderman of the [[Greater London Council]]. He was devastated and although he was supportive of his wife's achievements, he considered himself a failure compared to her.{{sfnp|Perkins|2003|p=339}} Upset and concerned by her husband's distress, Barbara persuaded Wilson to grant Ted a peerage.<ref name="DailyTelegraph2"/>