Barbara Anne Castle Biography

Birth of Barbara Castle

Elected to St Pancras Borough Council

Appointed senior administrative officer at the Ministry of Food and an ARP warden during the Blitz

Speaks at the annual Labour Party Conference for the 1st time

Elected Member of Parliament for Blackburn, Lancashire

Enters the Cabinet as the first Minister for Overseas Development, in so doing becoming only the fourth woman in British history ever to hold position in a Cabinet

Presides over the closure of approximately 2050 miles of railways as she enacts her part of the Beeching cuts

Introduces the breathalyser to combat the crisis of drink-driving, and also introduces the 70 MPH speed limit on motorways and presides over the closure of approximately 2050 miles of railways as she enacts her part of the Beeching cuts

Appointed Minister of Transport

Makes Seat belts in cars compulsory

Introduces the breathalyser to combat the crisis of drink-driving, and also introduces the 70 MPH speed limit on motorways and presides over the closure of approximately 2050 miles of railways as she enacts her part of the Beeching cuts. Introduces the 70 MPH speed limit on motorways

Appointed First Secretary of State by Wilson, bringing her firmly into the heart of Government

Intervenes in the Ford sewing machinists strike in which the women of the Dagenham Ford Plant demanded to be paid the same as their male counterparts & helps resolve the strike resulting in a pay rise for Fords female workers bringing them to 92% of what the men receive

Appointed First Secretary of State by Wilson, bringing her firmly into the heart of Government, the trade unions rebel against her proposals to reduce their powers in her 1969 white paper, In Place of Strife, also involved a major cabinet split, with threatened resignations, and James Callaghan breaking ranks to publicly try to undermine the bill

Introduces the first Government subsidies for socially necessary but unprofitable railways in the Transport Act

Appointed Secretary of State for Employment

Intervenes in the Ford sewing machinists strike in which the women of the Dagenham Ford Plant demanded to be paid the same as their male counterparts & helps resolve the strike resulting in a pay rise for Fords female workers bringing them to 92% of what the men receive

Introduces the first Government subsidies for socially necessary but unprofitable railways in the Transport Act

The trade unions rebel against her proposals to reduce their powers in her 1969 white paper, "In Place of Strife". Submits plans to force unions to call a ballot before a strike was held and establishment of an Industrial Board to enforce settlements in industrial disputes, produces Cabinet splis & never realized

Plans to force unions to call a ballot before a strike was held and establishment of an Industrial Board to enforce settlements in industrial disputes

Submits plans to force unions to call a ballot before a strike was held and establishment of an Industrial Board to enforce settlements in industrial disputes, produces Cabinet splis & never realized.

Submits plans to force unions to call a ballot before a strike was held and establishment of an Industrial Board to enforce settlements in industrial disputes, produces Cabinet splits & never realized.

The Labour Cabinet, headed by the Prime Minister Harold Wilson, was divided over the issue, however, and the opposition, led by Home Secretary James Callaghan, prevails.

The trade unions rebel against her proposals to reduce their powers in her 1969 white paper, "In Place of Strife".

The white paper never becomes law, although some elements of it could be recognised in the more far-reaching union legislation later enacted by the Government of Margaret Thatcher.

Submits plans to force unions to call a ballot before a strike was held and establishment of an Industrial Board to enforce settlements in industrial disputes, produces Cabinet splis & never realized

Puts through the Equal Pay Act 1970

Puts through the Equal Pay Act 1970

Appointed Shadow Secretary of Employment

Secures equal pay legislation influenced partly by European treaty obligations on equal pay.

Appointed Minister of Health & Social Security

Appointed Secretary of State for Social Services

Takes a Eurosceptic stance, during a debate with Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe he asked her whether, if the vote would be yes, she would stay on as a minister, to this she replied "If the vote is yes my country will need me to save it"

Introduces a wide range of innovative welfare reforms, including the introduction of the mobility allowance, the Invalid Care Allowance for single women and others who give up their jobs to care for severely disabled relatives, the introduction of a non-contributory invalidity pension for disabled persons who had not qualified for invalidity pension, reforms in child allowances, and the linking of most social security benefits to earnings rather than prices

Introduces a wide range of innovative welfare reforms, including the introduction of the mobility allowance, the Invalid Care Allowance for single women and others who give up their jobs to care for severely disabled relatives, the introduction of a non-contributory invalidity pension for disabled persons who had not qualified for invalidity pension, reforms in child allowances, and the linking of most social security benefits to earnings rather than prices

The Castle Diaries are published after the 1979 General Election, and chronicled her time in office from 1964-1976 and provide an insight into the workings of Cabinet Government

The Castle Diaries are published after the 1979 General Election, and chronicled her time in office from 1964-1976 and provide an insight into the workings of Cabinet Government. Elected EU Euro Member of Parliament for Greater Manchester North from 1979 - 1984, then elected for another five years following this, representing Greater Manchester West from 1984 - 1989

Elected EU Euro Member of Parliament for Greater Manchester North from 1979 - 1984, then elected for another five years following this, representing Greater Manchester West from 1984 - 1989

Awarded the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1990, for services to EU European democracy

Awarded the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1990, for services to EU European democracy

Created Baroness Castle of Blackburn, of Ibstone in the County of Buckinghamshire

Barbara Castles autobiography, Fighting All The Way, is published

Death of Barbara Castle