Peter Jay (diplomat)
This article needs additional citations for verification. (September 2024) |
Peter Jay | |
---|---|
British Ambassador to the United States | |
In office 1977–1979 | |
Monarch | Elizabeth II |
Prime Minister | James Callaghan |
Preceded by | Peter Ramsbotham |
Succeeded by | Nicholas Henderson |
Personal details | |
Born | London, England | 7 February 1937
Died | 22 September 2024 Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England | (aged 87)
Spouses | |
Children | 7 |
Parents | |
Education | Dragon School; Winchester College |
Alma mater | Christ Church, Oxford |
Peter Jay (7 February 1937 – 22 September 2024) was an English economist, broadcaster and diplomat.
Early life and education
[edit]Peter Jay was born in London on 7 February 1937, the son of Douglas Jay, Baron Jay, and Peggy Jay, both of whom were Labour Party politicians.[1][2] He was privately educated, firstly at The Dragon School, Oxford (the alma mater of several senior Labour politicians, including Hugh Gaitskell), and then Winchester College[3] (where he was Senior Commoner Prefect).
He then studied at Christ Church, Oxford, where he graduated with a first-class honours degree in PPE.[3] In Trinity Term 1960, he was president of the Oxford Union.[4]
He was commissioned in the Royal Navy, then worked as a civil servant at HM Treasury before becoming a journalist and, for 10 years, economics editor with The Times.
Career
[edit]In the early 1970s, Jay became the principal presenter of the London Weekend Television Sunday news analysis programme Weekend World. He co-authored, with his friend John Birt, a series of articles for The Times in 1972, in which they criticised standard television journalism and developed what came to be called their "mission to explain".
As leader of a consortium of high-profile media figures, including Angela Rippon, David Frost, Michael Parkinson and Anna Ford, Jay won the franchise and became the founding chairman of TV-am, a breakfast TV station launched by the consortium. When the initial focus on news and current affairs did not yield economic success, he was fired by his friend and co-director Jonathan Aitken.[3]
In 1977, when his father-in-law James Callaghan, had become Prime Minister, Jay was appointed to the post of Ambassador to the United States by the Foreign Secretary, his friend David Owen. As Jay was just 40 years old, was not a diplomat and had never held any public office, this appointment caused some controversy and accusations of nepotism.[3]
Jay's career took a surprising turn when he became Chief of Staff to Robert Maxwell during Maxwell's most high-profile years. Jay's wife Margaret led Maxwell's AIDS Foundation around the same time, where she met her present husband Professor Mike Adler.[citation needed]
Jay later returned to broadcast journalism; John Birt appointed him Economics Editor of the BBC, and Jay presented editions of The Money Programme.
He wrote The Road to Riches or the Wealth of Man (2000, Weidenfeld & Nicolson), presented a related BBC TV documentary series, and also co-wrote, with Michael Stewart, the speculative historical novel Apocalypse 2000: Economic Breakdown and the Suicide of Democracy (1987).
While his father was closely linked with Keynesian economics, Jay increasingly identified himself with the new "monetarian" school associated with Milton Friedman, a man with whom he was close friends.[5] Jay also debated with Friedman and Thomas Sowell, including two episodes of Friedman's TV series Free to Choose (1980). Jay was also the moderator of the discussions in the British version of Free to Choose.[6][7] Jay was credited with helping write James Callaghan's speech at the 1976 Labour Party Conference.[8] The speech is seen as something of a turning point, with Callaghan declaring: "We used to think that you could spend your way out of a recession, and increase employment by cutting taxes and boosting Government spending. I tell you in all candour that that option no longer exists", a rejection of the previously dominant Keynesian logic and a reflection of the ascendency of Monetarism.[9] Jay used his column in The Times to advocate for neoliberal policies in Britain.
Between June 2003 and May 2009, Jay was a non-executive director of the Bank of England.[10] He was a governor of the Ditchley Foundation from 1982 until 1987,[11] and was formerly a councillor on Woodstock Town Council[12] and was Town Mayor in 2010.[13]
Personal life
[edit]Jay married Margaret Callaghan, the daughter of Labour politician James Callaghan, in 1961. The couple divorced in 1986.[citation needed]
In 1986, Jay married his second wife, Emma Bettina, daughter of the museum curator and writer Peter Thornton. He had seven children.[14]
Jay died on 22 September 2024, at the age of 87, at his home in Woodstock, Oxfordshire.[15][16]
References
[edit]- ^ "Today's Birthdays". The Daily Telegraph. 7 February 2022.
- ^ "Collection: The Papers of Peter Jay". archivesearch.lib.cam.ac.uk.
- ^ a b c d "Jay talking". The Observer. London. 18 June 2000. Retrieved 11 January 2011.
- ^ The Papers of Peter Jay 4/2/1 - Churchill College, Cambridge.
- ^ Beckett, Andy (2009). When the Lights Went Out: Britain in the Seventies. London: Faber & Faber. p. 338.
- ^ Milton & Rose Friedman, Two Lucky People. Memoirs, Chicago & London: The University of Chicago Press, 1998, p. 499.
- ^ "Free to Choose", BBC Two, 23 February 1980.
- ^ Meredith, Stephen (2014). Crines, Andrew (ed.). Labour Orators from Aneurin Bevan to Gordon Brown. Manchester: Manchester University Press. pp. 76–92. ISBN 9780719089800.
- ^ Callaghan, James. "Leader's speech, Blackpool 1976". British Political Speeches. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
- ^ Peter Jay. "Peter Jay: Executive Profile & Biography - Businessweek". Investing.businessweek.com. Retrieved 6 June 2014.[dead link]
- ^ Peter Jay. "The Impact of the Japanese and German Economies on the Global Economy and the Role that the New Economic Superpowers will Play in the1990". Retrieved 6 June 2014.
- ^ "Woodstock East reduced housing plan revealed". 26 February 2016 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
- ^ "Woodstock says farewell to town's 'rock'". Oxford Mail. 11 May 2010.
- ^ Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage 1990, ed. Patrick Montague-Smith, pg 686
- ^ "Peter Jay: the rise and fall of 'the cleverest young man in England'". BBC News. 22 September 2024. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
- ^ "Journalist and diplomat Peter Jay dies at 87". The Independent. 22 September 2024.
External links
[edit]- 1937 births
- 2024 deaths
- Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford
- Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to the United States
- BBC newsreaders and journalists
- BBC television presenters
- British economists
- British male journalists
- Civil servants in HM Treasury
- Councillors in Oxfordshire
- People educated at The Dragon School
- People educated at Winchester College
- Presidents of the Oxford Union
- Royal Navy officers
- Sons of life peers
- Spouses of life peers
- The Times people
- 20th-century Royal Navy personnel
- Military personnel from London