Tom McCaffrey (political adviser)

British civil servant (born 1922)

SirTom McCaffrey

Downing Street Press Secretary
In office 1976–1979
Prime Minister	James Callaghan
Preceded by	Joe Haines
Succeeded by	Henry James

Personal details
Born	Thomas Daniel McCaffrey (1922-02-20)20 February 1922 Glasgow
Died	8 July 2016(2016-07-08) (aged 94)
Spouse	Agnes (Nancy) Douglas (m. 1949)
Children	6
Education	Hyndland Secondary School St Aloysius college, Glasgow
Occupation	Civil servant
Military service
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Branch/service	Royal Air Force
Years of service	1940–1945
Battles/wars	World War II

Sir Thomas Daniel McCaffrey (born 20 February 1922; died 8 July 2016), was a British former civil servant who served as Downing Street Press Secretary under James Callaghan from 1976 to 1979.

Early life

Tom McCaffrey was born in Glasgow and educated at the local Hyndland Secondary School. Later he would attend the Jesuit St Aloysius college. He was the son of a travelling salesman, William McCaffrey and his wife Bridget (nee McCafferty). During World War II he joined the Royal Air Force and served as a wireless radio operator.

Career

After demobilisation in 1945 he commenced his career with the civil service, eventually going on to serve as Downing Street Press Secretary for Labour prime minister James Callaghan. After the defeat of Callaghan in the 1979 general election, he went to work for the new Labour party leader, Michael Foot.

Tom McCaffrey was knighted in the 1979 dissolution honours list.

Personal life

In 1949, he married Agnes Douglas, known as Nancy. The union bore four daughters and two sons.

References

^ "Sir Tom McCaffrey obituary". the Guardian. 26 July 2016. Retrieved 10 February 2022.
"Sir Tom McCaffrey". ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 10 February 2022.
"Sir Tom McCaffrey, Callaghan's press secretary – obituary". The Telegraph. 12 July 2016. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 10 February 2022.
"Obituary - Sir Tom McCaffrey, Glaswegian who served as James Callaghan's press secretary at height of union strife". HeraldScotland. Retrieved 10 February 2022.
"Page 7600 | Supplement 47868, 14 June 1979 | London Gazette | The Gazette". www.thegazette.co.uk. Retrieved 10 February 2022.

Government offices
Preceded byJoe Haines	Downing Street Press Secretary 1976–1979	Succeeded byHenry James

v t e Downing Street press secretaries
Clement Attlee	Francis Williams (1945–1947) Philip Jordan (1947–1951) Reginald Bacon (1951)
Winston Churchill	Fife Clark (1952–1955)
Anthony Eden	William D. Clark (1955–1956) Alfred Richardson (1956–1957)
Harold Macmillan	Harold Evans (1957–1963)
Alec Douglas-Home	John Groves (1963–1964)
Harold Wilson	Trevor Lloyd-Hughes (1964–1969) Joe Haines (1969–1970)
Edward Heath	Donald Maitland (1970–1973) Robin Haydon (1973–1974)
Harold Wilson	Joe Haines (1974–1976)
James Callaghan	Tom McCaffrey (1976–1979)
Margaret Thatcher	Henry James (1979) Bernard Ingham (1979–1990)
John Major	Gus O'Donnell (1990–1993) Christopher Meyer (1993–1996) Jonathan Haslam (1996–1997)
Tony Blair	Alastair Campbell (1997–2000) Godric Smith (2001–2004) Thomas Kelly (2004–2007)
Gordon Brown	Damian McBride (2007–2009)
David Cameron	Gabby Bertin (2010–2012) Susie Squire (2012–2013) Graeme Wilson (2013–2016)
Theresa May	Lizzie Loudon (2016–2017) Paul Harrison (2017–2019)
Boris Johnson	Rob Oxley (2019–2020) Allegra Stratton (2020–2021) Rosie Bate-Williams (2021–2022)
Liz Truss	Alex Wild (2022)
Rishi Sunak	Nerissa Chesterfield (2022–2023) Lucy Noakes (2023–2024)
Keir Starmer	Sophie Nazemi (2024–present)

This article needs additional or more specific categories. Please help out by adding categories to it so that it can be listed with similar articles. (February 2022)

Categories: