Peter Jay, a British journalist, broadcaster and diplomat whose tenure as ambassador to the U.S. began and ended in controversy, died on Sept. 22 at his home in Woodstock, England. He was 87.
His death was confirmed by his son Patrick, who did not specify a cause.
Mr. Jay never quite lived up to his early promise as an economics journalist, a failing that the British press long took delight in pointing out, along with regular admonitions over his arrogance, which he felt obligated to confess. His anointment in the mid-1970s by Time magazine as one of the most promising men of his generation — he later expressed regret over it — was often mentioned.
Yet it was his reputation as a sharp analyst of the British economy (along with his family connections) that helped garner him the post of British ambassador to President Jimmy Carter’s Washington in May 1977 at the age of 40. That turned out to be the high point of his career.
ImageMr. Jay was welcomed to the White House by President Jimmy Carter in 1977. With him were his wife, Margaret, and their children, from left, Patrick, Tamsin and Alice.Credit...Associated PressThe uproar in Parliament was immediate. Prime Minister James Callaghan was heckled. Mr. Jay had no diplomatic experience, but he was Mr. Callaghan’s son-in-law. He had married the prime minister’s daughter Margaret 16 years before, after graduating with honors from Oxford. Mr. Jay’s espousal of monetarism and his doubts about Keynes-style government spending, disseminated on widely watched British television programs, influenced his Labour Party father-in-law.
A famous line in Mr. Callaghan’s speech to the 1976 Labour Party conference is often attributed to Mr. Jay: “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 candor that option no longer exists.” Mr. Jay’s son, in an interview, could not confirm that the words came directly from his father.
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