Even though I am not a Oxonian or not aware of the political set-up in the city, I agree totally with the naming the new library at Ruskin College after James Callaghan (Oxford Mail, February 23).

I feel it is appropriate and well deserved.

The beliefs and foundation of the college were paramount in James Callaghan's own vision for Britain and I am sure that this was often talked about with his long-term friend and political colleague, Billy Hughes, a highly-respected and long-serving Principal of Ruskin.

There is a lovely photograph in Harold Pollins's excellent book, The History of Ruskin College, showing James Callaghan as Prime Minister laying the foundation of the Cyril Plant building on October 18, 1976, with Billy looking on and smiling nearby.

I put on an exhibition about Billy Hughes in the late 1990s in Wolverhampton, where Billy was MP for Wolverhampton West (now South West) from 1945 to 1950.

I spoke to family members, looked round the college and received contributions from Billy's friends and colleagues in Oxford and beyond.

Lord Callaghan contributed to it, as did Baroness Castle, another great friend of Billy's.

It was only after being defeated by Enoch Powell in 1950 that Billy pursued his aim of making a worthwhile career in the world of education and, of course, found it at Ruskin College. Billy would also be proud that his former constituency in Wolverhampton is still represented by a Labour MP, after being a Tory stronghold from 1950 to 1997.

The ghost of Enoch Powell is still quite powerful in the area sadly, but on the wane slowly.

I think Billy would feel it was apt that the library at Ruskin was going to be named after his great friend James Callaghan.

Looking back, Callaghan was probably the last of the true Labour stalwarts who believed in education for all and accessible to everybody, whatever their social status.

He was a believer in Ruskin and its values, and that is all that matters.

IAN PAYNE Walsall