Roy Jenkins
was born in Abersychan, Monmouthshire, on 11th November, 1920. His
father was Arthur Jenkins, president of the South
Wales Miners' Federation and the Labour
Party MP for Pontypool. Jenkins was educated at Abersychan Grammar
School and Balliol College, Oxford,
where he won a first in 1941.
During
the Second World War Jenkins served in the Royal
Artillery and for a while he worked as a codebreaker at Bletchley
Park.
A member
of the Labour Party, Jenkins was to elected
to the House of Commons in 1948. At first
he represented Central Southwark but at the 1950
General Election moved to Stechford, Birmingham.
The Conservative
Party held power between 1951 and 1964. After the Labour
Party won the 1964 GeneraI Election the
new prime minister, Harold Wilson, appointed
Jenkins as aviation minister. The following year, Jenkins became home
secretary. While in this post he encouraged the passing of private
members' bills that legalized homosexuality and abortion.
In 1967
Jenkins became chancellor of the exchequer, the second most important
post in the Cabinet. Over the next three years his main strategy was
to get the balance of payments in the black. By the time of the 1970
General Election he had acquired the nickname of "Surplus
Jenkins".
The Conservative
Party won the 1970 election. When the new House
of Commons assembled Jenkins was elected deputy leader of the
Labour Party. At the 1971 Party Conference
he argued strongly for Britain to join the European Community. Jenkins
lost the vote by five-to-one and he upset the party when he defied
a three-line whip to vote with the Conservatives on this issue.
The Labour
Party won the 1974 General Election and Jenkins
once again became home secretary. The following year he led the successful
"yes" campaign in the referendum on membership of the European
Economic Community.
When Harold Wilson resigned in 1976 Jenkins
stood for the leadership of the party. However, he came only third
behind James Callaghan and Michael
Foot.
In 1977
Jenkins left the House of Commons to become
president of the European Commission in Brussels. In this post he
began to advocate the idea of European monetary union. This was considered
to be too radical at the time and the result was the introduction
of the European monetary system. However, he had laid the foundations
for what was later to become the single currency in 2002.
The political
views of Jenkins were unpopular in the Labour
Party and in 1981 he joined Shirley Williams, David Owen and William
Rodgers in setting up the Social Democratic Party
(SDP). Jenkins became leader of the new party and in 1982 he returned
to the House of Commons as MP for Glasgow
Hillhead.
At the
1983 General Election the SDP-Liberal Alliance
achieved 25% of the popular vote. However, the SDP won only 6 seats.
After the election Jenkins resigned as leader and was replaced by
David Owen. In the 1987 General Election
Jenkins lost his seat at Glasglow Hillhead. Created Lord Jenkins of
Hillhead he became the leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House
of Lords.
In retirement
Jenkins concentrated on writing and published several books including
an autobiography, A Life At The Centre
(1991) and two best-selling biographies, Gladstone
(1995) and Churchill (2001).
Roy Jenkins died on 5th January, 2003.
(1)
Harold
Wilson,
Memoirs: The Making of a Prime Minister, 1916-64 (1986)
Hugh Gaitskell showed
great courage in leading and organizing a nationwide campaign against
Suez. He was an obvious target for the Conservative press, who were
loyally supporting their Prime Minister, for, as past history since
the Boer War has shown, calm statesman-like criticism of a government's
action during a war is quickly branded as treachery and a betrayal
of HM forces.
We all took part in the
operation, christened the 'Law not War' campaign. At one Shadow Cabinet
meeting I reminded my colleagues of the occasion during the Boer War
(when the Liberal Opposition was split on the issue) that Lloyd George
had had to be smuggled out of Birmingham Town Hall disguised as a
policeman to save his life. I said that I hoped that the luck of the
draw would not lead to my being sent to Birmingham.
I was, in fact, sent there.
The main hall was packed, as was a smaller hall which was linked to
the platform by a public address system. Roy Jenkins, himself a Birmingham
MP, rightly accused the Government of causing 'enormous damage' to
the chances of success of the simultaneous Hungarian revolt against
Russia 'for the sake of a squalid adventure in the Middle East'. In
fact, I did not have to don police uniform and, together with Roy,
was cheered to the echo.
(2)
Denis
Healey, The Time of My Life
(1989)
In my view, Roy Jenkins's best period in office was as Home Secretary
in the Cabinet of
1966; he then succeeded in stamping his liberal humanism on a department
not notorious for that quality. He was not well suited to the politics
of class and ideology which played so large a role in the Labour Party.
His natural environment was the Edwardian age on which he wrote so
well. He saw politics very much like Trollope, as the interplay of
personalities seeking preferment, rather than, like me, as a conflict
of principles and programmes about social and economic change.
Though his father had
been a miners' agent in South Wales, who served as Attlee's Parliamentary
Private Secretary, Roy's drawling voice, his pronunciation of 'r'
as 'w', and his sometimes lackadaisical manner limited his appeal
to the Party activists. Yet he was a brilliant Parliamentary debater,
and could rouse enthusiasm even in the Labour Party Conference when
he spoke on a subject like the Common Market, on which he was passionately
committed. He had the same capacity as Nye
Bevan and Hugh Gaitskell to inspire a deep and personal devotion among
his disciples.
(3)
British
Broadcasting Corporation (5th January, 2003)
Former Labour Chancellor and Home Secretary Lord Jenkins of Hillhead
has died, aged 82. He collapsed at his home in Oxfordshire on Sunday
morning, a spokeswoman for his family said.
After serving twice as
home secretary in a Labour Government, Lord Jenkins was one of the
"Gang of Four" who formed the breakaway SDP party in 1981.
Former Labour Prime Minister
Lord Callaghan said: "He was one of the outstanding statesmen
of his era."
Lord Owen, a co-founder
of the SDP, said: "He was by any standards a major political
figure and historical figure in the context of the last century."
Conservative leader Iain
Duncan Smith said: "He was a big political figure and his passing
is a sad moment."
Liberal Democrat leader
Charles Kennedy said: "Roy Jenkins was a great man and a great
personal friend."
(4)
Statement issued by Tony Blair (5th January, 2003)
Roy Jenkins
was one of the most remarkable people ever to grace British politics.
His influence on it is as great as many who held the office of Prime
Minister. He had intellect, vision and an integrity that saw him hold
firm to his beliefs of moderate social democracy, liberal reform and
the cause of Europe throughout his life.
Even those of us who disagreed
with the decision to form the SDP admired the way he never wavered
from the view that the British people should have the chance to vote
for a progressive politics free from rigid doctrine and ideology and
one that stood in the tradition of Lloyd George, Keynes and Beveridge
as much as Keir Hardie, Attlee and Bevan.
He was a friend and support
to me and someone I was proud to know as a politician and as a human
being. As his brilliant biographies demonstrate he had extraordinary
insight and a naturally unprejudiced mind. He was above all a man
of reason. I will miss him deeply.
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