Roy Jenkins

Roy Jenkins, 1977

Roy Jenkins, the Chancellor of Oxford

Roy Harris Jenkins, Baron Jenkins of Hillhead OM , PC (born November 11, 1920 in Abersychan , today in Pontypool , Wales , † January 5, 2003 in East Hendred , Oxfordshire ) was a social democratic British politician and author . Among other things, he was British Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1967 to 1970 and President of the European Commission from 1977 to 1981 .

Life

Born to a National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) official and MP, Roy Jenkins was educated at Abersychan County School . After studying Politics and Economics at Balliol College , Oxford and his military service at the Royal Artillery and in the Testery of Bletchley Park , Roy Jenkins was from 1948 to 1977 a Member of the House of Commons for the Labor Party . First he had tried in vain for a mandate in the Solihull constituency in 1945 , until he was elected in 1948 as the youngest member of the electoral term as a representative of the constituency of Southwark in the House of Commons. In 1950 he moved to the constituency of Stetchford, Birmingham , which he held until 1977.

From 1955 to 1957 he was a member of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe and the Assembly of the Western European Union . As chairman of his party's Europe Committee and President of the British Council of the European Movement , he campaigned for Great Britain to join the EC . Roy Jenkins was the first British Commission President of the EC from 1977 to 1981 . From 1970 to 1972 he was deputy chairman of the Labor Party .

He held various ministerial offices in the British government, from 1964 to 1965 he was Minister of Aviation, from 1965 to 1967 Minister of the Interior and then until 1970 Chancellor of the Exchequer . From 1974 to 1976 he was again Minister of State in the Ministry of the Interior. During his tenure as Minister of State in the Ministry of the Interior, he was responsible for reforming legislation on abortion , homosexuality , divorce and censorship (information control) . As the successor to James Callaghan as Chancellor of the Exchequer, he operated the devaluation of the British pound in November 1967 . He is also known for a speech he gave in 1966 at an event of the National Committee for Commonwealth Immigrants , which is now known as the "Charter of egalitarian multiculturalism", but which did not attract much attention at the time. Jenkins rejects the idea that integration is a melting pot concept that leads to the loss of national characteristics and culture. Rather, cultural plurality is a positive vision and an asset for Great Britain.

In 1981 Jenkins resigned from the Labor Party and together with David Owen , Bill Rodgers and Shirley Williams founded the Social Democratic Party (SDP), of which he became chairman. After only a year, Owen tried to replace Jenkins as party leader, which he finally succeeded in after the 1983 election , which was disappointing for the SDP . From 1982 to 1987 Jenkins was an SDP MP in the House of Commons for the constituency of Glasgow- Hillhead.

After his elevation to the nobility , Jenkins belonged to the House of Lords , in which he served as parliamentary group leader of the Liberal Democrats until 1997. In 1997 he was appointed head of the commission named after him, which was supposed to develop electoral reform. Your proposal was not implemented.

person

In 1945 Jenkins married Jennifer Morris and the marriage had three children.

Roy Jenkins has also worked as a writer for decades and has published 19 books, including biographies by HH Asquith , William Gladstone (1995) and Winston Churchill (2001). In 1987, Jenkins was appointed Chancellor of the University of Oxford to succeed Harold Macmillan .

Since 1964 he was a member of the Privy Council . On November 20, 1987, Roy Jenkins was raised to a Life Peer by bestowing the title Baron Jenkins of Hillhead of Pontypool (in County of Gwent ) . In 1993 he was accepted into the Order of Merit .

The city of Aachen awarded Jenkins, who spoke excellent German, the Charlemagne Prize in 1972 .

Jenkins died of a heart attack in 2003.

Honors

• 1972: Charlemagne Prize
• 1972: Robert Schuman Prize (Alfred Toepfer Foundation)
• 1973: Elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• 1993: Grand Cross of the Order of the Infante Dom Henrique
• 1883: Honorary member of the British Academy

Works (selection)

• Mr. Balfour's poodle . Collins, London 1954.
• Charles Dilke: A Victorian Tragedy . Collins, London 1958. ISBN 0-333-62020-8
• Asquith . Collins, London 1964. ISBN 0-00-211021-0
• Baldwin . Collins, London 1984. ISBN 0-00-217586-X
• Truman . HarperCollins , London 1986. ISBN 0-06-015580-9
• Gallery of 20th century Portraits and Oxford Papers . David and Charles , London 1989. ISBN 0-7153-9299-9
• A life at the center . Macmillan, London 1991. ISBN 0-333-55164-8
• Portraits and Miniatures . Bloomsbury Publishing , London 1993. ISBN 9781448203215
• Gladstone . Macmillan, London 1995, ISBN 0-333-60216-1 ( Whitbread Prize for Biographies 1995)
• The Chancellors . Macmillan, London 1998. ISBN 0-333-73057-7
• Churchill . Macmillan, London, Basingstoke and Oxford 2001, ISBN 0-333-78290-9 and ISBN 978-0-333-78290-3, respectively
• Roosevelt . Pan Macmillan , London 2005. ISBN 0-330-43206-0

literature

• John Campbell: Roy Jenkins, a Well-Rounded Life . Jonathan Cape, 2014. ISBN 978-0-224-08750-6 .

Web links

Wikiquote: Roy Jenkins  - Quotes

Wikisource: Roy Jenkins  - Sources and full texts (English)

• Literature by and about Roy Jenkins in the catalog of the German National Library
• Roy Jenkins at Hansard (English)
• Roy Jenkins in nndb (English)
• Obituary: Roy Jenkins , obituary on BBC News , January 5, 2003

Footnotes

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Indication or verification of source is desirable.
2. ↑ Reference is desirable.
3. ↑ Reference is desirable.
4. ^ ^{A b} Roy Harris Jenkins, Baron Jenkins of Hillhead on thepeerage.com , accessed September 12, 2016.
5. ^ Deceased Fellows. British Academy, accessed June 14, 2020 .