Roy Jenkins
Page 100
We are . . . rapidly turning politics into a zero-sum game by which the prurience of the press and the apparent appetite for scandal of the public ensure that only the greyest of the grey and those whose interests are tightly bounded by politics will think it worth the constant threat of the searchlights of investigative journalism – almost like the knock of the secret police in the night – being suddenly turned upon them . . . Without question the present climate would have made it impossible for Disraeli, Gladstone and Churchill and many others of note and talent to have functioned in politics. Do we want an age of party apparatchiks, pygmies and eunuchs?186
After his second resignation in January 2001 (for allegedly using his position to influence a passport application) Mandelson thanked Jenkins for inviting him to his eightieth birthday party: ‘Amid the gloom of my life at present, your birthday dinner greatly raised my spirits.’187 And later that year he thanked Jenkins again for his advice, writing plaintively that ‘I have almost no Counsellors of my own.’188
fn20 ‘Sir Robert Horne,’ Jenkins characteristically began this essay, ‘was a Chancellor whom it is easy to forget.’ During the Hillhead by-election he was asked by an elderly voter who was the last Chancellor to have represented the seat. ‘He was bowling me the equivalent of a long-hop, and I, whose mind is excessively cluttered with the minutiae of political careers, totally fluffed it.’ The answer was of course Horne.197 Jenkins committed another howler by describing Sir Kingsley Wood (1940–43) as the only Chancellor to die in office – forgetting, as a reader pointed out to him, Iain Macleod. ‘Forgetting Macleod, who was my “shadow” and immediate successor, is as amazing as it is inexcusable.’198
fn21 Raymond, a banker with S.G. Warburg until disabled by a botched operation in 1979, was the brother of Mark Bonham Carter and Laura Grimond, and father of the actress Helena Bonham Carter.
fn22 His surgeon was supposedly the best in London, but he was ‘not particularly strong on bedside manners’, Jenkins wrote later. ‘He came to see me a week after the operation, looking worried. I asked if he thought I was very ill. “It could go one way or the other,” he said. It was difficult to go to sleep after that.’211
During his three weeks in the Wellington Hospital he read nineteen books, including Alan Clark’s diaries, Michael Heseltine’s and Mary Warnock’s memoirs and Max Hastings’ Overlord, and reread several Anthony Powells. He received dozens of letters, including one from the Queen, and after the first week a stream of visitors.
fn23 Some years later Hastings did just that, and dedicated his Finest Years: Churchill as Warlord, 1940–45 (2009) ‘to the memory of Roy Jenkins and our Indian summer friendship’.214
fn24 But he refused to fill in a publisher’s questionnaire for promotional purposes. ‘It is exactly the sort of nonsense I have declined to answer for 80 years . . . and I am now much too old to change my habits.’221
fn25 Marcia Falkender (the former Marcia Williams, with whom he had always got on well) wrote to thank Jenkins for his kind words about herself in his review of Ziegler’s ‘rather feline’ biography of Wilson. ‘If only we had won in 1970,’ she lamented, ‘– or even lost in 1974!!’225 At the same time Ziegler also thanked him for his ‘generous’ review of his book. ‘I’m glad that you didn’t find my treatment of her unreasonable.’226
fn26 In a Foreword to John Peyton’s biography he wrote that ‘No-one but Solly ever invited me to a country dinner à cinq with the Queen and Prince Philip.’233
fn27 ‘She was among the first to see conservation in the round, as a matter of whole areas and villages and towns and cities, rather than solely as a matter of grand old houses,’ Hastings declared. ‘She said briskly from the beginning that she was not in the business of handing out money to impoverished aristocrats.’ Similar speeches were made by Sir Neil Cossons (English Heritage), Sir Angus Stirling (ex-National Trust), Marcus Binney (Save Britain’s Heritage), Sir Jocelyn Stevens (ex-English Heritage) and Simon Jenkins, all emphasising Jennifer’s immense contribution in their field.238
fn28 Jenkins had previously considered Anthony Howard and David Marquand, and once hinted to Robert Harris that he would have liked him to do it. Harris declined to take the bait.241
fn29 Craig Brown wrote a wonderful parody in Private Eye entitled Twelve Tube Stations, which mocked Jenkins’ orotund style to perfection. ‘I first saw Totteridge and Whetstone when I was, I fancy, but fifteen years of age . . . I make no claim for it as a rival to, say, the sheer magnificence of the Place Vendôme in Paris, or, for that matter, the extravagant neo-Gothic of the Plaza de Colón in Madrid. It is set, a trifle clumsily, in surroundings that are not, one must confess, greatly conducive to the pleasures of the table or, indeed, the amenities of social intercourse. Neither High Barnet, its more northerly neighbour, on the far from undistinguished Northern Line, nor Woodside Park, its somewhat less trumpeted southern companion, offers overwhelming reasons for stopping. But Totteridge and Whetstone has always possessed for me a certain creaky charm.’ Or again, of Warren Street: ‘It is not, perhaps, a first-rate station, still less a second-rate station, but as the lower third-rate stations go, I have always considered it ranks really rather high; if not at the very top, then quite near the upper-middle.’250
Jenkins enjoyed this so much that he wrote to thank Brown for it and even took credit for suggesting it. Jennifer found the postcard on his desk after his death. ‘Dear Craig, I am glad you acted on my assurance to you . . . that Twelve Cities was infinitely parodiable. I much enjoyed your Private Eye, thought it very funny, unwounding and even affectionate. Yours ever, Roy Jenkins.’251 This must have been one of the last things he ever wrote.
fn30 When in hospital near the end Jenkins had a supply of half-bottles of claret smuggled into his bedside. His son Edward suggested that rather than a statue or a scholarship, if anyone wanted to create an appropriate memorial they should endow a scheme to provide half-bottles to all patients in NHS hospitals.258
fn31 Two years earlier Jenkins had been asked to advise on whether Tom Stoppard or Harold Pinter should be awarded the honour. He opted narrowly for Stoppard, ‘but only after warning the Palace that Pinter would go wild with rage’.266
Roy aged three with his mother.
Aged six, posing with his parents Arthur and Hattie (seated and standing right) on the day Arthur was released from prison in 1927.
Arthur Jenkins leaving 10 Downing Street after his appointment as junior Education minister in August 1945.
Eduard Beneš, exiled president of Czechoslovakia, addresses the Oxford Union on 7 March 1940, with Madron Seligman in the chair, Jenkins at the secretary’s table, Tony Crosland and Ted Heath behind Beneš.
The Union Committee with visiting speakers Lord Londonderry and Arthur Greenwood in February 1940, with Seligman as President (seated centre), Jenkins and Crosland together (standing right), Heath (seated second left) and Nicko Henderson (seated second from right).
Roy and Jennifer on their wedding day, 20 January 1945.
Captain Jenkins and Major Denis Healey with other delegates at the Labour Party conference in May 1945, six weeks before the General Election at which they were both candidates.
The dapper Labour candidate meets old soldiers and building workers while canvassing in the Central Southwark by-election, April 1948.
The dapper Labour candidate meets old soldiers and building workers while canvassing in the Central Southwark by-election, April 1948.
Jenkins with Clement Attlee in 1959.
Jenkins’ election address at Stechford in the 1950 General Election.
Canvassing with Tony Crosland in Grimsby in 1959.
Hugh Gaitskell
Jenkins speaking in the Common Market debate at the Labour Party conference in Brighton, October 1962. Gaitskell listens sceptically.
Barley Alison
Caroline and Ian Gilmour
Ann Fleming, Mark and Leslie Bonham Carter
Roy and Jennifer at East Hendred in April 1
969, with their two younger children, Cynthia & Edward.
Jenkins in his study at Ladbroke Square in the mid-1960s.
Jenkins with George Brown – Labour Party conference, Blackpool, 1968.
Bill Rodgers, newly appointed to the Department of Economic Affairs, October 1964.
John Harris, Jenkins’ closest adviser over thirty years.
Jenkins, as Home Secretary, inspecting the London Fire Brigade, July 1966.
Visiting the scene where three policemen were shot in Shepherd’s Bush in August 1966.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer arriving at the Treasury, 1968.
Leaving 11 Downing Street to present his first budget, 19 March 1968.
A confident Chancellor and Prime Minister, a few days before the 1970 General Election.
The Opposition Front Bench after the election: from l-r: Barbara Castle, Denis Healey, Harold Wilson, Roy Jenkins and James Callaghan.
Tennis at East Hendred, 1969 and 1976.
Tennis at East Hendred, 1969 and 1976.
Speaking at the Labour Party special conference on the Common Market, 26 April 1975.
Jenkins with Jeremy Thorpe and Edward Heath during the European Referendum campaign, May 1975.
The television debate between Jenkins and Tony Benn, chaired by David Dimbleby, 2 June 1975.
Struck by a flour bomb while speaking for Reg Prentice at Newham Town Hall, September 1975.
Jenkins in his study at East Hendred, mid-1970s.
Receiving an award to mark twenty-five years as MP for Stechford, 1975: with onlookers including Denis Howell, Roy Hattersley, George Canning, Brian Walden and Jennifer.
The President of the European Commission off-duty on an official visit to Timbuctoo, January 1979.
President Jenkins in session with his fellow Commissioners in the Berlaymont building, Brussels, 1977.
Jenkins with French President Giscard d’Estaing.
Jenkins with West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt.
Jenkins with British Foreign Secretary David Owen, 1977.
Jenkins with US President Jimmy Carter and Margaret Thatcher in Venice, June 1980.
Delivering the Dimbleby Lecture, November 1979.
The Gang of Four after the Limehouse Declaration, 26 January 1981: Bill Rodgers, Shirley Williams, Jenkins, and David Owen.
Jenkins announcing his intention to fight the Warrington by-election for the SDP, June 1981.
Canvassing in Warrington.
Canvassing in Warrington.
Laughing in the rain, Warrington, July 1981.
Returning to the House of Commons with Shirley Williams after winning the Hillhead by-election, March 1982.
The leaders of the Alliance: Jenkins and David Steel campaigning in the 1983 General Election.
Jennifer and Roy on Great Yarmouth beach during the SDP conference, 1982.
Jenkins in procession as Chancellor of Oxford University, June 1988.
Writing in Tuscany, 1993.
Winning the Whitbread Biography Award for Gladstone in 1995.
Roy and Jennifer in 1999.
Notes
Chapter One: His Father’s Son
1. Interview, Denis Healey, 24.7.08
2. Leo Abse, Private Member, pp.34–6
3. Alan Watkins, Brief Lives, p.73
4. Roy Jenkins, Twelve Cities, p.2
5. Daily Herald, 27.4.46
6. South Wales Argus, n.d. See also Chris Williams, ‘Arthur Jenkins’, in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
7. Kenneth Harris, Attlee, p.58
8. Kelly’s Directory of South Wales and Monmouthshire, 1920
9. Arthur Jenkins’ diary, 11–14.11.20 [Jenkins papers]
10. Sunday Express, 5.11.72 (Drusilla Morgan)
11. ibid.
12. ibid. (Pita Karaka). Connie Peppin married D.F. Karaka in 1946 and Indianised her name.
13. ibid. (Derek Powell)
14. ibid. (Peggy Moseley)
15. ibid. (Derek Powell)
16. Pita Karaka, ‘Youth’, in Andrew Adonis & Keith Thomas, Roy Jenkins: A Retrospective, p.5; interview, 1982.
17. Pita Karaka, ‘Youth’, op. cit., p.4
18. Jenkins, Twelve Cities, p.205
19. Spectator, 3.8.96
20. Jenkins, Twelve Cities, p.191
21. Hugh Brace, ‘Youth’, in Adonis & Thomas, p.9
22. Sunday Express, 5.11.72 (Kathleen Tuck, née Tuttle)
23. ibid.
24. Jenkins, Twelve Cities, p.25
25. ibid., p.3; Sunday Times, n.d. 1998
26. Jack Branch to Roy Jenkins, 16.2.93 [Jenkins papers]
27. The Times, 31.8.26
28. ibid., 23.9.26
29. Arthur Jenkins’ diary, 23.11.26 [Jenkins papers]
30. The Times, 29.11.26
31. House of Commons, 8.12.26 [Vol.200, cols 2115–16]
32. Abse, p.34
33. Watkins, p.73
34. Pita Karaka in Adonis & Thomas, p.5
35. Douglas Bence & Clive Branson, Roy Jenkins: A Question of Principle?, p.47, quoting Terry Coleman interview
36. Jenkins papers
37. Interview, Ivor Bulmer-Thomas, 26.5.82
38. Roy to Arthur, 9.4.30 [Jenkins papers]
39. Roy to Arthur and Hattie, 6.10.30 [Jenkins papers]
40. Norman Edwards to Roy Jenkins, 27.5.96 [Jenkins papers]
41. Greenlands News, 4.7.31 [Jenkins papers]
42. ibid., 4.3.33 [Jenkins papers]
43. Roy Jenkins, A Life at the Centre [hereafter ALATC], p.14
44. Hugh Brace in Adonis & Thomas, p.8
45. Spectator, 24.6.00
46. Jenkins papers
47. Article for Daily Telegraph, 29.8.95 [Jenkins papers]
48. Article for Sunday Telegraph, 10.10.93 [Jenkins papers]
49. Sunday Express, 5.11.72 (Peggy Moseley)
50. Hugh Brace in Adonis & Thomas, pp.8–9
51. Jenkins, ALATC, p.23
52. Jenkins, Twelve Cities, p.54
53. Speech to the Newport Model Parliament, 1949 [Jenkins papers]
54. Journal, 1–2.2.35 [Jenkins papers]
55. ibid., 5–6.12.35 [Jenkins papers]
56. ibid., undated [Jenkins papers]
57. Hugh Brace in Adonis & Thomas, p.8
58. Arthur Jenkins to Roy, 11.11.37 [Jenkins papers]
59. Article written for Cardiff University centenary volume, 1982 [Jenkins papers]
60. David Newsome to Jenkins, 12.2.94 [Jenkins papers]
61. Jenkins to Balliol College admissions tutor, 3.11.37 [Jenkins papers]
62. Balliol admissions tutor to Jenkins, 19.11.37 [Jenkins papers]
63. Sunday Times, n.d. 1998
Chapter Two: David and Jonathan
1. Observer, 24.7.88
2. Ronald McIntosh, ‘Balliol’, in Andrew Adonis & Keith Thomas, Roy Jenkins: A Retrospective, p.12. See also Philip M. Kaiser, Journeying Far and Wide: A Political and Diplomatic Memoir, pp.45–103
3. Interview, Madron Seligman, 16.3.82; McIntosh, pp.13–14
4. Roy Jenkins, A Life at the Centre [ALATC], p.32
5. Interview, David Ginsburg, 18.2.82
6. Sunday Express, 5.11.72
7. Derek Powell in Sunday Express, 5.11.72
8. David Ginsburg interview, 18.2.82
9. Cherwell, 3.11.89
10. Andrew Roth, Heath and the Heathmen, p.39
11. Evening Standard, 5.10.98
12. Roy Jenkins, Twelve Cities, p.36
13. Speech at Denis and Edna Healey’s golden wedding anniversary, 1995 [Jenkins papers]
14. Jenkins, ALATC, p.34n
15. Isis, 25.1.39
16. ibid., 8.2.39
17. ibid., 2.3.39
18. Ronald McIntosh in Adonis & Thomas, p.15
19. Birmingham profile, February 1950 [Jenkins papers]
20. Jenkins, ALATC, p.35
21. ibid., pp.31–2
22. ibid., p.30
&n
bsp; 23. Sunday Times, 20.2.77
24. Jenkins, ALATC, p.32
25. Private information
26. Tony Crosland to Jenkins, n.d. December 1939 [Jenkins papers]
27. Oxford Magazine, 23.11.39
28. OULC Bulletin, 22.11.39
29. Oxford Magazine, 23.11.39
30. OULC Bulletin, 6.12.39
31. Address at Leo Pliatzky’s memorial service, 21.7.99 [Jenkins papers]