117-645: Roy Harris Jenkins, Baron Jenkins of Hillhead , OM , PC (11 November 1920 – 5 January 2003) was a British politician and writer who served as the sixth President of the European Commission from 1977 to 1981. At various times a Member of Parliament (MP) for the Labour Party and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), and a peer for the Liberal Democrats , he was Chancellor of
234-426: A Sutherland : but we have got an Annigoni ". John Campbell claims that "for half a century it has remained unchallenged as the best biography and is rightly regarded as a classic". Like Healey and Crosland, he had been a close friend of Hugh Gaitskell and for them Gaitskell's death and the elevation of Harold Wilson as Labour Party leader was a setback. For Jenkins, Gaitskell would remain his political hero. After
351-546: A calculation of how the 1979 general election would have gone if fought on the new 1983 boundaries. The following table shows the effects of the boundary changes on the House of Commons: The Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher visited Buckingham Palace on the afternoon of 9 May and asked the Queen to dissolve Parliament on 13 May, announcing that the election would be held on 9 June. The key dates were as follows: The election saw
468-521: A surplus in 1969. After Labour unexpectedly lost the 1970 election , Jenkins was elected as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party in 1970. He resigned from the position in 1972 after the Labour Party decided to oppose Britain's entry to the European Communities , which he strongly supported. When Labour returned to power following the 1974 election , Wilson appointed Jenkins as Home Secretary for
585-544: A "traitor". James Margach wrote in the Sunday Times : "The unconcealed objective of the Left now is either to humiliate Roy Jenkins and his allies into submission – or drive them from the party". At this stage, however, Jenkins would not fully abandon his position as a political insider, and chose to stand again for deputy leader , an act his colleague David Marquand claimed he later came to regret. Jenkins promised not to vote with
702-530: A $ 1,400 million loan from the International Monetary Fund . Following a further sterling crisis in November 1968 Jenkins was forced to raise taxes by a further £250 million. After this the currency markets slowly began to settle and his 1969 budget represented more of the same with a £340 million increase in taxation to further limit consumption. By May 1969, Britain's current account position
819-556: A famous result. He became leader of the SDP ahead of the 1983 election , during which he formed an electoral alliance with the Liberal Party . After his disappointment with the performance of the SDP in the election, he resigned as leader. He subsequently lost his seat in Parliament at the 1987 election to Labour's George Galloway , and accepted a life peerage shortly afterwards; he sat in
936-468: A flattening process of assimilation but as equal opportunity, accompanied by cultural diversity, in an atmosphere of mutual tolerance. Before going on to ask: Where in the world is there a university which could preserve its fame, or a cultural centre which could keep its eminence, or a metropolis which could hold its drawing power, if it were to turn inwards and serve only its own hinterland and its own racial group? And concluding that: To live apart, for
1053-467: A heightened role on television for the last 10 days of the election campaign. According to Steve Richards the meeting meant Jenkins' "confidence was undermined and he staggered to the finishing line with less verve than he had displayed in the early days of the SDP" and showed little sign of his earlier "exuberance". Following boundary changes in 1983, the BBC and ITN ( Independent Television News ) co-produced
1170-617: A list of necessary progressive social reforms: the abolition of the death penalty, decriminalisation of homosexuality, abolition of the Lord Chamberlain's powers of theatre censorship, liberalisation of the licensing and betting laws, liberalisation of the divorce laws, legalisation of abortion, decriminalisation of suicide and more liberal immigration laws. Jenkins concluded: Let us be on the side of those who want people to be free to live their own lives, to make their own mistakes, and to decide, in an adult way and provided they do not infringe
1287-465: A national swing of almost 4% towards the Conservatives and their larger parliamentary majority of 144 seats, even though the Conservatives' total vote fell by almost 700,000. This was the last general election until 2015 in which a governing party increased its number of seats. The Alliance finished in third place but came within 700,000 votes of out-polling Labour; by gaining 25.4% of the vote it won
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#17330849290631404-723: A neck ribbon (as a necklet ), while women wear theirs on a ribbon bow pinned to the left shoulder, and aides-de-camp may wear the insignia on their aiguillettes . Since 1991, the insignia must be returned upon the recipient's death. number appointment There have been no honorary members of the Order of Merit since the death of the last such member, Nelson Mandela , in December 2013. Secretary and Registrar : Robin Janvrin, Baron Janvrin GCB , GCVO , QSO , PC As
1521-729: A person, a city, a country, is to lead a life of declining intellectual stimulation. By the end of 1966, Jenkins was the Cabinet's rising star; the Guardian called him the best Home Secretary of the century "and quite possibly the best since Peel", the Sunday Times called him Wilson's most likeliest successor and the New Statesman labelled him "Labour's Crown Prince". In a speech to the London Labour Conference in May 1967, Jenkins said his vision
1638-472: A poor third, which stalled the momentum of the Alliance. During the campaign, on Sunday 29 May, David Steel held a meeting with Jenkins and other Alliance leaders at his Ettrickbridge home. Steel, who polls showed was more popular proposed that Jenkins take a lower profile and that Steel take over as leader of the campaign. Jenkins rejected Steel's view and remained "Prime Minister designate", but Steel did have
1755-586: A recession . However, the British victory in the Falklands War led to a recovery of her personal popularity, and economic growth had begun to resume. By the time Thatcher called the election in May 1983, opinion polls pointed to a Conservative victory, with most national newspapers backing the re-election of the Conservative government. The resulting win earned the Conservatives their biggest parliamentary majority of
1872-427: A seat at the next general election in 1987. Michael Foot was elected leader of the Labour Party at the end of 1980, replacing James Callaghan . The election of Foot signalled that the core of the party was swinging to the left and the move exacerbated divisions within the party. During 1981, a group of senior figures including Roy Jenkins , David Owen , Bill Rodgers and Shirley Williams left Labour to found
1989-573: A special conference on the EEC was held by the Labour Party on 17 July 1971, which Jenkins was forbidden to address, he delivered one of the most powerful speeches of his career. Jenkins told a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party on 19 July: "At conference the only alternative [to the EEC] we heard was 'socialism in one country'. That is always good for a cheer. Pull up the drawbridge and revolutionize
2106-576: A speech in Abingdon in July 1969, Jenkins said that the " permissive society " had been allowed to become a dirty phrase: "A better phrase is the 'civilized society', based on the belief that different individuals will wish to make different decisions about their patterns of behaviour and that, provided these do not restrict the freedom of others, they should be allowed to do so within a framework of understanding and tolerance". Jenkins' words were immediately reported in
2223-570: Is restricted to a maximum of 24 living recipients from the Commonwealth realms, plus honorary members. While all members are awarded the right to use the post-nominal letters OM and wear the badge of the order, the Order of Merit's precedence among other honours differs between countries. In around 1773, George III considered establishing an order of knighthood to be called the "Order of Minerva " with membership restricted to 24 distinguished artists and authors. Knights would be entitled to
2340-587: The 1964 election , Jenkins was appointed Minister of Aviation . A year later, he was promoted to the Cabinet to become Home Secretary . In this role, Jenkins embarked on a major reform programme; he sought to build what he described as "a civilised society", overseeing measures such as the effective abolition in Britain of both capital punishment and theatre censorship , the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality , relaxing of divorce law , suspension of birching and
2457-593: The 1964 general election Jenkins was appointed Minister of Aviation and was sworn of the Privy Council. While at Aviation he oversaw the high-profile cancellations of the BAC TSR-2 and Concorde projects (although the latter was later reversed after strong opposition from the French Government). In January 1965 Patrick Gordon Walker resigned as Foreign Secretary and in the ensuing reshuffle Wilson offered Jenkins
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#17330849290632574-464: The Conservative Party under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher the most decisive election victory since that of the Labour Party in 1945 , with a majority of 144 seats and the first of two consecutive landslide victories. Thatcher's first term as Prime Minister had not been an easy time. Unemployment increased during the first three years of her premiership and the economy went through
2691-501: The Department for Education and Science ; however, he declined it, preferring to stay at Aviation. In the summer of 1965, Jenkins eagerly accepted an offer to replace Frank Soskice as Home Secretary. However Wilson, dismayed by a sudden bout of press speculation about the potential move, delayed Jenkins' appointment until December. Once Jenkins took office – the youngest Home Secretary since Churchill – he immediately set about reforming
2808-609: The Dominions of the British Empire became independent countries within the empire, equal in status to the UK, the Order of Merit continued as an honour open to all these realms and, in many, became a part of their newly developing national honours systems. The order's statutes were amended in 1935 to include members of the Royal Air Force and, in 1969, the definition of honorary recipients
2925-531: The House of Commons in a 1948 by-election as the Member of Parliament for Southwark Central , becoming the " Baby of the House ". His constituency was abolished in boundary changes for the 1950 general election , when he stood instead in the new Birmingham Stechford constituency. He won the seat, and represented the constituency until 1977. In 1947, he edited a collection of Clement Attlee 's speeches, published under
3042-494: The House of Lords as a Liberal Democrat . Jenkins was later elected to succeed former prime minister Harold Macmillan as Chancellor of the University of Oxford following the latter's death; he would hold this position until his own death sixteen years later. In the late 1990s, he served as a close adviser to Prime Minister Tony Blair and chaired a major commission on electoral reform . In addition to his political career, he
3159-480: The Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia , stated that the Order of Merit was the highest civilian award for merit a Canadian could receive. Some orders of precedence are as follows: Order of wear 1983 United Kingdom general election Margaret Thatcher Conservative Margaret Thatcher Conservative The 1983 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 9 June 1983. It gave
3276-527: The Royal Academy of Arts , advised against the new order, primarily because of its selection process. It was Victoria's son Edward VII who eventually founded the Order of Merit on 26 June 1902 (the date for which his coronation had been originally scheduled ) as a means to acknowledge "exceptionally meritorious service in Our Navy and Our Army, or who may have rendered exceptionally meritorious service towards
3393-625: The Social Democratic Party (SDP). The SDP agreed to a pact with the Liberals for the 1983 election and stood as " The Alliance ". For a while the Alliance topped the opinion polls and looked capable of achieving their goal of forming a coalition government at the next general election, but the success of the Falklands campaign in 1982 saw the political tide turn in favour of the Conservative government. The election did not have to be held until 1984. Although political circumstances were clearly favourable for
3510-528: The devaluation crisis of November 1967. Jenkins' ultimate goal as Chancellor was economic growth, which depended on restoring stability to sterling at its new value after devaluation. This could only be achieved by ensuring a surplus in the balance of payments , which had been in a deficit for the previous five years. Therefore, Jenkins pursued deflation , including cuts in public expenditure and increases in taxation, in order to ensure that resources went into exports rather than domestic consumption. Jenkins warned
3627-503: The upcoming election . Jenkins argued that Britain's chief danger was that of "living sullenly in the past, of believing that the world has a duty to keep us in the station to which we are accustomed, and showing bitter resentment if it does not do so". He added: "Our neighbours in Europe are roughly our economic and military equals. We would do better to live gracefully with them than to waste our substance by trying unsuccessfully to keep up with
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3744-489: The " Gang of Four ") also failed to win his old seat that he previously held as a Labour MP. In Scotland, both Labour and the Conservatives sustained modest losses to the Alliance. Labour remained by far the largest party, with 41 seats to 21 for the Scottish Conservatives . The Scottish Conservatives have been unable to match their 1983 Westminster seat total since, although they did record a slightly larger share of
3861-526: The 1971 Labour Party conference in Brighton, the NEC's motion to reject the "Tory terms" of entry into the EEC was carried by a large majority. Jenkins told a fringe meeting that this would have no effect on his continued support for Britain's entry. Benn said Jenkins was "the figure dominating this Conference; there is no question about it". On 28 October 1971, he led 69 Labour MPs through the division lobby in support of
3978-458: The 1980s Margaret Thatcher and Norman Tebbit would blame Jenkins for family breakdowns, the decline of respect for authority and the decline of social responsibility. Jenkins replied by pointing out that Thatcher, with her large parliamentary majorities, never attempted to reverse his reforms. From 1967 to 1970 Jenkins served as Chancellor of the Exchequer , replacing James Callaghan following
4095-710: The Admiralty Charles Middleton, 1st Baron Barham and William Pitt exchanged correspondence concerning the possible creation of an order of merit, though nothing came of the idea. Later, Queen Victoria , her courtiers , and politicians alike, thought that a new order, based on the Prussian order Pour le Mérite , would make up for the insufficient recognition offered by the established honours system to achievement outside public service, in fields such as art, music, literature, industry and science. Victoria's husband, Albert, Prince Consort , took an interest in
4212-482: The Alliance got fewer than 4% of seats, 186 fewer than Labour. The most significant Labour loss of the night was Tony Benn , who was defeated in the revived Bristol East seat. SDP President Shirley Williams , then a prominent leader in the Social Democratic Party, lost her Crosby seat which she had won in a by-election in 1981 . Bill Rodgers , another leading figure in the Alliance (like Williams, one of
4329-517: The Alliance's Shirley Williams and Bill Pitt lost their seats only a short time after having won them. Joan Lestor and Tony Benn as well as former Liberal leader Jo Grimond and Speaker of the House of Commons and former Labour Cabinet Minister George Thomas also departed from Parliament at this election, although Benn would return after winning a by-election in Chesterfield the following year, and Lestor returned to Parliament after winning
4446-518: The Bevanites' neutralist foreign policy platform: "Neutrality is essentially a conservative policy, a policy of defeat, of announcing to the world that we have nothing to say to which the world will listen. ... Neutrality could never be acceptable to anyone who believes that he has a universal faith to preach". Jenkins argued that the Labour leadership needed to take on and defeat the neutralists and pacifists in
4563-465: The Commission in 1981, Jenkins announced a surprise return to British politics; dismayed with the Labour Party's move further left under the leadership of Michael Foot, he became one of the " Gang of Four ", senior Labour figures who broke away from the party and founded the SDP. In 1982, Jenkins won a by-election to return to Parliament as MP for Glasgow Hillhead, taking the seat from the Conservatives in
4680-638: The Common Market. At the 1960 Labour Party conference in Scarborough , Jenkins advocated rewriting Clause IV of the party's constitution but he was booed. In November he wrote in The Spectator that "unless the Labour Party is determined to abdicate its role as a mass party and become nothing more than a narrow sectarian society, its paramount task is to represent the whole of the Leftward-thinking half of
4797-481: The Commons Fred Peart at the first ballot. At this time he appeared the natural successor to Harold Wilson , and it appeared to many only a matter of time before he inherited the leadership of the party, and the opportunity to become prime minister. This changed completely, however, as Jenkins refused to accept the tide of anti-European feeling that became prevalent in the Labour Party in the early 1970s. After
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4914-582: The Commons that "the existing law on abortion is uncertain and...harsh and archaic", adding that "the law is consistently flouted by those who have the means to do so. It is, therefore, very much a question of one law for the rich and one law for the poor". When the Bill looked likely to be dropped due to insufficient time, Jenkins helped ensure that it received enough parliamentary time to pass and he voted for it in every division. Jenkins also supported Leo Abse 's bill for
5031-406: The Conservatives win a landslide victory , improving on their 1979 result and achieving their best results since 1935 . Although there was a slight drop in their share of the vote, they made significant gains at the expense of Labour. The Tories have yet to match their 1983 seat total in any subsequent general election, although they recorded a higher share of the popular vote in 2019 . The night
5148-578: The Exchequer and Home Secretary under the Wilson and Callaghan Governments . The son of Arthur Jenkins , a coal-miner and Labour MP, Jenkins was educated at the University of Oxford and served as an intelligence officer during the Second World War . Initially elected as MP for Southwark Central in 1948, he moved to become MP for Birmingham Stechford in 1950. On the election of Harold Wilson after
5265-462: The Heath government's motion to take Britain into the EEC. In so doing, they were defying a three-line whip and a five-to-one vote at the Labour Party annual conference. Jenkins later wrote: "I was convinced that it was one of the decisive votes of the century, and had no intention of spending the rest of my life answering the question of what did I do in the great division by saying 'I abstained'. I saw it in
5382-574: The House of Commons in January 1968 that there was "two years of hard slog ahead". He quickly gained a reputation as a particularly tough Chancellor with his 1968 budget increasing taxes by £923 million, more than twice the increase of any previous budget to date. Jenkins had warned the Cabinet that a second devaluation would occur in three months if his budget did not restore confidence in sterling. He restored prescription charges (which had been abolished when Labour returned to office in 1964) and postponed
5499-695: The Labour Common Market Committee. At the 1961 Labour Party conference Jenkins spoke in favour of Britain's entry. Since 1959, Jenkins had been working on a biography of the Liberal Prime Minister, H. H. Asquith . For Jenkins, Asquith ranked with Attlee as the embodiment of the moderate, liberal intelligence in politics that he most admired. Through Asquith's grandson, Mark Bonham Carter, Jenkins had access to Asquith's letters to his mistress, Venetia Stanley . Kenneth Rose , Michael Foot , Asa Briggs and John Grigg all favourably reviewed
5616-494: The Labour government. In 1951 Tribune published his pamphlet Fair Shares for the Rich . Here, Jenkins advocated the abolition of large private incomes by taxing them, graduating from 50 per cent for incomes between £20,000 and £30,000 to 95 per cent for incomes over £100,000. He also proposed further nationalisations and said: "Future nationalisations will be more concerned with equality than with planning, and this means that we can leave
5733-506: The Liberal Democrats, Paddy Ashdown and Charles Kennedy , were first elected. Michael Howard , who later served the Conservatives as Home Secretary in government and as party leader from 2003 to 2005, was also first elected to Parliament in 1983. At the same time, a number of prominent Members of Parliament stepped aside or lost their seats. Former Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson stood down from Parliament after 38 years, while
5850-577: The Order of Merit is open to the citizens of 15 countries, each with their own system of orders, decorations, and medals, the order's place of precedence varies from country to country. While, in the United Kingdom, the order's postnominal letters follow those of Knights and Dames Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath , membership in the Order of Merit itself gives members no place in any of the orders of precedence in
5967-425: The Order of Merit, members are entitled to use the post-nominal letters OM and are entrusted with the badge of the order. The insignia consists of a badge, which consists of a golden crown from which is suspended a red enamelled cross pattée , itself centred by a disk of blue enamel, surrounded by a laurel wreath . The obverse of the badge's central disk bears the words FOR MERIT in gold lettering, while
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#17330849290636084-564: The Order, having been admitted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1968, when he was 47 years old. Robin Eames , Baron Eames represented the order at the coronation of Charles III and Camilla on 6 May 2023. All citizens of the Commonwealth realms are eligible for appointment to the Order of Merit. There may be, however, only 24 living individuals in the order at any given time, not including honorary appointees, and new members are personally selected by
6201-565: The Rich , Jenkins now argued that the redistribution of wealth would occur over a generation and abandoned the goal of public school abolition. However, he still proposed further nationalisations: "It is quite impossible to advocate both the abolition of great inequalities of wealth and the acceptance of a one-quarter public sector and three-quarters private sector arrangement. A mixed economy there will undoubtedly be, certainly for many decades and perhaps permanently, but it will need to be mixed in very different proportions from this". He also opposed
6318-605: The Scottish vote in 2017 , by which time the Scottish National Party had become the dominant party in Scotland with the Conservatives being the largest unionist party, with 13 seats won in 2017; their strongest performance in Scotland in 34 years. On a nationwide basis, the 1983 UK general election was the worst result in Labour's modern history until the 2019 general election , in terms of seats won. The result in 1983 remains
6435-456: The United Kingdom . However, Stanley Martin says in his book The Order of Merit 1902–2002: One Hundred Years of Matchless Honour , that the Order of Merit is the pinnacle of the British honours system. Similarly, though it was not listed in the Canadian order of precedence for honours, decorations, and medals until December 2010, Christopher McCreery, an expert on Canadian honours and secretary to
6552-529: The abolition of capital punishment. Mr Balfour's Poodle , a short account of the House of Lords crisis of 1911 that culminated in the Parliament Act 1911 , was published in 1954. Favourable reviewers included A. J. P. Taylor , Harold Nicolson , Leonard Woolf and Violet Bonham Carter . After a suggestion by Mark Bonham Carter , Jenkins then wrote a biography of the Victorian radical, Sir Charles Dilke , which
6669-552: The advancement of Art, Literature and Science". All modern aspects of the order were established under his direction, including the division for military figures. From the outset, prime ministers attempted to propose candidates or lobbied to influence the monarch's decision on appointments. But, the Royal Household adamantly guarded information about potential names. After 1931, when the Statute of Westminster came into effect and
6786-538: The book when it was published in October 1964. However, Violet Bonham Carter wrote a defence of her father in The Times against the few criticisms of Asquith in the book, and Robert Rhodes James wrote in The Spectator that "Asquith was surely a tougher, stronger, more acute man...than Mr. Jenkins would have us believe. The fascinating enigma of his complete decline is never really analysed, nor even understood. ... We required
6903-885: The bottom of the scale and by really taxing the wealthy". In his budget broadcast on 19 March, Jenkins said that Britain had been living in a "fool's paradise" for years and that it was "importing too much, exporting too little and paying ourselves too much", with a lower standard of living than France or West Germany. Jenkins' supporters in the Parliamentary Labour Party became known as the "Jenkinsites". These were usually younger, middle-class and university-educated ex-Gaitskellites such as Bill Rodgers , David Owen , Roy Hattersley , Dick Taverne , John Mackintosh and David Marquand . In May–July 1968 some of his supporters, led by Patrick Gordon Walker and Christopher Mayhew , plotted to replace Wilson with Jenkins as Labour leader but he declined to challenge Wilson. A year later his supporters again attempted to persuade Jenkins to challenge Wilson for
7020-495: The by then long-widowed Queen a draft constitution for an Order of Merit in Science and Art, consisting of one grade split into two branches of knighthood: the Order of Scientific Merit, for Knights of Merit in Science, with the post-nominal letters KMS , and the Order of Artistic Merit, for Knights of Merit in Art, with the post-nominal letters KMA . However, Frederic Leighton , President of
7137-412: The consequences, as was well deserved, were humiliating and disastrous". Jenkins praised Anthony Crosland 's 1956 work The Future of Socialism as "the most important book on socialist theory" since Evan Durbin 's The Politics of Democratic Socialism (1940). With much of the economy now nationalised, Jenkins argued, socialists should concentrate on eliminating the remaining pockets of poverty and on
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#17330849290637254-407: The context of the first Reform Bill , the repeal of the Corn Laws , Gladstone's Home Rule Bills, the Lloyd George Budget and the Parliament Bill , the Munich Agreement and the May 1940 votes ". Jenkins' action gave the European cause a legitimacy that would have otherwise been absent had the issue been considered solely as a party political matter. However, he was now regarded by the left as
7371-439: The country—and to offer the prospect of attracting enough marginal support to give that half some share of power". During 1960–62, his main campaign was British membership of the Common Market, where he became Labour's leading advocate of entry. When Harold Macmillan initiated the first British application to join the Common Market in 1961, Jenkins became deputy chairman of the all-party Common Market Campaign and then chairman of
7488-486: The curbing of the absolute powers of the old House of Lords". Member of the Order of Merit The Order of Merit (French: Ordre du Mérite ) is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms , recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by Edward VII , admission into the order remains the personal gift of its Sovereign—currently Edward VII's great-great-grandson Charles III —and
7605-404: The decriminalisation of homosexuality, which became the Sexual Offences Act 1967 . Jenkins told the Commons: "It would be a mistake to think...that by what we are doing tonight we are giving a vote of confidence or congratulation to homosexuality. Those who suffer from this disability carry a great weight of loneliness, guilt and shame. The crucial question...is, should we add to those disadvantages
7722-407: The fortress. That's not a policy either: it's just a slogan, and it is one which becomes not merely unconvincing but hypocritical as well when it is dressed up as our best contribution to international socialism". This reopened the old Bevanite–Gaitskellite divide in the Party; Wilson told Tony Benn the day after Jenkins' speech that he was determined to smash the Campaign for Democratic Socialism. At
7839-421: The full rigour of the criminal law? By its overwhelming decisions, the House has given a fairly clear answer, and I hope that the Bill will now make rapid progress towards the Statute Book. It will be an important and civilising Measure". Jenkins also abolished the use of flogging in prisons. In July 1967 Jenkins recommended to the Home Affairs Select Committee a bill to end the Lord Chamberlain 's power to censor
7956-522: The government again and he narrowly defeated Michael Foot on a second ballot. In accordance with the party whip, Jenkins voted against European Communities Bill 55 times. However, he resigned both the deputy leadership and his shadow cabinet position in April 1972, after the party committed itself to holding a referendum on Britain's membership of the EEC. This led to some former admirers, including Roy Hattersley , choosing to distance themselves from Jenkins. Hattersley later claimed that Jenkins' resignation
8073-513: The government and opposition parties anticipated that Mrs Thatcher would go to the country in June, earlier in 1983 the Conservatives were split on the timing of the election. One faction favoured a June election, but another group wanted to wait until October before going to the country, while some within the Party even advocated delaying the contest until 1984. Supporters of waiting to a later time to hold an election included Thatcher's deputy and Home Secretary William Whitelaw and John Biffen who
8190-420: The high inflation of the early 1970s and consequently negated most of Jenkins' efforts to obtain a balance of payments surplus. After Labour unexpectedly lost power in 1970 Jenkins was appointed Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer by Harold Wilson . Jenkins was also subsequently elected to the deputy leadership of the Labour Party in July 1970, defeating future Labour Leader Michael Foot and former Leader of
8307-438: The largest percentage for any third party since 1923 . Despite this, it won only 23 seats, whereas Labour won 209. The Liberals argued that a proportional electoral system would have given them a more representative number of MPs. Changing the electoral system from First-Past-The-Post had been a long-running campaign plank of the Liberal Party and would later be adopted by its successor, the Liberal Democrats . The election night
8424-414: The last person so honoured. Honorary members form another group, to which there is no numerical limit, though such appointments are rare; individuals from countries in the Commonwealth of Nations that are not headed by King Charles are therefore considered foreigners, and thus are granted only honorary admissions, such as Nelson Mandela (South Africa) and Mother Teresa (India). Upon admission into
8541-511: The liberalisation of abortion law . After the devaluation crisis in November 1967, Jenkins replaced James Callaghan as Chancellor of the Exchequer . Throughout his time at the Treasury, Jenkins oversaw a tight fiscal policy in an attempt to control inflation, and oversaw a particularly tough Budget in 1968 which saw major tax rises. As a result of this, the Government's current account entered
8658-423: The matter; it was recorded in his diary that he met Sir Robert Peel on 16 January 1844 to discuss the "idea of institution of a civil Order of Merit" and, three days later, he conferred with the Queen on the subject. Though nothing came of the idea at the time, the concept did not wither and, more than 40 years later, on 5 January 1888, Prime Minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury submitted to
8775-484: The monolithic public corporation behind us and look for more intimate forms of ownership and control". He later described this "almost Robespierrean " pamphlet as "the apogee of my excursion to the left". Jenkins contributed an essay on 'Equality' to the 1952 collection New Fabian Essays . In 1953 appeared Pursuit of Progress , a work intended to counter Bevanism . Retreating from what he had demanded in Fair Shares for
8892-496: The new order grew so heated that George ultimately dropped the idea, though he briefly reconsidered it in 1789; on 6 February of that year, he revised the design of the order, with the breast star to have sixteen points, the motto to be the Latin for "Learning improves character" and with membership to include distinguished scientists. Following the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, First Lord of
9009-564: The next day and Parliament was dissolved on 13 May for a four-week official election campaign. The campaign displayed the huge divisions between the two major parties. Thatcher had been highly unpopular during her first two years in office until the swift and decisive victory in the Falklands War , coupled with an improving economy, considerably raised her standings in the polls. The Conservatives' key issues included reducing unemployment (which had increased from 1.5 million in 1979 to more than 3 million by 1982), continuing economic growth following
9126-516: The number of separate forces from 117 to 49. The Times called it "the greatest upheaval in policing since the time of Peel ". His visit to Chicago in September (to study their policing methods) convinced him of the need to introduce two-way radios to the police; whereas the Metropolitan Police possessed 25 radios in 1965, Jenkins increased this to 2,500, and provided similar numbers of radios to
9243-539: The operation and organisation of the Home Office . The Principal Private Secretary, Head of the Press and Publicity Department and Permanent Under-Secretary were all replaced. He also redesigned his office, famously replacing the board on which condemned prisoners were listed with a fridge. After the 1966 general election , in which Labour won a comfortable majority, Jenkins pushed through a series of police reforms which reduced
9360-613: The party leadership but he again declined. He later wrote in his memoirs that the 1968 plot was "for me...the equivalent of the same season of 1953 for Rab Butler . Having faltered for want of single-minded ruthlessness when there was no alternative to himself, he then settled down to a career punctuated by increasingly wide misses of the premiership. People who effectively seize the prime ministership – Lloyd George, Macmillan, Mrs Thatcher – do not let such moments slip". In April 1968, with Britain's reserves declining by approximately £500 million every quarter, Jenkins went to Washington to obtain
9477-597: The party to form the Social Democratic Party (SDP), which then formed the SDP–Liberal Alliance with the existing Liberal Party . Labour was further harmed by its promise to withdraw from the European Economic Community , which alienated Pro-European groups. The opposition vote split almost evenly between the Alliance and Labour. With its worst electoral performance since 1931 , the Labour vote fell by over 3,000,000 votes from 1979, accounting for both
9594-455: The party; it would be better to risk a split in the party than face "the destruction, by schism, perhaps for a generation, of the whole progressive movement in the country". Between 1951 and 1956, he wrote a weekly column for the Indian newspaper The Current . Here he advocated progressive reforms such as equal pay, the decriminalisation of homosexuality, the liberalisation of the obscenity laws and
9711-499: The period 1936–7 to 1987–8. Thanks in part to these successes there was a high expectation that the 1970 budget would be a more generous one. Jenkins, however, was cautious about the stability of Britain's recovery and decided to present a more muted and fiscally neutral budget. It is often argued that this, combined with a series of bad trade figures, contributed to the Conservative victory at the 1970 general election . Historians and economists have often praised Jenkins for presiding over
9828-537: The post-nominal letters KM , and would wear a silver nine-pointed breast star with the image of Minerva at its centre, along with a "straw-coloured" sash worn across the chest from the right shoulder. The motto of the Order would be "Omnia posthabita scientiae" (in Latin , 'Everything comes after science'). Once the King's proposal was made public, however, arguments within intellectual circles over who would be most deserving of
9945-554: The post-war era, and their second-biggest majority as a majority government, behind only the 1924 general election (they earned even more seats in the 1931 general election , but were part of the National Government ). The Labour Party had been led by Michael Foot since the resignation of former Prime Minister James Callaghan as Leader of the Labour Party in 1980, and its new policies were considered more left-wing than before. Several moderate Labour MPs had defected from
10062-521: The power giants of the modern world". Jenkins claimed that the Attlee government concentrated "too much towards the austerity of fair shares, and too little towards the incentives of free consumers' choice". Although he still believed in the elimination of poverty and more equality, Jenkins now argued that these aims could be achieved by economic growth. In the final chapter ('Is Britain Civilised?') Jenkins set out
10179-418: The press as "The permissive society is the civilised society", which he later wrote "was not all that far from my meaning". For some conservatives, such as Peter Hitchens , Jenkins' reforms remain objectionable. In his book The Abolition of Britain , Hitchens accuses him of being a "cultural revolutionary" who takes a large part of the responsibility for the decline of "traditional values" in Britain. During
10296-501: The prison population by the introduction of release under licence, easier bail, suspended sentences and earlier parole. Immigration was a divisive and provocative issue during the late 1960s and on 23 May 1966 Jenkins delivered a speech on race relations, which is widely considered to be one of his best. Addressing a London meeting of the National Committee for Commonwealth Immigrants he notably defined Integration: ... not as
10413-618: The raising of the school leaving age to 16 to 1973 instead of 1971. Housing and road building plans were also heavily cut, and he also accelerated Britain's withdrawal East of Suez . Jenkins ruled out increasing the income tax and so raised the taxes on: drinks and cigarettes (except on beer), purchase tax, petrol duty, road tax, a 50 per cent rise in Selective Employment Tax and a one-off Special Charge on personal incomes. He also paid for an increase in family allowances by cutting child tax allowances. Despite Edward Heath claiming it
10530-576: The recent recession, and defence. Labour's campaign manifesto involved leaving the European Economic Community , abolishing the House of Lords , abandoning the United Kingdom's nuclear deterrent by cancelling Trident and removing cruise missiles — a programme dubbed by Labour MP Gerald Kaufman " the longest suicide note in history "; "Although, at barely 37 pages, it only seemed interminable", noted Roy Hattersley . Pro-Labour political journalist Michael White , writing in The Guardian , commented: "There
10647-447: The reigning monarch of the realms, currently Charles III , with the assistance of his private secretaries; the order has thus been described as "quite possibly, the most prestigious honour one can receive on planet Earth." Within the limited membership is a designated military division, with its own unique insignia; though it has not been abolished, it is currently unpopulated, Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma having been
10764-454: The removal of class barriers, as well as promoting libertarian social reforms. Jenkins was principal sponsor, in 1959, of the bill which became the liberalising Obscene Publications Act , responsible for establishing the "liable to deprave and corrupt" criterion as a basis for a prosecution of suspect material and for specifying literary merit as a possible defence. In July 1959, Penguin published Jenkins' The Labour Case , timed to anticipate
10881-471: The rest of the country's police forces. Jenkins also provided the police with more car radios, which made the police more mobile but reduced the amount of time they spent patrolling the streets. His Criminal Justice Act 1967 introduced more stringent controls on the purchase of shotguns, outlawed last-minute alibis and introduced majority verdicts in juries in England and Wales . The Act was also designed to lower
10998-414: The reverse bears the royal cypher of the reigning monarch in gold. The insignia for the military grouping is distinguished by a pair of crossed swords behind the central disk. The ribbon of the Order of Merit is divided into two stripes of red and blue. The neck ribbon is 50mm in width, while the ribbon bar width is the standard British 32mm size for military or civilian wear. Men wear their badges on
11115-543: The right of individuals to live their own lives free from the constraints of popular prejudices and state interference. Jenkins later called it a "good radical programme, although...not a socialist one". In May 1960, Jenkins joined the Campaign for Democratic Socialism , a Gaitskellite pressure group designed to fight against left-wing domination of the Labour Party. In July 1960 Jenkins resigned from his frontbench role in order to be able to campaign freely for British membership of
11232-501: The rights of others, the code by which they wish to live; and on the side of experiment and brightness, of better buildings and better food, of better music ( jazz as well as Bach ) and better books, of fuller lives and greater freedom. In the long run these things will be more important than the most perfect of economic policies. In the aftermath of Labour's 1959 defeat, Jenkins appeared on Panorama and argued that Labour should abandon further nationalisation, question its connection with
11349-434: The second time. Two years later, when Wilson resigned as prime minister, Jenkins stood in the leadership election to succeed him, finishing third behind Michael Foot and the winner James Callaghan . He subsequently chose to resign from Parliament and leave British politics, to accept appointment as the first-ever British President of the European Commission , a role he took up in January 1977. After completing his term at
11466-559: The theatre. This was passed as the Theatres Act 1968 under Jenkins' successor as Home Secretary, James Callaghan. Jenkins also announced that he would introduce legislation banning racial discrimination in employment, which was embodied in the Race Relations Act 1968 passed under Callaghan. In October 1967 Jenkins planned to introduce legislation that would enable him to keep out the 20,000 Kenyan Asians who held British passports (this
11583-507: The title Purpose and Policy . Attlee then granted Jenkins access to his private papers so that he could write his biography, which appeared in 1948 ( Mr Attlee: An Interim Biography ). The reviews were generally favourable, including George Orwell 's in Tribune . In 1950, he advocated a large capital levy , abolition of public schools and introduction of a measure of industrial democracy to nationalised industries as key policy objectives for
11700-431: The trade unions and not dismiss a closer association with the Liberal Party . In November he delivered a Fabian Society lecture in which he blamed Labour's defeat on the unpopularity of nationalisation and he repeated this in an article for The Spectator . His Spectator article also called for Britain to accept its diminished place in the world, to grant colonial freedom , to spend more on public services and to promote
11817-515: The transformation in Britain's fiscal and current account positions towards the end of the 1960s. Andrew Marr , for example, described him as one of the 20th century's "most successful chancellors". Alec Cairncross considered Jenkins "the ablest of the four Chancellors I served". Public expenditure as a proportion of GDP rose from 44 per cent in 1964 to around 50 per cent in 1970. Despite Jenkins' warnings about inflation, wage settlements in 1969–70 increased on average by 13 per cent and contributed to
11934-547: Was "the moment when the old Labour coalition began to collapse and the eventual formation of a new centre party became inevitable". In his resignation letter to Wilson, Jenkins said that if there were a referendum "the Opposition would form a temporary coalition of those who, whatever their political views, were against the proposed action. By this means we would have forged a more powerful continuing weapon against progressive legislation than anything we have known in this country since
12051-409: Was a "hard, cold budget, without any glimmer of warmth" Jenkins' first budget broadly received a warm reception, with Harold Wilson remarking that "it was widely acclaimed as a speech of surpassing quality and elegance" and Barbara Castle that it "took everyone's breath away". Richard Crossman said it was "genuinely based on socialist principles, fair in the fullest sense by really helping people at
12168-464: Was a disaster for the Labour Party; their share of the vote fell by over 9%, which meant they were only 700,000 votes ahead of the newly formed third party , the SDP–Liberal Alliance. The massive increase of support for the Alliance at the expense of Labour meant that, in many seats, the collapse in the Labour vote allowed the Conservatives to gain. Despite winning over 25% of the national vote,
12285-522: Was also a noted historian, biographer, and writer. David Marquand described Jenkins's autobiography, A Life at the Centre (1991), as one which "will be read with pleasure long after most examples of the genre have been forgotten". Born in Abersychan , Monmouthshire , in southeastern Wales , as an only child, Roy Jenkins was the son of a National Union of Mineworkers official, Arthur Jenkins . His father
12402-465: Was broadcast live on the BBC and was presented by David Dimbleby , Sir Robin Day and Peter Snow . It was also broadcast on ITV and presented by Alastair Burnet , Peter Sissons and Martyn Lewis . Three future leaders of the Labour Party were first elected to Parliament at this election: Tony Blair (1994–2007), Gordon Brown (2007–2010) and Jeremy Corbyn (2015–2020). In addition, two future Leaders of
12519-582: Was educated at Pentwyn Primary School, Abersychan County Grammar School , University College, Cardiff , and at Balliol College, Oxford , where he was twice defeated for the Presidency of the Oxford Union but took a first-class degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE). His university colleagues included Tony Crosland , Denis Healey and Edward Heath , and he became friends with all three, although he
12636-429: Was expanded to include members of the Commonwealth of Nations that are not realms. The order has always been open to women, Florence Nightingale being the first woman to receive the honour, in 1907. Several individuals have refused admission into the Order of Merit, including Rudyard Kipling , A. E. Housman , and George Bernard Shaw . Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh , remains the youngest person ever inducted into
12753-471: Was imprisoned during the 1926 General Strike for his alleged involvement in disturbances. Arthur Jenkins later became President of the South Wales Miners' Federation and Member of Parliament for Pontypool , Parliamentary Private Secretary to Clement Attlee , and briefly a minister in the 1945 Labour government . Roy Jenkins' mother, Hattie Harris, was the daughter of a steelworks foreman. Jenkins
12870-503: Was in surplus, thanks to a growth in exports, a drop in overall consumption and, in part, the Inland Revenue correcting a previous underestimation in export figures. In July Jenkins was also able to announce that the size of Britain's foreign currency reserves had been increased by almost $ 1 billion since the beginning of the year. It was at this time that he presided over Britain's only excess of government revenue over expenditure in
12987-405: Was never particularly close to Healey. In John Campbell 's biography A Well-Rounded Life a romantic relationship between Jenkins and Crosland was detailed. Other figures whom he met at Oxford who would become notable in public life included Madron Seligman , Nicholas Henderson and Mark Bonham Carter . During the Second World War , Jenkins received his officer training at Alton Towers and
13104-481: Was of "a more civilised, more free and less hidebound society" and he further claimed that "to enlarge the area of individual choice, socially, politically and economically, not just for a few but for the whole community, is very much what democratic socialism is about". He gave strong personal support to David Steel 's Private Member's Bill for the legalisation of abortion, which became the Abortion Act 1967 , telling
13221-542: Was passed four months later under Callaghan as the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1968 , which was based on Jenkins' draft). Jenkins is often seen as responsible for the most wide-ranging social reforms of the late 1960s, with popular historian Andrew Marr claiming "the greatest changes of the Labour years" were thanks to Jenkins. These reforms would not have happened when they did, earlier than in most other European countries, if Jenkins had not supported them. In
13338-562: Was posted to the 55th West Somerset Yeomanry at West Lavington, Wiltshire . Through the influence of his father, in April 1944, Jenkins was sent to Bletchley Park to work as a codebreaker ; while there he befriended the historian Asa Briggs . Having failed to win Solihull in 1945 , after which he spent a brief period working for the Industrial and Commercial Finance Corporation , he was elected to
13455-626: Was published in October 1958. Between 1955 and 1958 Jenkins served on the Board of Governors of the British Film Institute . During the 1956 Suez Crisis , Jenkins denounced Anthony Eden 's "squalid imperialist adventure" at a Labour rally in Birmingham Town Hall. Three years later he claimed that "Suez was a totally unsuccessful attempt to achieve unreasonable and undesirable objectives by methods which were at once reckless and immoral; and
13572-625: Was something magnificently brave about Michael Foot 's campaign but it was like the Battle of the Somme ." The Alliance had had a setback ahead of the campaign at the Darlington by-election in March. The contest was one that had looked promising ground for the SDP, but despite heavily campaigning in the Labour-held seat, the SDP candidate, who struggled when interviewed for television by Vincent Hanna finished
13689-408: Was then serving as Leader of the House of Commons . On 27 April it was reported that all the Conservative party's regional agents had unanimously expressed a preference to Thatcher for a June election, although some members of her cabinet were advising her to wait until October. On 8 May senior Conservatives met at Chequers and agreed to go to the country on 9 June. The election was formally called
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