Roy Jenkins
A Retrospective
Published on 16. September 2004
Book
Hardback
372 pages
978-0-19-927487-1 (ISBN)
Description
Roy Jenkins was a dominating figure in British politics across the four decades before his death in 2003, with an impact and legacy greater than many prime ministers of the period. His name is synonymous with the rise of the liberal society in the 1960s and beyond, and with the development of progressive social democratic politics spanning the forty years between the death of his mentor Hugh Gaitskell and the premiership of his friend - and some would say protege - Tony Blair. These essays, by friends and associates of Roy Jenkins from every phase of his life, chart his remarkable career with insight, anecdote and empathy. Each contributor writes from a close relationship with their subject, and with unique authority.
They bring to life the 1960s 'Iron Chancellor'; the model progressive Home Secretary under Wilson and Callaghan; the first (and only) British President of the European Commission; the pioneer of the Social Democratic Party and much of the reshaping of British politics in the 1980s and 1990s; the friend and mentor of Tony Blair; the Chancellor of Oxford University; and the acclaimed author and biographer, whose best-selling Churchill appeared more than fifty years after his first biography of Clement Attlee. The authors also recreate the remarkable circle of partisans and devotees, from politics and beyond, which surrounded Roy Jenkins from the mid-1960s until his death. At the heart of the Establishment, yet among its most effective reformers and critics; a son of the valleys who became a connoisseur of the best things in life, he was an object of the deepest loyalty and the fiercest antipathy - and among the most caricatured and celebrated figures of the day. This book is a testament to one of the most fascinating public figures of the post-war era.
They bring to life the 1960s 'Iron Chancellor'; the model progressive Home Secretary under Wilson and Callaghan; the first (and only) British President of the European Commission; the pioneer of the Social Democratic Party and much of the reshaping of British politics in the 1980s and 1990s; the friend and mentor of Tony Blair; the Chancellor of Oxford University; and the acclaimed author and biographer, whose best-selling Churchill appeared more than fifty years after his first biography of Clement Attlee. The authors also recreate the remarkable circle of partisans and devotees, from politics and beyond, which surrounded Roy Jenkins from the mid-1960s until his death. At the heart of the Establishment, yet among its most effective reformers and critics; a son of the valleys who became a connoisseur of the best things in life, he was an object of the deepest loyalty and the fiercest antipathy - and among the most caricatured and celebrated figures of the day. This book is a testament to one of the most fascinating public figures of the post-war era.
Reviews / Votes
'Roy Jenkins was such a multi-faceted and multi-talented character that it was really a rather brilliant idea to publish a series of essays by people who knew him really well (in each compartment of his extraordinary life)'More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
General readers interested in post-war British politics and society, the labour party, and biography.
Illustrations
16 Fotos bzw. Rasterbilder
16pp halftone plates
Dimensions
Height: 203 mm
Width: 135 mm
Weight
613 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-927487-1 (9780199274871)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Andrew Adonis is currently Senior Policy Advisor to the Prime Minister. Previously he was a Fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford, Public Policy Editor of the Financial Times, and a columnist on The Observer.
Sir Keith Thomas is currently a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. He was formerly President of Corpus Christi College and President of the British Academy.
Edited by ANDREW ADONIS, Senior Policy Advisor to the Prime Minister, and KEITH THOMAS, Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford
Contributors:
Pita Karaka: Roy Jenkins's cousin.
Hugh Brace: childhood friend of Roy Jenkins.
Sir Ronald McIntosh KCB, held senior posts in government offices, Director-General of the National Economic Development Office, and chairman and director of various companies.
Asa Briggs: Lord Briggs FBA, historian and author.
Alan Watkins: journalist and author.
Roy Hattersley: Lord Hattersley, politician, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, columnist, and author.
Philip Allen: Lord Allen of Abbeydale GCB, Permanent Under Secretary of State at the Home Office and Royal Commissioner.
Dick Taverne: Lord Taverne QC, politician, Minister of State, Financial Secretary, and author.
David Marquand: Professor David Marquand FBA, journalist, author, politician, and chief adviser in the Secretariat General of the European Commission.
Anthony Lester: Lord Lester of Herne Hill, practising member of Blackstone Chambers.
Kenneth Baker: Lord Baker of Dorking CH, Home Secretary, Chariman of the Conservative Party, and life peer.
Crispin Tickell: Sir Crispin Tickell GCMG KCVO, Chancellor of the University of Kent, Ambassador to the United Nations, and author.
Christopher Tugendhat: Lord Tugendhat, politician, member of the European Commission, businessman, and author.
Bill Rodgers: Lord Rodgers of Quarry Bank, politician, Leader of the Liberal Democrat peers, and author.
Donald McFarlane: served in the RAF, doctor and principal of a large general practise in Glasgow.
Arthur Schlesinger, Jr: served in the US Army, author.
Anthony Kenny: Sir Anthony Kenny FBA, President of the British Academy, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, and philosopher.
David Cannadine: Professor David Cannadine FBA, historian, trustee of the National Portrait Gallery and the British Empire and Commonwealth Museum.
Robert Harris: reporter, political editor, columnist, and author.
Sir Keith Thomas is currently a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. He was formerly President of Corpus Christi College and President of the British Academy.
Edited by ANDREW ADONIS, Senior Policy Advisor to the Prime Minister, and KEITH THOMAS, Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford
Contributors:
Pita Karaka: Roy Jenkins's cousin.
Hugh Brace: childhood friend of Roy Jenkins.
Sir Ronald McIntosh KCB, held senior posts in government offices, Director-General of the National Economic Development Office, and chairman and director of various companies.
Asa Briggs: Lord Briggs FBA, historian and author.
Alan Watkins: journalist and author.
Roy Hattersley: Lord Hattersley, politician, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, columnist, and author.
Philip Allen: Lord Allen of Abbeydale GCB, Permanent Under Secretary of State at the Home Office and Royal Commissioner.
Dick Taverne: Lord Taverne QC, politician, Minister of State, Financial Secretary, and author.
David Marquand: Professor David Marquand FBA, journalist, author, politician, and chief adviser in the Secretariat General of the European Commission.
Anthony Lester: Lord Lester of Herne Hill, practising member of Blackstone Chambers.
Kenneth Baker: Lord Baker of Dorking CH, Home Secretary, Chariman of the Conservative Party, and life peer.
Crispin Tickell: Sir Crispin Tickell GCMG KCVO, Chancellor of the University of Kent, Ambassador to the United Nations, and author.
Christopher Tugendhat: Lord Tugendhat, politician, member of the European Commission, businessman, and author.
Bill Rodgers: Lord Rodgers of Quarry Bank, politician, Leader of the Liberal Democrat peers, and author.
Donald McFarlane: served in the RAF, doctor and principal of a large general practise in Glasgow.
Arthur Schlesinger, Jr: served in the US Army, author.
Anthony Kenny: Sir Anthony Kenny FBA, President of the British Academy, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, and philosopher.
David Cannadine: Professor David Cannadine FBA, historian, trustee of the National Portrait Gallery and the British Empire and Commonwealth Museum.
Robert Harris: reporter, political editor, columnist, and author.
Content
Preface; 1. Youth; 2. Balliol; 3. Bletchley; 4. Backbencher; 5. Birmingham; 6. A Young Home Secretary; 7. Chancellor; 8. The Welsh Wrecker; 9. The Home Office Again; 10. A Life in Caricature; 11. President of the European Commission; 12. The European Achievement; 13. SDP; 14. Glasgow; 15. Back and Forth to the United States; 16. Oxford's Chancellor; 17. Writer and Biographer; 18. A Late Friendship; 19. A Biographer's Tale