The written life

The death of Lord Roy Jenkins at the age of 82 closes the book on the life of a man who was equally at home in the hurly burly of politics a...

The death of Lord Roy Jenkins at the age of 82 closes the book on the life of a man who was equally at home in the hurly burly of politics and the art of writing biography. Born in 1920 in Wales, Jenkins saw service in World War II, and entered Parliament in 1948 as a Labour MP.

Jenkins was deputy leader of the Labour Party between 1970 and 1972, and served as home secretary and chancellor of the exchequer 8212; incidentally, the only person other than Churchill to have held these two offices. Between 1975 and 1981, he was president of the European Commission.

He returned to politics quite dramatically in 1981, breaking away from the Labour Party and forming the Social Democratic Party, believing that his beloved party had departed too far from the principles of democracy and was lurching leftward to disaster.

Though he lost a 1981 by-election, the number of votes that he received was extraordinary, and raised visions of the emergence of a centrist political party. In 1982, he re-entered Parliament as the first SDP MP. He became a member of the House of Lords in 1987, and later on chancellor of Oxford University 8212; a post he claimed he liked the best of all his jobs.

Jenkins would, in all probability, have become a mere footnote in history, if it had not been for his extraordinary writing ability, which found expression in biographies which have become classics of the genre. As a young MP, he wrote a biography of Attlee, well-received but slight. His moment came with Mr Balfour8217;s Poodle, a vivid account of the 1909-11 battle between the House of Lords and Liberal government for supremacy. His biography of the last Liberal prime minister, Asquith, propelled him into the bestseller list, revealing as it did the indiscreet letters that he wrote a young man, detailing secret cabinet meetings.

Retirement from politics brought him back to writing: a classic autobiography, and lives of prime ministers Baldwin, Gladstone and 8212; Jenkins8217; hero 8212; Churchill, his magnum opus.

It is interesting to compare Churchill and Jenkins. Like his hero, Jenkins left his party over a matter of principle 8212; and lived to see his reputation enhanced, and not diminished. Similarly, like Churchill, he strove for a centrist party. And, of course, he shared with Churchill a love of good writing.

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The hallmarks of Jenkins8217; writing were a fluent style touched with humour, and an understanding of human frailty and greatness, combined with meticulous attention to the supremacy and accuracy of facts. Above all, his understanding of the daily give and take of politics and the dichotomy which exists between power and principle gave a sense of realism which a more academic writer may not be able to duplicate.

But in his biographies, as in life, he exemplified the belief that principle, and not power, should be supreme. It is a quality which will ensure the durability of his books and his reputation as a politician.