 |
Business | Industries | Finance | Tax |
| Index: > A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z |
|
|||||
| First Prev [ 1 2 ] Next Last |
Although he was tempted to challenge for leadership of Labour in March 1976 he instead was the first ever British citizen to be President of the European Commission, succeeding François-Xavier Ortoli, remaining in Brussels until 1981.
Jenkins split from the Labour party over policy and, as one of the so-called "gang of four", was a founder of the SDP in January 1981 with David Owen, Bill Rodgers and Shirley Williams. He led the new party from March 1982 until after the 1983 elections, and served as SDP MP for Glasgow Hillhead from 1982 to 1987.
From 1987, Jenkins remained in politics as a member of the House of Lords as Lord Jenkins of Hillhead. Also in 1987, Jenkins became Chancellor of Oxford University. In 1993, he was appointed to the Order of Merit. He was leader of the Liberal Democrats in the Lords until 1997. In December 1997 he was appointed chair of an independent commission, which became known as the " Jenkins Commission", to consider alternative voting systems for the UK. The Jenkins Commission reported in favour of a mixed system called " Alternative vote top-up" or "limited AMS" in October 1998. No action had been taken on this recommendation at the time of Jenkins' death from a heart attack in 2003.
Jenkins is the author of 19 books, including a biography of Gladstone ( 1995), which won the 1995 Whitbread Prize for Biography, and a much-acclaimed biography of Winston Churchill ( 2001). His official biographer, Andrew Adonis, was to have finished the Churchill biography had Lord Jenkins not survived heart surgery he underwent towards the end of its writing.
| Preceded by: Sir Frank Soskice | Home Secretary 1965–1967 | Followed by: James Callaghan |
| Preceded by: James Callaghan | Chancellor of the Exchequer 1967–1970 | Followed by: Iain Macleod |
| Preceded by: Leonard Robert Carr | Home Secretary 1974–1976 | Followed by: Merlyn Rees |
| Preceded by: François-Xavier Ortoli | President of the European Commission 1977–1981 | Succeeded by: Gaston Thorn |
| Politics | Business | Finance |
 |
 |
 |
|