Roy Jenkins
From Wikiquote
Roy Harris Jenkins, Baron Jenkins of Hillhead OM PC (11 November 1920 – 5 January 2003) was a British politician. Prominent as a Labour Member of Parliament and government minister in the 1960s and 1970s, he went on to be one of the four principal founders of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the early 1980s. He was also a distinguished writer, especially of biographies.
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- There has been a lot of talk about the formation of a new Centre Party. Some have even been kind enough to suggest that I might lead it. I find this idea profoundly unattractive...I do not believe that such a grouping would have any coherent philosophical base...I cannot be indifferent to the political traditions in which I was brought up...the Labour Party is and always has been an instinctive part of my life.
- Speech in Oxford (9 March, 1973).
- I do not think you can push public expenditure significantly above 60 per cent and maintain the values of a plural society with adequate freedom of choice. We are here close to one of the frontiers of social democracy
- Speech in Anglesey (23 January, 1976).
- Michael Hatfield, "Inflation fight goes on, Mr Jenkins tells left", The Times (24 January, 1976).
- I therefore believe that the politics of the left and centre of this country are frozen in an out-of-date mould which is bad for the political and economic health of Britain and increasingly inhibiting for those who live within the mould. Can it be broken?
- Speech to the Parliamentary Press Gallery (9 June, 1980)
- Many of the early nationalisation measures were right. They have remained part of the social fabric. I favour measures of that type.
- Speech in the House of Commons (Hansard, 10th November 1982, Col. 579).
