Roy Jenkins: one of the greatest politicians who never made it to 10 Downing Street

On this day in 1920 Roy Jenkins, at one time the country’s most popular politician, a reforming Labour Home Secretary, founder of the SDP and later a keen supporter of the creation of the Liberal Democrats, was born.

There is a great account of his fascinating and important life in Michael Cockerell’s TV documentary:

He was a great political historian and author, which made his views on the fate of the Liberal Party in the 1920s noteworthy – and his verdict on how it mishandled a hung Parliament was an important influence on what the Liberal Democrats under Nick Clegg did in 2010.

Roy Jenkins passed away in 2003, aged 82.