TY - CONF

T1 - Roy Jenkins, the tolerant tradition, and the campaign for racial equality

AU - Collinson, Marc

PY - 2016/7/22

Y1 - 2016/7/22

N2 - Between 1964 and 1979, every Labour Home Secretary either sat for a Welsh Seat, or was Welsh by birth. Several more Welsh MPs also served in junior capacities at the Home Office. Whilst it would be simplistic to suggest that this coincidence had an effect on the management and culture of a predominantly Oxbridge-educated, London based institution, one could argue that policy initiatives pursued by a Welsh-born minister could have been influenced by their background. When asked to name a famous Welsh politician, most would turn to one of the two great orators, David Lloyd George or Aneurin Bevan. Yet Roy Jenkins, a native of Pontypool and son of Monmouthshire miners leader Arthur Jenkins, was Home Secretary twice, between 1965-67 and 1974-76, as well asserving as a popular Chancellor between 1967 and 1970. His term in this office is still lauded as an era of effective and progressive reform. Jenkins famously oversaw the passing of legislation on liberalising thestates attitude to abortion, theatre censorship and homosexuality. However, what is often forgotten is the important role he played in making the Race Relations (Amendment) Act, 1968 a reality.In his lecture about Jenkins in Parliament, Andrew Adonis has argued that his tenure was exemplar of the ‘transformational minister’. This claim, however, is based on Jenkins’ support for wider, equallyprogressive legislation to create a ‘civilised’ society, and does not pay attention to his attempts at reforming Race Relations apparatus. Before his intervention, the Race Relations Act (1965) had been passed as a mere palliative, doing little to alleviate racial discrimination that had permeated some sections of British society. It was Jenkins who had the defining impact on the development of this liberalising legislation. His parliamentary and public intervention, promoting the improving race relations legislation in the mid-1960s did more for the cause than the myriad of metropolitan liberal campaign groups active in the field. Jenkins was a trailblazer in the development of post-war integration.In a speech widely described as his best, Jenkins argued that integration relied on equal opportunity, cultural diversity and mutual tolerance. He was critical of attempts to disparage the purity of an existing little Englander mentality, arguing ‘If it were to happen to the rest of us, to the Welsh (like myself), to the Scots, to the Irish, to the Jews, to the mid-European, and to still more recent arrivals, it would be littleshort of a national disaster’. Jenkins rarely spoke of his Welshness within the political arena, so his summoning of this oft suppressed identity over the issues of integration, multiculturalism and identity isdeserving of greater attention. Within the wider debates over Wales as a tolerant nation, the extent to which this supposed tradition of religious and cultural tolerance influenced Jenkins in his thinking duringthis period is important. This impact on race relations is undoubtedly a forgotten aspect of a full and impactful career.

AB - Between 1964 and 1979, every Labour Home Secretary either sat for a Welsh Seat, or was Welsh by birth. Several more Welsh MPs also served in junior capacities at the Home Office. Whilst it would be simplistic to suggest that this coincidence had an effect on the management and culture of a predominantly Oxbridge-educated, London based institution, one could argue that policy initiatives pursued by a Welsh-born minister could have been influenced by their background. When asked to name a famous Welsh politician, most would turn to one of the two great orators, David Lloyd George or Aneurin Bevan. Yet Roy Jenkins, a native of Pontypool and son of Monmouthshire miners leader Arthur Jenkins, was Home Secretary twice, between 1965-67 and 1974-76, as well asserving as a popular Chancellor between 1967 and 1970. His term in this office is still lauded as an era of effective and progressive reform. Jenkins famously oversaw the passing of legislation on liberalising thestates attitude to abortion, theatre censorship and homosexuality. However, what is often forgotten is the important role he played in making the Race Relations (Amendment) Act, 1968 a reality.In his lecture about Jenkins in Parliament, Andrew Adonis has argued that his tenure was exemplar of the ‘transformational minister’. This claim, however, is based on Jenkins’ support for wider, equallyprogressive legislation to create a ‘civilised’ society, and does not pay attention to his attempts at reforming Race Relations apparatus. Before his intervention, the Race Relations Act (1965) had been passed as a mere palliative, doing little to alleviate racial discrimination that had permeated some sections of British society. It was Jenkins who had the defining impact on the development of this liberalising legislation. His parliamentary and public intervention, promoting the improving race relations legislation in the mid-1960s did more for the cause than the myriad of metropolitan liberal campaign groups active in the field. Jenkins was a trailblazer in the development of post-war integration.In a speech widely described as his best, Jenkins argued that integration relied on equal opportunity, cultural diversity and mutual tolerance. He was critical of attempts to disparage the purity of an existing little Englander mentality, arguing ‘If it were to happen to the rest of us, to the Welsh (like myself), to the Scots, to the Irish, to the Jews, to the mid-European, and to still more recent arrivals, it would be littleshort of a national disaster’. Jenkins rarely spoke of his Welshness within the political arena, so his summoning of this oft suppressed identity over the issues of integration, multiculturalism and identity isdeserving of greater attention. Within the wider debates over Wales as a tolerant nation, the extent to which this supposed tradition of religious and cultural tolerance influenced Jenkins in his thinking duringthis period is important. This impact on race relations is undoubtedly a forgotten aspect of a full and impactful career.

M3 - Paper

T2 - International Conference on Welsh Studies, North American Association for the study of Welsh Culture and History

Y2 - 20 July 2016 through 22 July 2016

ER -