Editing Roy Jenkins (section)

==Home Secretary (1965–1967)==
In the summer of 1965, Jenkins eagerly accepted an offer to replace [[Frank Soskice]] as Home Secretary. However Wilson, dismayed by a sudden bout of press speculation about the potential move, delayed Jenkins' appointment until December. Once Jenkins took office – the youngest Home Secretary since [[Churchill]] – he immediately set about reforming the operation and organisation of the [[Home Office]]. The Principal Private Secretary, Head of the Press and Publicity Department and Permanent Under-Secretary were all replaced. He also redesigned his office, famously replacing the board on which condemned prisoners were listed with a fridge.<ref>Campbell, ''Roy Jenkins: A Well-Rounded Life'', p. 261.</ref>

Following the [[1966 United Kingdom general election|1966 general election]], in which Labour won a comfortable majority, Jenkins pushed through a series of police reforms which reduced the number of separate forces from 117 to 49.<ref name=autobiography/><ref>Campbell, ''Roy Jenkins: A Well-Rounded Life'', p. 267.</ref> ''The Times'' called it "the greatest upheaval in policing since the time of [[Robert Peel|Peel]]".<ref>'Overhaul For The Police', ''The Times'' (19 May 1966), p. 15.</ref> His visit to Chicago in September (to study their policing methods) convinced him of the need to introduce two-way radios to the police; whereas the Metropolitan Police possessed 25 radios in 1965, Jenkins increased this to 2,500, and provided similar numbers of radios to the rest of the country's police forces. Jenkins also provided the police with more car radios, which made the police more mobile but reduced the amount of time they spent patrolling the streets.<ref name="Campbell269">Campbell, ''Roy Jenkins: A Well-Rounded Life'', p. 269.</ref> His [[Criminal Justice Act 1967]] introduced more stringent controls on the purchase of shotguns, outlawed last-minute alibis and introduced majority verdicts in [[juries in England and Wales]]. The Act was also designed to lower the prison population by the introduction of release under licence, easier bail, suspended sentences and earlier parole.<ref name="Campbell269"/>

Immigration was a divisive and provocative issue during the late 1960s and on 23 May 1966 Jenkins delivered a speech on race relations, which is widely considered to be one of his best.<ref name="20th Cen' Speeches">{{cite book|title=The Penguin Book of Twentieth-Century Speeches|date=25 November 1999|publisher=Penguin Adult |editor-first=Brian|editor-last=MacArthur|isbn=978-0-14-028500-0}}</ref> Addressing a London meeting of the National Committee for Commonwealth Immigrants he notably defined Integration:
{{blockquote|...&nbsp;not as a flattening process of assimilation but as equal opportunity, accompanied by cultural diversity, in an atmosphere of mutual tolerance.}}
Before going on to ask:
{{blockquote|Where in the world is there a university which could preserve its fame, or a cultural centre which could keep its eminence, or a metropolis which could hold its drawing power, if it were to turn inwards and serve only its own hinterland and its own racial group?}}
And concluding that:
{{blockquote|To live apart, for a person, a city, a country, is to lead a life of declining intellectual stimulation.<ref name="20th Cen' Speeches"/>}}

By the end of 1966, Jenkins was the Cabinet's rising star; the ''Guardian'' called him the best Home Secretary of the century "and quite possibly the best since Peel", the ''Sunday Times'' called him Wilson's most likeliest successor and the ''New Statesman'' labelled him "Labour's Crown Prince".<ref>Campbell, ''Roy Jenkins: A Well-Rounded Life'', p. 285.</ref>

In a speech to the London Labour Conference in May 1967, Jenkins said his vision was of "a more civilised, more free and less hidebound society" and he further claimed that "to enlarge the area of individual choice, socially, politically and economically, not just for a few but for the whole community, is very much what democratic socialism is about".<ref>Campbell, ''Roy Jenkins: A Well-Rounded Life'', p. 293.</ref> He gave strong personal support to [[David Steel]]'s [[Private Member's Bill]] for the legalisation of abortion, which became the [[Abortion Act 1967]], telling the Commons that "the existing law on abortion is uncertain and...harsh and archaic", adding that "the law is consistently flouted by those who have the means to do so. It is, therefore, very much a question of one law for the rich and one law for the poor".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1966/jul/22/medical-termination-of-pregnancy-bill#S5CV0732P0_19660722_HOC_92|title=MEDICAL TERMINATION OF PREGNANCY BILL (Hansard, 22 July 1966)|website=api.parliament.uk}}</ref> When the Bill looked likely to be dropped due to insufficient time, Jenkins helped ensure that it received enough parliamentary time to pass and he voted for it in every division.<ref>Campbell, ''Roy Jenkins: A Well-Rounded Life'', pp. 295–296.</ref>

Jenkins also supported [[Leo Abse]]'s bill for the decriminalisation of homosexuality, which became the [[Sexual Offences Act 1967]].<ref>Campbell, ''Roy Jenkins: A Well-Rounded Life'', p. 297.</ref> Jenkins told the Commons: "It would be a mistake to think...that by what we are doing tonight we are giving a vote of confidence or congratulation to homosexuality. Those who suffer from this disability carry a great weight of loneliness, guilt and shame. The crucial question...is, should we add to those disadvantages the full rigour of the criminal law? By its overwhelming decisions, the House has given a fairly clear answer, and I hope that the Bill will now make rapid progress towards the Statute Book. It will be an important and civilising Measure".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1967/jul/03/clause-8-restrictions-on-prosecution#S5CV0749P0_19670703_HOC_822|title=Clause 8.—(RESTRICTIONS ON PROSECUTION.) (Hansard, 3 July 1967)|website=api.parliament.uk}}</ref>

Jenkins also abolished the use of flogging in prisons.<ref>Campbell, ''Roy Jenkins: A Well-Rounded Life'', pp. 260–261.</ref> In July 1967 Jenkins recommended to the Home Affairs Select Committee a bill to end the [[Lord Chamberlain]]'s power to censor the theatre. This was passed as the [[Theatres Act 1968]] under Jenkins' successor as Home Secretary, James Callaghan.<ref>Campbell, ''Roy Jenkins: A Well-Rounded Life'', pp. 300–301.</ref> Jenkins also announced that he would introduce legislation banning racial discrimination in employment, which was embodied in the [[Race Relations Act 1968]] passed under Callaghan.<ref name="Campbell273">Campbell, ''Roy Jenkins: A Well-Rounded Life'', p. 273.</ref> In October 1967 Jenkins planned to introduce legislation that would enable him to keep out the 20,000 Kenyan Asians who held British passports (this was passed four months later under Callaghan as the [[Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1968]], which was based on Jenkins' draft).<ref name="Campbell273"/>

Jenkins is often seen as responsible for the most wide-ranging social reforms of the late 1960s, with popular historian [[Andrew Marr]] claiming "the greatest changes of the Labour years" were thanks to Jenkins.<ref name="Marr">{{cite book| title=A History of Modern Britain| first=Andrew |last=Marr| year=2007 | publisher=Macmillan | isbn=978-1-4050-0538-8 }}</ref> These reforms would not have happened when they did, earlier than in most other European countries, if Jenkins had not supported them.<ref>Campbell, ''Roy Jenkins: A Well-Rounded Life'', p. 298.</ref> In a speech in Abingdon in July 1969, Jenkins said that the "[[permissive society]]" had been allowed to become a dirty phrase: "A better phrase is the 'civilized society', based on the belief that different individuals will wish to make different decisions about their patterns of behaviour and that, provided these do not restrict the freedom of others, they should be allowed to do so within a framework of understanding and tolerance".<ref>'Chancellor sees no cause for gloom', ''The Times'' (21 July 1969), p. 3.</ref> Jenkins' words were immediately reported in the press as "The permissive society is the civilised society", which he later wrote "was not all that far from my meaning".<ref>Campbell, ''Roy Jenkins: A Well-Rounded Life'', p. 299.</ref>

For some conservatives, such as [[Peter Hitchens]], Jenkins' reforms remain objectionable. In his book ''[[The Abolition of Britain]]'', Hitchens accuses him of being a "cultural revolutionary" who takes a large part of the responsibility for the decline of "traditional values" in Britain. During the 1980s [[Margaret Thatcher]] and [[Norman Tebbit]] would blame Jenkins for family breakdowns, the decline of respect for authority and the decline of social responsibility. Jenkins replied by pointing out that Thatcher, with her large parliamentary majorities, never attempted to reverse his reforms.<ref>Campbell, ''Roy Jenkins: A Well-Rounded Life'', pp. 299–300.</ref>