Britain: Victory for the Center

Roy Jenkins wins, and the Social Democrats regain momentum

For 29 years he had been a Labor member of Parliament. He had served capably as Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer in postwar Labor governments, and had gone on to four years of distinguished duty as president of the Brussels-based European Commission, the executive arm of the ten-nation European Community. But from his post in Brussels he gradually became disenchanted with Labor's inexorable leftward drift. In 1979 he put forward the heretical proposition that Britain needed a new party of the...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!