Description

Shortlisted for the 2014 Samuel Johnson Prize

Shortlisted for the 2014 Costa Biography Award

Longlisted for the 2015 Orwell Prize

Winner of the 2014 Political Book Awards Political Biography of the Year

Roy Jenkins was probably the best Prime Minister Britain never had. But though he never reached 10 Downing Street, he left a more enduring mark on British society than most of those who did.

As a radical Home Secretary in the 1960s he drove through the decriminalisation of homosexuality and the legalisation of abortion. An early and consistent advocate of European unity, he played a decisive role in achieving British membership first of the Common Market and then of the European Union. Then in 1981, when both the Conservative and Labour parties had moved sharply to the right and left respectively he founded the centrist Social Democratic Party (SDP) which ultimately paved the way for Tony Blair’s creation of New Labour. On top of all this, Jenkins was a compulsive writer whose twenty-three books included best-selling biographies of Asquith, Gladstone and Churchill. He was the embodiment of the liberal establishment with a genius for friendship who knew and cultivated everyone who mattered in the overlapping worlds of politics, literature, diplomacy and academia. His biography is the story of an exceptionally well-filled and well-rounded life.

Publisher Review

One of the best political biographies you could hope to read. * Sunday Times * Wonderful... It is the well-rounded life of its subject that makes this book such an entertaining, as well as an instructive, read. -- Rachel Sylvester * The Times * Campbell is an excellent biographer. He has a strong narrative grasp and knows how to use evidence. His books are not showy, but if you test their propositions, you almost always find them fair. -- Charles Moore * Daily Telegraph * A splendidly thorough biography. -- Craig Brown * Mail on Sunday * Magnificent... As plump and benign as its subject. -- A N Wilson * Evening Standard * Captivating... I read every single one of the 749 pages of this long book with relish and fascination. It is a splendid tribute to one of the greatest British politicians and writers (not necessarily in that order) of the last century. -- Peter Oborne * Daily Telegraph * A wonderful, readable book. Jenkins himself would have been proud to have produced a masterpiece of this calibre. -- Leo McKinstry * Daily Express * A riveting and vital contribution to an understanding of postwar British politics. -- Matthew Engel * Financial Times * Marvellous... The highest praise I can give to John Campbell's biography is that Roy Jenkins would have been proud to have been its author. -- Alan Johnson * Guardian * Campbell is simply a master of the art... This book is effortlessly superior. -- Dominic Sandbrook * Sunday Times * Magnificent... A compelling account of a remarkable life * Observer *