Farewell Roy Jenkins

Roy Jenkins has died at the age of 82. He was the great liberal (with a small 'l') home secretary of the 60s, hated by the manichean Daily Mail which blames him for every social evil of the past 35 years.

In the 80s he lead the breakaway SDP from a Labour party dominated by the hard left and rendered unelectable, which leads to the few sour notes in the political tributes.

Labour statesman Tony Benn told BBC News Lord Jenkins could be considered the "grandfather of New Labour"

"The Prime Minister has much more in common with Roy Jenkins than with the Labour Party," he said.

I thought Roy Jenkins was a social liberal? Maybe this just shows how much a dinosaur Wedgie Benn has become?

But Labour peer Lord Healey said he thought Lord Jenkins' political impact was "really very unfortunate".

"The fact that 27 good Labour MPs left the party to join the SDP made it possible for Thatcher to win the election," he said.

"So without Roy, Thatcher would never really have happened."

Denis Healey needs a history lesson - Margaret Thatcher was already in power when the SDP broke away from Labour. And who might tell what could have happened in 1983 or 1984 if the Falklands war hadn't revived Thatcher's fortunes?

Ultimately the SDP was to founder on the rocks of David Owen's ego, and the remnants absorbed into the Liberal party.