And You Thought Politics was Boring?

Roy Jenkins and the Flour Bomb 1975



Hello, and welcome to first edition of the Politics section. This will profile election coverage, by-election coverage, and whatever on youtube that shows some of Britain's greatest leaders and politicians, and some not-so.

First we have a clip, that I would say is not only something for fans of politics, but politics haters. Roy Jenkins, a very instrumental politician in the 1960's, 70's and 80's. Here he is pummeled by a flour bomb, and the he reacts with a great deal of outrage, in that great well-spoken voice of his, which provides the entertainment.

Roy Jenkins was Labour's Home Secretary, and passed and liberalised some of the most important law changes in modern Britain. Homosexuality was made decriminalised, abortion was legalised and capital punishment for crooks was suspended. No more hangings. By the late-70's Jenkins had become disillusioned with the Labour party and the increasing power of the left wing of the party. After a reign as President of the European Commission, Jenkins returned to the UK political scene and became a member of the breakaway Labour "The Gang of 4" Group, and they founded a true political party of the centre, the Social Democratic Party (SDP), which under his leadership, merged with the UK third force, the Liberal Party, to become the "SDP-Liberal Alliance". This was successful for a while in the early 80's, but when Jenkins lost his Glasgow Hillhead seat to left-wing maverick "Gorgeous George" Galloway. This was the end of his career, but was still in the public, writing books. Jenkins died of a heart attack in 2003, at the age of 82.