Chancellor of the Exchequer

Abstract

Abstract As Chancellor of the Exchequer, Roy Jenkins achieved his most powerful position in his career in British politics. His reforms at the Home Office may have had more lasting effect on the social and cultural life in Britain, his defiant stand against the rest of his party over Britain’s entry into the European Community may have won him most public respect and by founding the SDP he may have made his most influential contribution to the shape of British party politics, but it was during his time at the Treasury that he exercised the levers of power most directly. He was the dominant force in the Cabinet, the master of the House of Commons, a Chancellor who transformed the economy from weakness to strength; and, had he been more ruthless, he could probably have forced Harold Wilson from office to become Prime Minister himself.