Thatcher ally Lord Jenkin dies at 90

A FORMER Tory minister who achieved national notoriety during the Three Day Week in 1974 by urging people to brush their teeth in the dark has died aged 90.

Patrick Jenkin, later Lord Jenkin of Roding, served as secretary of state for social services, industry and the environment in the Thatcher administrations in the 1980s.

He was also chief secretary to the Treasury and energy secretary in Edward Heath’s 1970-74 government, when he made the remarks about teeth brushing as waves of strikes led to Britain being forced to ration electricity to only three days a week.

Newspapers later revealed Mr Jenkin used an electric toothbrush and his home was photographed with the lights on in every room.

The former Wanstead and Woodford MP in Essex, who is the father of Tory MP Bernard Jenkin, died peacefully at home in Bury St Edmunds, with family at his bedside.

He strongly supported former prime minister David Cameron’s same-sex marriage reforms when they were divisive among Tories.

Lord Fowler, who took over from Lord Jenkin as health secretary, said he was a “kind and principled man” and “a mainstay of the first Thatcher cabinets.”