Lord Jenkin

Cabinet minister Born: September 7, 1926; Died: December 21, 2016 LORD Jenkin of Roding, who has died, aged 90, was a former Cabinet minister and one of the best-known figures of the Thatcher era, serving as a secretary of state for social services, industry and the environment during the 1980s.

As Patrick Jenkin, he was elected to the Commons in 1964, taking the Wanstead and Woodford seat in London, following in the footsteps of Winston Churchill, who had held the constituency before its boundaries were changed.

In all, he served on the Tory front bench for 20 years but became famous for his gaffes rather than for his considerable achievements. He certainly made no secret of the sense of injustice he felt on being dropped from the Cabinet by Margaret Thatcher in 1985.

His complaint was that he had been constantly loyal to Mrs Thatcher, even though, as she was well aware, he was opposed to many of her policies. He was To place your notice in Family Announcements Monday - Friday 9.00am -5.00pm put in charge of abolishing the Greater London Council, a thankless task, it was widely thought, but Ken Livingstone, its then leader, and other Labour luminaries outside Parliament seemed to be winning the propaganda and publicity battle throughout this bitter process.

And in the 1970s, during the three-day week, when he was an energy minister, he urged the nation to clean its teeth in the dark to save electricity. Then it was discovered he used an electric toothbrush, and his home was photographed during the crisis with every light blazing.

Charles Patrick Jenkin was born in Edinburgh. He was educated at Clifton College and served with the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders from 1945 to 1948, including service abroad.

On his return, he graduated with firstclass honours in law at Jesus College, Cambridge, and practised at the bar for five years, specialising in income tax. Before entering Parliament as MP for Woodford as successor in 1964, he helped to found the Bow Group, then a left-of-centre Tory pressure group.

While the Tories were in Opposition until 1970, he served as a frontbench spokesman on Treasury, trade and economic affairs. In the Heath government of 1970 to 1974, he served as financial secretary, Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Minister of Energy.

In Opposition again, he was spokesman on energy and social services. And when the Tories returned to Government in 1979, he became secretary of state for social services, followed by industry secretary and then environment secretary until he left the Government, reluctantly, in 1985.

He was created a life peer and assumed the title of Lord Jenkin of Roding in 1987.

His removal from the Government for alleged political failure was regarded as unfair not only by him but by many of his colleagues. It appears Mrs Thatcher dropped him because she was dissatisfied with his handling of the abolition of the Greater London Council and the metropolitan authorities.

He once said: “I am a market man first and foremost. If a firm is not competitive it is not going to survive, nor should it. The role of government is to reinforce the market, to encourage change, not distort it.”

After nearly a quarter of a century serving in the House of Commons he moved to the Lords in 1987 but announced two years ago that he was retiring.

Lord Jenkin, father of Tory MP Bernard Jenkin, died peacefully at home in Bury St Edmunds, with family at his bedside. Telephone 0141-302 6000 or by e-mail at announcements@heraldandtimes.co.uk