Roy Jenkins - "Churchill"

[Mike B.]

I just finished Roy Jenkins's biography of Churchill and enjoyed it immensely.

I loved the account of his years in the Liberal Party and his dealings with Lloyd-George and Jackie Fischer.

Does anyone have any comments on this book?

How was it received in the UK, since it was written by a politician (who opposed Churchill after the war as a supporter of Atlee?)

[chriswl]

I've not read it myself but I think it was received very well. Jenkins died just a couple of year's ago and I remember one of his fiercest Conservative opponents (Jenkins was a liberal) struggling to say anything nice about him politically but admitting that he absolutely loved his book on Churchill.

Roy Jenkins was actually a very significant politician in his own right as well as being a writer of political biographies. He was, at various times, Chancellor and Home Secretary and was responsible for overseeing the groundbreaking social legislation in the late sixties that legalised abortion and homosexuality.

[Mike B.]

I've not read it myself but I think it was received very well. Jenkins died just a couple of year's ago and I remember one of his fiercest Conservative opponents (Jenkins was a liberal) struggling to say anything nice about him politically but admitting that he absolutely loved his book on Churchill.

Roy Jenkins was actually a very significant politician in his own right as well as being a writer of political biographies. He was, at various times, Chancellor and Home Secretary and was responsible for overseeing the groundbreaking social legislation in the late sixties that legalised abortion and homosexuality.

Interesting.
It helps explain his admiration of Gladstone. He wrote that he started out thinking Gladstone was the greater man but came to the conclusion that Churchill was the greatest man ever to occupy No. 10.