Pension Schemes Bill

Lord Jenkin of Roding Excerpts

Tuesday 16th December 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Jenkin of Roding (Con) (Valedictory Speech)]

My Lords—

[Noble Lords]

Hear, hear!

[Lord Jenkin of Roding]

My Lords, last month the House, in its wisdom, accepted the recommendation of the Procedure Committee that a Peer who has given notice of his wish to retire might have an opportunity to make what they christened “a valedictory speech”. I would point out that a number of noble Lords have retired recently, their retirements having been announced by the noble Baroness the Lord Speaker, and they have not felt it necessary to bother the House with any valedictory speech. However, when I see just how conspicuous this first valedictory speech has become, I wonder why I did not take the same decision. I suppose that one excuse I could offer is that I seem to have given the experts on pensions, to whom I have been listening for the last hour or so, a bigger audience than perhaps they might otherwise have attracted—although whether that is regarded as an advantage I do not know. However, I feel humbled, in a sense, by the numbers—their curiosity seems to have overcome their apprehensions—who have come this evening. I only hope that they will not regret it.

One undertaking I can give is that, in view of the very kind things that have already been said in this debate, I think I can be extremely brief. The Procedure Committee said not more than 10 minutes; I hope I will be rather less than that. I can give the House one further assurance. I have been advised that it is not necessary in a valedictory speech for the speaker to address the subject of the legislation in which he has chosen to make the speech. If my noble friends on the Front Bench and others will forgive me, I will not do so. I have been enormously impressed by the expertise that has been demonstrated. As a former Minister in charge of pensions, I am lost in admiration and realise that it is just as well that I am not trying to talk about this legislation.

In recent weeks, I have been approached by a number of noble Lords from all parts of the House asking, sometimes with some asperity, why I am retiring. After all, I am getting on a bit and I realise that, but I have two answers; one is very short and the other is slightly longer. The short one is that after 50 years in Parliament—a number of noble Lords have already made reference to that—and at the age of 88, I feel that I have done enough. I have done what I can offer, and it is best to bow out and let others carry on.

The slightly longer answer is that, if this House is to continue to perform its hugely important functions in the running of this country, I totally believe that there has to be a constant infusion of new blood introduced into the House, with people who have current experience and whose experience of business or whatever field they have operated in is completely up to date. They can bring their advice and guidance to the House. If the House is not to remain too big—there seems to be a fairly widespread if not universal view that, as the second largest legislature in the world after the Chinese congress, we are a little big—it seems incumbent on oldies to hand over to a younger generation. Everyone must make their own decisions about that: there is no sense of compulsion. I have made my decision and that is why I stand here before this House today.

Last month, a number of us were fortunate to attend what I found to be an inspiring thanksgiving service at Westminster Abbey for the late Mary Soames. Talking to people coming away from it afterwards, there was one phrase that was repeated by people: it really is the end of an era. When Winston Churchill’s youngest child passes on, that is the end of an era. I am conscious of having lived through much of that era. I was privileged in 1964 to follow Sir Winston as the Member of Parliament for Woodford, which was later renamed Wanstead and Woodford. I look back to the maiden speech that I made in the House on that occasion, where by convention the new Member is expected to say something nice about his predecessor. I thought, “What on earth can I say about that great man that would not be said with far greater eloquence by others?”. I therefore looked up his maiden speech to see what he had said on 18 February 1901. I was struck by a passage that impressed me. If nothing else, Sir Winston was a great parliamentarian. At the age of 26, just home from the Boer War, which was still going on, he said:

“In my opinion, based upon the experience of the most famous men whose names have adorned the records of the House, no national emergency short, let us say, of the actual invasion of this country itself ought in any way to restrict or prevent the entire freedom of Parliamentary discussion”.—[Official Report, Commons, 18/2/1901; col. 407.]

That was 40 years before Dunkirk, when the Nazis threatened the invasion of these islands. At the age of 26 he had such foresight. He was absolutely unique. Of course, during that war, as Prime Minister, he led this country to victory in 1945 and made sure that Parliament was always able to hold Ministers to account during that period. We should be very proud of that.

Here we are now in December 2014, 50 years after the 1964 general election. I look back and I have been very fortunate. I have had a very eventful life. It has had its tragedies. I never have the slightest hesitation when answering a question as to what for me was the biggest tragedy in that period. It was the death of my hero Iain Macleod, one month after he became Chancellor of the Exchequer. I see the noble Lord, Lord Armstrong, there. I have never forgotten—he was the Principal Private Secretary at No. 10 who rang us up early in the morning to give us the tragic news. For the rest of that day—indeed, for the weeks that followed—it was an appalling disaster and a huge loss for this country. I have no hesitation whatever in saying that.

Then, later on, the election of the first Thatcher Government was the start of six years’ service in her Cabinets. I have one disappointment. We always lined up every year for a Cabinet photograph, in two rows: the seated at the front with the Prime Minister and the standing at the back. I never made the front row. That gives one a very clear indication of where one stands on things. Those years saw successes and failures. I am not going to stand here and spell out the failures. There was a marvellous book published by two Essex University professors last year—a very revealing book— called The Blunders of Our Governments, by Professors Anthony King and Ivor Crewe. I have to tell your Lordships that my sins are ruthlessly exposed in that book.

I am sometimes asked what legacy one can point to. I am not sure that I am the right person to do that, but I offer two suggestions. In the other place I became Secretary of State for Industry and inherited six very major state-owned nationalised industries. As a former Chief Secretary, I could tell their chairmen and chief executives that there was no way they were going to get their investment requirements funded by the Treasury. I started with British Telecom and told the chairman that, if he wanted to have his £28 billion investment programme or whatever it was, he would have to go to the market and have 51% from the private sector. I look back at that decision: I was able to persuade first the Prime Minister and then the Cabinet that BT should be privatised. Other noble Lords were responsible for subsequent stages, but the decision to publish the White Paper and introduce the Bill was when I was Secretary of State. I look back on that with some pride. Nobody has ever suggested that that one should be reversed and I think it set a pattern.

What about this House? Some have pointed to the Science and Technology Select Committee report Science and Society of 1999. It was this report that convinced the scientific community—not just in the UK but across the world—that, if you wanted the public to support and understand, you had to engage with the public and not just preach down to them, and not just on the public understanding of science. It took a while for the message to get across, but there are very few national scientific bodies in this country or anywhere else that do not have their science and society activity, of which, quite rightly, they are very proud. Ten years after that report was published, the British Council organised a conference in London to celebrate the report. It was attended by the representatives of more than 55 different countries. As someone who never did any science at school or university at all, I felt rather pleased with that. It has not stopped: only last week at a gathering downstairs, to which I had been invited but did not attend, my son accepted an award for what is called “outstanding contribution to science”. It was meant for me. I am completely flabbergasted. However, there it is.

I am over my time. I must end by thanking all those who have made these 50 years possible, including my former constituents in Wanstead and Woodford, the clerks and staff of both Houses, and all the people who keep the wheels turning over and make it possible for us to do our job in the way that we do: the Library staff, the catering staff, the security staff, the police, the doorkeepers, the Printed Paper Office and many others. I offer to them all my heartfelt thanks. Above all, I thank my colleagues for their friendship and forbearance, and for their patience in listening to me this evening. My Lords, I will miss you all dreadfully.

[Applause.]