Simon Jenkins

Jenkins is the son of theologian and United Reformed Church minister Daniel Thomas Jenkins (1914–2002). He was born in Birmingham. He was educated at Mill Hill School and St John's College, Oxford, where he read Philosophy, Politics and Economics.

Journalism

After graduating from University of Oxford, Jenkins initially worked at Country Life magazine, before joining the Times Educational Supplement. He was then features editor and columnist on the Evening Standard before editing the Insight pages of The Sunday Times. From 1976 to 1978 he was editor of the Evening Standard, before moving to become political editor of The Economist. He edited The Times from 1990 to 1992, but since then has primarily worked as a columnist. In 1998 he received the What the Papers Say Journalist of the Year award.

On 28 January 2005, he announced he was ending his 15-year association with The Times to write a book before joining The Guardian as a columnist. He retained a column at The Sunday Times and was a contributing blogger at The Huffington Post. He gave up both on becoming chairman of the National Trust in 2008, when he also resumed an occasional column for the London Evening Standard.

On 14 April 2009, The Guardian newspaper withdrew one of his articles from its website after African National Congress leader and current South African President Jacob Zuma sued the paper for defamation.

In February 2010, Jenkins, who had been in favour of the Falklands War, argued in a Guardian article that the Falkland Islands are an example of anachronistic British colonialism and should be handed over to Argentinian control. He said that they could be leased back under the auspices of the UN. He remarked that the 2,500 or so British islanders should not have an "unqualified veto on British government policy". In March 2012, he stated on Question Time that Britain should begin negotiating the handover of the Falkland Islands to the Argentine government. Only his fellow panellist Alexei Sayle agreed; the others and the audience disapproved.

In 2010 Jenkins spoke disparagingly on the Radio 4 Today programme about the Shard, a skyscraper in south London. He was described as a "professional miserabilist" in The Londonist.

Jenkins has expressed varying opinions on the subject of national defence. In a piece in The Guardian in 2010 he wrote that the government should "cut [defence], all £45 billion of it... With the end of the Cold War in the 1990s that threat [from global communism] vanished." However, he wrote in the same paper in 2016 in support of NATO membership, saying: "It is a real deterrent, and its plausibility rests on the assurance of collective response."

Jenkins voted for the UK to Remain within the European Union in the United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, 2016 arguing that leaving would provide Germany with dominance over the remainder of the union: "It would leave Germany effectively alone at the head of Europe, alternately hesitant and bullying"

Books

Jenkins has written several books on the politics, history and architecture of England, including England's Thousand Best Churches and England's Thousand Best Houses. More recently in his A Short History of England, he argues that the British Empire "was a remarkable institution that dismantled itself in good order." He wrote that England is "the most remarkable country in European history."

Public appointments

Jenkins served on the boards of British Rail 1979–1990 and London Transport 1984–86. He was a member of the Millennium Commission from February 1994 to December 2000, and has also sat on the Board of Trustees of The Architecture Foundation. From 1985 to 1990, he was deputy chairman of English Heritage.

In July 2008, it was announced that he had been chosen as the new chairman of the National Trust; he took over the post from William Proby in November of that year. Although Jenkins had in the past been critical of some aspects of the Trust's work, he said he was "very pleased" by his appointment, and that the Trust was "one of England's great institutions". As chairman of the National Trust, a post he held until November 2014, Jenkins campaigned vociferously against the building of new houses, although according to then housing minister Nick Boles he himself owned "at least two homes".

Insignia of Knight Bachelor

Jenkins married the American actress Gayle Hunnicutt in 1978; the couple had one son. They separated in 2008 and have since divorced. He married Hannah Kaye in 2014.

Jenkins was appointed a Knight Bachelor for services to journalism in the 2004 New Year honours.

• Simon Jenkins (1969) Education and Labour's Axe, Bow Publications, ISBN 0-900182-79-2
• Simon Jenkins (1971) Here to Live: Study of Race Relations in an English Town Runnymede Trust, ISBN 0-902397-12-5
• Simon Jenkins (1975) Landlords to London: Story of a Capital and Its Growth Constable, ISBN 0-09-460150-X
• Simon Jenkins (1979) Newspapers: The Power and the Money Faber, ISBN 0-571-11468-7
• Simon Jenkins (1981) Newspapers Through the Looking-glass Manchester Statistical Society, ISBN 0-85336-058-8
• Simon Jenkins and Andrew Graham-Yooll (1983) Imperial Skirmishes: War And Gunboat Diplomacy In Latin America Diane Publishing, ISBN 0-7567-7468-3
• Simon Jenkins and Anne Sloman (1985) With Respect, Ambassador: Enquiry into the Foreign Office BBC, ISBN 0-563-20329-3
• Simon Jenkins (1986) The Market for Glory: Fleet Street Ownership in the Twentieth Century Faber and Faber, ISBN 0-571-14627-9
• Simon Jenkins and Robert Ilson (1992) "The Times" English Style and Usage Guide Times Books ISBN 0-7230-0396-3
• Simon Jenkins (1993) The Selling of Mary Davies and Other Writings John Murray, ISBN 0-7195-5298-2
• Sir Max Hastings and Simon Jenkins (1992) Battle for the Falklands M Joseph, ISBN 0-7181-2578-9
• Simon Jenkins (1994) Against the Grain, John Murray, ISBN 0-7195-5570-1
• Simon Jenkins (1995) Accountable to None: Tory Nationalization of Britain Hamish Hamilton, ISBN 0-241-13591-5
• Simon Jenkins (1999) England's Thousand Best Churches Allen Lane, ISBN 0-7139-9281-6
• Simon Jenkins (2003) England's Thousand Best Houses Allen Lane, ISBN 0-7139-9596-3
• Simon Jenkins (2006) Thatcher & Sons – A Revolution in Three Acts Penguin, ISBN 978-0-7139-9595-4
• Simon Jenkins (2011) A Short History of England Profile Books, ISBN 978-1-84668-461-6