Roy Jenkins dies

He collapsed at his home in Oxfordshire on Sunday morning, a spokeswoman for his family said.

After serving twice as home secretary in a Labour Government, Lord Jenkins was one of the "Gang of Four" who formed the breakaway SDP party in 1981.

A statement issued by the family on Sunday said: "Dame Jennifer Jenkins and Charles, Cynthia and Edward are very sad to announce that their husband and father Roy Jenkins, collapsed and died this morning at home at 0900 GMT."

" Lord Jenkins was one of the most remarkable people ever to grace British politics. I will miss him deeply. "
Tony Blair

After hearing the news, Prime Minister Tony Blair said Lord Jenkins was "one of the most remarkable people ever to grace British politics."

Former Labour Prime Minister Lord Callaghan said: "He was one of the outstanding statesmen of his era."

Lord Owen, a co-founder of the SDP, said: "He was by any standards a major political figure and historical figure in the context of the last century."

'A great man'

Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith said: "He was a big political figure and his passing is a sad moment."

Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy said: "Roy Jenkins was a great man and a great personal friend."

Lord Jenkins' 50-year career began after serving in the Royal Artillery and in 1965, he became home secretary under Harold Wilson.

He oversaw radical social reforms on divorce, abortion, homosexuality and penal reform, earning himself the title "the architect of the permissive society" in the press.

After further stints at the Treasury and the Home Office, he campaigned in a referendum to keep Britain in the Common Market and was rewarded with the presidency of the European Commission in 1976.

In 1981 he joined Shirley Williams, Dr David Owen and Bill Rodgers to break with the Labour party and set up the Social Democrats (SDP).

He was regarded by some in the Labour Party as a traitor for this and pushing the party further into the wilderness.

Lord Healey, a former Labour Chancellor who studied with Lord Jenkins at Oxford University, told BBC News: "Without Roy, Thatcher would really never have happened."

Lord Jenkins led the new party for a year and fought the 1983 election alongside the Liberals as the Alliance, winning a quarter of the votes.

But he lost his seat in 1987 and went to the House of Lords.

He saw Tony Blair as the natural heir to his brand of politics, but was ultimately disappointed with what he saw as a lack of progress on voting reform and the euro.

Lord Jenkins was also an accomplished biographer who had recently written an acclaimed work on the life of Winston Churchill.